In a recent announcement, California Governor Gavin Newsom said the state was close to reaching the goal of vaccinating 2 million Californians living in underserved communities. Achieving this goal results in it being easier for counties to move to less restrictive levels of the California reopening plan. The state’s reopening plan allows theme parks to reopen from April 1 with 15% capacity if they are in the “red layer”.
While Orange County, home to Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, is on its way to reaching the red layer from its current, more restrictive purple layer, the vaccination benchmark makes it easier to eventually reach the even lower orange layer. The Director of Health and Director of the Orange County Health Agency, Dr. Clayton Chau, said he expects “to have two weeks at the red level on Tuesday and on Wednesday we will have an official entry at the red level”.
If the county could move from the red level to the orange level, its capacity limit would increase from 15% to 25%, allowing almost 2/3 more visitors to enter the parks. Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure are due to reopen in late April, according to The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek.
Although the parks may choose to reopen initially at a lower capacity than allowed by California’s reopening plans, the actual capacity in effect might not be announced by The Walt Disney Company and shared only months after the fact, as was the case with Walt Disney World.
Stay tuned to WDWNT and Disneyland News Today to continue coverage of the reopening of Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure.