And that's it. The Walt Disney Company announced this evening that it will close its Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris theme parks after the close of business on Sunday, March 15, in response to the global Covid-19 crisis.
The Disney Cruise Line also will suspend all departures after March 14. The parks and the cruise line will be closed through the end of the month.
The hotels at Disney World and Disneyland Paris will remain open until further notice, however. And the Disney Springs and Disney Village shopping areas also will remain open.
Earlier in the day, the Disneyland Resort announced that it would close its theme parks starting Saturday, though its hotels would remain open through Monday. Downtown Disney is also remaining open until further notice, as well. The Disneyland and Disney California Adventure parks are to remain closed through the end of the month.
This means that all of Disney's theme parks around the world will be closed, for the first time ever. Disney has announced that it will pay all its cast members during the shut-downs. For more on the Covid-19 novel coronavirus' effect on travel, please visit our daily blog
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My mom still planning a trip with her grandkids in June, figures has to be open by then. Still, a huge move for them.
There's no way hand sanitizing stations were going to do anything to stop the spread of this virus at a theme park, I think that was more of a show thing than an actual thing that was actually expected to work. At this point it is what it is, hopefully shutting everything down for a few weeks gets this under control.
I said it in the previous topic and will say it again, I am buying as much stock as possible. Yes many companies will be damaged for a long time, but the strong performing blue chips are down bigtime for no other reason other than the virus, which will end at some point, so i'm all bulls. The companies that were struggling though are now going to be in really deep trouble if this doesn't get fixed soon (Six Flags, Sea World)
I am really impressed Disney is paying their cast members though all of this. That is a classy move by the Mouse!
@Robert (or anyone that knows): Has WDW ever closed its parks besides on 9/11? Is this only the second time they've closed them?
@Beacher: News reported that this is the fourth time with the last time being the 2016 hurricane. That would be three times along with 9/11 and now, but I don’t know the fourth.
@ Beacher & TwoBits,
The other times have hurricane related as well. I read they closed in 2004 & 1999 because of hurricanes (although these may have been partial / short term closures)
Hearing Disney may be advising cast members that pay benefits may be limited to the hours they have already been scheduled.
Oh Mr. Chapek ... You just stood in front of stockholders defending executive pay ... Tread VERY carefully, sir.
Bob Iger right now: "Thank goodness I gave the job to Chapek when I did."
But in all honesty, I think this is the right move. Yes, it stinks for people who had vacations booked (and I 100% understand their frustration), but my understanding is that Disney is going to be lenient with refunds. But we're in uncharted territory at this point, so this was the right call for what we're seeing. I know we went through Swine Flu and SARS without going to this extreme, but...as quickly as this is spreading, I think it was the right thing to do.
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We are beyond the edges of the map.