Last week’s Disneyland Update detailed why we thought theme park reopening guidance would be coming soon, but why we didn’t think it would be good news for Disneyland. That guidance came the very next day, and as expected, it was terrible news for Disneyland and other large theme parks in the state. However, every cloud has a silver lining and Disneyland is moving forward as best it can. Today, we’ll outline some of the fallout from the state’s guidance, as well as some reopenings that fans will want to hear about. And, since this is Halloween week, Disneyland is jumping the gun, as is their tradition, with the release of an early Christmas.
The tale that we tell is really quite charming, but giving the guidance, it’s also alarming. So, sit back, grab and drink, and be sure to take pause, as we tell you the tale about how Disney grew claws . . .
Disneyland Closed Until Summer?
The on-again-off-again hopes for a quick Disneyland reopening are off again. After working closely with the state since the early days of the pandemic, Disney was disappointed by new California theme park guidelines which prioritize small parks over large ones like Disneyland.
Smaller parks (with less than 500 daily guests) will be able to reopen in the Orange Tier, while Disneyland, Universal, Knott’s and others will have to wait until the Yellow Tier. Unfortunately, according to Orange County’s health department, that is likely an impossible metric until a reliable vaccine has widespread distribution in the county. They estimate that we could be looking at summer or later before reaching the tier in which area theme parks can reopen attractions.
The state’s tier system requires a county to remain in a tier for a minimum of three weeks and meet the conditions for the next tier for at least two weeks before moving to a less restrictive tier.
As of last night (10/25/20), Orange County had a rate of 4.6 new cases per day per 100,000 residents. That means Disneyland is still firmly in the Red Tier for at least 2 more weeks, as they will need cases to be less than 4 (per 100k) for two weeks before the county moves to Orange. Worse, the “Health Equity” complication means that Orange County’s disadvantaged population is experiencing positivity rates higher than allowed for the Orange Tier even though other communities in the county are not. The county will need to do better in areas that have high rates of infection, like Anaheim and Santa Ana (both very close to Disneyland).
We expected Disney to respond, and they did, just one day later.
Theme Parks Respond
Just one day after the state’s guidance was revealed, Disney, Universal, Knott’s, Legoland and others attended a Zoom call organized by the California Parks and Attractions Association (CAPA). The park presidents were unanimous in their disappointment with state guidance. The parks reiterated their commitment to the most robust safety protocols, and that theme parks are uniquely staffed and trained for safety even in normal times compared to other industries. Further, theme parks have reopened all over the world and across the United States (with new safety procedures, distancing, and masks), but California has not followed the data and experience of the rest of the world that theme park operations appear to be among the safest businesses operating during the pandemic.
If you’d like to watch the Zoom call, we’ve got it embedded for you below:
Keep in mind that in Orange County, zoos, museums, shopping malls, restaurants, offices, and hotels have ALL reopened. It’s mostly just the theme parks, concert halls, major sports venues, and convention centers that remain closed.
Unless something changes with the governor’s plans, Disneyland’s 7-month closure could more than double— a nightmare situation for out-of-work or furloughed employees and businesses in the Orange County area which rely on Disneyland for their survival. Just among the MiceChat hotel and restaurant partners, the feeling is that if Disneyland doesn’t reopen by the end of the year, many of the local hotels, shops, restaurants and services will be forced out of business.
The Hotel Association of Los Angeles anticipates that many of the area hotels won’t survive. “Industry data shows 1 in 4 properties are already struggling to pay mortgages, risking foreclosure.”
And, because Anaheim relies almost as heavily on convention business as it does on Disneyland, the impact is doubly hard. At least a dozen hotels either opened just before or during the pandemic or recently completed major remodeling. All of those properties will have large loans to pay, but with few guests visiting a mostly closed Disneyland and with conventions off the table for many months left to come, there may be no way out for some of your favorite hotel destinations.
Within 24 hours of the state’s theme park guidance on Tuesday, many of the area hotels laid off most or all of their workers who were still on furlough. This week will be a turning point for many businesses in the area. Some may try to close and reopen at a later date, but the fear is they won’t have the funds to pay their mortgages/rent and loans and may never be able to reopen. It looks as though Anaheim as we know it, barring some sort of miracle, is about to become a ghost town.
