The Disneyland Resort, which was closed for over a year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, has finally reopened on Friday.
Eager Disney fans began lining up hours before Disneyland’s official 9 am opening time on Friday. While things at Walt Disney’s original them e park may look a little different including social distancing markers on the ground, limited table seating at restaurants, and masks being worn by cast members and guests, the fans are still happy to be back. To prevent crowding in Disneyland’s Main Street area, park employees waved in the admitted guests and invited them to freely roam the grounds.
Now, visitors must wear masks and can remove them to eat only in designated areas. Hugs and handshakes with characters are off limits, and parades and fireworks shows have been shelved to limit crowding.
In the 66-year history of Disneyland, the theme park has been shut for extreme circumstances only a few times — after the assassination of President Kennedy and following the 1994 Northridge earthquake. But before the pandemic struck in March 2020, none of those closures lasted longer than a day.
Over the past year, Disneyland has lost billions of dollars in the Parks, Experiences and Products division. During the most recent earnings call Bob Chapek, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, mentioned the closures of the parks due to coronavirus cost the division about $2.6 billion in lost operating income.
The reopening highlights a big shift for the nation’s most populous state from just months ago when Covid-19 cases were surging, hospitals were running out of ICU beds, and hundreds of people died from the virus each day. Now, California boasts the country’s lowest rate of confirmed coronavirus infections and more than half of the population eligible for vaccination has received at least one dose.
