Disneyland & California Adventure Can Reopen in April
Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, and other large amusement & theme parks will be able to open with rides and attractions next month if Orange County improves to the red tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening rules. In this post, we’ll detail the revised restrictions and limitations, plus the sudden change of policy from California officials.
This reopening change was announced in a Friday afternoon press conference on March 5, as Dr. Mark Ghaly of the Health and Human Service Agency, Dr. Mark Ghaly, announced that California counties in the Red Tier would be allowed to reopen theme parks at 15% capacity and sports venues at 20% capacity on April 1, 2021. This means that in addition to Disneyland Resort, Knott’s Berry Farm and Angel Stadium could also reopen.
Under the current rules, in effect until April 1, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure could not reopen until Orange County reaches the yellow tier. Those rules were met with intense backlash, derided as an unworkable standard by Disney, Anaheim, and other state lawmakers. For our part, we’ve repeatedly stressed in When Will Disneyland Reopen? that the onerous yellow tier rules likely would be voluntarily rescinded or overhauled with California’s case numbers improving dramatically. Now, that day has come…but Disney isn’t out of the woods quite yet.
In addition to California’s key metrics improving, the effort to recall Governor Newsom has gained momentum and a new assembly bill that proposed accelerating theme park openings had bipartisan support. The Anaheim City Council to support the bill, as did the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
All things considered, it thus makes sense that California is loosening its reopening rules. Now that the United States is turning the corner and vaccinations are ramping up dramatically, it just makes sense. Moreover, it’s a savvy move for Newsom to get out ahead of public opinion and advance now-popular policies on his own with a modified reopening plan.
Anyway, here are the new reopening rules for amusement and theme parks:
Purple Tier – Closed
Red Tier
- Max 15%
- Small Groups – Max 10 people or 3 household groups with no intergroup mixing
- Indoor capacity max 15% with time restrictions
- No indoor dining
- Weekly worker testing program
- In-state visitors only, check for current CDPH Travel Advisory in effect
- Online ticket purchases only
Orange Tier
- Max 25%
- Indoor capacity max 25% with time restrictions
- Weekly worker testing program
- With other modifications
- In-state visitors only, check for current CDPH Travel Advisory in effect
Yellow Tier
- Max 35%
- Indoor capacity max 25% with time restrictions
- Weekly worker testing program
- With other modifications
- In-state visitors only, check for current CDPH Travel Advisory in effect
NOTE: These rules are copied verbatim from California’s official documentation (see below) so if there’s something that doesn’t make sense or looks incomplete–such as what “with other modifications” means–that’s on them.
During the press conference, Ghaly explained that theme parks can only accept visitors from within the state of California so long as the statewide travel advisory remains in place.
Since online reservations are required, theme park operators will be able to determine where people are coming from to restrict access because theme parks are required to have people make reservations online prior to their visits.
As we reported previously, Orange County remains in the most-restrictive purple tier of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening plan, but has made significant strides towards the red tier.
These numbers are updated every Tuesday, and for this week’s update, Orange County barely missed qualifying for the red tier. Literally by a fraction of a percentage point on one metric. Positivity rate and health equity both already qualify—it’s just new cases per day per 100K. Once the county qualifies, it would need to maintain its metrics for 2 weeks before actually entering the red tier.
Between dramatic weekly improvements and thanks to another loosening of the reopening rules, Orange County should be able to hit the red tier with ease in the very near future. Orange County health officials have said they anticipate entering the red tier by March 16, 2021.
After that, it should be 3 weeks before the county qualifies for the orange tier–so April 6, 2021. In all likelihood, Disneyland will reopen once the county is in the orange tier–or will hit that milestone shortly thereafter.
Those tiers and accompanying dates are more or less a sure thing unless California further relaxes its rules or the state suffers a setback or surprise spike in cases. One thing that’s more speculative on our part concerns the in-state limitation on guests.
Right now, this appears to be one component of the reopening rules for amusement and theme parks to keep those consistent with California’s existing travel restrictions. It’s worth noting that California had no such quarantine or travel advisory until November 13 of last year–right as cases started to spike.
Our expectation is that the state will lift this travel advisory sooner rather than later. It could possibly be gone by the start of April, but if not, almost certainly by Memorial Day weekend when California’s summer tourism season begins. Expect it to be lifted for theme parks, irrespective of tier status, when it’s lifted for the state as a whole.
Even prior to this, theme park operators were aware that revised reopening rules were on the horizon. Six Flags Magic Mountain publicly announced their park would reopen in “Spring 2021” (internally, the target date we’ve heard is May 22, 2021). Down the road from Disneyland in Buena Park, Knott’s Berry Farm is holding a job fair on March 13, 2021 and plans to hire 1,700 employees for the 2021 season.