So, next time you think to yourself “Disney has deep pockets, they’ll survive,” consider the thousands of business in the area which rely on Disneyland that don’t have those deep pockets. The situation is dire and we are on the precipice of a major economic disaster for the Anaheim area and beyond, there’s just no other way to put it.
But this next item may provide a little bit of hope for some to hang on a little longer . . .
Surprise… There’s a Partial Reopening at Disneyland!
Or rather, Downtown Disney taking over part of Disney California Adventure. If you’ve been reading these updates from MiceChat every Monday, you’ve seen us call for Disneyland to reopen Main Street and/or Buena Vista Street for shopping and consider doing a festival like Knott’s as well. Many of you have made those comments on our articles as well. Well, you called it, folks, Disney’s taking a first step in that direction.
On Friday, we wrote that we were hearing that shops and restaurants on Buena Vista Street in DCA would be reopening in November, along with outdoor vending carts and the addition of Smokejumpers Grill. That’s a great first step, And we understand that if all goes well, we could see Main Street follow. And for those of you screaming that Disney should just offer a Food and Wine festival not unlike Knott’s is doing . . . well, we think they are looking at that too. . . .
Not long after the MiceChat article ran (see article link below), Disney posted their own story on the Disney Parks Blog. But one of their staff forgot to log out of the Disneyland Facebook account and posted a personal message calling on Disney to offer a Festival just like Knott’s (oops!!!):
So, let’s hope that Disney figures out crowd control and demand for the Buena Vista Street reopening, which they intend to run like an expansion of Downtown Disney, so additional park capacity can also be opened up to guests and perhaps some jobs and businesses in the Anaheim area can be saved. Here’s what you can expect on Buena Vista Street later in November:
Disneyland Resort News – Holiday Shopping and Dining Coming to Buena Vista Street November 19th
Cast Member Updates
Disneyland cast members are having a week of highs and lows. It of course started with the terrible news about a long delay for Disneyland reopening. The letter sent by Disneyland’s President did little to calm nerves:
A growing fear among park employees is that the initial layoff announcement was just the tip of the iceberg, a prolonged park closure will almost certainly necessitate further job cuts.
Then came the news that Buena Vista Street would be reopening. Unions began notifying cast about the recall procedures:
But no sooner did those encouraging messages get sent than some union cast members began receiving emails and letters from Disneyland letting them know that their furloughs were becoming layoffs.
We can only hope that the DCA shopping expansion will be successful and result in more jobs coming soon. Most of Disneyland’s unions have successfully secured the preservation of seniority for cast who hire back into the company (within varying lengths of time).
Tokyo Disneyland Passholder Program Ends – Could It Happen Here?
In a week of shocking news, this one caught us completely off guard. But the more we thought about it, the more it made sense that something similar could easily happen here. This week, Tokyo Disneyland ended the lottery system that was being used to grant passholders access to the parks. There was such overwhelming demand for the limited spots that many were unable to get any reservations in the months since the park reopened. They then launched a massive refund process for passholders to be refunded the remaining balance of unused days on their passes.
Tokyo Disneyland is very similar to our own park in Anaheim in annual attendance and in a heavy reliance on local passholders. Unfortunately, limited park capacity and a huge passholder base means that Tokyo Disneyland was unable to meet anything close to its obligation for granting access to passholders. The cancelation of passes will allow fans to buy dated day tickets like everyone else. When park capacity returns, a new pass program likely will as well.
Of course, all of that has us really thinking about what would happen here in Anaheim. There are even more local Annual Passholders at Disneyland than there are in Tokyo. How can Disney possibly accommodate all of them without constant complaints about not being able to get a park reservation?
For nearly a decade, the AP program here at Disneyland has grown dramatically. And with it, the park experience has been impacted as well. Gone are the off-seasons, just about any day can reach packed conditions. But Disney has become addicted to the monthly revenue from payments. And as much as they have tried to reign the program in with price increases, that just encourages passholders to visit more often to justify the expense. Making the situation worse and not better.
