California residents who would normally visit Disneyland are heading to Florida so they can experience Walt Disney World instead, The Orlando Sentinel reports.
- Disneyland remains closed amid the coronavirus pandemic. The theme park closed down back in March 2020 and has remained shut down ever since.
So what’s happening?
California residents have decided to drive from California out to Florida to embrace the Disney World park experience.
Brian and Kelsy Kinoshita, for example, drove 2,400 miles to visit Disney World. Normally, they live 5 miles away from Disneyland, The Orlando Sentinel reports.
- The family needed six days to travel there and five days to get back to California.
- The family said they visited all the Disney World parks while they were there.
- “We walked around, soaked up the atmosphere and, you know, we got the Disney-ness back,” Brian Kinoshita said. “Mostly just Christmas decorations and being in the park, feeling the feels and hearing the music, all that kind of stuff, the stuff that just isn’t so much of an attraction but an experience.”
Disneyland starts new program
Disneyland is trying to reopen its theme park, launching a new public awareness program to try to encourage people to stop the spread of the virus so the park can reopen, according to Theme Park Insider.
- “The campaign emphasizes important health and safety measures, including physical distancing, face coverings, hand-washing and more, and leverages each character’s personality to bring the message directly to our local communities in a dynamic way,” Disney Parks chief medical officer Dr. Pamela Hymel said. “Our message is that together we can help the community if we’re all responsible and do our part.”