New California Reopening Tiers: Disneyland’s Hope for Halloween
In a significant development for the reopening timeline of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, Governor Gavin Newsom held a press conference today and announced California’s sweeping new plans for reopening businesses in the state. In this post, we’ll take a look at the new tiers, what Newsom said about Disneyland Resort, and more.
The big takeaway is that California is moving away from the watch list of tracking trends and moving to a four-tier, color coded classification. Rather than the statewide “all or nothing” system, this will allow for partial openings in areas where transmission rates and numbers are lower.
Under the plan unveiled by Governor Newsom, California’s counties will be placed into four color-coded tiers – purple, red, orange and yellow – based on positivity rates and cases per 100,000 residents in their communities. At a minimum, counties must remain in a tier for at least 3 weeks before moving forward. Restrictions on business operations and activities will be eased as these levels drop…
Here are California’s four tiers:
- Widespread (purple): More than 7 daily new cases per 100,000 residents or higher than 8% positivity rate
- Substantial (red): 4 to 7 daily new cases per 100,000 residents or 5% to 8% positivity
- Moderate (orange): 1 to 3.9 daily new cases per 100,000 or 2% to 4.9% positivity
- Minimal (yellow): Less than 1 daily new case per 100,000 or less than 2% positivity
Here’s how the color codes will affect counties’ reopening plans:
- Widespread (purple): Most non-essential indoor business operations are closed
- Substantial (red): Some non-essential indoor businesses closed
- Moderate (orange): Some indoor business operations open with modifications
- Minimal (yellow): Most indoor business operations open with modifications
Thirty-eight counties in California, encompassing 87% of the population, fall into the widespread restrictive tier, where indoor operations for nonessential businesses largely must be closed. This includes Orange County where Disneyland is located, as well as adjacent Los Angeles County.
The good news is that Orange County is really close to being in the red tier. Here’s a look at current data from California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy:
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly explained how that would work in practice for various businesses, using museums, zoos & aquariums as an example. This is useful because, essentially, a theme park is essentially a hybrid of the three, with a mix of indoor and outdoor operations.
In a county falling into the purple tier, those businesses would only be allowed to open for outdoor visits. In red counties, those same businesses could also open their indoor operations at 25% capacity. Orange counties could do the same, but at 50% capacity. For the counties in the yellow category, museums, zoos & aquariums would be able to fully open indoors with physical distancing and face covering rules.
When asked about Disneyland, Newsom referred generally to all theme and amusement park operators and said, “we are working with them. We set our discussions aside on that, but they are forthcoming. It’s a very dynamic conversation and we didn’t include it in the update today; it’s a separate conversation.
“It’s an easier one to have, frankly, with some of the larger ones. We’re trying to accommodate for some of the other amusement activities in the state. You’ll be getting that as soon as we work through that. One of my afternoon meetings is in this space, and we’re actively looking to see where we land on that.”
It appears that Orange County is in the purple tier because it just moved down over the weekend under the previous watch list system and thus, presumably, needs to maintain its current levels for another couple of weeks before officially being dropped down into the red tier.
The good news is that Orange County has steadily been trending in the right direction for the last couple of weeks (setting aside a hiccup with a data processing backlog), and is already making progress towards the next tier. Once reached, this would theoretically allow Disneyland and Disney California Adventure to resume operations at half capacity–a number Walt Disney World has (by its own choice) not yet hit.
This all bodes very well for the reopening of Disneyland, which could occur as early as mid-September if Orange County’s current trends hold. Before we get ahead of ourselves, keep in mind that this also requires a few other things.
First, the state of California needs to sign off on theme parks resuming operations. As noted above, that’s a separate conversation beyond this tier system. Second, Disneyland and its unions need to reach an agreement for Cast Members to return to work. There were some issues on this front just prior to the last reopening, and those will have to be resolved.
Finally, it requires that Disney wants to reopen Disneyland and DCA on as prompt of a timeline as possible. It would be understandable for Disney to take a more tentative approach in California, especially after the state forced Disney to scrap the original reopening plans at the last minute. It’s likely that Disney will seek some degree of assurances from California that once the parks are open, they’re open.
