REUTERS/Aly Song
- Shanghai Disneyland opened Monday for the first time following its shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.
- Tickets to reopening day quickly sold out online.
- Shanghai Disneyland is Disney’s first resort to open during the pandemic, and could be a road map for further openings at other locations.
- Here are 23 photos of what the park’s reopening looked like.
Disneyland is officially open again – in China.
Tickets to the reopening of Shanghai Disneyland, the first Disney theme park to open since the company closed resorts around the globe due to the coronavirus pandemic, quickly sold out online for the opening day, and are currently sold out for a few days after that.
The park’s opening on Monday is a step toward Disney restarting one of its biggest moneymakers after losing $US1.4 billion amid the coronavirus pandemic. But things won’t be back to normal for a while as the park is operating at 20% of its capacity with roughly 16,000 visitors a day, Reuters reported.
While the park is letting in visitors, the experience is taking on a new form with temperature checks, mandatory masks, and social distancing, including on rides, Reuters said.
You can expect the new requirements and adaptations implemented at the park to offer a window into how Disney will handle future openings at other resorts – Disney CEO Bob Chapek said the Shanghai reopening offers it the chance to test its “training wheels”.
The possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 cases lurks after 17 new cases were reported in mainland China May 10 – the highest spike in cases since April 28, according to Reuters. Over the past several weeks China’s cases declined although pockets of outbreaks still exist, the report said.
Read on to see photos of Shanghai Disneyland’s reopening process, and what it’s like to attend a Disney park amid a pandemic.
A staff member wearing a face mask holds a thermometer at a checkpoint at Shanghai Disney Resort a day before the Shanghai Disneyland theme park reopens following a shutdown due to the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Shanghai, China May 10, 2020.
REUTERS/Aly Song
Shanghai Disneyland resumed operations on May 11, 2020, the same day for the first time since late January.
Photo by Kyodo News via Getty Images
Staff members wearing face masks stand outside the Shanghai Disneyland theme park as it reopens following a shutdown.
REUTERS/Aly Song
The ceremony for the reopening of the Disneyland theme park welcomes visitors.
AP Photo/Sam McNeil
A staff member wearing a face mask gestures at Shanghai Disney Resort at the Shanghai Disneyland theme park.
REUTERS/Aly Song
Visitors, wearing face masks, wait to enter the Disneyland theme park in Shanghai as it reopened.
AP Photo/Sam McNeil
All visitors were required to show a green health code on their mobile phones to be allowed in the theme park.
AP Photo/Sam McNeil
A young visitor, wearing a face mask, waves as she enters the Disneyland theme park.
AP Photo/Sam McNeil
The resort is the first Disney park in the world to readmit guests with the number of new coronavirus infections decreasing in China.
Photo by Kyodo News via Getty Images
Tape on the ground throughout the park marks the distance customers should leave between each other.
AP Photo/Sam McNeil
All visitors at the Shanghai Disney Resort are required to wear face masks.
REUTERS/Aly Song
Families, couples, and Disney fans wear face masks as they wander throughout the resort.
REUTERS/Aly Song
Visits will be limited initially and must be booked in advance, and the company said it will increase cleaning and require social distancing in lines for the various attractions.
AP Photo/Sam McNeil
Shanghai Disneyland’s reopening offers a potential model for other mass entertainment venues around the world to open for business during the pandemic.
Photo by Hu Chengwei/Getty Images
A girl wearing a face mask poses for a picture at Shanghai Disney Resort.
REUTERS/Aly Song
A security worker, wearing a face mask, stands guard at the Disneyland theme park.
AP Photo/Sam McNeil
Media and visitors tour Disneyland in Shanghai.
AP Photo/Sam McNeil
A visitor dressed as a Disney character takes a selfie while wearing a protective face mask.
REUTERS/Aly Song
Tourists dine at a restaurant at Shanghai Disneyland after its reopening.
Photo by Hu Chengwei/Getty Images
Tourists watch a show at Shanghai Disneyland after its reopening.
Photo by Hu Chengwei/Getty Images
With warmer weather and new coronavirus cases and deaths falling to near-zero, China has been reopening tourist sites such as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City palace complex in Beijing.
AP Photo/Sam McNeil
A tourist looks on at Shanghai Disneyland after its reopening.
Photo by Hu Chengwei/Getty Images
Visitors photograph the Disney castle the first night of the park’s reopening.
Photo by Hu Chengwei/Getty Images
Written by: JESSICA SNOUWAERT
