Disneyland Likely to Remain Closed Until 2021

Disneyland is likely to remain closed until 2021 according to the company’s fourth-quarter financial call today. There was a lot of talk from CEO Bob Chapek and others about how having the theme parks closed presented a hurdle for the business. In fact, Disney got hit with $6.9 billion in losses due to these coronavirus pandemic closures. In particular, the company took issue with California’s stance on reopening the parks. Chapek was clear that he felt the company’s success in reopening Disney World in Florida meant that the sister park should be allowed the same chance to succeed. Despite his argument about the safety precautions in place, Governor Gavin Newsome doesn’t seem likely to budge in his stance that CA will allow theme parks to reopen this year.

“Unfortunately, we are extremely disappointed that the State of California continues to keep Disneyland closed, despite our proven track record. Our health and safety protocols are all science-based and have the support of labor unions representing 99% of our hourly Cast Members,” Chapek said. “Frankly, as we and other civic leaders have stated before, we believe the State leadership should look objectively at what we’ve achieved successfully at our parks around the world – all based on science – as opposed to setting an arbitrary standard that is precluding our Cast Members from getting back to work, while decimating small businesses in the local community.”

However, the CEO was quick to point to the improved morale around the other worldwide openings that signal their approach is going strong. It’s at least encouraging to see all the sites remain open in the face of such steady odds since world economies began reopening earlier this year when cases began to subside in certain parts of the world.

“On the Parks side, we have proven over many months that we’re able to operate our parks responsibly, following strictly enforced guidelines provided by healthcare experts – successfully reopening our parks in Orlando, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Hong Kong,” he added. “We also reopened Disneyland Paris for several months, although the resort is now temporarily closed due to President Macron’s recent lockdown order, in response to a resurgence in COVID cases in Europe. People have shown a willingness to visit our parks, which I believe is a testament to the fact that they feel confident in the measures we’ve taken. And we are very encouraged by the positive news earlier this week on the progress of potential vaccines.”

Would you like to see Disneyland open in early 2021? Let us know in the comments!