Disneyland Reopening Speculation Superthread

[TikiTikiFan]

I'm ready to return to the days of when planning a Disneyland trip was always FUN and not stressful.

 

[lily_belle]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1393284424477851649

Maybe an update today?

So since this did happen yesterday what are thoughts that we will get an update over the weekend? Or will it be next week at this point?

 

[DLgal]

So since this did happen yesterday what are thoughts that we will get an update over the weekend? Or will it be next week at this point?

Our Mayor gave us an update on FB yesterday. In it she said they expect new mask guidance from the state on June 15 and that when that new guidance is shared, the city will update its mask requirements to align with it.

 

[lily_belle]

Our Mayor gave us an update on FB yesterday. In it she said they expect new mask guidance from the state on June 15 and that when that new guidance is shared, the city will update its mask requirements to align with it.

Okay thanks. So then the statement “we hope by late this afternoon to have our guidelines out there” really meant June 15. Not being snarky with you, just wish he would say what he really means. I was really hoping the outdoor mask mandate would be lifted while I’m there in early June for walking around DTD. My 73 yo mom is extremely claustrophobic so wearing a mask has been a special kind of nightmare for her. She follows the rules, it’s just very hard on her and I’m sure it will be even worse in the heat. Oh well. We will just have to take lots of breaks.

I do have a question though - can you sit on any bench to sip some water or do you have to be in a designated area? It’s so hard to keep up on what’s allowed!

 

[DLgal]

Okay thanks. So then the statement “we hope by late this afternoon to have our guidelines out there” really meant June 15. Not being snarky with you, just wish he would say what he really means. I was really hoping the outdoor mask mandate would be lifted while I’m there in early June for walking around DTD. My 73 yo mom is extremely claustrophobic so wearing a mask has been a special kind of nightmare for her. She follows the rules, it’s just very hard on her and I’m sure it will be even worse in the heat. Oh well. We will just have to take lots of breaks.

I do have a question though - can you sit on any bench to sip some water or do you have to be in a designated area? It’s so hard to keep up on what’s allowed!

Basically all benches are now designated dining locations.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

I do have a question though - can you sit on any bench to sip some water or do you have to be in a designated area? It’s so hard to keep up on what’s allowed!

Every bench and many planters (and even curbs!) have signage saying “designated dining area.” Disney clearly wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to eat and drink easily without going anywhere special.

 

[TexasChick123]

We aren’t planning a trip to DL until the fall. If they still haven’t said we can take our young kids by the end of summer, we will cancel. It isn’t worth the stress. I’ll just go somewhere else. For those of you stressed out about this with upcoming trips, do you have to go to DL? Maybe go to DL when things settle down and reschedule the trip further out.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

We aren’t planning a trip to DL until the fall. If they still haven’t said we can take our young kids by the end of summer, we will cancel. It isn’t worth the stress. I’ll just go somewhere else. For those of you stressed out about this with upcoming trips, do you have to go to DL? Maybe go to DL when things settle down and reschedule the trip further out.

I won't say I'm stressed, but I am cautious because we've been burned too many times by this state. Could we plan a different vacation? Sure. But we already have a lot of costs sunk into this one - we've been sitting on these tickets since Feb 2020. We also have time playing against us, since my oldest will be Senior in HS and our schedule only allows for a few possible weeks of vacation per year. Along with my youngest not being able to be vaccinated, our options are limited on a personal level. That said, if the word comes down that any changes coming June 15th will cut our trip in half, yes, we'll cancel and figure something else. But I don't want to do that.

That said, I received a reply email from Disney asking for my phone number so they could call me this week to discuss this. If there is anything worth reporting back, I will.

 

[TexasChick123]

I won't say I'm stressed, but I am cautious because we've been burned too many times by this state. Could we plan a different vacation? Sure. But we already have a lot of costs sunk into this one - we've been sitting on these tickets since Feb 2020. We also have time playing against us, since my oldest will be Senior in HS and our schedule only allows for a few possible weeks of vacation per year. Along with my youngest not being able to be vaccinated, our options are limited on a personal level. That said, if the word comes down that any changes coming June 15th will cut our trip in half, yes, we'll cancel and figure something else. But I don't want to do that.

