Disney World, Universal, Busch Gardens Announce Reopening Dates

D'Ann Lawrence White
Updated ·5 min read

ORLANDO, FL — Mickey Mouse fans won't have long to wait for their Disney World fix. Disney World Orlando announced Wednesday that it's shooting for a July 11 reopening of the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom and a July 15 reopening of Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

On Wednesday, Walt Disney World presented plans to the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force outlining its intention to start a phased reopening of its Orlando theme parks including ways it plans to protect visitors and staff from the coronavirus.

The plans still have to be submitted to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for final approval. However, in a news conference last week, DeSantis indicated that he is anxious to jumpstart Florida's flagging tourism industry, and reopening the big three — Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando — is essential to that effort.

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The theme parks have been closed since mid-March.

"They have to provide how they're going to do it, how they're going to accommodate the guests, how they're going to protect the staff…" DeSantis said. "My goal in all this is let's keep safety first, but let's work and innovate to get to 'yes' on this stuff."

Orlando theme park reopening plans must first be reviewed by the task force headed by Orange County Mayor Jerry L. Demings. The task force includes nearly 50 representatives of hospitals, theme parks, financial institutions, hotels, small businesses, nonprofit economic development agencies and officials from Orange, Lake, Osceola and Seminole counties.

Jim McPhee, senior vice president of operations at Disney, told the task force that the Disney World is developing a social-distancing squad — staff members who will be on hand to remind visitors to follow 6-foot-distancing guidelines.

Disney will also require that visitors and staff wear face masks and make reservations prior to visiting the theme parks, which will limit capacity.

During its meetings, the task force has leaned toward a phased approach, starting with 50 percent capacity and increasing to 75 percent capacity in the second reopening phase.

The task force also recommended mandatory face masks and daily temperature checks for employees, touchless hand sanitizer stations at ticketing turnstiles and ride entries and exits, and regular disinfecting of railings and other frequently touched surfaces.

After losing an estimated $1.4 billion during the coronavirus closures, according to the Wall Street Journal, Disney began a pilot phased reopening of Shanghai Disneyland on May 11.

Currently, all other Disney theme parks, water parks, the Disney Resort hotels at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Disney's Vero Beach Resort and Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort are closed. This includes the Magic Kingdom Park, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom Park in Orlando, Disneyland and California Adventure Park in California, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studio Park in Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland.

"We're looking at all of our locations and how best to begin the reopening process, including a gradual reopening and/or partial reopening of certain locations," said Dr. Pam Hymel, Disney Parks chief medical officer, in a letter on the Disney website.

Last week, Disney World began a phased reopening of some of its shops and restaurants at Disney Springs in Orlando and opened the World of Disney store in Disney Springs Wednsday.

"As you can imagine, managing guest density in queues, restaurants, hotels, ride vehicles and other facilities throughout the park and across the resort is a major focus as we implement physical distancing guidelines based on guidance from health authorities, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and appropriate government agencies," said Hymel.

"This will likely include implementation of guest capacity measures to comply with state and federal guidelines," she said. "We're also exploring ways to use technology to aid us in these efforts, like with our Play Disney Parks App and through virtual queues at Disneyland and Walt Disney World."

Last year, Walt Disney World had 58 million visitors.

"When you open a theme park, it's not like you can just flip a switch and three days later do it. They're going to need a lot of runway to be able to know a date certain," DeSantis said.

At the same meeting of the task force Wednesday, SeaWorld interim CEO Marc Swanson submitted plans to reopen two of its Orlando theme parks -- Discovery Cove and Aquatica in Orlando. In conjunction, SeaWorld's Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Tampa submitted plans to the Hillsborough County Emergency Policy Group to reopen the Tampa theme park.

Swanson said all SeaWorld parks will also require guests to wear masks for everyone over the age of 2. In addition, the theme park will require that guests have their temperatures taken upon arrival. The theme park will provide hand sanitizer at the entrances and exits of all rides and limit capacity.

Universal Orlando presented its reopening plans to the task force last week. Just hours later, DeSantis gave his approval, giving Universal Studios the go-ahead to begin a phased reopening June 5.

This includes Universal Studios Florida, Universal’s Islands of Adventure and Universal’s Volcano Bay.

"This carefully managed reopening comes with stringent new health, safety and hygiene procedures in place," said Universal Studios in a news release. "As we enjoy our parks together again, everyone will need to follow CDC guidelines and the recommendations of health officials, and Universal Orlando’s policies. Note that any public location where people are present provides an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 and we cannot guarantee that you will not be exposed during your visit."

Under its coronavirus guidelines, the parks will require all visitors and staff wear face masks and have their temperatures checked before entering the parks. There will be social distancing floor markings and a team of staff will be designated to remind visitors who aren't following the guidelines.

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This article originally appeared on the Orlando Patch