Shanghai Disneyland will reopen to the public on May 11, and offers a glimpse of how a reopening at Walt Disney World may look

May 05, 2020 in "The Walt Disney Company"

Posted: Tuesday May 5, 2020 5:26pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Shanghai Disneyland will officially reopen to the public on May 11, with additional procedures and limited attendance during the initial reopening phase.

The details here are of interest to domestic park fans, as procedures here may offer a look at how Walt Disney World may open.

The majority of Shanghai Disneyland’s attractions, rides, some shows and shopping and dining locations will resume operations, with controlled attendance. Some interactive attractions and experiences, such as children play areas, and theater shows will remain closed. According to Bob Chapek, Shanghai Disney capacity is around 80,000 per day, and the government is capping capacity at 30%. Chapek indicated that the park would initially operate at a far lower capacity than 30%.

Of note, there will be no character meet and greets, no fireworks and no parades during the initial phase of reopening. Everyone in the parks except face characters will wear masks.

Shanghai Disneyland Reopens with Controlled Capacity on May 11
Shanghai, May 6, 2020 – Shanghai Disney Resort today announced that the Shanghai Disneyland theme park will officially reopen to the public on May 11, 2020. The initial park reopening will demonstrate a deliberate approach, drawing on the experience from the successful reopening of Disneytown, Wishing Star Park and Shanghai Disneyland Hotel in early March, and implement enhanced health and safety measures.

During this initial reopening phase, the park will institute new measures and procedures, including opening with limited attendance and required advanced ticketing and reservations, accommodating social distancing in queues, restaurants, ride vehicles and other facilities throughout the park, and implementing increased frequency of sanitization and disinfection.

Ticket sales will be available via the resort’s official online channels and official travel partners’ channels beginning on May 8 at 8:00 a.m., with a limited number of tickets available each day during the initial reopening.

On May 11, the majority of Shanghai Disneyland’s attractions, rides, some shows and shopping and dining locations will resume operations, with controlled attendance. Some interactive attractions and experiences, such as children play areas, and theater shows will remain closed. Guests can check the availability of attractions and entertainment through the resort’s official website and app.

To accommodate social distancing, parades and nighttime spectaculars will also return at a later date. During the initial reopening phase, a special Disney character procession, Mickey and Friends Express, will take place several times daily, and the Enchanted Storybook Castle will come to life with light and music at dusk each day with Evening Magical Moments. Beloved Disney characters will appear in the park in a new way, as they make appearances in each of the themed lands, greeting and welcoming everyone back to Shanghai Disneyland. Close interaction and close-up photos with characters will be suspended during the initial phase of reopening.

The frequency of sanitization measures will be increased in order to augment the standards of cleanliness already in place throughout the park, and hand sanitizers will be available at attractions, restaurant and stores.

The resort looks forward to recognizing and celebrating medical professionals who helped make our reopening possible at an appropriate time in the near future.

Based on the additional measures and procedures, we ask for guest understanding of and compliance with the following requirements when Shanghai Disneyland reopens:*

  1. Purchase dated admission tickets for Shanghai Disneyland prior to their arrival, as on-site sales will not be available. Annual Pass holders must make a reservation for their visit date and time through Shanghai Disney Resort’s official online channels before their visit to the park. During this “Advanced Reservation Period,” General Admission tickets for Shanghai Disneyland will not be accepted;**
  2. Provide basic personal information for each guest visiting the park, including name, phone number, ID type and ID number via Shanghai Disney Resort’s official online channels after purchasing a ticket and prior to arriving at the resort. A Shanghai Disneyland Reservation QR Code will be provided after the successful submission of the required identification information, and guests will be required to present the code before entering the theme park;
  3. Register for the Health QR Code prior to their arrival, which will be required to be presented upon entering any location at Shanghai Disney Resort. Only guests with a green Health QR Code will be allowed to enter the resort;
  4. Be prepared to present a China government ID card, or valid travel document, for each guest at the park turnstiles (photos or printed copies will not be accepted);
  5. Undergo temperature screening procedures upon arrival; and
  6. Wear an approved mask during the entire visit to the resort except when dining.
    *These measures will continue to be reviewed as the situation warrants, and may be further adjusted.
    **The validity period of a Shanghai Disneyland Annual Pass will be extended for the number of lost days falling between the park’s closure date of January 25, 2020 and the end of the “Advanced Reservation Period.” A Shanghai Disneyland Annual Pass that expired before January 25, 2020 or that was purchased after the end of the “Advanced Reservation Period” will not be extended. The same extension policy will apply to the validity period for General Admission tickets for Shanghai Disneyland. The detailed extension policy, including block-out days, will be communicated with Pass and ticket holders separately.
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GoofyernmostMay 10, 2020

Agreed, but that doesn't have anything to do with avoiding Covid 19.

nickysMay 10, 2020

Fair enough. But I can’t agree with this: “Just one day at MK can easily hit 10 or more miles. Doing that requires a very healthy body and be it because of being a germophobe or genetics, it is a very limited number of people”. Agreed on distance, but the vast majority of guests at WDW manage to walk all day just fine. It may be a limited number who would ordinarily choose to walk from GF (or even the Poly), but if the alternative is having to wait for a bus (not the usual monorail) which is going to be half full at best so likely waiting for quite some time, my guess is many would just walk.