However, it’s likely even the parks themselves were caught flatfooted by this news. Especially given the aforementioned target dates and that Disneyland literally just yesterday began sales for the hard ticket “A Touch of Disney” food event through April 19 at Disney California Adventure. Presumably, those April event dates will now be cancelled or DCA just won’t open until April 20, 2021.
In response to the news, Disney Parks & Resorts PR issued the above statement.
The vague nature of that statement further reinforces the notion that this caught Disneyland Resort leadership by surprise. (At least for once in this dreadful reopening saga it was the good kind of surprise!)
A bit of an aside, but this date and news isn’t coming totally out of left field. It might just seem that way to Disneyland fans who don’t also follow baseball.
The rules announced coincide with Major League Baseball’s opening day. The San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels, and Oakland Athletics all have home games scheduled for April 1, 2021. The Los Angeles Dodgers are scheduled to play their home opener on April 9, 2021. In terms of California places we cannot wait to visit again, Disneyland is #1 and Dodger Stadium is #2.
Ultimately, there’s still a lot to figure out in terms of logistics to get Disneyland and Disney California Adventure operational in only a few short weeks. This includes but is not limited to ironing out agreements with unions, calling back Cast Members, re-training said CMs on attractions that haven’t operated with guests (they’ve been cycling throughout the closure) for a full year, placing food & beverage orders, and more.
Accordingly, just because Disneyland and Disney California Adventure can reopen on April 1, 2021 does not mean the parks will. Keep in mind that Florida was willing to allow Walt Disney World to reopen much earlier than they actually did last summer (in fact, Universal did open about a month earlier than the Disney parks), so that’s not exactly unprecedented. Of course, the circumstances are dramatically different here, especially as Disneyland previously planned on reopening ~9 months ago. Regardless, we’ll keep you posted as to an official reopening date once Disney makes an announcement!
If you’re preparing for a Disneyland trip, check out our other planning posts, including how to save money on Disneyland tickets, our Disney packing tips, tips for booking a hotel (off-site or on-site), where to dine, and a number of other things, check out our comprehensive Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you think Disneyland Resort will reopen on April 1, 2021, or do you anticipate that it’ll take longer to get everything ready to roll? Think Disneyland will wait until “A Touch of Disney” has concluded to reopen with rides, or will they just cancel that event? Excited and optimistic about this news, or think it’s (still) premature? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Thank you for this GREAT news, Tom! I follow your blog religiously, but even more so now. Our annual DL girls trip was obviously cancelled in January and I’ve been working on our matching outfits/ears for over a year now. When this news was announced on Friday, we had quite the celebration. We have ONE week in June where all four of us can go and I’m prepared to go after the tickets for those dates like someone trying to get a spot on the next space shuttle. Please let us know as soon as YOU know what the process for purchasing tickets is. I have run out of matching accessories to purchase and need to get this trip on the road (you know it’s bad when you’re down to purchasing matching suitcases just to keep the hope alive)!!
I truly hope that out of state tourists will be allowed sooner than later. We will happily help out the hotels and other small businesses in the area with our business. I have missed Joe’s Italian Ice!
I’m disappointed that Disneyland hasn’t gone rogue and reopened in defiance to the lockdown orders of Governor Newsom.
I live in southern Illinois near St. Louis and my part of the state openly rebelled against Governor Pritzker’s ban on dining indoors at restaurants. Many restaurants in my region of the state opened their dining rooms months before Pritzker gave them “permission” to reopen. Disneyland should do the same.
It’s time to give guests and Cast Members the liberty to decide for themselves whether they are comfortable returning to Disneyland. The State of California doesn’t need to unilaterally make that decision for them.
I’ve been saying this for months. If I’d been the CEO of Disney, the parks would’ve been open a long time ago.
You really don’t understand how bad the numbers were here, do you?
I am not liberal but I support the California Governor’s decision in keeping Disneyland, etc closed. Not that I like not being able to go to Disneyland, certainly not. But it’s the governor’s decision and he is doing what he thinks is right. The state voted for him and they have no right to recall him just because they don’t like this one situation. It’s like hating a disease but refusing the cure too because the cure sucks. He has a reason for keeping the state locked up, just like the Florida Governor has a reason for keeping his state open. They both weighed their risks and made their decision the best they could, based on their own local unique circumstances. Disney World’s opening doesn’t justify Disneyland’s opening. Each state needs to stand by their own governor that they voted in themselves, and not look at the greener grass on the other side.
