The global coronavirus pandemic is still ongoing, but entertainment establishments are slowly trying to operate again under the new normal brought about by the disease. The latest big establishment to announce that it is reopening is Walt Disney World in Florida.
Variety reports that Florida’s Walt Disney World will be opening in phases in July after its reopening proposals were approved by the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force of Florida. On Jul. 11, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom, followed by Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot on Jul. 15.
In the same way that Universal Orlando has implemented safety measures as it prepares to reopen in a week, Walt Disney World will have a number of guidelines and restrictions in place to ensure that the theme park does not become a hotspot for coronavirus inspections.
For instance, payments will be made as contactless as possible, and ordering at restaurants can be made over mobile. Stations for hand-washing and sanitizing will also be in place and cleaning and disinfecting will also be enhanced. Temperatures will be checked before guests even enter the theme park and social distancing will be maintained.
Parades and meet-and-greets will be suspended and the theme park will also be welcoming fewer visitors as well. All of these measures reflect ones that were initially applied to the Shanghai Disneyland Park when it reopened a couple of weeks ago.
Reopening Walt Disney World will be a big help to the Walt Disney Co., as it has been heavily impacted by the global coronavirus pandemic, to the tune of $1 billion. According to CNN, theme parks and other related business resulted in $26 billion in sales for the Walt Disney Co., or 37 percent of all of the company’s revenue. But because of the global coronavirus pandemic, profit from these products fell by 58 percent.
The closure of these theme parks has had far-reaching effects on Disney beyond the fall in revenue. The company had to furlough 43,000 staffers from Walt Disney World and Disney executives had to have their base salaries cut anywhere from 20 to 30 percent.
As coronavirus cases around the world do not seem to be letting down, it looks like measures like this will be around for quite some time. According to the World Health Organization’s situation report for May 27, there are now 5,488,825 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. The total number of people who have died from COVID-19 is now at 349,095.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention update for May 27 pegs the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country at 1,678,843 people. Deaths caused by COVID-19 is now at 99,031 people.