And it’s for that reason we think Disneyland might consider following Tokyo’s lead and suspending passes for a year or so to allow them to focus on controlling park capacity and giving them time to retool annual pass options, pricing, and availability once conditions return to normal in a year or so.
The very same day that Tokyo Disneyland canceled their pass program, Disneyland sent a cryptic email to current Disneyland Annual Passholders. It’s important to note that any talk of Disneyland’s AP program being suspended or reworked is purely conjecture. You can read the message in its entirety below:
We asked our readers if they support a reboot of the passholder program and were shocked to find that most of you did!
How would you feel if Disneyland were to temporarily halt the AP program until the park’s normal capacity can return? Should the program be suspended temporarily to allow Disneyland some breathing room to offer limited attendance without the hassle of trying to accommodate well over a million passholders?
If you voted for a change in the passholder program, please let us know what sorts of changes you’d like to see. Some version of the scheduled in advance FlexPass perhaps? A limited number of visits each month? Be sure to comment with your thoughtful ideas on how Disney can manage both extremely limited park capacity AND rethink its problematic annual pass program at the same time.
When Holidays Collide – Christmas for Halloween
Yes, we’re aware that Halloween isn’t until the end of this week. But the overlap between holiday seasons has never stopped Disneyland before. In normal years, there’s snow on the castle before the candles have been blown out on the last jack-o-lantern. This week, some of the 2020 Christmas merchandise arrived in Downtown Disney. Let’s take a quick peek at the new holiday offerings.
The trick we’ve found to visiting Downtown Disney is definitely to go early, especially before the after-work crowds come in.
At the World of Disney store, you’ll find all sorts of new merchandise (we’ll get to that in a minute).
If you are looking for a Christmas gift that gives back, look no further than the popular new “Wishes Come True Blue” merchandise line. This assortment of themed merchandise is special because 25% of the purchase price will be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation! You can find standard collection items like shirts, headbands, and of course, Spirit Jerseys, as well as a few new goodies.
Take a look at the article below for more details!
Disney’s New ‘Wishes Come True Blue’ is a Merchandise Collection with Heart
The real reason for our Downtown Disney trip was the Christmas merch that dropped this week. While the bulk of it can be found at Stage 17, there’s a handful of holiday offerings at the World of Disney too. We’ll see even more roll out to all of the Disney shops in Downtown Disney over the next couple of weeks.
At the moment, the majority of the holiday merchandise is located within the Downtown Disney expansion of Stage 17. The current set of items have a vintage feel to them.
We really like the new spirit jerseys, sweaters, and sweatshirts.
We hear that there’s a line of silver and gold themed items coming soon as well! Here’s a sneak peek of some of merch for both Disneyland and Walt Disney World coming soon.
There’s a lot more, folks. We’ve got a detailed look at all the holiday merchandise currently available in the article below:
Disneyland Merchandise Update – Holiday Items Arrive in Downtown Disney Anaheim!
We Need a Little Christmas, Right This Very Minute! MiceChat Reader Photos
Speaking of the holidays. Since we’d normally just be seeing the first decorations going up on the castle, New Orleans Square, and Grizzly Trail, we thought we’d do the Disney thing and jump the gun, just like old times.
Disneyland during the holidays is filled with a special warmth and magic; it’s an overarching sense of nostalgia that lives in our memory, filled with joyful tidings and the old-fashioned decorations from a bygone era. The magic is revived every year with the giant tree on Main Street, Sleeping Beauty Castle gracefully adorned with icy-white lights, and listening to the Christmas carol-filled music loop . . . and of course, A Christmas Fantasy Parade!
Usually, around this time of year, Disneyland is shifting gears from autumnal decor to the winter-time holidays. But this year is unlike any other. So, we asked our readers to share their favorite photos of Disneyland during the holidays to help them remember happier times at the resort.
From the entrance of the park through the snow-capped Sleeping Beauty Castle, you’ll find wreaths and ornaments and ribbons galore!
Even the horses and Main Street vehicles get dressed up in their holiday best.
