When Will Disneyland Reopen?
“When will Disneyland and California Adventure reopen in 2021?” and “how much longer will the parks stay closed?” are common questions. This covers what Orange County’s improving metrics mean, why the closure will continue the next couple months, and more. (Updated March 9, 2021.)
We’ll start by underscoring the reality that we don’t have a crystal ball, and no one knows for sure when Disneyland will reopen. This is a fluid situation, which should be apparent by the fact that Disneyland was originally scheduled to open last July and now may not reopen until almost a full year later. New data emerges on a daily basis, and plans continue to change.
Moreover, Disneyland’s reopening has been incredibly contentious, a flashpoint between Governor Newsom and several groups/cities/businesses/etc. We aren’t going to recap the whole saga here, but Disneyland’s Wild Reopening Ride is worth the read if you want the backstory of the drama. Hopefully someday we’ll get a DisneyWar sequel that covers some of this…
After having its reopening pushed back three times, there’s another Reopening Update for the Grand Californian. The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa will reopen on May 2, 2021. During this initial phase, only the Disney Vacation Club villas–and not the hotel side–of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa will reopen.
In the nearer term, the only thing open right now at Disneyland Resort is the Downtown Disney District. There, restaurants are operating with outdoor seating and physical distancing, face masks, etc. Note that on some weekends, Downtown Disney fills to capacity. We have full details about all of this in our Guide to Downtown Disney at Disneyland.
For now, Downtown Disney has been expanded inside Disney California Adventure onto Buena Vista Street to help with capacity. A Touch of Disney at Disneyland Resort, a new ticketed event, begins on March 18, 2021 throughout the entirety of Disney California Adventure and runs through April 2021. This is the first step towards DCA and Disneyland reopening as theme parks, which is not be too far away…
The latest development is that California has released new reopening rules that mean Disneyland and Disney California Adventure can reopen as early as April 2021! These and other 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.
Here are the new reopening rules for California 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 that the “in-state visitors” restriction is to keep the theme park reopening rules 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.
This is great news, but it’s not the end of the saga. Of course, the first step is for Orange County, California to improve from the purple tier to the red tier.
The good news there is that all of California’s key metrics–new cases, positivity rate, and hospitalizations–have plummeted since peaking on January 13. The regional stay at home order was already lifted over a month ago, and now we’re seeing some counties make reopening progress.
To that point, new cases are down by over 90% statewide is only 2.1% as of March 9, 2021. (The Los Angeles Times has a good data tracker.) These numbers are projected to continue improving in the coming weeks with vaccine rollout improving. This is great news for California, and for Disneyland’s reopening prospects.
More specific to Disneyland, 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 the March 9, 2021 update, Orange County qualified for the red tier. (Per the rules, a county must meet the next tier’s criteria for two consecutive weeks to move to a less restrictive tier.)
Regardless, Orange County’s pace of improvements has been impressive and its trajectory is promising. If current trends hold, Orange County will be in the red tier on March 16, 2021. It’s also very likely Orange County will enter the moderate or orange tier on April 6, 2021. (Counties must remain in a tier for at least 3 weeks before moving to a less restrictive tier.)
Accordingly, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will almost certainly be eligible to open by April 1, 2021 pursuant to the revised California Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
So…what happens next? When will Disneyland reopen?
To give you the short answer, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said during the Walt Disney Company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (on March 9, 2021) that Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will reopen in “late April 2021.” He indicated that Disney would announce a specific date very soon.
This makes sense, as it allows the hard ticket “Touch of Disney” event to occur as scheduled at Disney California Adventure, and also for Orange County to move all the way up to the moderate tier, which would allow the parks to open at 25% capacity on day one.
With that said, 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. 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 in April 2021, or do you think that’ll be delayed or pushed back? What’s your predicted date? Are you expecting reduced entertainment and offerings, or think the parks will pretty much reopen with everything firing on all cylinders? Do you agree or disagree with our advice and 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!
We had a DL spring break reservation that I smartly changed back in February. I thought I was ahead of the curve by moving my dates to mid-September. Now I’m feeling like I didn’t go far enough out. Changing dates and airfare hurt financially, so we’re waiting like everyone else to see if I need to get back in the phone with DL travel and our airline. Will they be open? If so, would we have priority to get in by lodging onsite? Time will tell.
