Disneyland Paris is shutting its gates at the end of the day today.
Faced with a second wave of coronavirus cases crashing across Europe, the government leaders of France and Germany have announced nationwide lockdowns in an attempt to stop the spread. Starting on Friday in France, schools and factories are the only places that will remain open, and Disneyland Paris is shutting down today.
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Restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and retailers had reopened in France since the virus swept the world back in March, but as of yesterday, president Emmanuel Macron announced that the country will enter a strict lockdown period starting at the end of this week and lasting until at least December 1.
According to this statement, Disney is hoping that the closure of its French theme park will last for less than two months – they’re signaling their intention to reopen from December 19 to January 3 before they shut down again from January 4 until February 12, 2021.
Walt Disney World and Shanghai Disneyland have reopened, but California’s Disneyland remains shuttered out of an abundance of caution. The California Department of Public Health issued reopening plans for Disneyland, Universal, and other large theme parks in the state, but it appears that the parks will not be able to meet the requirements to reopen until the pandemic ends and the requirements are loosened or removed.
Bradley Pollock, chairman of the Department of Public Health Sciences at UC Davis, told The Los Angeles Times that California Governor Gavin Newsom and his staff are “confronting an extremely difficult calculus in determining the size and pace of reopenings.”
“The virus hasn’t changed,” Pollock said. “When you have people who can gather physically closer together, you increase the risk. Is it worth it?” Disney recently issued a new round of layoffs affecting 28,000 employees in the Parks, Experiences, and Products division of the company.
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