An entrance area to Disneyland stands empty on September 30, 2020 in Anaheim, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood were dealt devastating news on Tuesday after California told big theme parks they could not open until daily coronavirus cases dropped below one per 100,000 in their counties.
The announcement is a big blow to Disney and Universal, who had been hoping that their parks would be able to reopen when their counties reached “moderate” spread or between one and 3.9 cases per 100,000 people. Instead, the state said these companies must wait for the lowest tier, “minimal,” in order to reopen.
“We have proven that we can responsibly reopen, with science-based health and safety protocols strictly enforced at our theme park properties around the world,” Ken Potrock, the president of Disneyland Resort, said in a statement Tuesday. “Nevertheless, the State of California continues to ignore this fact, instead mandating arbitrary guidelines that it knows are unworkable and that hold us to a standard vastly different from other reopened businesses and state-operated facilities.”
Potrock called the decision “devastating,” particularly for the Anaheim and Southern California community.
Currently Orange County, where Disneyland’s two California parks are located, is seeing 4.6 cases per 100,000 people and is listed in the “substantial” range, just above “moderate.”
“I don’t know when Orange County will enter the yellow (minimal) tier,” Mark Ghaly, California’s health secretary, said during a news briefing Tuesday.
Similarly, Los Angeles county, where Universal Studios Hollywood is located, is seeing 10.1 cases per 100,000 people.
Smaller theme parks with a capacity of 15,000 visitors or less, however will be permitted to reopen when their counties reach the “moderate” spread level.
These delays are devastating for Disney and Universal’s theme park businesses. In September, Disney was forced to lay off 28,000 employees from its theme parks, blaming California’s restrictions for the decision.
—Reuters contributed to this report
