Disney slams California officials for ‘unworkable’ guidelines around theme park reopening

The Walt Disney Company is ripping California’s strict protocols for reopening its theme parks in Anaheim, arguing the “arbitrary guidelines” are “unworkable” and hold it to a “vastly different” standard than other businesses.

Disneyland, which opened in July 1955, has been shuttered for seven months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, California Health and Human Services Agency announced the theme park can reopen, but only at a limited capacity of 25 percent.

Disney pointed to its reopenings at Florida’s Walt Disney World, France’s Euro Disney and its parks in Asia as proof that its protocols were safe.

“We have proven that we can responsibly reopen, with science-based health and safety protocols strictly enforced at our theme park properties around the world,” Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock said in a Tuesday statement. “The State of California continues to ignore this fact, instead mandating arbitrary guidelines that it knows are unworkable and that hold us to a standard vastly different from other reopened businesses.”

California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said the state recently sent observers to Walt Disney World in Orlando and found “random” mask wearing “concerning.”

“The level of mixing, even without masks … seemed very random and concerning to us,” he said.

Ghaly added that capacity could be amended depending on conditions and developments surrounding COVID-19.

Disney announced last month plans to lay off about 28,000 employees across its domestic theme parks division, with two-thirds being part-time employees.