SANDUSKY, Ohio — The magic will have to wait a little bit longer.
Walt Disney World announced their plans Wednesday to start a phased reopening of their Florida theme parks later this summer. According to their proposal, the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom would start welcoming guests July 11, followed by EPCOT and Hollywood Studios on July 15.
This puts their restart five weeks behind Universal Orlando, which will begin reopening June 5.
Highlights of Disney’s proposal include mandatory face masks for guests, conducting temperature checks and canceling large-scale events like fireworks and parades. See a full list of all their planned restrictions HERE.
Florida’s governor still has to approve the Disney plan.
While Disney’s proposed reopening follows similar strategies previously announced by Universal, SeaWorld and Six Flags, thrill seekers are still awaiting official plans from Cedar Fair, the parent company of Cedar Point.
Although Cedar Fair hasn’t fully revealed their next steps just yet, the company’s CEO Richard Zimmerman provided a handful of potential changes on a conference call earlier this month that could impact their properties – including Cedar Point and Kings Island – once given the green light to safely reopen.
Many of the possible restrictions follow the same methodology being implemented by other theme parks across the country. Among the changes Zimmerman suggested are:
- Guests may need to make a reservation to visit the parks
- Limiting capacity
- Virtual queue lines
- Maintaining six-foot distances
- Enhanced cleaning efforts
Even if Cedar Fair announces their finalized game plan soon, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the state isn’t quite ready for large attractions like Cedar Point to reopen.
“We’re certainly not there yet,” DeWine said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press.
While Cedar Point is still aiming to reopen at some point this year, the park has postponed all of their 150th anniversary season festivities and attractions until 2021.
Their initial opening date for the 2020 season was supposed to be May 9, but the park remains closed until further notice.
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