Who would have thought that a shutdown would be filled with so much news? And this week is a doozy! We start with a big change of heart by the Governor of California which could result in an early opening for the Disney parks. . . or not. We look at the possibilities. We’ve also got news of the resumption of work at the Disneyland Resort, confirmation of park reopening procedures, Shanghai Disneyland’s opening day, and a whole lot more.
Hang on to them hats and glasses, ’cause this here is the wildest update in quarantine . . .
Governor Says Weeks Not Months For Stage 3
Last week’s Disneyland Update focused on California’s 4 phase plan for reopening. We discussed why theme parks are likely to reopen in Phase 3, but with extreme safety measures in place. California entered Phase 2 on Friday the 8th of May. And while we had repeatedly been told that Phase 3 might not come until late summer or later, Governor Newsom reversed himself on Friday and said that Phase 3 of the state’s reopening COULD be less than a month away.
Governor Newsom specifically advised that if people continue to wear face coverings and practice social distancing, the state will be deeper into the next phase sooner than most people believe.
Regardless of when the state enters Phase 3, we don’t expect the parks to rush to reopen. In fact, signs are starting to look like Disney might be targeting a July 1st reopening at this time. Keep reading below for more on that.
If you’re looking for more on what California’s reopening phases are, we detail them in last week’s update:
Here’s how the theme parks are preparing for their big return. . .
Disneyland Construction Crews Return to the Parks
Frequent MiceChat reporter, Brady MacDonald, wrote this week in the OC Register that construction crews have returned to work on Avengers Campus and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Other parks, such as Knott’s and Universal Studios Hollywood, never stopped. But this is very good news for Disney fans, as it means the parks will be ready for you whenever the Governor and park operators determine the time is right.
There are a number of projects at Disneyland that need to get in gear sooner rather than later. In Fantasyland, the King Arthur Carrousel refurbishment was abandoned during the reassembly phase. Next door, Snow White was in the process of losing the “Scary” part of her adventures. The facade is still scaffolded and the color scheme has been lightened up.
In the Central Hub of Disneyland, two of the spokes are under construction. Disney will want to get this wrapped up before the park reopens to accommodate possible one-way traffic through much of the park.
At the back of the park, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway was abandoned at an early phase of construction. We were worried it might be postponed for a while as a budget-cutting move, but we are very glad to hear that crews are returning to work here and that the project won’t be significantly delayed.
California Adventure’s big project is the new Marvel-theme land called “Avenger’s Campus.” The land was originally supposed to open in July. That will be delayed until at least mid-September.
But Disney doesn’t need to rush this project. If the parks are at reduced capacity, the last thing they’ll want to do is open a new land that draws massive crowds. Keeping an eye on this one, but if they do open this year, they’ll likely need to do what they did with the opening of Galaxy’s Edge and make all visits to the new land reservation in advance only.
Disneyland Resort Reopening Update
On Friday, Disneyland updated their Resort Operation page with new information on how they will handle the impact of COVID-19 on reopening. The key takeaways are capacity limitations for most resort functions upon reopening, physical distancing procedures, and some park activities may be modified or remain closed. Here’s the entire announcement:
While there is still much uncertainty with respect to the impacts of COVID-19, the safety and well-being of our Guests and employees remain The Walt Disney Company’s top priority. In line with direction from health experts and government officials, the Disneyland Resort theme parks, hotels and the Downtown Disney District are currently closed and a reopening date has not been identified. We will continue to carefully evaluate this complex and fluid situation.
Upon reopening, Disneyland Resort theme parks, hotels, restaurants and other locations may be limited in capacity and subject to restricted availability or closure based on direction from health experts and government officials to promote physical distancing. Furthermore, attractions, experiences, services and amenities may be modified, have limited availability or remain closed. We will provide more information as it becomes available. We reserve the right to cancel any reservations, admission media or purchases and provide applicable refunds. Please also see our policies regarding modifications and cancellations by Guests.
Our focus remains on the health and safety of the entire Disney community—including the well-being of the Cast Members who are caring for and securing our parks and Resorts during the closure. We’re currently evaluating new and enhanced safety measures to help us all stay well. Learn more about these measures.
If the parks are to reopen prior to Phase 4 of the Governor’s plan, they will need to employ multiple safety and sanitation procedures. We’ve speculated about almost all of the items Disney may need to develop. With the opening of Shanghai Disneyland, Disney has officially weighed in on the 5 main categories they are focused on as they prepare to reopen the US parks. Keep in mind that some of this will change or evolve as lessons are learned from today’s reopening of Shanghai Disneyland and additional recommendations and mandates from health and government authorities.
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- Phased reopening: We’re looking at all of our locations and how best to begin the reopening process, including a gradual reopening and/or partial reopening of certain locations. For example, the opening of retail and dining locations prior to the opening of our theme parks.
