In July, Disneyland announced that they would not be reopening mid-July as previously announced.
Since then, the park has made no announcement of a reopening date, as California has still not released a set of guidelines theme parks need to be able to reopen. However, a recent press conference held by California Governor Gavin Newsom has revealed that discussions for those guidelines will be coming soon.
Since he said that “COVID-19 will be with us for a long time and we need to adapt,” Newsom has stated that California will be following a simpler monitoring system that is both “stringent” and “slow.”
The new model will move away from different variations in the counties and towards four tiers that will both loosen and tighten restrictions. The framework will be based on metrics like case rate and taste positivity without a “green light” tier that says “go back to the way things were or a pre-pandemic mindset.”
Moving forward, the four tiers will include minimal, moderate, substantial, and widespread. Due to the changes, Newsom will be retiring the old watch list that Orange County was just taken off of a week ago. Instead, this old list has now been considered the purple or widespread tier.
Counties are re-assessed every Tuesday with the first “weekly assessment” beginning on September 8th. Each county has a required 21-day mandatory wait time between its ability to move to a lower tier. Counties must also meet the new metrics for the next year for two straight weeks.
Currently, Orange County is sitting in the purple area effective on August 31st for at least three weeks. A new website has also been released with information for California residents and other states to view in order to better understand the updated metrics.
During the conference, Newsom also stated that California is working with amusement parks and other entertainment venues currently. A reporter asked the governor, “I don’t see amusement parts on the sector guidance list that your office put out, so what does this mean for Disney?”
Newsom responded, “Specific to the issue of many, not just the one group that you mentioned, the one brand, but other amusement park operators, we are working with them. We set our discussions aside on that, they’re forthcoming, it is a very dynamic conversation. And so we didn’t include it in the update today, that is a separate conversation. It’s an easier one to have frankly with some of the larger ones, we’re trying to accommodate for some of the other amusement activities in the state, and so you’ll be getting that as soon as we work through that. One of my afternoon meetings is in this space and we’re actively looking to see where we land on that.”
We’ll have to keep you updated on how Disney’s theme parks and other amusement parks in California will be affected by this new system. However, in the meantime, you can read all about the progress on Avengers Campus and the new shopping reservation system in Downtown Disney!
Here’s what Disney had to say about “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” being removed from Disneyland’s music loop!
Have you been back to any theme parks recently? Let us know your experiences in the comments below!
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