Disneyland continues to put pressure on the state of California via public statements, this time from Disneyland President Ken Potrock. Potrock recently said that Disneyland was “disappointed” with the lack of real progress from California Governor Gavin Newsom.
From Disney Parks chief Josh D’Amaro to Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu, there has been no lack of noise from the Disneyland Resort, but it has been met with a lack of action from the state level. Here’s what Potrock had to say about the current state of Disneyland (via OC Register):
Without those guidelines, we’re quite honestly in limbo. We are ready to open responsibly, it is the time to open responsibly and it’s important to open responsibly.
We’ve been waiting for guidelines from the governor’s office. We’ve made many, many, many recommendations as to what those protocols should be. We’ve offered to help with guidance so that we can get to a place that would be reasonable for us to open. Unfortunately we haven’t received that guidance.
We continue to read things from the governor’s office and press clippings that talk about guidance is imminent and coming soon and we’re really, really close. I hope that’s true.
I was walking the streets of Anaheim earlier this week and unfortunately it’s a ghost town. The same thing could be said for many of the surrounding towns as well. There’s just no one there. It’s just so incredibly heart wrenching.
The governor used the term ‘negotiating’ with the amusement park industry in one of his quotes and I hope it’s not a negotiation. I hope it’s a good collaboration and that’s what we’re attempting to achieve.
I would challenge you to find any other industry that is doing what we’re doing to open safely. We’re not asking to be treated differently. We’re asking to be treated equitably based upon what we believe we bring to the table.
In the above statement, it’s clear that Potrock is not mincing words. His stance mirrors other statements we’ve heard from Disney officials.
Walt Disney World has been open in Orlando, FL for over two months now, and local officials have yet to link a COVID-19 outbreak to the theme parks despite combing over the data to search for one. Disney World has, in our opinion, been the industry leader in safety at the theme parks, even recently issuing a ban to a guest who refused to follow the mandatory mask rules. Disney World has also implemented physical distancing throughout the parks and is limiting capacity via a theme park reservation system.
There should be little doubt at this point that Disney will act responsibly and safely if given the chance to open by Newsom.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
I’m not sure why you suppose that it’s a given that we’d all be behind opening a travel-inducing stranger-mixing theme park during COVID-19. I, for one, don’t think that the partisan blowhards who run Florida particularly want to know if outbreaks are associated with Disney World, and I don’t find the supposed lack of evidence of Florida Disney outbreaks all that comforting.
As a society, COVID’s spread is increased by every collective decision we make to congregate and open. You can only open so much before it goes into exponential growth and a spike kills thousands. We need to decide as a nation: do we want to spend our limited opening potential on schools and industry, or do we spend it on bars and Disney theme parks.
So many were outdated in May when California supposedly wasn’t opening fast enough, and 3-4 weeks after opening California had a massive spike of cases that killed thousands and served as a major engine to fuel later summer spikes all across the country. Articles like this make me shake my head.
I’d like to post a comment dissenting to the tone of the article that presumes the readership here agrees the parks should be open. I love Disneyland, I miss driving down the coast once a month to see it quite a lot, and I can’t wait to have a monte cristo alongside rivers of America and ride Haunted Mansion again.
That said – that park should absolutely be closed, and it should remain on such .The resulting economic devastation and consequences therein has a lot more to do with a cruel, unresponsive federal government than even considering the deeply irresponsible move of reopening parks amidst this crisis. WDW shouldn’t be open either, but at least CA has the leadership willing to hold this line, and I’m grateful for it.