When Disney announced it’s phased reopening back in late May, Florida and other Sun Belt states hadn’t yet registered the spikes in Covid-19. But, an official confirmed on Tuesday other Disney park’s are reopening.
Florida cases rapidly on the rise
Florida is one of numerous Sun Belt states seeing a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases over the past 14 days. You can see updates for Florida and the rest of the United States with CNN’s Covid-19 tracker by clicking here.
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, the Florida Department of Health reported a total of 213,794 cases since January. It reported 7,361 new cases in the previous 24-hour period.
Only New York and California have reported more cases than Florida. However, when measured by number of cases per 100,000 people, Florida ranked No. 15 in the United States on Tuesday.
In Orange County, where the Disney parks are located, 14,768 Covid-19 cases have been reported.
What Florida’s governor says
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who quickly approved Disney’s reopening plans back in late May, remains solidly behind the Disney World reopening.
At a news conference on Monday, he praised the safety plans Disney has lined up, according to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
He said that Universal Orlando, which reopened on June 5, “is doing a great job” and that he believes attending a Florida theme park would be safer than going to a large private gathering.
Disneyland
Out in California, it’s a different story for the original park, Disneyland. It had set a phased reopening date on July 17, one week after Disney World in Florida.
But on June 24, Disneyland announced it was postponing the reopening amid a more cautious approach in California on the coronavirus, a significant rise in cases by late Jane and pushback from union members,
There’s been no new date set for Disneyland’s reopening.
Disney’s Asia properties
Disney has several resorts in Asia, where the use of face masks has been widely accepted.
With the reopening of Tokyo Disney Resort on July 1, all of Disney’s Asia holdings are back in business. Shanghai Disneyland was the world’s first Disney park to reopen on May 11. Hong Kong Disneyland opened a month later on June 18.
All the parks are operating with safety measures seen in many US parks: Advance ticket booking, mandatory temperature checks, face mask requirements, and social distancing in lines and on attractions.
Other Orlando parks
Back in Florida, other theme parks have already reopened their gates to the public, including Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando, and Gatorland, a smaller park that reopened back in May.CNN
