Disney Park Pass System to Be Put in Place
By George Robbins
Amusement parks, like many other public places, have been shut down since the middle of March to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Now that non-essential businesses are slowly starting to open back up, it is time that parks begin reopening procedures as well. This has been a topic of discussion ever since the plans were announced, but the question is whether it is safe enough to reopen parks at all. Disney is thinking that it is definitely time for them to open up the gates to allow guests back into their parks. The only issue is the fact that there is a new surge of coronavirus cases all over the nation and especially in California where the Disneyland park is located. This is why parks, like many other businesses, have had to come up with plans to keep the general public safe while in their parks.
Disney plans to reopen both the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland in California next month. The current plan is to have Disney World open on July 11th and to have Disneyland open up on July 17th. Disneyland is the one that seems to have a rougher road ahead of it with the massive spike in virus cases in California with some visitors even petitioning to delay the time until the parks reopens to the public. This is not deterring Disney from their plans and they have expressed their countermeasures against the spread of the virus a lot lately. They are doing all they can to make sure they are up to code and that they will be able to reopen their parks on time.
One of the efforts being made to prevent the virus from spreading and to keep people safe is that Disney World is opening only Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom first. A few days later they will also be adding EPCOT and Hollywood Studios to the list of reopen parks. They will also be temporarily stopping parades, character meet and greets, and similar attractions for the foreseeable future, leaving just a few different types of attractions open for guests. They will also be canceling their Halloween event, which usually draws in massive crowds, in order to prevent crowds from gathering. The online Disney Park Pass system being implemented will allow guests to reserve days to visit the parks.
In order to limit attendance in the parks they are implementing the Park Pass system which helps limit the number of people that can go into a park per day. Also, guests will only be able to visit one park per day with reservations for park visitation being limited in number and subject to availability. The specifics such as availability per park or whether the number of guests allowed will increase over time are unknown. There is no telling if people will end up having issues with the system, but it is the best one in place for the time being under the current guidelines. As of now it will help the parks reopen in the safest way possible and will allow visitors the opportunity to enjoy the parks again.