Disneyland Paris Sets Phased Reopening Date for July 15th
By George Robbins
The question on many people’s minds right now are when exactly businesses will end up reopening or even when they will be allowed to reopen. As of late many places are allowed to reopen their businesses in set phases based off which businesses are most at risk of causing the virus to spread. It differs per region, but it hasn’t changed the fact that amusement parks and other forms of entertainment are among one of the last phases no matter where you go. Even though they will be the last to open, it doesn’t mean that there is no plan on what they will do when they actually do reopen to the public. At least for Disney, it seems every single park has a plan in mind when it comes to reopening the gates to guests.
Other Disney Parks such as the ones at Walt Disney World and Disneyland in California have set their reopening dates around the same time on July 11th and July 17th respectively. They have come up with their own ways of dealing with the reopening and the health concerns moving forward such as only opening a couple of parks at a time. Also, they have developed a park pass system that will allow visitors to schedule visitation to the parks based on availability to reduce visitor capacity. There are still many other unknowns, but it shows that a plan is in place to allow people to return. That is why it is not all that surprising that Disneyland Paris will be opening in phases starting July 15th.
Disneyland Paris is not the first international Disney park to reopen following their closing earlier in the year with Shanghai Disneyland opening May 11th and Hong Kong Disneyland opening June 18th. In order to ensure that business can slightly return to normal and social distancing rules are being followed, there are health measures in place. Among those measures is the previously mentioned pass system, but also some shows and events will not be available for the foreseeable future. Their official announcement stated a “phased reopening of the resort starting with the Disneyland Park, Walt Disney Studios Park, Disney’s Newport Bay Club Hotel and Disney Village as of 15 July 2020.” Disney Parks will be continuing to open with the usual events being possibly brought back in later phases, but for now the public will be able to go to the parks again if they have reservations.