The theme parks of the Disneyland Resort reopened to the public this morning, more than 13 months after they closed due to the pandemic.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke to cast members after Disneyland’s traditional flag raising ceremony this morning.
Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are operating at 25% capacity due to ongoing state pandemic restrictions. However, it seemed that all the allotted guests for Disneyland today were here and ready to go as the park opened its gates at 8am. Here are the first guests through those turnstiles.
Guests seemed to remain happy and enthusiastic throughout the morning, even as physical distancing requirements pushed queue lengths far beyond their pre-pandemic records. But the lines moved swiftly, and wait times remained short. The longest I saw was 40 minutes for Haunted Mansion. Some fans took the opportunity to snap photos with the Disney executives on hand to greet them, including Chapek, Chairman Bob Iger, and Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro.
Fans getting a distanced selfie with @DisneyParks Josh D’Amaro. #Disneyland pic.twitter.com/gnfFN10SC4
— Theme Park Insider (@ThemePark) April 30, 2021
I also got my first in-person look at the new Snow White's Enchanted Wish attraction, which officially debuts today and that we previewed for you in an exclusive interview with its lead Imagineer in Go Inside the Making of Disneyland's New Snow White Ride.
Let's take a walk around the entire theme park, so you can see what the crowd looked like as well as Disneyland's Covid-prevention measures in action.
Even as fans and cast members celebrated today's reopening, you can look ahead to and learn about what's coming next at the resort in my interview with Disneyland President Ken Potrock.
And if you would like to plan your visit to the Disneyland Resort, our travel partner is offering multi-day tickets for sale on its authorized Disneyland tickets page. At this time, ticket sales are limited to California residents, and due to capacity restrictions, you must make a reservation to use your tickets via the Disneyland website once you have purchased them.
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Yes! Plus I've been checking on the wait times so far and it seems very reasonable... Space Mountain at 5 minutes for example at around 11 am Disneyland time. Big win for us theme park fans.
That's the first full on-ride POV of Snow White I've seen, and just based on that limited view of the attraction, you can see the dramatic improvement, particularly in the pacing. That attraction was always problematic, but necessary to keep given that MK removed its clone. WDI appears to have given fans exactly what was needed to revive Disney's first princess, perhaps even better from a storytelling perspective than the immensely popular 7DMT.
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Good to have it back and running, we need some good news.