Disneyland, Universal and other California theme parks can reopen April 1 - OCR/SCNG

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

So I have to assume there is going to be something on Disney's website to stop out of town visitors from purchasing tickets from the get go? but... what if someone from Cali buys the tickets and their friend from out of state comes to town and they go to the gates on opening day..can that out of towner still get in? will they check id's and addresses at the gate?? it seems this out of town rule is not going to be enforced very well and has lots of loopholes.

 

[fctiger]

So they are going to Refresh their Refresh? I'm not sure that's reassuring.



Well, because after months of haggling and a Top Secret trip to Orlando where the bureaucrats were put up at the Waldorf Astoria that Newsom has blocked all access to their findings, they finally released Guidelines for theme parks last October. And they were restrictive and seemed impossible to meet, let alone make a profit with.

We knew what those original restrictions were. They just made them worse yesterday, and added a bunch of new rules on top.



And how do we know that? How can we trust Sacramento to deliver that? No business owner in their right mind would try to plan for a fiscal year based on all this uncertainty, and restrictive rules that only get more restrictive when they get a "Refresh".

15% Capacity? No Indoor Dining? No foreigners allowed? No intergroup mixing? Time restrictions on indoor rides?

What the heck?!? What does all that mean? How does a business plan for that? How does a business implement it and still try and turn a profit? Disneyland will have Vloggers there by the masses on opening day, but what about Knott's, Six Flags, Legoland, etc.?

How does the California theme park industry try and survive until 2022 when every Refresh makes it worse?

No offense man, but you just sound like you want something to complain about. Did you really think there wouldn't be harsh restrictions? The park has been closed for nearly a year now and up until this week they weren't even going to allow these parks to open in the lowest tiers. Well, they finally did, but yes its going to come with a lot of conditions.

This isn't going to last forever, probably just a few months. You can't even get into Japan right now, much less be able to go to Tokyo Disneyland if you wanted to and Japan is WAY safer to go than America right now. Many places are, but they still have tough restrictions to get in...mostly to keep things safter.

I don't get why you are so bothered by no indoor dining considering most of the counties hasn't had it for nearly a year now? And majority of the restaurants in the parks are outdoors anyway or at least have outdoor seating, so what the big deal? It's a park with 15% capacity, its not like all the restaurants will be full.

Look, but to make this clear I'm not saying I agree with all these things, I just prefer to see the glass as half full, mainly the park is opening again! And probably sooner than a lot of us thought. But does having all these restrictions make me want to go to the park tomorrow, no. But we already know that won't stop most people. And if Disney feels they are being too strict, then they won't open until the county get into higher tiers. At this point, it is what it is. It's probably going to take several years for Disneyland or any of these parks to feel 'normal' again.

 

[fctiger]

So I have to assume there is going to be something on Disney's website to stop out of town visitors from purchasing tickets from the get go? but... what if someone from Cali buys the tickets and their friend from out of state comes to town and they go to the gates on opening day..can that out of towner still get in? will they check id's and addresses at the gate?? it seems this out of town rule is not going to be enforced very well and has lots of loopholes.

All it will say is you just have to be a California resident or live within the California zip codes to purchase tickets. My guess is they will require ID when you show up just like you do when you have an AP or multi-day pass. This isn't exactly something new. Sure, some people will still be people and defy the rules and figure out ways to cheat the system. This has only been happening at DL for 64 years now lol. The point is it will stop a lot of them from coming regardless.

 

[LovePop]

most of the counties of Cali hasn't had indoor dining for nearly a year now

Wow, I did not know that. That's gotta be tough!

 

[fctiger]

Wow, I did not know that. That's gotta be tough!

Yeah, not great lol. But thankfully at least California is mostly a sunny place throughout the year, so it hasn't been that bad and you can eat outdoors with no real issues save for the coldest winter days. But yes it is still bad for businesses regardless since that impacts the number of people they can serve. And of course many don't have outdoor seating, so you can only get it to go. So I'm not trying to spin a pretty picture on it, just a balanced one.

But I don't get the fuss with DL though. AFAIK, literally every restaurant in DL has outdoor seating except Blue Bayou, so what am I missing? Same for DCA. Carthay Circle is really the only truly indoor restaurant in that place and they just created more outdoor seating like a lot of restaurants in the country.

