NEWS: Florida State Parks to Begin Re-Opening on May 4th

Earlier this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that, starting May 4th, the majority of the state would begin slowly re-opening businesses in what is being referred to as “phase one”.

The re-opening announcement came after a variety of meetings and recommendations from the Re-Open Florida Task Force, which included Josh D’Amaro, President of Walt Disney World, met daily to come up with recommendations for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on the state’s reopening. While the beginning of the theme parks are not able to re-open under phase one, DeSantis has announced that another type of Florida park will begin re-opening on Monday.

Starting Monday, May 4th, Governor DeSantis has announced that state parks will be able to re-open. The announcement came as DeSantis held a press conference at Little Talbot Island State Park in Jacksonville.

©Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Guidelines for the park re-openings is expected to be announced later today by the Department of Environmental Protection. Along with the state parks re-opening, starting May 4th, retail stores and restaurants in most of Florida (excluding several southeastern counties) will be able to open at 25% capacity.

Currently, local governments are making their own plans on whether they will abide by these same guidelines, or make their own, stricter recommendations. Florida’s Orange County, where the majority of Disney World is located, is expected to make their own guidelines later today, based on recommendations from the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force.

We will continue to bring updates from Florida on their re-opening, along with updates from the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force who are still meeting daily.