Shanghai Disneyland Will Reopen to Visitors on May 11th

© Shanghai Disneyland

After being one of the first major theme parks to close due to the pandemic, Shanghai Disneyland has announced that it will reopen to visitors on May 11th - just 5 days from now.

According to the park, the reopening will "demonstrate a deliberate approach, drawing on the experience from the successful reopening of Disneytown, Wishing Star Park and Shanghai Disneyland Hotel in early March, and implement enhanced health and safety measures."  The park will have a new set of precautions in place to protect both workers and visitors, all with the goal of implementing both social distancing and sanitizing measures.

Guests will be asked to wear masks the entire time they are in the park, and there will be temperature screenings before they are allowed to enter Shanghai Disneyland.
 

© Shanghai Disneyland

The park will reopen with very limited attendance, and guests must register their visit beforehand as ticket sales will not be available at the park.  Shanghai Disneyland can accommodate 80,000 guests, and Disney has agreed with the Government to limit that to around 24,000 - however Disney has further said that upon opening attendance will be capped at considerably less than that.

© Shanghai Disneyland

The park will also have social distancing measures set up in ride, food and retail queues, on rides themselves, in sit-down restaurants and everywhere else in the park.  Above is an example of stickers placed throughout the park to show guests where to stand to keep appropriate distance from one another.  Children's play areas and live shows will not be featured as part of the park's initial reopening - this includes both parades and nighttime spectaculars.

None of that is very surprising, as it is important to not offer experiences that basically force guests to stand or sit together in crowded spaces.  It also sounds as though characters will only appear from afar for now.

While encouraging to see a large park in Asia open again, it feels like it still could be some time until we see the large theme parks in America open.  There are varying opinions about that out there, and aside from parks needing to be allowed to open - and that's by not means looking immediate - there are questions of if operating large theme parks at restricted capacity even makes them financially viable.

One day at a time for now, and we'll be sure to keep watch on how the Shanghai Disneyland opening goes.