I agree! I moved our March Disneyland trip to late August using the incentive deal Disney offered to reschedule. Pretty sure that isn’t going to happen either. I’m just SO sorry for people like you who have to reschedule flights. We also rescheduled our DVC week in WDW to December and fortunately AA did not charge us a change fee and we actually have a credit due to the decrease in fare. Waiting to see if WDW is open by then too!
I would call them to confirm. Since they are extending the expiration dates of APs, and the Southern California special tickets, it stands to reason that they would also extend the dates on your prepaid tickets. But call the number in this link to confirm:
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/travel-information/
Oops, this was a response to Tina on May 2.
Sadly, I don’t see Disneyland opening this year. If Newsom’s criteria is a vaccine, who knows when it’ll be ready. Additionally, it takes weeks for a vaccine to be effective after administered. As an annual pass holder, it’s been tough not to get my Disney fix.
To clarify, he used the words therapeutics, vaccine, or immunity in his press conference. So, herd immunity or some form of treatment short of a vaccine is possible.
Perhaps I’m just overly optimistic, but I have a hard time believing there won’t be concerts, conventions, theme parks, or live sporting events for potentially 2+ years.
2021. We will have a second wave of the virus in the fall. Daughter and I are Annual Passholders who are looking forward to the big party, but also patient to ensure they get it right.
Maybe they could offer california APs the opportunity to use their passes in Florida, to ease the california problem and move some people the WDW.
He actually didn’t include amusement parks in Stage 4. They were left out, and the fact that Disneyland was planning on opening In July at first, means they are part of Stage 3. There doesn’t have to be therapeutics for that stage.
What about theme parks? Only really interested in Disney’s theme parks. Most amusement parks are boring…
Wow Liz. Stay classy! The name calling and threats aren’t a good look for you. No wonder people can’t have rational discussions about this. Reasonable minds can differ and I’m open to opposing opinions but if we can’t discuss without attacking people with different views then it’s no wonder this has turned so polarized.
When this first started I naively thought this would actually bring people in our country closer together. Common sense would mean everyone would be working together to keep themselves and their communities safe while trying to slow a potentially deadly disease. Instead the entitled, selfish people, are just acting more entitled and selfish. When you choose to go out and protest in a large group, especially when not wearing a mask, you are not just putting yourself in danger. You will then walk into a grocery store, or other essential business, and put everyone there in danger including the people going to work everyday and exposing themselves to this risk so you can buy food and other essentials. We’ve become a society that is so used to instant gratification and only thinking of ourselves, and this pandemic has shed an ugly light on that reality. It’s normal to be feeling unsettled and even despair over what our futures look like. My family has had a WDW vacation scheduled for July for months and that won’t happen. We’ve not only cried about that, but even over little things like browsing around Home Goods or playing at a park. I live in California and I would much rather have a governor looking at the science than one that’s willing to put their citizens at risk because opening things like bowling alleys when their Covid cases are on the rise somehow makes sense to them.
yes. sadly, i had also hoped to see some unity come from fighting a common enemy, but it’s dividing us more than i thought was possible. i’ve learned a whole lot about a lot of people during this time i’d rather unlearn.
That is why we are shopping for our older relatives and they are staying at home. I really think shutting the beaches and parks in Newport Beach and Huntington Beach was somewhat politically motivated. Law enforcement said most everyone complied with distancing orders last week. Those photos were taken by the Orange County Register with a telephoto lens and condensed to make the beach look much more crowded. Too bad Newsom didn’t consult with local government before just shutting everything down. Fortunately I live in a more liberal part of SoCal and we flew drones over every beach to show compliance so Ventura beaches are still open! Sadly we will just have to keep looking at Tom’s beautiful photos of Disneyland to get our Disney fix!
Most people sadly don’t understand telephoto compression–I’ve noticed that’s something that has been deployed a bit too often by news agencies (not just OCR) around the world. It’s unfortunate.
Despite not living there anymore, we keep in touch with a locals group in Laguna Beach. The consensus there seems to be that the most logical middle ground solution is to close the city parking lots but keep the beaches open. I’m not sure what unintended consequences might result from that, but it sounds plausible on its face, at least.
Newsom and the beach cities need to figure something out, because clearly this is going to be an ongoing point of contention.