And I'm not saying people can't complain or disagree with the conditions, but this is literally what I expected to happen whenever they were going to open, at least in the beginning. This is no different then most Disney parks around the world minus WDW. If things are still this restrictive 3 months after opening, I would be shocked.

 

[LovePop]

15% Capacity? No Indoor Dining? No foreigners allowed? No intergroup mixing? Time restrictions on indoor rides?

What the heck?!? What does all that mean? How does a business plan for that?

My thoughts exactly. And what if the numbers go back up, making Disneyland needing to close yet again? I don't know what Disney will decide, but I would wait at least a month or 2 after April 1 to see if the capacity can be at least 25% before I make a move, because reopening has got to cost a boatload of money, and we don't want to be like the other Disneylands that closed and reopened and closed again, goodness. Disney World, for example, reopened and stayed opened even though the numbers spiked in Florida. If California even should spike again Disneyland will definitely not be allowed to stay open, so I would think that they will be much more cautious about reopening.

 

[TP2000]

No offense man, but you just sound like you want something to complain about. Did you really think there wouldn't be harsh restrictions?

Did you really think they would take the harsh restrictions from last October and make them even harsher in March?

 

[PiratesMansion]

Did you really think they would take the harsh restrictions from last October and make them even harsher in March?

But the park is opening now. The park would not have been allowed to open in October. To say it is harsher, thus, is categorically false.

Maybe you're saying it's harsher just because it's 15% vs. 25%, but it's not going to last forever, especially if people actually follow the guidelines and numbers go down and as more people get vaccinated.

I don't know, I think there are worse things than getting to go to Disneyland with only 15% of its capacity allowed in. Sounds like paradise to me. A paradise that, as a California resident, you have access to and I do not.

You seem to think any and all covid restrictions are bunk, so what's stopping you from flying to Florida since California's park metrics seem to bother you so much? I can't imagine, given your postings of the past year, that you'd hesitate to get on a plane or that you're struggling financially.

 

[fctiger]

Did you really think they would take the harsh restrictions from last October and make them even harsher in March?

I guess I don't remember all the harsh conditions in October lol. All I'm saying is I'm not shocked they are as harsh as they are given they were always pretty harsh and why the parks been closed so long. Now they have an opening. Why don't we wait and see how the first weeks goes first? My guess is like everything, they are just being overly cautious. Things go well, cases goes down, vaccinations goes up, etc, things will ease. I understand it's a message board and we want to vent at something, but this is just temporary, right? You're complaining they aren't letting foreigners in the park when as Americans there are currently only a dozen countries in the world that will even allow Americans in without strict quarantine or poof you been tested at the moment.

Yeah, things are still rough right now everywhere. But I come to this board and it's like California is some weird outlier. Anyone who wants to come to California still can without any issues. They won't all be able to get into a theme park right now, they'll live. And honestly with 15% capacity, anyone is lucky to get into the place. Who is jumping on a plane with something that limited?

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

But the park is opening now.

Is it? Disneyland has not announced an opening date yet.

 

[Disney Irish]

Did you really think they would take the harsh restrictions from last October and make them even harsher in March?

How are they harsher?

Lets remind everyone the reality of the current restrictions versus what the restrictions will be starting April 1st:

Current (Started Oct 20th, ending Mar 31st):

Purple tier - Closed

Red tier - Closed

Orange tier -
•Smaller parks can open with modifications
•Capacity must be limited to 25% or 500 people, whichever is less
•Outdoor attractions only can open
•Reservations or advanced ticket sales required
•Local attendees only (from the same county as the park’s location)

Yellow tier -
•Larger parks can open with modifications
•Park capacity must be limited to 25%
•Reservations or advanced ticket sales required

Starting Apr 1st (applies to all theme parks regardless of size):

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
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

Yellow tier -
•Max 35%
•Indoor capacity max 25% with time restrictions
•Weekly worker testing program
•With other modifications
•In-state visitors only

So what they did was exactly what you wanted back in Oct:

1. Treat all theme parks regardless of size exactly the same.
2. Allow any theme park to reopen in Red tier (you were originally stated Orange tier, but they've made it even better)
3. Removed the "no indoor rides" (and likely the "no indoor queue") restriction even from the higher tiers.
4. Removed the "locals only" distance restriction from all tiers opening it up to the entire state.

