Vaccinated Out of State Visitors May Be Allowed at Disneyland & DCA

No more than 10 minutes after publishing our 2021 Disneyland Summer Crowd Predictions, I received a tip that California may now allow fully vaccinated visitors from out of state to visit theme parks. In this post, we’ll cover details, offer commentary, and why this may or may not be the case. (Updated April 22, 2021–scroll down to MSUSA Train Station photo.)

Before we get started, hat tip to several Disneyland fans (@TripsWithTykes, @theBeccaRobins, @kim_michelle, @DisneylandPlan, @rankingthemouse) who pieced this together and broke the story. This article just rolls with what they already found. Kudos there.

This is of significant personal interest to me, so I’ve been checking daily for updates to California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy and Industry Guidance for Amusement & Theme Parks and have seen nothing recently. However, there’s a third page, Activity and Business Tiers, that lists rules and parameters for each sector. This has been updated a couple of times in the last week…

It’s worth nothing that this “Activity and Business Tier” document is where the rules for amusement and theme parks first appeared when California announced the issuance of those rules back in early March. This is noteworthy because guidance for the theme parks sector came much later than most others (you might recall Disneyland’s Wild Reopening Ride from last year). It was one of a few business sectors that received rules after the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) first issued its Travel Advisory last year on November 13 (original version).

Every sector with rules released before the CDPH Travel Advisory was issued were not retroactively revised to include it, but new rules released after November 13 all incorporated the CDPH Travel Advisory by reference. In our crowd predictions, we mentioned that we could book a May stay at the Grand Californian, eat every meal indoors at Downtown Disney, shop til dropping, and not in any way violate California’s rules. We just couldn’t enter theme parks or go see the Dodgers play. The timing of the different sector rule releases is entirely why.

This is also why our position was that as soon as California’s Travel Advisory changed, so too would the state’s theme park reopening rules. This wasn’t just idle speculation–it’s literally how “incorporation by reference” works.

Moreover, during the press conference back in March announcing these rules, Dr. Mark Ghaly of California’s Health and Human Service Agency stated as much. He explained that theme parks could only accept visitors from within the state of California, so long as the statewide travel advisory remained in place.

When California’s Travel Advisory changed at the beginning of this month (see new/current version), the theme park rules were not updated accordingly. Arguably, that did not need to happen.

Since the CDPH Travel Advisory was incorporated by reference, those rules are something of a living document that change when the Travel Advisory is modified. If I were operating a business in an effected sector looking to boost my visitor numbers, that’s the argument I’d make.

However, none of the theme parks or other impacted businesses did that. All added checkboxes to their order flows that required acknowledging that when visiting, the guest’s party size will not contain more than 3 households and the guest, and all members of the guest’s party will be in-state visitors.

That rendered any other interpretation irrelevant, since businesses can enforce such a rule if they so desire, even if it’s beyond what’s contemplated by the state. (We just covered this exact principle with face masks at Walt Disney World.)

We suspect that none of the theme parks or other businesses bothered with this because California announced that the state would retire the Blueprint for a Safer Economy reopening plan on June 15, 2021. It might’ve been an issue worth pressing if it wouldn’t resolve itself in a couple of months, but after almost a year of fighting the state, most theme parks probably didn’t want to bother.

Unless subsequent rules are announced by the state, June 15 would essentially give businesses a clean slate to enact their own operating procedures and allow them to open to all visitors. June 15 would almost certainly be the date out of state visitors would be allowed to visit Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. For us, that seemed like it was the end of this saga. Then came another update, seemingly out of left field…

Within the last week, the aforementioned Activity and Business Tiers document received two revisions, including an addendum for fully vaccinated visitors and spectators: “Fully vaccinated persons from out of state may visit or attend activities or events that are restricted to in-state visitors. Fully vaccinated persons should consult the current CDPH Travel Advisory and adhere to any applicable recommendations.”

Further down in that same addendum, fully vaccinated is defined as including children over 2 who are not eligible to be vaccinated if they are tested. Children younger than 2 do not need to be tested.

My interpretation of the addendum is that its plain meaning applies to all sectors above that mention the CDPH Travel Advisory, which includes theme parks. There’s no limiting language or reason to believe it’s inapplicable to theme parks or any other impacted sector. Frankly, I don’t see how you draw any other conclusion after reading that document.

