Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings Approves Disney World’s Plan to Reopen in July
If you’ve been following along with MickeyBlog then you know that this morning The Walt Disney Company submitted plans to the Orange County Economic Task Force regarding the opening of Walt Disney World.
The proposed plans are that Walt Disney World will reopen two of its theme parks on July 11th (Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom) and the other two (Hollywood Studios and EPCOT) will reopen on July 15th. News remains vague regarding the opening of the resorts but we do know that DVC villa properties will reopen on June 22nd.
Jim,MacPhee Senior VP of operations for Walt Disney World gave the company’s presentation Wednesday to the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force, which is headed by Mayor Jerry Demings and comprises 44 members of the business community. The task force unanimously approved the Walt Disney World plan- Including Mayor Demmings.
During the meeting, Mayor Demings complimented Disney for its “due diligence” on the reopening plan, noting every aspect discussed was ready for implementation.
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Similar to policies we saw implemented at Shanghai Disney guests will be required to wear masks and have their temperature checked. Social distancing requirements will also be put into place according to MacPhee.
After the motion was passed at the Task Force meeting, Disney CEO Bob Chapek took to the news networks including Bloomberg and CNBC to discuss Walt Disney World’s plans. Chapek explained the reasoning behind not opening until July, “We want to make sure what we present to our guests when we open up is going to be a quintessential Disney experience.” Chapek added, “While we’ll have substantially lower numbers of guests, we want to make sure we do it in a responsible way.”
As the Hollywood Reporter points out, much like the changes we’ve seen at Shanghai Disney, Walt Disney World will reopen at a much lower capacity to ensure social distancing which is an essential component for admission, ride and food lines. This was backed up by MacPhee who during the presentation noted that sanitization and sterilization efforts will increase and those high-touch areas will be cleaned often. Hand sanitation stations will be increased and Disney will also have cast members devoted to making sure social distancing policies and procedures are followed.
Now that Disney’s plans have been approved by the Task Force and Mayor Demings, it is now up to Gov. Ron DeSantis to give the plan an official go-ahead. No timeline has been given for this final part of the process however Disney seems ready to go ahead with plans as an objection from the governor seems unlikely.
We will continue to follow this story closely here at MickeyBlog. Readers are encouraged to keep checking in with us for the latest news and updates.
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