Where did you get your info regarding the Orange County Register photos?
Tom,
We have saved for a year for WDW because my dream is Christmas at Disney. Do you think all things will be going ie, fireworks and parades? Meet and greets? If those are going to be limited I would like to wait a year.
Thank you 🙂
Is Disneyland going to refund prepaid tickets or extend expiration on them? We spent $1700 on tickets with MaxPass in February. Our trip was scheduled for the end of May. Due to work schedules, we would need to go next year instead. However our tickets say they are good for 1 year. They’ll be expired by then.
We have the exact same issue – has there been any comment from Disney on this?
We have just shy of $4,000 in ticket for our trip that was to start this Friday. Disney says we are “allowed” to use the tickets to trade towards the price of the ones when we go, if we go. We have been quite die hard fans going every 2 years. But thinking of Disney in the next 1-2-3 years I shudder. Virtual ques is NOT what I paid for, not being able to do fast passes and plan would not be anything I would want to even think about. For many reasons we need to plan it out and that is how it works for us. Having less rides running- again that is not what we paid for. I will check with my credit card for a charge back.
I live in Ventura County (north and coastal area to LA). We were at a protest yesterday in Ventura asking Newsom to begin opening up CA instead of closing more beaches! Many Californians are fed up with the state government ruining our economy. Small business owners are really suffering. Hopefully we can look to the 30 other states beginning to open and realize tourism, etc. are a big party of the CA economy. Sadly , Newsom doesn’t seem to be listening! WDW will most definitely open before Disneyland.
I live in California and honestly feel WAY more comfortable with the way Newsom is handling things than other states and the feds.
Honestly I’d rather be on the cautious side than losing my mother or other at risk people.
I won’t be spending my money at any small business that opens before it’s safe, even if they are legally able to in their state. Kudos to all the owners in GA who have refused to open because they know it’s irresponsible at this point. My health is worth something too, the world does not revolve around your business.
looking to the other states opening now (too soon) will ensure states being cautious and following the science are making the right decision to wait. economies eventually recover, though they may look different than before, but lives cannot be recovered.
Tom, would you consider adding captions to the photos in the article? You are an amazing photographer. I just love the photos you took and wondered where in the parks (or elsewhere) you took them. Thanks!
Unfortunately, the captions feature on this WordPress site doesn’t work very well and displays wonky on mobile.
However, if you right click and “open image in new tab” that will show the file name. The vast majority of the time my file names are descriptive (for my own search and index purposes) and will tell you where the photo was shot. Sorry–I know that’s convoluted, but it’s the best I’ve got!
We have plans for Disneyland Aug 25-30. I’m hoping beyond hope that it will be reopened by then but we also have tickets to Star Wars After Dark during those dates. I have a sinking feeling that even if Disneyland is reopened by then that the after dark party will be cancelled as it would be too difficult to implement distancing at that type of event I think. Sadness but a new reality all around I think.
We have a SoCal trip planned in mid-June. I know I need to cancel since there’s zero chance we would feel comfortable spending a week doing activities in huge crowds. Our Spring Break trip got cancelled already. Thanks for keeping us up to date!
We have a trip in July and would feel very comfortable. I hope it’s open.
I just don’t see how Disney could wait for a vaccine. It could take several months, not to mention there’s no “legal” way of ascertaining if someone actually got the vaccine or not.
I think, in the end, they’ll open when they see the number of infections and hospitalizations go down over the country.
But, and this is a big but, the parks, FL & Cali, will never return to their former selves. Gone are the days of parades, fireworks, and long lines. What will the parks look like after COVID? That remains to be seen, and Disney isn’t sharing their crystal ball!
I think they could require guests to display their vaccination booklet produced by the WHO. That’s what we do to enter African countries which require proof of vaccination against yellow fever. Doctors who administer the vaccine fill out the relevant details and stick the label from the vaccine vial inside the booklet. Of course, this may be open to forgery (especially given the high prevalence of the anti-vaxxer movement in the USA) plus the president has suspended US funding of the WHO, so it’s not clear if those booklets will still be distributed or recognised by US officials.
