Disneyland Closing Due to Coronavirus
Disney has announced that the Disneyland and Disney California Adventure theme parks will close due to the coronavirus pandemic. This follows the city of Anaheim’s statement about COVID-19, indicating that relevant stakeholders were planning next steps for how to proceed with entertainment and sporting events.
The closure of Disneyland and DCA will begin Saturday, March 14, 2020 and the parks will remain closed through at least the end of March 2020. Disneyland Hotel, Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, and Paradise Pier Hotel will continue operating through the weekend to allow guests to make alternative travel arrangements before closing on March 16, 2020 for the same tentative duration.
If there’s any silver lining in all of this, it’s that Disney has announced that it will continue to pay Disneyland Resort Cast Members while the parks are closed. This is already going to take a heavy economic toll on Anaheim, but as the area’s largest single-site employer, it would’ve been devastating to many families to have to ride out the closure without income. So kudos to Disney for that.
Disneyland Resort will work with guests who wish to change or cancel their visits, and will provide refunds to those who have hotel bookings during this closure period. In its announcement, Disney indicates that it anticipates heavy call volume over the next several days and appreciate guests’ patience as we work hard to respond to all inquiries. Please contact The Walt Disney Travel Company for questions and cancellations at (714) 520-5050.
While the parks and resorts are closed, Downtown Disney will remain open. (Although given that most of these businesses are third parties, it’s likely that more closures will be announced–especially without the parks open to provide customers.)
Disneyland now joins Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea, and Shanghai Disneyland as Disney’s worldwide parks that are currently closed. Only Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World remain open, and Disneyland Paris almost certainly will close in the near future.
That will leave Walt Disney World as the last resort complex operating (we’ll cover the likelihood of a closure there towards the bottom of this post).
The closure of Disneyland comes the day after an announcement from California Governor Gavin Newsom recommending the cancellation or delay of non-essential gatherings with more than 250 people in attendance in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus. The policy, which will be in effect at least through March, extend to concerts, conferences, sporting events and movie premieres.
This course of action from California Department of Public Heath is consistent with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control, and includes “social distancing” and avoiding small events at venues that do not allow six feet of space between people. Gatherings of individuals who are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 should be limited to no more than 10 people, while also following social distancing guidelines.
“Changing our actions for a short period of time will save the life of one or more people you know,” said Governor Newsom in his statement. “That’s the choice before us. Each of us has extraordinary power to slow the spread of this disease.”
“Not holding that concert or community event can have cascading effects – saving dozens of lives and preserving critical health care resources that your family may need a month from now. The people in our lives who are most at risk — seniors and those with underlying health conditions – are depending on all of us to make the right choice.”
California’s policy defines a “gathering” as any event that brings together people in a single room or space at the same time, such as an auditorium, stadium, arena, large conference room, meeting hall, cafeteria, or any other indoor or outdoor space.
This guidance applies to all non-essential professional, social and community gatherings regardless of their sponsor. Previously, a spokesperson for California clarified to indicate that this did not apply to Disneyland, citing the situation as “complex” and “unique.” Our guess here is that Disneyland is voluntarily choosing to follow this policy, as the optics would be really bad if they didn’t.
The move comes after Orange County declared a local health emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic. This was done as part of broader preparedness efforts related to COVID-19, and not due to a surge of cases in the OC. Doing so will help enable Orange County to respond to a potential outbreak, should one occur. It’ll also allow the county to remain flexible and able evolve with this rapidly changing situation.
California currently has 177 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Orange County, which is where Disneyland Resort is located, has four cases that have been confirmed by the Orange County Health Care Agency, plus 2 presumptive positives from the Centers for Disease Control.
While Disney’s official announcement indicates that Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, and the hotels will remain closed through the end of March 2020, it should be stressed that this is tentative and based upon the state of California’s current guidance. Public health officials will reevaluate and update the state’s gatherings policy closer to the end of the month.
How quickly Disneyland reopens depends largely upon how quickly COVID-19 is contained in the United States, as Disney will almost certainly adhere to whatever guidelines and policies are released by the State of California.
Although Shanghai Disneyland has taken steps to resume partial operations in Disneytown and Shanghai Disneyland Hotel (the park itself is not yet open), that comes 8 weeks after Shanghai Disney Resort first closed due to COVID-19. It also comes after aggressive and draconian quarantine measures by the Chinese government that proved effective in fighting coronavirus. It’s unlikely we’ll see similar measures taken in the United States–even if we did, it’s unlikely that Shanghai Disneyland’s closure is instructive here.
Suffice to say, our expectation is that Disneyland Resort will remain closed beyond March 2020.
Many readers will undoubtedly wonder what this means for Walt Disney World. Obviously, the two resort complexes are very different from one another. For starters, Disneyland Resort is more heavily a destination for locals. Notably, Disneyland only has three hotels.
Consequently, it’s much easier to Disneyland Resort to announce a closure on a Thursday evening that will take effect two days later (or four, in the case of the hotels). Even then, the resort is anticipating heavy call volume due to cancellations and rescheduling.
Walt Disney World has many more moving parts. Beyond the additional theme parks and water parks, there are dozens of hotel and tons of infrastructure built around the world’s largest vacation destination.
This is not to say that Walt Disney World cannot or will not close down, but that it will likely be more of a drawn out process if and when it does occur. It’s difficult to imagine the hotels suddenly closing in the same way as is occurring in California.
With that said, it’s impossible to predict what will happen at Walt Disney World with any degree of accuracy. If you told me yesterday afternoon that the NBA season would be suspended, March Madness cancelled, and America’s Dad infected, I probably wouldn’t believe you.