Reopening in mid-September only to re-close in November would be counter-productive and is likely something Disney will seek to avoid. As such, we wouldn’t be surprised if Disneyland takes a more cautious course of action here, delaying even scheduling a reopening date until confident that Orange County has things under control and isn’t going to have a second wave. Only time will tell what approach Disneyland chooses, but it now seems like there’s at least a 50/50 shot they’ll be open for at least part of the Halloween season, something that was unlikely as of yesterday. We’ll take it, and consider this a sign for optimism!
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
Think California’s new four-tier reopening plan bodes well for Disneyland’s reopening plans? Do you expect Disneyland and DCA to be open in time for Halloween? Optimistic about Orange County’s numbers? Any thoughts about Newsom’s meeting with theme and amusement park leaders? Any questions we can help you answer? Keep comments respectful, apolitical, and on topic. Anything not following these requirements will be removed, as will excessive back and forth arguments.
We are hoping to go (first Disney trip EVER! Even for this mid 30 year old!) mid October. We’ve had to push this back 2 times now and I totally respect that. But our tickets expire in January and our youngest out of the 3 kids will turn 3 in May. So we are crossing our fingers and toes this dream will come true. Our eight year Old’s best friend is his beloved Mickey Mouse toy. We were all crying together Christmas morning in 2019 when I told them they were finally getting to go. Here’s wishing upon a star!
I’m guessing Disneyland opens September 28th!!!
They’ll honor expired tickets especially because they were closed due to the scamdemic
It’s a start. In the meantime, thank goodness WDW is open. It’s a long flight for our family, but has been completely worth it to once again enjoy Disney (and the very short queues!)
When will the Disneyland will reopen
We have reservations at the Grand Californian and Paradise Pier from Sept 16th-20th and reservations at the Grand again October 2nd-4th and at The Disneyland Hotel November 15th-16th. I guess we’ll just have to see which one of these reservations pans out (if any). *crossing fingers*
Any word on California pass holders ???
I really, really hope they’re open for our yearly mid-November stay at the Disneyland Hotel for our Daughter’s Birthday. As a nurse working in an LA County Hospital I am encouraged that our COVID numbers have gone from the 80’s a few weeks ago to the 30’s this week. Hoping everyone keeps doing what is needed so those numbers keep going down and we can open back up!
Thank you for the quick update! We have reservations for the Villas at Grand Cal the last week of September/first week of October and had pretty much given up hope that even the hotel would be open by then. Do you think they’ll follow the same playbook as in WDW and open the hotel(s) before the parks? I know the hotels relied a lot on convention bookings to keep them full so I’m not sure it makes sense in CA.
I could see the Villas at Grand Californian opening before the parks, just like at Walt Disney World, so members can start using those points and there aren’t even bigger problems down the road. Doesn’t mean that will happen, though.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Paradise Pier and Disneyland Hotel don’t open right away. My guess is one of them by Christmas season, and the other for Spring Break 2021.
They need to get everything open at some compacity because Businesses can’t keep going without revenue. People have to start making money. I am very worried about recession coming this fall if something does not change. There are many items I need to run my Business that we can’t buy because there is none available. And I am not referring to masks or hand sanitizer. I am speaking of A C units and even ice makers that are on back order and that is 2 of 15-16 items I can’t get right now. I hope Disney and everyone else can open sooner than later!!
Thank you so much for the update! My trip has been booked for November 2020 since December 2019 so I’m really hoping I don’t have to cancel!
Here’s hoping! 🙂
We were able to snag Villas at Grand Californian reservations for Christmas and really hope we’re able to use them–and also that both Florida and California case numbers continue trending downward so we feel a bit better about flying.
Those numbers are ridiculous! I’m in Washington and we have a similar system , however our numbers are much more attainable and sustainable.
If Southern California follows the same trajectory as pretty much everywhere that had pretty severe numbers, cases will continue to steadily decline and OC will be firmly in the orange tier–good enough for operating Disneyland at 50% capacity. Even before that, they can open at 25% capacity in a couple of weeks if current numbers hold.
When it comes to convincing tourists it’s truly safe to return, I feel like California’s more rigorous and cautious strategy will ultimately prove more fruitful than what Florida did. Which approach is ultimately “better” overall is debatable–both have pros and cons. Purely from a tourism perspective, California’s looks good. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and we won’t truly know until doing a post-mortem on this a couple years from now, at which point the right approach will be “obvious” to everyone.