That said, I received a reply email from Disney asking for my phone number so they could call me this week to discuss this. If there is anything worth reporting back, I will.

We had to pivot from a WDW trip last year in June because they were closed. We ended up going to Mackinac Island, MI and had a blast!!! It wasn’t super planned out, but it was such a neat trip. Also, we were supposed to go to Lake Tahoe, CA and ski at the end of December but had to change to Vail, CO because of all the quarantine rules being from out of state. Again, we had a blast at the different location. I get where you’re coming from, but if it doesn’t work out, it may be a chance to go somewhere you wouldn’t normally go. Good luck, and I do hope it works out for you.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

So my update is coming sooner than I expected. I just received a call from somebody who's job title is "Executive Correspondence Associate at the Disneyland Resort", who is part of Bob Chapek's office (or however that works - but she took over the email sent to him).

What she told me is that it is strictly a rumor and that there has been no discussion in their offices about requiring vaccines. She says her belief is if they haven't already, they won't be requiring them. However, should that change at some point, they would absolutely announce it with enough notice for people to be able to comply. She also doesn't believe Disney will change anything on June 15th. They understand it is the date the state is likely dropping requirements, but that as a private business they are not required to follow suit. As long as they maintain the state's minimum requirement, they make keep any mitigation factors in place that they want. She says the current plan is to keep things the way they are (except for any changes that come with yellow tier) past June 15th. She did not say for how long after though.

Before anybody says it, yes, I know CMs are notoriously wrong. But I do feel better having actually talked to her and explaining the rumors and not having just a canned response in return. In any case, I've done as much research as I can at this point, so now all I can do is sit back & wait and hope she's right. But it sounds like selfishly, I may be able to eek out my trip without issue.

 

[mlggator22]

I'm worried because my 19 yo daughter has really severe medical anxiety. She has massive panic attacks anytime she has to have any procedure that involves needles or cutting. The panic attacks are completely debilitating and in the last 5 years or so, no medical professional has been able to successfully get her to get a shot, an IV or other procedure like getting a tooth pulled. As it stands right now, I cannot get her a covid shot and we have been trying.
She is going to start intensive therapy for this, but that will likely take months to see results. In the meantime, I'm scared that this mental health issue is not enough to get a medical exemption for her. It's not just Disneyland, its also college and performing (she's a theatre major).

 

[DLgal]

I'm worried because my 19 yo daughter has really severe medical anxiety. She has massive panic attacks anytime she has to have any procedure that involves needles or cutting. The panic attacks are completely debilitating and in the last 5 years or so, no medical professional has been able to successfully get her to get a shot, an IV or other procedure like getting a tooth pulled. As it stands right now, I cannot get her a covid shot and we have been trying.
She is going to start intensive therapy for this, but that will likely take months to see results. In the meantime, I'm scared that this mental health issue is not enough to get a medical exemption for her. It's not just Disneyland, its also college and performing (she's a theatre major).

This might be a really dumb question, but has she simply tried either Xanax or Valium before procedures? It's exceptionally difficult to have a panic attack while under the influence of either of those meds and they are the go to treatments for this kind of debilitating panic attack syndrome.

 

[DLgal]

So my update is coming sooner than I expected. I just received a call from somebody who's job title is "Executive Correspondence Associate at the Disneyland Resort", who is part of Bob Chapek's office (or however that works - but she took over the email sent to him).

What she told me is that it is strictly a rumor and that there has been no discussion in their offices about requiring vaccines. She says her belief is if they haven't already, they won't be requiring them. However, should that change at some point, they would absolutely announce it with enough notice for people to be able to comply. She also doesn't believe Disney will change anything on June 15th. They understand it is the date the state is likely dropping requirements, but that as a private business they are not required to follow suit. As long as they maintain the state's minimum requirement, they make keep any mitigation factors in place that they want. She says the current plan is to keep things the way they are (except for any changes that come with yellow tier) past June 15th. She did not say for how long after though.

