In a recent announcement, California Governor Gavin Newsom said that the state was close to reaching a goal of vaccinating 2 million Californians living in underprivileged communities. Reaching this target results in it being easier for counties to move into less-restrictive tiers of California’s reopening plan. The state’s reopening plan allows for theme parks to reopen as of April 1st with 15% capacity if they are in the “red tier”.
While Orange County, the home to Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, is on track to reach the red tier from its current, more restrictive purple tier, the vaccination benchmark makes it easier to eventually reach the even lower orange tier. The Chief Health Officer and Director of the Orange County Health Care Agency, Dr. Clayton Chau, said he expects “to have two weeks in the red tier on Tuesday and on Wednesday we’ll have an official entry into the red tier.”
If the county can move from the red tier to the orange tier, its capacity limit would increase from 15% up to 25%, allowing for nearly 2/3 more guests to enter the parks. Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure are currently expected to reopen in late April, according to The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek.
While the parks may choose to initially reopen at a capacity lower than that allowed by California’s reopening plans, the actual capacity in effect could go unannounced by The Walt Disney Company and only be shared months after the fact, as has been the case for Walt Disney World.
