Disneyland Paris Reopens with New Health Protocols in Place

PARIS, KOMPAS.com - On July 15, Disneyland Paris reopened its doors after a four-month closure resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

Excited visitors trickled in to Europe’s most frequented theme park with one group wearing Mickey Mouse ears while gleefully dancing.

The reopening of Disneyland Paris comes with a set of new health protocols such as mandatory face masks and physical distancing.

Visitors looking to visit the European theme park are required to make an advance booking given that Disneyland Paris is operating under limited capacity.

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Park visitors were asked to maintain a distance of one meter from others.

Disneyland Paris also provided hundreds of handwashing stations and sanitizing gels throughout the park.

No tickets were sold at the entrance, while playgrounds and make-up workshops remained closed.

Walt Disney World also reopened its two most popular parks in Orlando, on Saturday, despite a surge of new infections in Florida.

But in Hong Kong, the company has decided to temporarily close its Disneyland park amid rising coronavirus cases in the Chinese-ruled city.

Early announcement

The reopening of Disneyland Paris is in line with the reopening other key tourist attractions in France’s capital city such as the Versailles Palace and the Louvre Museum.

Upon announcing a date for its reopening, Disney explained that no tickets will be sold at the entrance.

Disney also stated that rides, where physical distancing is difficult to implement, will not yet reopen.

Playgrounds and make-up workshops are among the other Disneyland Paris attractions that will remain temporarily closed to ensure optimal public health and safety of the theme park’s visitors.

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Its “single ride” system that is normally available at Disneyland Paris has been discontinued during the coronavirus pandemic.

The system allows individuals to skip long queues by taking available seats next to people other than in their own party.

Disneyland Paris’ staff and visitors above 11 are required to wear a face mask.

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Disneyland Paris has given its visitors the freedom to scream their hearts out on roller coasters unlike its sister theme park, Disneyland Japan.

"If the client wants to scream we're not going to tell them not to ... it's still a theme park, people come to enjoy themselves. In complete safety, of course," said the head of park operations, Marco Bernini.

During a press visit, the park's main street was eerily empty as staff stood by rides ahead of reopening next Wednesday.

Disneyland declined to release last year's visitor numbers or to provide a forecast for this year. In 2016, it reported 13.4 million visitors. 

(Writer: Geert De Clercq, Matthieu Protard | Editor: Alexandra Hudson, Pravin Char)

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-disneyland-paris/masks-mandatory-at-mickeys-when-disneyland-paris-reopens-idUSKBN24A2Q9

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-disneyland-paris/masks-and-mickey-disneyland-paris-reopens-after-four-month-closure-idUSKCN24G0WZ