Actually, he locked down breweries while keeping his winery open. He forbade gathering and dine in restaurants and went to a birthday dinner with 17 people at French Laundry. The hypocrisy likely has much to do with the recall effort. (Last statement is an opinion, sorry. But the 1st two sentences are facts)
He’s not being recalled because of the shutdown. He’s being recalled because of his overall performance as governor. The recall effort began long before the pandemic hit. His gubernatorial AND personal decisions during the pandemic have certainly intensified the recall effort.
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The simple fact is, it’s time to re-open businesses in California, and the writing is on the wall for the Governor. He has decided to allow DL, DCA, KBF, Six Flags, sporting events, etc. to re-open, not because he believes it’s safe to do so, but because he is worried he will be removed from office. That’s not leadership, that’s political theater.
The only concern is, what if the cases goes back up, with the new strain and everything? Then Disneyland will have to close again. 15%. Not worth it. But hopefully everything will be OK and Disneyland can go back to normal.
What if a meteor hits the earth tomorrow? There are always “what ifs”, and we can’t put life on pause for them. Things are trending dramatically in the right direction and that’s why things are reopening. Time to get on with living our lives. Those who are still concerned can continue to shelter in place.
Interestingly, even with the new strain in CA, the new cases and death rates across the board are dropping.
We’re Northern California residents and we will be in Newport Beach April 17-24. Hoping we’ll be able to go to Disneyland and California Adventure during that time. We were at Walt Disney World in January and felt like Disneyland should be able to open too!
There might still be nasty pandemic surprises. I suppose that for the epidemiologists, Manaus, Brazil must be the nightmare. Sure, it’s a somewhat remote city in a huge rain forest, but Brazil’s a middle income country with competent medical people and hospitals, The city had a horrible epidemic, everyone got sick, and the city was looking like the world’s first to have herd immunity. Then a second horrible outbreak struck, hitting people who had already gotten sick. That could happen to us.
That said, California’s now looking good, better than Orlando and way better than Miami.
The residents-only thing is a bit weird. Maybe when museums reopen, residents only? I’ll have to check to see whether I can officially do my beach break in Newport Beach. Flight’s set up for July.
Tom – contractual opinion, please. Of the many disclaimers when purchasing ‘Taste’ tickets, one was something along the lines of ‘no refund, exchanges, substitutions, or any other excuse now that we have your money.’ (paraphrased). But doesn’t purchase constitute a two-way obligation; tickets were purchased and now something equal to the value for those tickets must be legally exchanged? If everyone purchasing tickets did so with the expectation of a reduced-capacity special event, isn’t that what legally must be provided?
There’s no language to the effect of “Disney unilaterally reserves the right to cancel, modify, or change the event at any time…”?
I don’t recall ‘unilaterally’. But they could have sneaked it in there. Thanks!!
The verbiage on the Touch site is ‘Disney reserves the right to cancel…’ etc. Impossible to know if this is the same that was indicated during the actual purchase.
Thanks Tom! California “former annual passholder” here from the Bay Area (this just for those who don’t know CA, we are *nowhere near* Orange County or Southern California in general lol). In any case, my son and I were all set to go – I had even managed to get us “Walk In Walt’s Footsteps” for the very first time – the week Disneyland actually closed. Cancelling flights, cancelling hotel, cancelling shuttles – I am super sure that we are among many, many others who watched our big plans of months and months in the making evaporate on the cusp of returning. We *are* going to Disney World on from the 22-26th of this month, but that’s just to get a “Disney fix” because we not-so-secretly love “The Anaheim Mouse” the best, and my son and I have tried to go there together as a “Mom-Son Thing” at least every couple of years since he was a toddler 20 years ago. Like everyone else, we’ll be definitely keeping our fingers crossed and hoping to get “back home” some time in 2021. We’re both college teachers, so we’re stuck going around the academic breaks. If we can’t manage to get in this summer, we’ll see folks there in the fall! Thanks again!
It would be nice it the Touch of Disney ticketholders could just exchange for regular admission if they actually manage to reopen in April. Most people waited severL hours to get those darn tickets!
So excited. Yes, I think they’ll find a way to open April 1st, maybe with some growing pains but they’ve probably been prepared for this moment a long time, even if the announcement was a surprise. Now let’s see how quickly they can open up reservations for future dates…I’d love to be able to make hotel reservations for late 2021.
Tom, as a CA resident posting this from Epcot in FL, I think this is a much needed step in the right direction. To say CA is late to the party is an understatement. I am absolutely certain Newsom blindsided the Disney execs whose heads are now spinning. Let’s hope we continue to move forward from here. As always, I thank you for your continued excellent coverage of the situation in California.