My daughters and I attend Anime Expo in LA every July and always side trip to Disneyland. When I saw them turning the convention center into a field hospital we knew what was coming next. They cancelled the Con, they cancelled our hotel reservations but presently we still have flights from Detroit to LA. We live in a border city in Canada and the border is closed. I haven’t cancelled our July 1-6 flights yet, but I know there is really no way Disneyland is going to be open then. I am holding out now in case I could turn them into flights to Florida, but I am doubtful of that before Summer ends as well. On an up note, we were at Disney World when it shut down and we rode M&M runaway railroad! I look at our Epcot F&G photopass pictures and wonder when we will be back. You are doing a great job of entertaining us during this time!
I feel Disney is expensive for a family and not to have all the amenities that I wanted to share with my family 6 feet distancing no no parades and I can’t gather crowds it’s not gonna work wearing a mask wiping down every ride after each person is on it ; you have to wait until it’s clear and we can go back to enjoying Disney as much as we would like to
I live in Southern California, but have been watching for news on Florida’s Walt Disney World opening much more closely that Disneyland.
With cross-country trips to WDW scheduled for June and December, the stakes of the Florida opening are much higher for me.
As you said, once DLR opens, it’ll be very easy for me to plan a mini-vacation over there. I live 90 miles away in the Palm Springs area.
As you said, Disneyland is at risk of getting swamped when they do open. Of the many Disneyland passholders and fans I know, pretty much all of them are highly anticipating it’s reopening and all seem to be asking me my thoughts because of my Disney Parks obsession. They better be ready or severely limit attendance when they do open.
I’d be very surprised if Disneyland opens before September, and it’s really starting to look like Walt Disney World is gonna try to make a run of it in June.
“I’d be very surprised if Disneyland opens before September, and it’s really starting to look like Walt Disney World is gonna try to make a run of it in June.”
I won’t say I agree with you (yet), but it’s looking more and more like a simultaneous reopening is not going to happen (something I would’ve initially predicted), unless Disney is willing to wait several more months to reopen WDW. Perhaps they are, but none of the recent signs from the Florida meetings have suggested that.
Right. I’ll never live in CA again. I’ll go to visit Disneyland, but not much else.
Newsom doesn’t rely on science or data in other decisions, so it’s kind of funny to think he would do that in this case.
Hah! Yeah. We lived in SoCal for many years and loved it but right now I’m glad not to be there.
If Disney waits until December when there is supposed to be a vaccine, that really works to take the heat off of them. I think there is little chance in that time frame to correctly find the right vaccine. But if they mandate everyone to get the covid vaccine and it’s not the the right one……..people still getting sick who’s fault is that. People would buy in.
Had a trip planned for mid June, but finally pulled the trigger to cancel our flight this afternoon. I’m also trying to figure out what to do with my AP. I have the Premier, but can’t get an answer to my expiration extension if one coast opens before the other? I am just wondering if the expiration date would be extended to cover the closure of the later opening park?
We are also wondering what Disney will do about our Premier expiration dates if both worlds don’t open simultaneously. Maybe we will get two APs with different expiration dates? Who knows…but I’m sure Disney will be fair to us and will announce something when they begin opening. Looking forward to wearing our Disney themed masks and going to one of the parks hopefully soon! I’m sure tired of canceling and rescheduling trips!
I have the Premier pass and I have been wondering the same thing. I doubt that they really know how they are going to handle the Premier Pass situation yet either. I am curious what either of you think about this option. They could base the extension on the opening date of your “Home Park” or your first entrance into your “Non-Home Park”. Home and Non-Home parks could be determined be either your most visited park, or they could send an email out and ask you to choose or identify your Home Park. Then as I said above the extension date would be based on the date your Home Park opens or the date of your first visit to your Non Home Park, whichever comes first. What do you think about this?
Todd B.
We have Disneyland reservations for 6/13-6/19/20. We haven’t heard anything from Disney regarding the need to cancel or the need to pay in full, so we are in a holding pattern. Hopefully we will hear something soon!
Tom, did you mean to put a Not in this sentence?
“It’s our belief that Disney and Universal are receiving an exemption from the guidelines and mandates so they can avoid safety protocol,“
People are going to jump all over that.
Great article, btw. As always.
Thanks for catching that, you’re right! (Ironically, there was a redundancy in that sentence that I actually caught while proofreading, but apparently deleted a bit too much.)