Caution and Patience
Walt Disney World has, as you may have noticed, unveiled its reopening plan to a task force in Central Florida. The plan, which the task force already approved, is likely to get approved by the governor of Florida soon, and details how Disney would reopen its doors to guests on July 11, with the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom opening that day, and Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios doing so on July 15.
Depending on who you ask, the idea of going to a theme park anytime soon is a desperate need or desperately dangerous. Here’s the former.
And here’s the latter.
People need something to yell about, and so today, Disney is likely going to be that topic. What it means is that we’re going to get a lot of context-free anger heaped towards Disney and anyone at the World of Disney in Orlando. (Do you think Disney Springs will be swamped with people tomorrow? Or is it possible that today, the first day that Disney-owned locations are reopening, lots of local bloggers and influencers are swamping the place? Ahem.) And while I’m never one to shy away from criticizing Disney, I’m taking the opposite tack today.
Disney’s plan is extremely cautious, thus making it a very wise plan indeed.
Unlike Universal Studios Orlando, SeaWorld, and Legoland, Walt Disney World is holding on opening its doors until after the July 4 holiday. They’re implementing a reservation system for guests (the other competitors are not). They’re mandating masks to be worn by all guests and Cast Members. (Only some competitors are doing that.) They’re suspending fireworks, parades, and meet-and-greets.
I’m not going to tell people like Josh Horowitz that he’s wrong. I’m not super-stoked about visiting a theme park anytime soon. Even if I was champing at the bit to do so, I’d want to wait for a couple months, to see how the new procedures are being implemented and to see if any hot spots have cropped up.
But this is the kind of plan that all of the theme-park empires should be implementing. It’s going to divide some people — because, as we’ve discussed before, it’s just not magical to wear masks, or some such bullshit — but caution is the right move.
I would also point out that it’s extremely shrewd for Disney to wait until mid-July to open for the same reason that it’s right for them to stick with the July 24 release date for Mulan. Those dates can change. It’s possible that they won’t. It’s also possible that six to eight weeks from now, the prospect of visiting a theme park or movie theater is even grimmer than it is now. By not tying themselves to an early June date, Disney is likely skating past disaster.
It’s a good, smart plan. Even/especially if people choose to avoid theme parks for a while.