After several months of locking out visitors to keep them from potentially spreading the coronavirus, Disney World has officially set a date to reopen.
According to a proposal that the Orlando-based tourist attraction presented the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force on Wednesday, that hopeful date is July 11. The next hurdles to clear will be approvals by both Orange County's Mayor Jerry Demings as well as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
If all does go as planned, the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom parks will be open on that date. Four days later, July 15, Epcot and Hollywood Studios will open up.
In the meantime a soft opening preview will be put into place for the purpose of allowing the park to "launch, learn and adjust along the way," according to Senior VP of Operations, Jim McPhee.
As you may expect, when things do get back and running, notable changes will be enforced, starting with a limit on attendance. The company will be "managing attendance demand through a new theme park reservation system. Guests will have to reserve in advance," McPhee said, according to People. If you plan to visit that seems relevant.
Capacity is also set to be reduced for attractions/rides, restaurants, transportation, and the parks' stores.
Other measures will be put into place with the intent of making guests feel safer, including temperature checks on arrival and the requirement that visitors (as well as employees of the park) cover up their faces. A number of previously standard park features won't be available, including parades, fireworks, and mascot meet-and-greets. Also play areas will be closed off.
If park visitors violate rules, Disney will attempt to enforce them with on-brand confrontations. People adds that the company intends to train a "social distance squad" that will be made up of bubbly cast members who will try to teach visitors the importance of social distancing while encouraging them to follow guidelines (good lord that sounds like an awful job).
This unenviable position has already been created for Disney's shopping/dining locale, Disney Springs, which started their phased reopening last week. McPhee claims the squad has been popular with guests.
Disney World, as well as its California counterpart Disneyland, both closed on March 12 after tons of other entertainment destinations and events did the same. The original goal was to only shut things down for two weeks but, well, you know how that worked. On March 27 it was announced that both would remain closed indefinitely. Up until that point, Disney World had only ever shut its doors for hurricane threats, the JFK assassination, and the day after 9/11.
Reopening proposals have been put forth by Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando, with those parks looking for a June 5 opening for the former and a June 11 opening for the latter.
