Another Disney theme park has announced its reopening date.
Hong Kong Disneyland will begin welcoming guests once again on June 18, Disney said today. The park was the second of Disney's theme parks to close and will be the second to return, following in both cases Shanghai Disneyland, which reopened to guests last month. Disney has announced that the Walt Disney World Resort's theme parks will reopen on July 11 and July 15, followed by the Disneyland parks in California on July 17 - the 65th anniversary of the original Disneyland's opening.
Disney has yet to announce reopening dates for the Tokyo Disney and the Disneyland Paris resorts.
"We are proud to be part of the Hong Kong community, which has worked hard and shown fortitude in how it has handled the pandemic," Hong Kong Disneyland Managing Director Stephanie Young said. "As we carefully welcome guests back to our park, we will draw on the learnings from the recent reopening of Shanghai Disney Resort and Disney Springs at Walt Disney World. Similarly, we will also implement new and enhanced health and safety measures following the guidance of our local government and health care officials."
As with the other Disney parks that have announced their reopening plans, Hong Kong Disneyland will open with limited attendance, as well as social distancing requirements in queues and restaurants, on ride vehicles and at other locations throughout the park. The park also will increase the frequency of sanitization and disinfection in high-guest contact areas, such as handrails.
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If I was allowed to travel internationally, this would be the only Disney park I’d feel comfortable attending at the moment. Not only was it not overly crowded when I visited, it is also by far the cleanest park and I have never seen fellow theme park guests and employees as polite or friendly as in Hong Kong Disney. Everyone seemed genuinely really happy to be there, and in the week my wife and I were there we didn’t see a single family meltdown or encounter any rude guests that can mar the experience. As such I would expect the required hygiene would be taken very seriously and would expect the guests to follow the new rules.
I visited HKDL in June 2018 -- pre-protests, pre-COVID -- and even *then* it was uncrowded, with under-15-minute waits on most attractions; my longest wait was 40 minutes for the Iron Man photo op. IMHO, social distancing will be more difficult to implement at Ocean Park (which I visited in 2015).
Mind you, my experience is a bit odd for an American because this was my fourth Disney park, after Epcot (2009), Tokyo Disneysea (2015), and Animal Kingdom (2016) -- I didn't do the full Orlando quartet until this spring (just before shutdown, as it happens). I describe HKDL to friends as "Disney's greatest hits, plus a few unique items".
I agree with @Manny Baron that "Runaway Mine Cars" and "Mystic Manor" are well-designed and fun. I was also impressed by the queue for "Iron Man Experience", the "Moana" stage show, and "Festival of the Lion King" (a little different from the Orlando version). Retroactively, I discovered that "Hyperspace Mountain" has a much smoother ride than Orlando's "Space Mountain", and "Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple" has a better stage.
Limited capacity? Disneyland Hong Kong is in the same situation as Sea World in Orlando has been the last 10 years. They both have such low attendance social distancing was the norm before the pandemic.
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I got the chance to visit Hong Kong Disneyland last year. I got to visit right in the midst of the Hong Kong protests. Needless to say it affected the parks attendance. We were able to enjoy the park with minimal wait times. Practically everything was a 5 or at most a 10 minute wait. It was so uncrowded, similarly I'm assuming to when Disney parks open up later on in the summer here in America. But anyway back to HK Disneyland it is a truly awesome park that is growing and getting ever better. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars might be my favorite Disney ride anywhere (I've yet to ride a few of the new things at Disney World). That and Mystic Manor prove you don't need an IP to create great attractions. June 18 is literally this week, that came all of a sudden. Here is hoping to a successful and healthy opening.