Main Street, U.S.A. really captures the sentimental small-town feel of an old-fashioned Christmas.
Main Street has charming and down-to-earth holiday decorations, but when you get to New Orleans Square, you’ll find the ornaments with flair: big and bold!
And is it really a Disneyland Christmas if you don’t visit Jack Skellington for his Haunted Mansion takeover? We think not!
While the main areas of the park that are decorated for the holidays are definitely Main Street and New Orleans Square, you’ll find delicate nods to the winter-time celebrations in every land.
When it comes to holiday entertainment, the long-standing parade, A Christmas Fantasy, is always forefront. Yes, it’s long (maybe a little too long) but it’s what generations of Disney fans have enjoyed during the holidays.
Once the sun sets, the real show begins. The park is transformed into a festival of lights!
Some might say that the Candlelight Processional is the heart of Disneyland’s holiday season. Harking back to the early days of the park, Walt Disney himself planned the event as a gift to the community and the park’s sponsors. Last year, the surprise narrator was none other than Mr. Hamilton himself, Lin-Manuel Miranda!
Let’s parkhop across the way to Disney California Adventure!
¡Viva Navidad! is a colorful display of Hispanic culture. You’re always in for a treat when you make it back to Paradise Gardens during the holidays.
Cars Land, perhaps the most creatively decorated of the lands at DCA, looks particularly charming during the holidays. I want one of those tire wreaths!
The grand Christmas tree on Beuna Vista Street shines brightly at night. We certainly hope that there will be a tree this year with the Buena Vista Street reopening!
If you’re looking for holiday cheer around the Disneyland Resort, you don’t even need to step foot inside a theme park! All the hotels (but particularly the Grand Californian) have their own Christmas displays.
Trader Sam’s makes a holiday transformation as well with poinsettias and Santa hats placed on some of the tikis.
Thank you to everyone who shared a photo with us! This week’s call for submission got hundreds of photos, and we could only select a few for today’s Update. But there’s a long holiday season yet to come and we’ll have lots more photos to share.
To see more gorgeous and heartwarming shots of Disneyland at Christmas, take a look at the MiceChat Facebook group!
This and That
It was a very busy week for theme park news, but that didn’t stop us from covering lots of other things as well. . .
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway Construction Progress
Although it doesn’t look like Disneyland will be reopening anytime soon, work continues for the upcoming attraction Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. We’re still amazed at how tall the show building will be.
A new stairwell was added this week. . .
More Holiday Merchandise!
We mentioned earlier in today’s Update that the beginnings of the holidays have arrived at Downtown Disney, but that was just a handful of the holiday merch that’s available! Here’s what’s available in on ShopDisney . . . including an animatronic Baby Yoda (yes, we know he’s called “The Child,” but that’s just no fun).
It’s Holiday Shopping Time – 10 Great Disney Store Gifts Ideas for the Whole Family
Special Surprise for Next Week’s Update
We have a few surprises up our sleeve for next week, including the return of a beloved MiceChat contributor. Be sure to check back daily so you don’t miss out.
Save On Future Theme Park Travel
Our travel partners at Get Away Today are here to help you with your theme park booking and rescheduling plans. Whether you are ready to travel again or not, there is no better time to LOCK IN LOW RATES on future theme park travel to places like Walt Disney World, Disney’s Aulani in Hawaii, or family destinations like San Diego. Right now is a great time for you to speak with Get Away Today. Give your family something to look forward to and put a vacation on the calendar. Snap up those deals while you can, with your MiceChat partners at Get Away Today- HERE
Let’s Hear From You
That was a lot to digest. Unfortunate theme park guidance. The reopening of Buena Vista Street and possible food festival in the future. Cast member callbacks and layoffs. The cancelation of the Tokyo Disneyland passholder program and the implications for Disneyland. A holiday sleigh full of merchandise and photos.
What struck a nerve? Do you have ideas for how Disney can safely reopen some services without upsetting the state? If Disney does decide to suspend the annual pass program, how would you restructure it for the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Don’t Miss Yesterday’s Walt Disney World Update:
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