California Expected To Release Disneyland Reopening Plan This Week
It’s been such a huge week for Disneyland news Disney friends. On Wednesday, Disney chairman Josh D’Amaro announced that due to a lack of a reopening plan at Disneyland and as a result of COVID-19-related financial struggles they would be letting 28,000 cast members go across domestic parks, resorts and also at Disney Cruise Line.
In under 48 hours since this earth-shattering announcement was made, Jesse Melgar, a press secretary for California Governor Gavin Newsom said that California plans to issue reopening guidelines this week that will allow Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood and other Southern California tourist destinations to begin to lay out their reopening plans.
Photo: ABC
In addition, California Health and Human Services spokesperson Rodger Butler said that the theme park reopening guidelines will be issued by the California Department of Public Health. In an email to the Orange County Register Butler said, “Theme park guidance is expected to come from CDPH this week.” He continued, “Theme parks will be incorporated into the Blueprint for a Safer Economy similar to other sectors.”
As we previously reported here at MickeyBlog the California theme parks closed in mid-March and have remained shuttered while the theme parks awaited a reopening plan from the state. Despite successfully implementing plans to reopen the theme parks in Florida, Disney has been unable to move forward on plans to open Disneyland and Disney California Adventure while waiting for Governor Newsom to give the go-ahead on plans.
Image Credit: Disney
Over the past few weeks there has been a growing chorus of theme parks, city leaders, state lawmakers and industry associates that have become more vocal about Newsom’s lack of a definitive reopening plan. Earlier this week, we here at MickeyBlog reported that the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce had come out with a video criticizing the State’s lack of a reopening plan. Also in the past few week’s Disneyland’s President Ken Potrock has been vocal about his dissatisfaction with waiting for a plan. He said, Without those guidelines, we’re quite honestly in limbo.” Potrock continues, “We are ready to open responsibly, it is the time to open responsibly and it’s important to open responsibly.”
Above is the official statement released by Disney announcing that 28,000 employees would be laid off across both Disneyland and Walt Disney World theme parks. It was clear from the statement that Disney does lay part of the blame squarely with the Newsom administration and their failure to collaborate with the theme parks on reopening guidelines.
In the statement above, D’Amaro is quoted as saying, “The impact of the pandemic has been “exacerbated in California by the State’s unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen.”
This is a story that we’ll continue to follow closely here at MickeyBlog. Readers are encouraged to keep checking in with us for further news and updates!
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