- Physical distancing and capacity measures: As you can imagine, managing guest density in queues, restaurants, hotels, ride vehicles and other facilities throughout the park and across the resort is a major focus, as we implement physical distancing guidelines based on guidance from health authorities, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and appropriate government agencies. This will likely include implementation of guest capacity measures to comply with state and federal guidelines. We’re also exploring ways to use technology to aid us in these efforts, like with our Play Disney Parks App and through virtual queues at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
- Cleanliness and sanitization: We’re planning increased cleaning and disinfection, determining where that should take place (for example, in high-traffic areas), and the cleaning products and processes we’ll use.
- Screening and prevention support: We’ll follow guidance from the government and the medical community regarding enhanced screening procedures and prevention measures, including those related to personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face coverings. Some measures, like adding hand sanitizers and hand washing stations across our resorts, have already been implemented.
- Cast training: We’re further emphasizing our strong culture of health and safety amongst our cast members, and will continue to provide new training and reinforcement as we get closer to reopening.
Possible Mass Temperature Screenings
Early in the shutdown, Bob Iger was quoted as saying Disney might need to do temperature screenings on guests. Well, it looks like they’ve figured out a pretty neat way of doing just that.
During Shanghai Disneyland’s reopening press event, attendees walked through temperature screening tents. A special optical scanner looking for high-temperature could evaluate attendees as they walked through. Guests would be pulled aside for more specific testing if the scanners identified them as a risk.
We believe that something similar will be coming to Disneyland. While temperature scanning doesn’t come close to identifying all guests who might be infected, it would catch at least some. And mass scanning is a quick way to do it that wouldn’t result in long lines of guests all needing to wait to get screened.
Disney recently added a new company to their vendor list, Remark Holdings. The company makes AI thermal scanners that are being purchased by Las Vegas casinos, large corporations, and event venues.
Remark’s website states: “Traditional thermal imagers and temperature devices require a human operator to scan each patron as they walk through a security point. The close proximity creates an uncomfortable intrusive experience for customers and employees in addition to causing delays at point of entry.” The site further describes their product as solving that problem: “Our solutions provide touch-free access control and monitoring, as well as accurate temperature measurement and the ability to scan as many as 120 people per minute, a rate that is approximately 10 times faster than manual checks. Our solutions also filter out non-human heat sources and provide security personnel with real-time alerts with photo identification.”
The Remark scanners would make the process largely invisible to guests. Only those who show a high temperature would be pulled aside for additional screening. With enough of these scanners, guests entering the resort wouldn’t need to stop at all, except for baggage check, which we hope will be speeded up with the use of conveyor belt scanners (as Universal Studios uses) rather than manual checking by hand.
Theme Parks Want To Know What YOU Are Thinking
Surveys are being sent by all the theme park companies to potential guests, those with upcoming reservations, and annual passholders to find out when you’d be comfortable returning and under what conditions. Disney Parks has been asking when you would be comfortable visiting again. Universal wants to know what kind of mask you are willing to wear. Universal Orlando asks survey-takers to assume a hypothetical April 1st opening, Universal Hollywood assumes a December 1st opening. We’ve recreated some of these polls so we can see what sort of results the parks are getting back:
To see more about the polls, check out the article here:
Disneyland Hotel Accepting July 1 Reservations
It was just a couple of weeks ago that we showed you June 1st reservation availability for the Disneyland Hotel. That availability has now been pushed back to July 1st. While Disney hasn’t canceled June reservations yet (they are currently rebooking all guests with reservations through May 31st), they are no longer accepting new reservations for the month of June. As of now, July 1st is the new assumed opening date for the resort. Keep in mind this may very well change again, but for the purposes of hotel bookings, Disney Travel has picked a July 1st date to work off of. Current reservations are being canceled about 2 to 3 weeks prior to the reservation date. But you can certainly call and reschedule at any time if you don’t want to wait.
Local hotels are beginning to schedule opening dates as well.
Great Wolf Lodge, the hotel and water park located just down the street from Disneyland, has dates available beginning June 14th. They are offering a special for up to 50% off and they’ll donate a night to “Local Heroes” as well. Their health statement indicates that the pools and water park will remain open using hospital-grade sanitation.
Shanghai Disney Officially Reopens Today
The first of Disney’s parks to close was Shanghai Disneyland, it was also the first of Disney’s parks to reopen. The park has adopted all of the procedures we outlined above, including temperature checks, distancing markers in queues, masks for guests and cast members . . . in theory. But as you’ll see in screenshots from opening day videos, not everyone was taking those rules seriously, including Disney’s own employees.
#LIVE #ShanghaiDisneyland reopens to the public on May 11 after #COVID19 disruptions. The number of visitors is limited, and indoor performances, daily parades, and children’s play zone remain closed. Join The Paper at the reopening ceremony! https://t.co/exmcX1rh7f
— The Paper 澎湃新闻 (@thepapercn) May 11, 2020
The park reopened on a beautiful day (for a normally smoggy Shanghai).