Before anybody says it, yes, I know CMs are notoriously wrong. But I do feel better having actually talked to her and explaining the rumors and not having just a canned response in return. In any case, I've done as much research as I can at this point, so now all I can do is sit back & wait and hope she's right. But it sounds like selfishly, I may be able to eek out my trip without issue.

Interesting, but I suspect you were being fed talking points, because there is NO way that Disneyland doesn't at least lift the mask rules outdoors once they can, since they did it at WDW literally overnight once they were allowed by the county over there.

I've known people in those kinds of positions before. They are never allowed to tell you what their future plans are, policy wise.

Although I do agree that I don't think there will ever be a mandatory vaccine requirement for theme parks. It's just not really feasible.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

Interesting, but I suspect you were being fed talking points, because there is NO way that Disneyland doesn't at least lift the mask rules outdoors once they can, since they did it at WDW literally overnight once they were allowed by the county over there.

I've known people in those kinds of positions before. They are never allowed to tell you what their future plans are, policy wise.

Although I do agree that I don't think there will ever be a mandatory vaccine requirement for theme parks. It's just not really feasible.

I definitely think changes will be coming quickly after June 15th. But I don't think it will be requiring vaccine proof.

I'm just taking a zen approach to our August trip. Things are changing rapidly and I'm sure at the very least out of state folks will be good to go and hopefully a lot of other restrictions are lifted too.

 

[CO2CA]

They're not planning on increasing capacity after June 15th? That's what I'm most shocked about.

 

[TikiTikiFan]

They're not planning on increasing capacity after June 15th? That's what I'm most shocked about.

They'll probably pull a Disney World and raise it... then tell everyone they did a few weeks later.

 

[CO2CA]

They'll probably pull a Disney World and raise it... then tell everyone they did a few weeks later.

Or drop masks requirements overnight lol

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Interesting, but I suspect you were being fed talking points, because there is NO way that Disneyland doesn't at least lift the mask rules outdoors once they can, since they did it at WDW literally overnight once they were allowed by the county over there.

I've known people in those kinds of positions before. They are never allowed to tell you what their future plans are, policy wise.

Although I do agree that I don't think there will ever be a mandatory vaccine requirement for theme parks. It's just not really feasible.

They're not planning on increasing capacity after June 15th? That's what I'm most shocked about.

We'll have to wait & see. The not increasing capacity, I question. But I didn't ask any more information because frankly, I don't really care about that. I was only concerned with the vaccine requirement rumor.

As for the masks...I can see that going either way. I think it was Malcon10t who said that masks were part of the negotiations with the various unions. They may not be able to drop them without renegotiating with them. Which is something mentioned on the phone call - she said that they have a number of groups who will have to weigh in on changes.

But again, I wasn't focused on either of those things. It was a passing comment and may have only been in relation to my dates, which only go through the 16th.

As for canned responses, I'll politely disagree. She made it clear she couldn't promise me anything, but it would have been super easy for her to say "there are no plans at this time, but we will be following state guidelines". And it's important to remember that these will only be guidelines from the state. Private businesses are allowed to keep things if they wish.

ETA: I feel like I should clarify. I mean on the 15th/16th for those changes. If they don't happen that first day, I absolutely see that changing soon after.

 

[Katiebird]

I think they will probably make changes to masks and distancing and capacity, probably with very little notice. Requiring vaccinations is different though because it requires action from guests, so they’d either need to give decent notice, or allow last minute cancellations/refunds. I don’t think that will happen.

 

[mlggator22]

This might be a really dumb question, but has she simply tried either Xanax or Valium before procedures? It's exceptionally difficult to have a panic attack while under the influence of either of those meds and they are the go to treatments for this kind of debilitating panic attack syndrome.

She has Ativan now, but we haven't gotten to try it yet. Now when I come to her with the meds to try and get a vaccine, she panics just at the thought of giving her the meds, sigh.