Disneyland in California to reopen April 30

Disney amusement park lovers finally have a date to look forward to.

California's DisneyLand will reopen at a limited capacity on April 30th, the company announced on Wednesday.

State health officials gave the green light last week permitting Disneyland and other theme parks, as well as stadiums and outdoor entertainment venues to reopen as early as April 1, after being shut for more than a year due to the health crisis.

But the reopening will come with some restrictions.

Masks and other social distancing will still be required, and Disney Land will initially be open only to California residents.

Attendance will be limited to 15% of normal capacity, CEO Bob Chapek told CNBC, and DisneyLand is putting in place a new reservation system in order to adhere to those capacity restraints.

One thing that could steal some of the joy around the re-opening: even though infection rates across the country have slowed and vaccinations are on the rise, DisneyLand is located in a California county where infection rates remain dangerously high.

The reopening plan, however, is good news for Disney workers.

Last year Disney warned it would furlough some 28,000 workers, mostly across its U.S. theme parks in California and Florida. Some of those workers, no doubt, will be put back to work.

Its other main U.S. theme park Disney World in Florida reopened last July - also with limited capacity.

Before the health crisis. theme parks were responsible for more than one-third of annual Disney sales.

Shares of Disney, which have hit record highs on the overwhelming success of its Disney+ streaming video service, turned higher on the news.