Disneyland’s California Adventure Theme Park To Reopen With Dining Experience Amid Closure

Topline

The Disney California Adventure theme park at California’s Disneyland Resort will offer a new ticketed dining experience starting this spring, Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock announced Monday, in the iconic theme park’s largest move to reopen yet following a controversial prolonged closure by state officials amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Key Facts

Key Background

Disneyland and other theme parks’ continued closure has become a source of controversy in California, as Gov. Gavin Newsom has resisted calls to let them reopen. Local officials and state lawmakers have heavily opposed the closures due to their impact on the local economy, and Disney’s theme park division has laid off 32,000 U.S. employees as a result of the pandemic’s impact on the parks. (Walt Disney World in Florida reopened in July, but a number of hotels and restaurants remain closed.) Disney has also attacked California’s resistance to letting them reopen, with chairman Bob Iger quitting the state’s economic task force in retaliation, and some theme parks have raised the possibility of taking legal action to force the state’s hand. Disney’s upcoming dining offering follows other theme parks in the area who have offered limited experiences that are permitted under state rules: nearby theme park Knott’s Berry Farm has offered similar outdoor dining experiences, for instance, while Six Flags Magic Mountain operated a drive-through experience over the holiday season.

What To Watch For

California state legislators introduced a new bill last week that would speed up theme parks’ reopening, proposing a faster timeline for the parks to reopen than the state’s current guidelines. Rather than the current guidelines’ stipulation that parks can only reopen when a region is in the state’s least-restrictive reopening tier—with less than one daily Covid-19 case per 100,000 people—parks would be allowed to reopen under the second-lowest tier under the new proposal.

Further Reading

Disney California Adventure Park opening ‘limited-time ticketed experience’ in mid-March (Good Morning America)

Disneyland Resort To Become Covid-19 Vaccination ‘Super’ Site (Forbes)

California Releases Theme Park Guidelines—But Disneyland Isn’t Reopening Anytime Soon (Forbes)

Newsom Hits Back At Disney, Says California In ‘No Hurry’ To Reopen Theme Parks (Forbes)

California theme parks’ pleas to reopen gets an assist from a new state bill (San Diego Union-Tribune)