Disneyland may reopen with more capacity than currently expected, Deadline reports.
What’s going on?
Officials in Orange County, California, expect the county to meet vaccination goals that would push the county from its current “red” tier status to “orange” — which would allow the county to open up a little bit more, according to Deadline.
- This would be a big deal for Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm theme parks, which are located in Orange County. In the “red” tier, the parks can reopen at 15% capacity with no indoor dining or out-of-state park guests. Parks can open with 25% capacity with 25% indoor capacity in the “orange” tier.
Dr. Clayton Chau, chief health officer and director of the Orange County Health Care Agency, said Wednesday the county will be in the red tier for a few weeks and see how things shake out from there, according to Deadline.
- “It will be easier for us to move up to the orange tier,” said Chau. “The soonest we can get into the orange tier will be after the first week of April.”
Context
California recently released new reopening guidelines for theme parks, per The Los Angeles Times. The guidelines allow parks to reopen on April 1 as long as they are in a tier that allows such. Currently, the highest-risk tier — “purple” tier — doesn’t allow for theme parks to reopen.
The guidelines only allow the parks top open for California residents, though and must have limited capacity based on their county’s COVID-19 numbers.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek said at an investor’s meeting Tuesday that Disneyland will likely reopen in “late April,” as I wrote for the Deseret News.