Newsom Still Not In Any Hurry To Open Disneyland
Newsom says: “You have theme parks that are really cities, that operate hotels and restaurant facilities, not just organize around carousels and other amenities…”
And the hits just keep on coming. Minutes before our news alerts lit up about Walt Disney World equity actors being laid off, we saw this out of California via Deadline:
California Governor Gavin Newsom Won’t Budge On Theme Park Reopening Rules…
Tom Tapp of Deadline posted:
“Self-evidently,” said Newsom verbosely, “we should be concerned about opening up large theme park which, by definition, people mix from all possible walks of life and putting ourselves and others at risk of seeing transmission rates rise.”
[O]ne word the governor refused to say [was]: “Disneyland.”
When asked about the furor over the continued closure of the Anaheim park, Newsom continued obliquely.
“You bring up one theme park. California has dozens and dozens of theme parks,” he said.
“You bring up one particular operator of a theme park that does things very very differently than other operators… have theme parks that are really cities, that operate hotels and restaurant facilities, not just organize around carousels and other amenities. You see others that are out on beaches and boardwalks that are very very different.”
CAPA Reacts
Then, CAPA (California Attractions and Parks Association) retorted:
We continue to ask the administration to share any data or science related to theme parks that they are using to inform their decision… Parks have been opened throughout the country and world for months and we have seen no data indicating that COVID outbreaks are being traced back to theme parks. If they can reopen safely in other states and countries, then why not in California?
Meanwhile, and certainly based on the lack of revenue from parks on BOTH coasts, more Walt Disney World workers are out of jobs.
Obviously, there are no easy answers here. But the questions and the pink slips keep piling up.