California Lifts Stay-Home Order - So What's Next?

January 25, 2021, 12:08 PM · The state of California has lifted all regional Stay Home orders, effective immediately.

Today's announcement returns counties in affected regions - including southern California - to their color-coded tier status and associated rules for what business may open, and how.

While this change moves California's theme parks a step closer toward reopening, that date remains far in the future, given Covid-19 case loads across the region. Like all major counties in the state, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties are returning to the most-restrictive Purple tier - at the opposite end of the spectrum from the least-restrictive Yellow tier, in which theme parks are allowed to reopen their attractions to guests.

However, the Purple tier does allow for the return of outdoor dining, which should allow theme parks to resume more of the special events they had been staging in order to welcome some guests back inside their gates. Under the Stay Home order, only drive-through events had been permitted, which Six Flags Magic Mountain and SeaWorld San Diego had taken advantage of with their Holiday in the Park and Sesame Street Parade of Lights events.

The return of outdoor dining also affects Disneyland's Downtown Disney and Universal Studios Hollywood's CityWalk, which both saw several venues close while the Stay Home order was in place.

Counties may still impose their own restrictions on top of the state's rules, so it is possible that counties could continue to restrict theme park activities beyond what the state permits. We will let you know what happens next.

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