Disney Eyes July Restart For California Theme Parks
Disneyland in California announced plans Wednesday to reopen next month -- but at "significantly limited" capacity, and with no opportunities to hug Mickey Mouse or high-five Donald Duck for the time being.
Under the plans -- which still require government approval -- the resort near Los Angeles, including Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, would welcome visitors back beginning July 17.
Disneyland is the world's second-most visited theme park, drawing tens of thousands of visitors each day, but it closed in mid-March due to coronavirus concerns.
The move comes on the heels of the successful reopening of Shanghai Disneyland last month, and follows a similar timetable to the restart of Disney World in Florida, which has already received government approval.
Theme parks provide a significant portion of the Mouse House's revenue. Last month, Disney said the division's quarterly operating income fell 58 percent from a year earlier, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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When the California parks reopen, all guests will need to book reservations in advance, and social distancing measures mean no parades or "nighttime spectaculars" until a later date.
"While character meet-and-greets will be temporarily unavailable, characters will be in the parks in new ways to entertain and delight guests," Disney said in a statement.
Hotels at the site would reopen the following week under the scheme.
The plans were unveiled as calls on social media and a Change.org petition grew for Disney's parks to rebrand their "Splash Mountain" rides.
The popular log flumes are based on the controversial 1946 Disney film "Song of the South" -- a movie long accused of peddling racist tropes about the post-Civil War South, and never released on home video in the United States.
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