It has been almost a year since the Disneyland parks closed due to the pandemic, but there may be a reopening in sight for the House the Mouse built.
Downtown Disney and portions of California Adventure Park have been open for months and welcoming guests and this week, Disney announced “A Touch of Disney,” a limited-capacity ticketed event. With California Adventure Park celebrating its 20th anniversary, the return of ticketed events implies we will be celebrating the milestone.
“A Touch of Disney” will be held March 18 through April 5, and features food, characters, and merchandise. Thursdays through Mondays, we will see the park’s restaurants open and booths available – some serving food from Disneyland (think Dole Whip!).
At this time, there are no plans to open Main Street at Disneyland.
As for returning to the parks “for real,” California legislators continue to wrestle with requirements for opening. Virus cases are dropping and vaccines are here, so hopefully soon we will be returning to Fantasyland. We can expect reservations and limited capacity upon reopening.
PHOTO BY DISNEY
Some of Disney’s most loyal visitors are annual passholders, but Disney recently announced that it will end its current annual passholder program for Disneyland Resort and Disneyland California Adventure parks.
Due to California issuing its latest health and safety guidelines (which is what is being argued now), the theme park must curb its daily attendance capacity to a 25% limit once theme parks are allowed to reopen. With Disneyland at an approximate daily capacity of 85,000 guests and Disneyland California Adventure Parks being at 50,000, that would only allow for up to 21,250 guests to enter Disneyland and 12,500 guests allowed to enter California Adventure Park.
With an estimated 1 million passholders (roughly equals about 50% of the parks’ capacity for each day), it seems as though Disney didn’t have much choice but to shut the program down.
As they figure out a replacement plan, Disney sent out a 50-page survey to previous passholders to gauge what portions of a program to include. Some of the topics include discounts on merchandise, food, and parking, dedicated entrances, rewards program, and reservation allowances.
PHOTO BY DISNEY
With the upcoming Avengers Campus, Jungle Cruise updates, and the ride we barely got to enjoy, Rise of the Resistance, we will have so much more to see when the parks welcome us back.
If you are anxious to be back in the Happiest Place on Earth, check their site for frequent updates.