So what are you complaining about you're getting exactly what you wanted when the original guidelines were released. Its not harsher its actually LESS strict that the Oct guidelines. And its as I predict all along they've modified the tiers for the spring season to allow reopening of theme parks faster. And just like this modification I expect this to change again this summer where there will be that "green tier" that you're wanting.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I was hoping that the rules for reopening would be relaxed, not made harder and more restrictive. This is not relaxing the rules, it's applying new rules and making existing rules even stricter.

Many of the new rules appear to be arbitrary, like "No Indoor Dining" at Disneyland restaurants, but Captain Kidd's and the IHOP across Harbor can reopen for indoor dining. And that makes sense how???



Yes, Governor Newsom is not a fan of foreigners apparently. No one from Oregon or Canada or England is allowed in. Californians only need apply. I wonder how that stands up in court, especially when our neighboring West Coast states have much lower infection rates than California does? And whatever happened to Newsom's Western States Pact he trumpeted 10 months ago?

Red, Orange & Yellow Tier = "In-state visitors only"

They WILL be relaxed. Literally no one can visit the parks and experience rides and attractions at the moment. Within the next few months, this will change, albeit with some restrictions. How is that worse than what it is now? So what if you can’t dine indoors? Make a PB&J, stuff it in a ziplock bag, and eat it outside. Or walk across the street and buy a McChicken sandwich from across the street. These complaints are ridiculous, considering how long the parks have been closed and the fact that we’re not out of the clear with this pandemic yet.

People from Oregon aren’t “foreigners.” Again, who cares that non-Californian residents TEMPORARILY won’t be able to go to Disneyland because of the pandemic, besides you and a few others here? That decision is understandable.

Some of ya’ll’s previous president preached about less foreigners, but TEMPORARILY keeping A THEME PARK open for for in-state residents only is a problem. LOL We all enjoy hearing and seeing ourselves complain for no legitimate reasons. This is an example of that.

 

[mickEblu]

So do we have any clarity on what “limits on indoor rides” means? I’m thinking it mostly has to do with the indoor queues?

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

So do we have any clarity on what “limits on indoor rides” means? I’m thinking it mostly has to do with the indoor queues?

Really hoping Splash will be open huh?

 

[mickEblu]

Really hoping Splash will be open huh?

It better be

 

[TP2000]

But the park is opening now. The park would not have been allowed to open in October. To say it is harsher, thus, is categorically false.

Here's the Old from October '20 Vs Refreshed from March '21

Old - Red Tier = Disneyland closed
Refreshed - Red Tier = Disneyland open at 15% Capacity, No Foreigners Allowed, No Indoor Dining, Indoor Attraction Restrictions

Old - Orange Tier = Disneyland closed
Refreshed - Orange Tier = Disneyland open at 25% Capacity, No Foreigners Allowed, Indoor Attraction Restrictions

Old - Yellow Tier = Disneyland open at 25% Capacity, Everyone Welcome!, Queue Modifications
Refreshed - Yellow Tier = Disneyland open at 35% Capacity, No Foreigners Allowed, Indoor Attraction Restrictions at 25%

Which on the surface looks like a mish-mash of some loosening of restrictions and some tightening of restrictions, with a few new rules thrown in that weren't thought of last October. The complete ban indefinitely on anyone from out of state or out of country is bizarre.

It's that unknown that worries me and others. What does "Indoor Attraction Time Restrictions" mean? Does a 16 minute long ride like Pirates survive that? How about Star Wars Land stuff? Indiana Jones? Soarin'?

Sacramento has already shown they can't be trusted and they apply arbitrary rules to industries they don't understand. The fact they haven't released any rules or playbook beyond that one page buried on a PDF file is very worrisome for Disneyland type experiences that aren't just tilt-a-whirls on an outdoor cement pad.

You seem to think any and all covid restrictions are bunk, so what's stopping you from flying to Florida since California's park metrics seem to bother you so much? I can't imagine, given your postings of the past year, that you'd hesitate to get on a plane or that you're struggling financially.

I have no interest in going to WDW again until Epcot opens some new rides. Epcot is the reason I now go infrequently to WDW. I get my biggest Disney kick at Tokyo Disneyland, and I'm in the midst of planning a return trip to Japan in '22. The difference in quality between WDW and Tokyo is startling.

