Disneyland To Close Due To COVID-19 Pandemic

Disneyland will be closing down due to the COVID-19 outbreak.  This marks the fourth Disney theme park to shut down during the pandemic. 

Disneyland Resort, which includes both the Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure along with the hotels, will be shutting down beginning Saturday, March 14th, 2020.

While there have been no reported cases of COVID-19 at Disneyland Resort, after carefully reviewing the guidelines of the Governor of California’s executive order and in the best interest of our guests and employees, we are proceeding with the closure of Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park, beginning the morning of March 14 through the end of the month.

The Hotels of Disneyland Resort will remain open until Monday, March 16 to give guests the ability to make necessary travel arrangements; Downtown Disney will remain open. We will monitor the ongoing situation and follow the advice and guidance of federal and state officials and health agencies. Disney will continue to pay cast members during this time.

Disneyland Resort will work with guests who wish to change or cancel their visits, and will provide refunds to those who have hotel bookings during this closure period. We anticipate heavy call volume over the next several days and appreciate guests’ patience as we work hard to respond to all inquiries.

Earlier today the news was that the park would be exempt from the governor’s ban on gatherings of more than 250 people due to their ‘unique circumstances.’  It seems that, despite the exemption, Disney has moved forward with a closure anyway.

Shanghai Disney was the first Disney park to close back on January 25th, and it has now reopened some resort operations while keeping the main park closed.  Disneyland Hong Kong followed suit the very next day, and then on February 29th Tokyo Disney closed down as well. 

Tokyo Disney is scheduled to reopen on Monday, but during this particular weekend there will be four Disney parks around the globe closed, which will be a first in Disney history.

Disneyland has closed a few times in its 65 year history.  Its first closure was the day John F Kennedy was assassinated, then again when the Northridge Earthquake struck California in 1994.  Its third and most recent closure was during the September 11th terrorists attacks in 2001, when Walt Disney World in Florida simultaneously shut down.  That marked the first time more than one park was closed at a time. 

The Disney hotels will remain open through Monday, which is an incredibly courteous effort to assist guests who suddenly find themselves stuck far from home during a pandemic with their hotel being forced to close.

In additional fantastic news, Disneyland will continue to pay their cast members during the closure.  Details on that are vague on our end, but I’m sure that’ll be good news for hourly workers who are concerned about facing weeks without pay.  I hope other companies who can afford this do so as well.  As for those companies who can’t afford to do this, I hope one of the numerous bills being introduced at the time of this writing gets through to help provide relief for small businesses and hourly workers who could be facing extreme financial hardship in the coming months. 

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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