Disneyland And Major Theme Parks In California Set To Reopen Under New Rules
California health officials have released new guidelines for reopening major theme parks in California on a tiered basis.
Major theme parks, including Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood, are set to reopen with strict new rules. This is as California officials grapple with safe ways to boost the economy, while continuing to deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Reopening will depend on which tier the county is currently on.
Major Theme Parks In California To Reopen
As reported by the New York Times, health officials in California recently announced state-wide guidelines for major theme parks, while giving the parks an idea of when they may be able to reopen.
Within the new guidelines, larger theme parks will be able to reopen with a limited capacity of visitors when their county has reached tier four – or the yellow tier – of the COVID-19 economic reopening plan for California. Tier four is the least restrictive tier, meaning that coronavirus spread in that county is minimal.
California’s Color-Coded Tiered System
The state is currently responding to the coronavirus pandemic, using a color-coded tiered system. This system is based on daily COVID-19 case numbers and positivity rates. Currently, Orange County, home to Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, is on the second, or red tier, while Los Angeles County, where Universal Studios is based, is currently in the purple tier – the most severe.
Should the situation improve over the following two weeks, counties can then move to a less restrictive tier. However, should it worsen for two weeks, those counties will go up a tier.
Plenty Of Work To Do In The State
The New York Times quotes Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of California’s Health and Human Services Agency, who said he believes the counties can reach a less restrictive tier. However, this is only as long as strict guidelines are followed.
“There’s lots of work we can do together – both state, local, business leaders, community leaders, individuals – to do what we can to make sure that we reduce transmission throughout our county and there is a path forward there,” Ghaly said.
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Looking Ahead To The Yellow Tier
Once the appropriate county reaches the yellow tier, large theme parks will be able to open. However, visitors must book in advance and will be screened for symptoms on arrival at the gates.
Masks will be mandatory within the parks, with the only exception being when visitors are eating or drinking.
However, they must remain stationary at that point. No indoor queues will be allowed and theme parks will have to establish a one-way foot traffic system. On top of this, larger theme parks will be required to limit their capacity of guests to 25 percent of the norm.
Smaller parks will have looser restrictions. This means those parks with a capacity of less than 15,000 people. These parks will be permitted to open once the county reaches the orange tier. Once the parks reopen, capacity will be limited to 500 guests, or 25 percent capacity, whichever is less. Rules relating to masks will be the same and indoor queues will be avoided.
While it is still some time until the various counties can meet the tier requirement, this is good news for both the theme parks themselves and those wishing to visit.
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