And, while the park did implement all the social distancing and safety procedures promised by Bob Chapek, it wasn’t always obvious that the employees understood.
The park’s entry street, Mickey Avenue, was lined by medical-grade face mask-wearing cast members waving hello.
But when the park president, Joe Schott, and resort ambassadors took to the stage for reopening ceremonies, they were not wearing masks.
Guests were frequently found crammed together.
And many cast members were not in masks at all.
Not the sort of image that proves Disney’s commitment to public safety that they’ll need in the US parks.
Characters were also shoulder to shoulder. It had previously been confirmed that face characters would not wear masks, but would be located safely away from guests. But placing them so close to each other is curious.
And was the park packed? At less than 30% capped capacity, it wasn’t.
Hong Kong Disneyland Accepting Reservations
Hong Kong Disneyland closed shortly after Shanghai Disneyland. It would make sense that it would be the next to reopen if everything works out in Shanghai. There may be a sign that’s about to happen. I checked the Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel booking page and rooms are available as of today.
We’ll keep an eye on this one, but expect that something will be announced soon.
Celebrating Mom – MiceChat Reader Photos
Mother’s Day is generally one of the happiest occasions of the year at the Disneyland Resort, with moms proudly spending time with their families. Since we couldn’t be in the park to celebrate Mother’s Day this year, we asked our MiceChat Facebook group to share their favorite pictures and memories of their moms at Disneyland.
In the past, Disneyland has given out free treats to mothers, generally a carnation corsage or a cupcake to enjoy.
Thank you to all the MiceChat readers who helped us with photos and memories of their mothers. It’s nearly been two months since the Disneyland Resort has been closed and you’ve really been helping us stay connected with the magic of Disneyland. Keep an eye on our MiceChat Facebook group for the theme for next week’s photo section!
This & That
Well, we’ve certainly covered a lot of content in this week’s update. But we’re not finished yet. Here are a few more news bits that you may have missed.
Garner Holt Challenge
Audio-Animatronic maker and MiceChat contributor Garner Holt has started a challenge to help keep small businesses from going under during this unprecedented time. He has been featured recently on KCAL 9 news about sponsoring several local businesses and paying their rent while the world has come to a standstill.
If you’re in a position to help out a small business in the midst of these troubled waters, please consider reaching out to your favorite shop, restaurant, entertainment group, etc. to help keep them afloat.
Jack-Jack Cookie Num Nums Recipe
While you’re still following Safer-at-Home orders, we’ve got a little treat for you. Here’s a guide on making Pixar Pier’s Jack-Jack Cookie Num Nums. Check out the recipe and photos in the article linked below!
Secret Life of Pets Contest
Finally, to end on a positive note: Universal Studios Hollywood is having a contest about the quirks of your furry family members. The prize is 4 tickets to the park (with Express Pass!) to enjoy the upcoming Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash attraction.
For more info about the new ride, check out the article below. It was originally scheduled to open March 27, just a few weeks after the park closed. We’re definitely looking forward to riding this when we’re not trapped in our caves any more.
Universal Studios Hollywood’s Secret of Life Pets: Off The Leash an Animatronic Extravaganza
Opportunity Knocks!
Special comeback rates are now available at some of your favorite Anaheim hotels and are discounted up to $100 off their regular nightly rates.
Our travel partners at Get Away Today are here to help you with your theme park shutdown concerns and rescheduling plans. We know you’re as uncertain about the future as we are. That’s why Get Away Today is offering the most flexible Disney travel options available:
Price Protection – If a better special comes out after you have booked, you’ll get the better deal.
Peace of Mind – Make hotel changes, reschedule dates, drop nights, change ticket vouchers and more, as many times as you’d like for a small, one-time fee.
Layaway Plan – Lock in your 2020 or 2021 Disneyland Resort vacation for just $175 down. By booking early, you secure your availability and have the flexibility to pay as you go. Make as many interest-free payments as you’d like, whenever you’d like, with final payment due just seven days prior to travel.
Give your family something to look forward to:
Visit Get Away Today HERE Or fill out a request form and they’ll call you back: Vacation Information Request Form HERE
Let’s Hear From You
With California being one of the first states to instate Safer-at-Home orders, what do you think that the Governor’s statements about stage 3 reopenings being closer than anticipated? Are you glad to hear that construction crews have returned to Disneyland? Have you picked up some fried chicken from Mrs. Knott’s Chicken To-Go yet? Let us know in the comments below.
Muppet Surprise
Before we sign off for today’s Disneyland Update, yesterday’s Disney Family Singalong featured a special treat from our favorite Muppet pals. Enjoy listening to the Muppet Show theme and seeing a few celebrity faces. Stay healthy and stay safe, we’ve got lots of fun surprised for you all week here on MiceChat!
.@TheMuppets are making your dreams come true ??#DisneyFamilySingalong pic.twitter.com/AsVZI81GnP
— ABC (@ABCNetwork) May 10, 2020
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