Disney Parks Coronavirus Updates: What Rides Will Be Available, New Agreement With Employee Union, And More
The Walt Disney Company is losing millions of dollars every day that its theme parks are closed, and the company has encountered a few roadblocks along its path toward reopening. Amida record number of coronavirus cases in Florida, Walt Disney World still aims to reopen in July, and a new report has a list of the attractions that should be open and available to guests who choose to go back as soon as the gates open back up. Meanwhile, over in California’s Disneyland, Disney has reached a new agreement with one of its biggest unions about health and safety protocols that will be implemented for workers at the park.
Walt Disney World
Attractions Magazinereports that the following attractions will be accessible to guests when Disney World reopens:
Spaceship Earth at EPCOT is said to also be operational, since the planned refurbishment to that attraction has been paused due to the pandemic.
But here’s the unsettling news. Disney previously announced that parades would be put on hold during the coronavirus to cut down on large gatherings of people in the park, but now Disney World is saying some of its characters will appear in “new ways” that are supposed to accommodate for social distancing regulations:
While these events will happen at random throughout the park, which should help prevent people from gathering in an area ahead of time, the very nature of these things – cavalcades, processions, motorcades – are specifically meant to draw crowds. Other parks have put giant stickers on the ground laying out where it’s safe for people to stand, but let’s be realistic here: we all know how people can behave in large groups, so these little spur-of-the-moment processions sound like a disaster waiting to happen.
Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom are currently slated to reopen onJuly 11, and EPCOT and Hollywood Studios will reopen onJuly 15,2020.
Disneyland
Meanwhile, theOrange County Registerreports that Disneyland has reached an agreement with several of its cast member unions about the parks' planned reopening, addressing some health and safety issues for the employees who will be on the ground in the parks.
“The signed agreement details plans that include enhanced safety protocols that will allow us to responsibly reopen and get thousands of our cast members back to work,” a Disneyland statement reads. Some of those new protocols now include:
You can head over to theOC Registerto read about the additional demands that other unions are making on behalf of the employees before they return to work. Disneyland, which was originally planning to reopen on July 17 in time for the park’s65th anniversary, has nowindefinitely delayedits reopening.
