Disney closing parks?

[codycpreston]

Does anyone have inside of what Disney thinks of this new surge? Im hoping they will not close until they are made to close by a government entity.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I certainly have no inside info, but it sure seems extremely unlikely that Disney will close again. It's a very different point of the pandemic than when Disney closed in 2020. We now know way more about how the virus is spread, and we have vaccines and boosters for vaccines and vaccines for kids. It's even less likely the government will force them to close - in my opinion. Again, not a Disney cast member or insider!

Of course, I am assuming you mean the Disney parks in the US. Hong Kong Disneyland just closed again, but you might not be worrying about that.

 

[codycpreston]

I certainly have no inside info, but it sure seems extremely unlikely that Disney will close again. It's a very different point of the pandemic than when Disney closed in 2020. We now know way more about how the virus is spread, and we have vaccines and boosters for vaccines and vaccines for kids. It's even less likely the government will force them to close - in my opinion. Again, not a Disney cast member or insider!

Of course, I am assuming you mean the Disney parks in the US. Hong Kong Disneyland just closed again, but you might not be worrying about that.

You have good points. I was concerned because of the recent closures in other countries. Thinking about it though, those countries may run off different budgets and have different governments requirements. I just get nervous, we are so close to a trip in March.

 

[cm8]

Does anyone have inside of what Disney thinks of this new surge? Im hoping they will not close until they are made to close by a government entity.

I don’t have any inside information but I do not foresee Disney closing the parks down. I know us over at DVC can’t take another closure! We have way too much points in the system that needs to be used up!!

 

[DLgal]

You have good points. I was concerned because of the recent closures in other countries. Thinking about it though, those countries may run off different budgets and have different governments requirements. I just get nervous, we are so close to a trip in March.

China is really kind of adamant about "zero covid" so they will go to much more extreme measures to keep that up. I expect we will see periodic closures in HK DL and Shanghai. France/EU seems to have similar strict protocols so you might see that park close as well.

 

[KayMichigan]

Doubt they will close now that we have vaccines. People can protect themselves much better now than they could in 2020.

 

[jpeterson]

Agree with the previous posters, unless something drastically changes with the pandemic, I don't think they will close the US parks. They may modify things, but I think they will stay open.

 

[Luxurious_Lumiere]

It is possibly, and very likely, that safety policies will shift by the time of your trip (aka: where and when to wear a mask, social distancing guidelines, contactless offerings, etc). But it would be highly unlikely for Disney to close again.

Entire industries came to a grinding halt with covid closures, and Disney still isnt back at full force yet. They still need more workers, not all restaurants and shows are back, tons of construction still taking place. To shut down again would be devastating economically.

It would take the emergence of a much more dangerous variant to see shutdowns again I think. And that is not the trajectory we are on with this virus. As others have said, doctors and health care professionals know so much more about the virus know and how to treat people, we have vaccines and boosters, and though this current variant spreads easily the symptoms are (overall) trending more mild. Looking at numbers from the surges everywhere can be scary and remind us of the trauma and panic we felt at the beginning of all this mess, but we are much better equipped to protect ourselves now. At worst, Disney may have to occasionally cut back hours or offerings due to lack of staff if too many employees are out sick at once (just ask Broadway), but another shutdown is extremely unlikely.

 

[umichigan10]

It seems at this point, most businesses are doing as they want and letting people make the call to show up or not themselves. I mean, football stadiums have been packed to the gills since September, concerts are going on, I see no reason why the domestic parks would close again with the current line of thinking at work.

international is another story

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Just my opinion but I personally think at this point Disney is closer to removing mandates and precautions rather than implementing new ones or closing. Just look at the trajectory of the virus the last two years and you can see that this year will be following suit. You never know of course but yeah I'd be booking trips with full confidence.

 

[Jennasis]

Never say never. We all said Disney would never close back in Feb/Mar of 2020 and yet here we are.

However, I think it unlikely at this point.

 

[jpeterson]

Never say never. We all said Disney would never close back in Feb/Mar of 2020 and yet here we are.

However, I think it unlikely at this point.

True enough. I would have bet good money In February of 2020 that Disney would not close. I would have lost that big time!

 

[walt2187]

IMO since the Supreme Court denied vaccine mandates for large businesses and the Florida Gov. DeSantis position on mandates, I do not see Disney closing WDW, especially when they are trying to recoup $$$ lost. We frequently visit WDW monthly and found that enforcing masks, etc. has been lessened. In fact the crowds have been so great, we feel uncomfortable the way many visiting WDW do not follow simple requests, especially with all the info available on how to live your life safely.

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

Just my opinion but I personally think at this point Disney is closer to removing mandates and precautions rather than implementing new ones or closing. Just look at the trajectory of the virus the last two years and you can see that this year will be following suit. You never know of course but yeah I'd be booking trips with full confidence.

I just got back and I feel this is more likely as well. The mask requirements appear to just be there to appease some group or do the bare minimum of cdc recommendations. Employees still remind people if their mask is off their nose but the hostile behavior doesn’t seem to be around like last year.


Every restaurant and lounge I went to was at full capacity and everyone except employees are unmasked there. There is no social distancing and we are back to filling in all available space in preshows. And if you look around at the masks people wear at the parks 50-75% are worn wrong or have gaps making them useless. Even people who bother to wear KN95s often have gaps.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Yup pretty much.

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

Is it impossible? No. But I wouldn‘t bet on Disney closing parks. The State of California would be the most likely way that DL gets closed.

 

[DLgal]

Is it impossible? No. But I wouldn‘t bet on Disney closing parks. The State of California would be the most likely way that DL gets closed.

It's an election year for the CA governor. Nothing will be ordered to close this year.

 

[DLgal]

Is it impossible? No. But I wouldn‘t bet on Disney closing parks. The State of California would be the most likely way that DL gets closed.

It's an election year for the CA governor. We all know what that means.

 

[1lilspark]

Water parks have and will close for weather not pandemic reasons meanwhile Regular parks will just have heightened precautions (universal reinstating indoor masking in December) or scaled back showtimes (festival of the Lion king right now)

 

[happiestpoe]

It's hard to say, but I concur with those saying it is unlikely Disney will close again. If anything they'll enforce social distancing again, insist on masks inside and out, and maybe make changes to dining. I don't think they'll do a vaccine mandate, as it's 1)weirdly a political thing these days; and 2)so many Disney guests are young children.