Shanghai Disneyland President and GM Share A Message For all

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

Monday, May 11 will forever be a historic day for Shanghai Disneyland as it was the first Disney Park to reopen amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Closed for roughly 4 months now, the park is reopen with a phased capacity approach and operational guidelines. Joe Schott, President and General Manager of Shanghai Disney Resort, shares a message below via DisneyParksBlog to celebrate the magic of the day!

A Disney park is a place unlike any other – where we are transported to wondrous worlds of fantasy and adventure to create unforgettable memories that will last a lifetime.

Today, we marked a return to those worlds, as Shanghai Disneyland reopened its gates to welcome guests and fans.

For myself – and for our Shanghai Disney Resort cast members, who have taken great care to prepare the park for our guests – this is a very special moment. Making magic means even more to us today, as we reflect on the resilience of our community; our wonderful cast members who worked so diligently to preserve the park during the closure; the enthusiasm of our guests and fans; and, of course, the determination and dedication of the medical workers and first responders who helped to make this possible. 

For Shanghai Disney Resort, while this is a key step in our phased reopening, there are many more milestones to come for us and our sister parks around the world. I invite you to learn more about our approach to reopening our parks here.

Thank you all for helping the magic live on, in your homes and imaginations, during these challenging times. I hope you enjoy these moments of joy and excitement from the first day of our reopening at Shanghai Disneyland!

Watch The Reopening Ceremony of Shanghai Disneyland

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

Last Night, Shanghai Disneyland made history by becoming the first Disney Park to reopen after the unprecedented COVID-19 closures. You can watch a livestream of the reopening via The Paper, the official Twitter account of Pengpai News 澎湃新闻. As we’ve covered extensively, the reopening of Shanghai Disneyland will implement a number of new health and safety protocols, including limited capacity and social distancing for all guests. All guests present today had to secure advance reservations in order to attend the grand reopening, and advance reservations will be required throughout the phased reopening.

You can watch the live stream of the official reopening grand ceremony embedded below. If you’re on mobile, you can also access the live broadcast via this link.

Shanghai Disney Resort Reopens

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

History was made at Disney’s youngest park today as Shanghai Disneyland became the first Disney Park to reopen after a wave of closures in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The park held a grand reopening ceremony led by Shanghai Disneyland President and General Manager Joe Schott. At the opening ceremony, Schott welcomed guests with the following message of hope:

“We hope that today’s reopening can serve as a beacon of light across the globe, providing hope and inspiration for everyone, and can demonstrate that we can overcome any challenge together.”

Characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto shared the stage alongside Shanghai Disney Resort ambassadors. At the end of the presentation, the band started up once again and the park’s iconic Duffy and Friends marched out to join the show.

At the Shanghai Disneyland entrance, characters waved to guests from a safe distance. While guests are strongly encouraged to wear masks, face characters like the Disney Princesses do not wear masks in order to keep story integrity.

During this initial phased reopening, the park is limiting capacity to 30%, or under 24,000 guests, by order of the government. All guests must obtain an advance reservation in order to enter the park and undergo a series of temperature screenings and safety checks before being let into the park.

Despite strict new protocols, guests seemed overjoyed to be back at their happy place. Spring decor is still up throughout the park, and Cast Members are making sure to wipe down and sanitize railings and high-touch points.

Virtual Viewing of 2016 Grand opening Ceremony

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

Let’s take a stroll to the past! Since Shanghai Disney Resort reopens on today May 11th, DisneyParksBlog is celebrating by sharing the Resort’s historic grand opening ceremony in 2016. Check out this virtual viewing of the pre-recorded grand opening where we get to be front and center for the beauty of Chinese art and tradition. Here we go!

We hope you enjoyed this virtual viewing of the 2016 grand opening of Shanghai Disney Resort!

How Shanghai Disney Will Operate Upon Reopening May 11th

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

Shanghai Disneyland is the first Disney Park scheduled for phased reopening beginning Monday, May 11. Ticket reservations for the day sold out within minutes of availability. New China TV has shared a YouTube video featuring Andrew Bolstein, Vice President of Operations at Shanghai Disney Resort. Bolstein walks the media through several areas of precautionary measures being taken to keep social distancing top priority.

On May 6, Shanghai Disneyland released detailed operation measures and ticketing information as we shared here.

While no reopening date is scheduled for Walt Disney World or Disneyland, we are eager to see how Shanghai’s procedures play out on their opening day of May 11.