It would be one thing if the CDPH Travel Advisory references were quietly deleted–that would raise the possibility of an accidental change or wanting to maintain the status quo but not wanting to reference a now-contradictory document. In this case, an addendum was added–it’s very hard to make the case that all that new text wasn’t deliberate. The change is also entirely consistent with the original intent of the rules.

The only reason there’s currently confusion is because California has multiple documents setting out the rules, and only one has been updated. However, there has been inconsistency among these documents for months.

In fact, if going by California’s main Blueprint for a Safer Economy page, you wouldn’t be able to visit a theme park if you’re from outside the county (not state). Yet that is clearly not the rule; it’s just sloppiness.

Thus far, only SeaWorld San Diego has updated its ticketing page and website banner to reflect this change. Some fans have guessed that this is the case because there’s a carve-out for SeaWorld as it operates in the “Museums, Zoos & Aquariums” sector. This cannot be true.

First, that sector received its rules before November 13, so the previous Travel Advisory was never applicable to it. Museums, zoos, and aquariums have been able to accept out of state visitors without regard to vaccination status all along. Second, SeaWorld San Diego is now operating as a theme park–so that sector’s rules are what now apply to it. (SeaWorld has been the savviest aquarium/theme park when it comes to reopening, so it’s not the least bit surprising they picked up on this change first.)

April 22, 2021 Update:

Journalist Scott Gustin (see thread) spoke with the California Department of Health, which informed him that “the addendum to the Blueprint grid permits fully vaccinated people from out of state to participate in activities restricted to in-state visitors. This includes theme parks.”

He also spoke with Disneyland around this time, with the company indicating that “their policy remains unchanged as of right now.” In a subsequent follow-up, Disney explained that “until Disneyland receives additional clarification from the state, their policy will remain unchanged.”

So there you have it. That’s where things presently stand, along with perhaps way too much background. Honestly, the only reason we’ve hedged the title of this post with “may be allowed” is because there’s always the possibility California reverts back or Disneyland does not update its rules.

There’s actually a distinct possibility of the latter. Vaccination “requirements” are already incredibly controversial. Disney may not want to wade into that, alienating potential guests–or even consumers thousands of miles removed from California.

Worth noting here is that this absolutely is not a vaccine passport. Many people assume that Disney is going to be checking IDs at the turnstiles, but California does not have an enforcement requirement–just that “park operators must obtain an attestation” at the time of purchase or reservations. Accordingly, Disney would not be required to check vaccination status or cards, either.

The onus is on the visitors. If you’ve booked any form travel recently, you’ve probably encountered a terms & conditions checkbox that you didn’t read. That’s literally all California is requiring under these rules. Anything beyond that is up to the theme park operator. (We haven’t heard of Universal Studios Hollywood, SeaWorld, or the Dodgers checking IDs.)

In such a terms and conditions attestation, Disneyland wouldn’t even need to use the word “vaccine.” Disney could include a checkbox saying: “I confirm that my party does not contain more than 3 households, and that everyone in my party is a California resident or otherwise qualifies to visit pursuant to the CDPH Travel Advisory [external link].” That could be the end of it. I fail to see any way whatsoever that would be controversial.

While Disneyland hasn’t updated its booking pages yet, we still expect that to happen. It seems likely to us that Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will be allowed by the state to welcome vaccinated out of state visitors and tested children as early as the April 30, 2021 reopening day.

This is great news for guests and Disney, but the biggest winners of all are undoubtedly the City of Anaheim and the many third-party businesses and hotels that are almost entirely dependent upon tourist dollars. (This would also move forward our predicted start date of the ‘tourist deluge’ at Disneyland.) We’ll keep you posted with further developments, the next of which will almost certainly be an official public statement by the California Department of Public Health and a banner change on Disneyland.com. Stay tuned!

Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!

YOUR THOUGHTS

If you’re an eligible vaccinated out-of-state visitor, will you visit Disneyland or Disney California Adventure during the initial reopening period? Think Disneyland will change its policy or stick with residents-only? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Please keep the comments civil. This is not the place for arguing about vaccines, politics, and so forth—all such comments will be deleted, irrespective of perspective. You are not going to change anyone’s mind via the comments section on this blog, nor are you going to change California’s Travel Advisory. If you wish to contest this, rather than yelling into the internet abyss, have your voice heard in a meaningful way by contacting Disney or elected officials.

53 Responses to “Vaccinated Out of State Visitors May Be Allowed at Disneyland & DCA”
  1. Joanne cunningham June 28, 2021
  2. Gmurrser May 26, 2021
  3. MrNico May 4, 2021

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *