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Monday, December 11, 2023 | 
Entertainment Media & Books

Disney World has increased its capacity as Disneyland remains closed

Florida is letting even more people into Disney World as California remains closed.

By Herb Scribner Herb Scribnerhscribner@deseretnews.com
SHARE Disney World has increased its capacity as Disneyland remains closed
In this March 16, 2020, file photo, the entrance to the parking lot at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is closed in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Squeezed by limits on attendance at its theme parks and other restrictions due to the pandemic, The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, it planned to lay off 28,000 workers in its parks division in California and Florida.

In this March 16, 2020, file photo, the entrance to the parking lot at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is closed in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Squeezed by limits on attendance at its theme parks and other restrictions due to the pandemic, The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, it planned to lay off 28,000 workers in its parks division in California and Florida.

John Raoux, Associated Press

Disney CEO Bob Chapek said last week that Walt Disney World in Florida has increased its reduced capacity to 35%.

  • Disney World originally had a reduced capacity of 25%, he said. But that number has climbed, WESH reports.
  • Disney World increased its numbers after the park has continued to maintain health guidelines set out by the state.
Related

Key quote:

  • “We’re very pleased with how we’ve become adept at operating under these constraints,” Chapek said.

Meanwhile, in California

Chapek had a different thought on California. He slammed California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other political officials in California for refusing to let Disneyland reopen, as I wrote for the Deseret News,

Chapek said in an earnings call he was “extremely disappointed” over the “arbitrary standard” for Disneyland 

  • California issued guidelines for theme parks to reopen. But they are based on the COVID-19 case numbers within the counties where the theme parks reside. Most recent estimates from Disney suggest Disneyland might not reopen until 2021.