GoofyernmostMay 10, 2020

They always did track you all the time except before high tech took over they tracked you exclusively by camera (that still exists). Because they have the ability to track doesn't mean that there is a large group of sinister looking men dressed in black tracking each individual, by name, in the thousands of guests that are there at any given moment. If you lost a child in that crowd, believe me you would praise the ability they have to locate your child. Something they weren't doing until you asked them too. Why because they didn't have any reason to do so. You are sighting an incident were something unusual happened and it was connected to a band that was in your name. If that hadn't happened I'm at a loss to figure out what is accomplished by monitoring every single person as a matter of normal procedure. But, I'm sure that there is a conspiracy for everything, so I'm sure some evil must be taking place.

GoofyernmostMay 10, 2020

They aren't necessarily, but walking is all one does at WDW. Just one day at MK can easily hit 10 or more miles. Doing that requires a very healthy body and be it because of being a germophobe or genetics, it is a very limited number of people. So, if I were concerned about my health 24/7 then the last place I would be is mingling in a large group of germ carrying humans. Plus the part of what I wrote was that the benefit that would be gained by walking to MK from the Grand Floridian would be quickly cancelled out by what is encountered once you entered the park. So, my point was that avoiding the transit to walk there thinking that you just dodged any threat of illness is like peeing in the ocean and expecting to see the rise in the sea level. So to use your own sentence if they are unlikely to be afraid of the virus then why would they not take the transit. Basically, those that walk would have walked anyway, so it won't help tremendously in relation to avoiding illness.

crawaleMay 10, 2020

Three years ago we had an issue with my grandson swiping his band twice on a ride. About 30 minutes later Disney called my cell to ask if we had resolved the issue so of course they are tracking you all the time.

nickysMay 10, 2020

Why would those who are happy to walk from GF be germ-obsessed? Surely they’d be the fit, healthy guests? And it would probably be quicker than the wait for the half filled buses or whatever. Anyone who stays and visits in the first few months are highly unlikely to be afraid of the virus.

GoofyernmostMay 10, 2020

That would help very little. It wouldn't help me at all and wouldn't those that are able to walk it easily be part of the germ obsessed community and not want to go there at all. Remember there is a crowd at the end of the sidewalk. The same crowd that is at the end of the Bus route, the Monorail route and the Gondola Route, the small boats, the minnie vans that have upholstery, carpets and door handles, and every object on every item in every park. How much does anyone think they can hide from this virus anyway? If one is going to go, they might just as well own the responsibility if they get sick. No amount of masks, hand-washing or disinfectant will protect anyone from it if their body is unable to ward off the virus. At home, and in controlled situations, they have a chance. In a theme park, it is just throwing caution to the wind. Proceed at your own risk.

ToTBellHopMay 10, 2020

Those would help tremendously.

Magic FeatherMay 10, 2020

I don’t know why the launches (boats) couldn’t be used for GF. Worst case they throw the MK 1 and 2 (or whatever they call the old Discovery island River Boats now) back on that route. The only issue with that is the fact that they are already down to two docks, so that may not work. Regardless, I’ve been hearing that a few projects may emerge and restart construction a bit before the park reopens in hopes that they get done pre-parks reopening to help with Social Distancing efforts. Among those, I’ve heard a somewhat shoddy/quick finish to the GF walkway being considered, in addition to putting a lot of resources into finishing the final security improvements (MK Parkside and AK)

ToTBellHopMay 10, 2020

All I know is that there were serious concerns about telling GF guests to ride a bus to MK. Pity they waited so long on that bridge... Perhaps they can save the monorail for resort guests and not from from TTC. Boats shouldn’t be any less safe than buses if they use appropriate capacities.

Dr.GrantSeekerMay 10, 2020

I was thinking about this as well. Does anyone have an idea or insight as to how Disney will handle transportation when they reopen? @marni1971 @Magic Feather @MansionButler84 @WDW Pro

peter11435May 08, 2020

That’s basically what every company, organization, government and individual is forced to do right now.

ThelazerMay 08, 2020

It's make it up as you go time, from the planning side of parks and resorts.

MisterPenguinMay 08, 2020

From what I've seen of the FL task force is that they basically said in the end that they trust the theme parks to do their own thing and they weren't going to micro-manage them.