I know better now, and nothing would surprise me with regard to Walt Disney World’s future operational status. To say the coronavirus pandemic is a “fluid situation” is such an understatement it’s laughable. Developments, closures, cancellations, changes, etc., are occurring with lightning speed.
It is worth noting that while crowds remain normal at Walt Disney World (which is to say high), we’re hearing reports of a surge in cancellations just since yesterday. Hold times on the phone lines are on par with Free Dining release day (for the uninitiated, that’s really long) and that’s not with people rushing to book new vacations.
Suffice to say, if you have a Walt Disney World vacation planned for the next couple of months, you need to be prepared for the very real possibility that your trip will not be happening. It seems like an inevitability that Walt Disney World will close at some point, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see an announcement soon. We will keep you posted as we learn more.
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
Are you surprised that Disneyland is closing due to the coronavirus pandemic, or do you think it’s overdue? Any predictions about if/when Walt Disney World will follow suit? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? 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!
Disney should have a moral compass and refund foreigners who bought multiple day passes. They can not expect individuals to plan another vacation again, it is not an easy process for families to reschedule a vacation to a foreign country. It angers me that other corporate companies are giving refunds, yet greedy Disney is hand tying guests to their purchase, when these are extraordinary circumstances and was their decision to close. I hope they can give concessions to foreigners who don’t have the means to easily hop over to America. If anything, this will be my last visit to Disney and I will tell many people how uncooperative they have been in a time of crisis for everyone. As the customer service agent said to me, ” We are different”, Disney you sure of morally different!
I’m wondering how this closure will affect the park traffic once it does open again. Does anyone have any information or best guess if it will be slower at first when they open again (if that’s April or May or June or Whenever) or if it will stay close to the normal crowd predictions??
I was wondering the same thing… like will it be packed when the parks first open with locals that have been going through withdrawals from having not gone in the past several weeks? (or months?!)
My daughter is sad along with her fellow Disney College Program interns that their program was suspended not just for the 2 weeks but the remainder of their term ( Aug ) and they all were sent home both in WDW and DL . Soooo many sad kiddos !! 🙁
Imagine it this way, there was a creek (people) running through to Disneyland and the crowds were manageable. Now a dam has been built and that creek is slowly turning into a river, then eventually a reservoir of people. Once the dam doors are open, there will be a massive flood of people making reservations and getting their trip in before everyone else. Local Californian’s can react quickly to get there, but any out of state, or country travelers will have a rough time.
Our first Disneyland trip from St. Louis is scheduled for April 2-6. I was leaning towards rescheduling for the middle of May, and wanting to get it all rebooked asap… However I spoke with Disneyland tours and they are refusing to give me a refund or the option of rescheduling our Walk in Walt’s Footsteps tour that we prebooked! They said right now they are only refunding for the dates that the park is closed… I hate to eat the cost of the tour.. I don’t know what to do! We have all the hotel (offsite), flight, dining, and tour reservations booked… I would hate to wait until the last minute before our trip to rebook everything for a later date. I have real doubts Disneyland will open again on April 1.
Oh also FYI, I only waited about 15 minutes on hold today, and then the cast member I was speaking with was on hold with his supervisor for another 10-15 minutes prior to giving me the bad news. I didn’t think those wait times were too bad all things considered..
Mattie, I don’t want to be negative, but I would suspect that it is much more likely than not, that the parks will remain closed beyond the end of March. Logically, in 2 weeks the rate of infection is unlikely to be decreasing and most government statements are only saying “2 weeks” because its hard to predict how far past that it might extend. Of course this is only a guess, but I would not surprise me to see the closure extend to mid or end of April.
Of course, for your tour cancellation, that is good for you as they would then be obliged to refund that. We have a September trip planned and DVC rental already 60% paid. I don’t expect our trip will be affected by that time. But if it was, I’m not hearing about any relief for someone who rented DVC points. Of course, that’s a different beast, but I would hope that Disney would have some sympathy for unfortunate renters caught in this time.
Maybe wait a week and see if things change. They are probably slammed right now, and may make additional customer accommodations.
I know those tours aren’t cheap, or how many in your party, but if you truly want the refund then I would say wait it out.
But that also means being prepared to go as originally planned.
But call again next week and try again. The cast member may have some pixie dust to use…
April 3rd through April 9th is our trip to DLR. I am guessing we will need to get refunds for our hotel and flights. We already bought our park tickets, and hoping Disneyland isn’t closed for the rest of 2020, or those are a loss as well. Hopefully we can reschedule for July or August. I am a teacher in WA state and our COUNTY is closed through basically the end of April. Lots of unprecedented events because of this.
Just want to say thanks for recommending Get Away Today. Our Disneyland trip was scheduled for March 29-31, and I called this afternoon to refund my tickets. Quick, easy, painless process.
We have always felt that Disney World has always had it’s guest safety in the forefront. I feel they are still using that premise in their decisions. We have a Disney vacation coming up and will rely on their reputation to do what is best. We will watch and wait. Thank-you Disney for keeping us safe and informed.
My fiance and I are meant to go to Disneyland for our honeymoon from May 12th…I understand Disney’s reason to close but it’s so heartbreaking if things haven’t changed within eight weeks 🙁
Does anyone have a trip planned to WDW for late May? I’ve been keeping an eye on the situation, but am really not sure if I should monitor until the end of April or go ahead and cancel. I remember the big Ebola scare (I know it wasn’t spreading like this) and how one day it just disappeared so I hate to cancel and this thing go away. Opinions?
We’re going May 18-23, and I’m refusing to cancel until the very last minute if the parks are closed longer. I already cancelled my Tokyo trip for the same week to be on the safe side, and now it looks like my backup plan is failing too.