Disney Reveals Details Of Shanghai Disneyland Reopening
Over the weekend, Disney revealed what the “new normal” will look like after the global coronavirus pandemic as they showed reporters the procedures that people will have to follow as the Shanghai Disneyland Park reopens on Monday, May 11.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the senior vice-president for operations of the Shanghai Disneyland Park, Andrew Bolstein, told reporters that multiple measures have been implemented in the park to ensure health and safety.
One such measure is having people who enter the park go through a fever-screening system that would display the temperature of people walking in. Another measure put in place to encourage social distancing are markers displaying where guests should not stand. According to Bolstein, this was easier for them and the guests.
The Shanghai park would also be operating at a much lower capacity mandated by the government. Rather than its usual capacity of 80,000 people, the park will only be allowed a maximum of 24,000 visitors.
Staff will also be on hand to remind visitors to maintain social distancing, as well as to wipe down, sanitize, and disinfect surfaces. Seats on rides would also be marked so that social distancing would also be maintained there.
It also looks like people are hungry for the chance to go out once again, as Forbes reports that tickets for the reopening for the Shanghai park were immediately sold out as soon as they went on sale on May 8.
Reopening their theme parks is an important move for Disney to recoup their losses, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in Disney being impacted to the tune of $1 billion. The closure of Disney World in Florida, for instance, has resulted in the company furloughing 43,000 workers. Disney executives have also had their base salaries cut anywhere from 20 to 30 percent.
The new measures will definitely be needed as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world continues to rise. The World Health Organization’s situation report for May 10 shows that there are now 3,917,366 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide, with 61,578 being new cases. Deaths caused by COVID-19 are now at 274,361 people. New deaths make up 8,499 of that total.
Should the reopening of the Shanghai park prove successful, Disney will be reopening its American parks in a country that still has rising COVID-19 cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s May 10 update shows that the United States has 1,300,696 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 26,660 being new cases. Deaths caused by COVID-19 are at 78,771 people.