Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauties Castle was lit up this week as the theme park was due to reopen on Friday April 30th. Due to government health restrictions, the resort may be 25% busy. Christian Thompson / Disneyland Resort via Getty Images Hide caption
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Christian Thompson / Disneyland Resort via Getty Images
Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauties Castle was lit up this week as the theme park was due to reopen on Friday April 30th. Due to government health restrictions, the resort may be 25% busy.
Christian Thompson / Disneyland Resort via Getty Images
Disneyland’s gates will reopen on Friday to welcome customers for the first time since the resort closed at the start of the global pandemic. Only California residents are allowed to visit, and the daily crowd is limited due to safety protocols.
“I can’t wait to just be there and feel it and hear the music and smell the churros,” said Robert Laird, a Disney mega fan, in an interview with Morning edition.
Health guidelines require guests to perform a temperature check and wear face masks before entering the park. You’ll also need to stay six feet away from other groups. People visiting together are limited to a maximum of three households. Other measures taken to reduce the chance of virus transmission include cashless transactions and improved cleaning practices, according to the Walt Disney Company.
Laird, who runs a site called DAPs Magic, said he visited Disneyland on the last day of 2020. And he planned to be there when the park reopens.
“I can remember the day it closed,” he said.
The “magic” returned to Disneyland earlier this weekwhen the resort lit up Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and took the Disneyland Railroad trains to celebrate a special welcome day for cast and staff.
Both of the company’s main Anaheim properties – Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park – as well as the adjacent Grand Californian Hotel & Spa will reopen. Two other large Disney-owned hotels are closed for the time being.
Disney fans will need a reservation specific to the park and the day of their visit – a tool that the resort says will help with capacity management.
The theme parks are obliged to limit the number of visitors to a maximum of 25% state guidelines issued last month. Disneyland is in Orange County who like much of California is currently classified as “moderate” for the coronavirus.
The pandemic has forced the Walt Disney Company to carry out thousands of layoffs at their resorts and cruise lines. Overall, the company operated with a net loss in the 2020 financial year said in January.
Walt Disney had tentatively planned to reopen Disneyland last July, but California officials ditched that idea. The state did not approve the reopening of theme parks, citing concerns about an additional spread of the coronavirus.
The Disney theme parks in Southern California are finally following the trail of Disney world, which reopened in Florida last July despite a surge in COVID-19 cases in that state.
Friday’s long-awaited return to the theme park will bring an emotional moment, Laird predicted.
“I guarantee that there will be tears in our family at some level,” he said. He added with a laugh, “I can actually feel my heart beating faster just thinking about it.”