Great news that I’ve been waiting for all year! We bought multi day tickets last January that we can’t wait to use. I’m not in CA so hopefully out of state visitors will be allowed to visit this summer. I have hotels booked for May, June, July, September and October since I had no idea when Disneyland would open again. Hopefully the June trip will work out! Thanks for all the great information, Tom & Sarah.
PS. Do you think the reservation system will be similar to what WDW had when they opened last summer?
Hmm, essential federal contractors are exempt from state or local travel restrictions, and I just so happen to need to go to L.A. soon. Guess I’ll need to make a CA mailing address part of a card account to buy tickets…
My only issue is why does the date have to be on April Fools?
I agree, great day, no?
Well I, for one, can’t wait. Since I’m a “self-managed parkgoer” (which is my euphemism for someone with no friends who goes to theme parks by himself), I will finally not look awkward distanced from other humans in line or riding a doom buggy by myself. Eating alone at a table instead of a bar will still be a challenge, which I usually counter by asking for two glasses of water so it looks like I’m waiting for someone. That way, only the waiter knows the truth when my friend “Gavin” fails to show up, yet again (I do drink the other glass of water, I’m not wasteful). The mask requirement is a bonus since my fogged up glasses from the tears just looks like fogged up glasses from the mask. And maybe no more grouping with strangers on the Pal-A-Round! That was super awkward, that one time (I still feel really bad for whoever’s dad that was). I am guessing some of my favorite haunts, like the Animation Academy, Trader Sam’s, Disney Junior Dance Party presented by Pampers (KIDDING!) will remain unavailable. It might not feel the same with all the restrictions, but I’ll probably try it at least once before that fabled day when we get the all-clear to crawl out of our hovels blinking and bewildered to rejoin society safely once again. Excited.
Well now I know who to approach if I want a free glass of water…
Gavin!
Yup went to WDW Magic Kingdom once by myself and didn’t feel the pain until I went on It’s a Small World Ride. Got the whole back seat by myself never had so many eyes on myself – big old 50 something 6′ 2” riding it’s a Small World by himself.
I live in California and voted for Newsom. However, I support the recall effort for several reasons, one of which is how he handled Disneyland. Florida and other international Disney properties have been open for months without issue, and I don’t think Disneyland should have been any different.
Regardless, things are really turning around here with cases dropping dramatically, vaccines becoming more available (just had my first shot this week!), and schools reopening. Disneyland is the right news at the right time.
Thank you, Tom, for all your hard work and research!
I’m letting this stay despite it being political because it’s calm, fairly apolitical, and reflective of growing sentiment in California that does inform reopening policies.
Please, don’t push it any further than comments this. I’m fine with “mildly apolitical politics” (yes, I realize that makes little sense–but you know what I mean) but nothing vitriolic or antagonistic.
I predict that the “California resident only” restriction will be lifted well before the yellow tier arrives. I’m no covid-denier, but this whole thing has become almost completely political, and Newsom is clearly caving to pressure and threat of recall. It is sad that it has come to that, but if that’s what it takes to get our parks back, so be it.
Totally agree. As soon as California rescinds the travel restrictions, that’s out the window.
Should probably just add something to the post rather than typing it all out in a comment that’ll get buried…
East coast family flying to Hawaii for Spring Break April 17-24. We planned a full day layover in LA to take in some sites but would definitely look at pushing our flight back just to get some time in at DL!
I think they will continue with the California Adventure food festival. We were at 25% capacity for outdoor dinning. If they open with rides it would need to be limited to 15% capacity. The rides would be operating at a loss and the food and stores which are the money makers would take a 10% loss in foot traffic.
They stand a better chance at making money by keep the food event and opening Disneyland according to the new guidelines at 15% capacity.
That’s a good point, except the 15% part. By the time the parks can feasibly reopen, unless something goes terribly wrong, OC will be in the orange tier–so it’s 25%.
I agree that I think the food festival stays as is. There were probably plans to extend it that are cancelled though. I think the plan will be run the food festival through mid April (to avoid the hassle of refunds), and then the next day or at most a week later the rides come back with a regular admission structure.
Aaaaaand that’s 25% of maximum fire code capacity, not what random people seem to think is “crowded.”
Thank you so much for the update! I’m from Washington state and purchased tickets before Covid that I’m just waiting to use!
LOL. First-world problems! I waited in a queue for five hours yesterday to get tickets to A Taste of Disney on April 19 that will likely be cancelled now. Oh, well. We are going to Florida in June, because we had no idea when Disneyland would reopen. We still don’t! Thank you, Tom and Sarah.
Or maybe they’ll keep the event and just open Disneyland for now? Then once capacity increases, open up both parks? I can’t imagine them cancelling the event after people did wait for a long time to buy tickets and they seem to have it all planned out and ready to go.