 

[Disney Irish]

So do we have any clarity on what “limits on indoor rides” means? I’m thinking it mostly has to do with the indoor queues?

No it hasn't been explained yet. It was stated when these changes to the tiers were announced that in the coming week or so they'd be working with the various industries they apply to on what the exact guidelines will be.

To me it likely means that a person cannot stand in a queue indoors longer than 15 minutes. Which likely means virtual queuing for most rides at DLR just because that would be easiest for Disney to control.

 

[TP2000]

So do we have any clarity on what “limits on indoor rides” means? I’m thinking it mostly has to do with the indoor queues?

Nope. There was absolutely no information released by Sacramento or Dr. Ghaly about any of that. The state Covid website has not been updated with new information.

The only thing we have to go on is this ominous phrase from page 6 of the "Refreshed" PDF file Sacramento bureaucrats released after their surprise press conference yesterday...

"• Indoor capacity max 25% with time restrictions"

We have no idea what that means yet. Is it a "time restriction" on the ride itself? How long a customer may be allowed to be inside a ride's building? How long the pre-show can last? We have no idea. Sacramento didn't say.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Did you read the Voice of OC article I just posted....

>>Dee Dee Myers, an aide to Gov. Gavin Newsom, didn’t provide any specific ways parks would stop out of state residents from moving around the system.

“It is our hope that people will respect the guidelines and it’s our expectation that the parks will work to really encourage people from California to come and others not to come,” Myers said. “Just by reducing mixing and by reducing geography of where people are coming from we think there’s’ a reduction in overall risk.”

Friday’s abrupt changes to theme park guidance follows a series of sudden updates — from reopening metrics to school reopenings — as Newsom is likely to face a recall election. <<

Here's the Old from October '20 Vs Refreshed from March '21

Old - Red Tier = Disneyland closed
Refreshed - Red Tier = Disneyland open at 15% Capacity, No Foreigners Allowed, No Indoor Dining, Indoor Attraction Restrictions

Old - Orange Tier = Disneyland closed
Refreshed - Orange Tier = Disneyland open at 25% Capacity, No Foreigners Allowed, Indoor Attraction Restrictions at 25%

Old - Yellow Tier = Disneyland open at 25% Capacity, Everyone Welcome!, Queue Modifications
Refreshed - Yellow Tier = Disneyland open at 35% Capacity, No Foreigners Allowed, Indoor Attraction Restrictions at 25%

Which on the surface looks like a mish-mash of some loosening of restrictions and some tightening of restrictions, with a few new rules thrown in that weren't thought of last October. The complete ban indefinitely on anyone from out of state or out of country is bizarre.

It's that unknown that worries me and others. What does "Indoor Attraction Time Restrictions" mean? Does a 16 minute long ride like Pirates survive that? How about Star Wars Land stuff? Indiana Jones? Soarin'?

Sacramento has already shown they can't be trusted and they apply arbitrary rules to industries they don't understand. The fact they haven't released any rules or playbook beyond that one page buried on a PDF file is very worrisome for Disneyland type experiences that aren't just tilt-a-whirls on an outdoor cement pad.


I have no interest in going to WDW again until Epcot opens some new rides. Epcot is the reason I now go infrequently to WDW. I get my biggest Disney kick at Tokyo Disneyland, and I'm in the midst of planning a return trip to Japan in '22. The difference in quality between WDW and Tokyo is startling.

I live in a fairly touristy area, and my hotel is in an excellent spot for people skiing.

I'd say over half of the people I check in are from California.

I'm glad we don't have have a rule prohibiting people from out of state.

And if the CA health department is that scared of foreigners, they should probably consider implementing restrictions on people leaving the state for vacation.

 

[mickEblu]

Nope. There was absolutely no information released by Sacramento or Dr. Ghaly about any of that. The state Covid website has not been updated with new information.

The only thing we have to go on is this ominous phrase from page 6 of the "Refreshed" PDF file Sacramento bureaucrats released after their surprise press conference yesterday...

"• Indoor capacity max 25% with time restrictions"

We have no idea what that means yet. Is it a "time restriction" on the ride itself? How long a customer may be allowed to be inside a ride's building? How long the pre-show can last? We have no idea. Sacramento didn't say.

Time restrictions?? Welp, there goes Pirates