[Chat] Which Park Will Reopen First?

[Spongeocto4]

While we wait through this closure, I have been wondering if they will reopen both parks on the same day or not. Hypothetically TDA may choose to stagnate the reopening by only open 1 initially. And if so, which one would it be?

My thoughts:

Pros for Disneyland reopening first:
- Guaranteed money earner

- Guarenteed stronger attendance

-Guest prefered park

-New offerings already available(Magic Happens, Rise of the Resistance)

Cons for Disneyland reopening first:
-Older park with older facilities. Possible needing more time to prep.

-Attendence may cause an unnecessary resurgence at the park by causing crowding issues

-Park has narrower walkways, causing more issues with social distancing

-Some Rides may still be closed from their interrupted refurbishments(Haunted Mansion, Snow White, King Arthur's Carousel, Pirates?) or may need work(Rise of the Resistance)

Pros for DCA reopening first:
-Larger Walkways to prevent less crowding

-Allow the resort to stagnate reopening by opening the less attended park and cause less crowds.

-Newer Facilities

-Gives more time to prep Disneyland to reopen

Cons for DCA reopening first:
-New offerings (Avengers Campus) are not ready to open for public

-Would likely make less profit than its sister park would

-No guaranteed draw that crowds would instantly return for DCA, as Disneyland would still be closed.

Again its possible both parks may reopen together. I personally am edging that DCA may reopen first. But I would not be surprised if Disneyland reopens first.

Guesses?

[SkunkID]

My gut tells me both, but honestly, it would be really smart to open DCA first, especially if they pair with with an extension of food and wine. If Disney REALLY wanted to get some brownie points and show they want guests to get as much as value as they can, they could do a simplified fireworks show launched from Disneyland proper at a high enough altitude to be seen from DCA or at the very least, the esplanade. They could pump the show audio similar to how they used to for the hotels.

[micromind]

I'd bet both at the same time....why wouldn't they?

[Spongeocto4]

I'd bet both at the same time....why wouldn't they?

The reasons of why they would only open one at a time:
-To keep operating costs low
and
To prevent a mad rush return to the parks

In addition, when the parks intially shut down, several impromtu closure projects were started(according to a previous MC Update). Pirates went down for an immediate refurbishment and repavement was being done in Frontierland. At the time, TDA was still planning for a 2 week closure. Now parks construction appears to have been halted. In addition, past reports on the board, imply that the parks will need some upkeeping before reopening. So a staggered opening may be more favorable.

This happened, when the Tokyo Disneyland Resort reopened from the 2011 Tsunami/Earthquake. Tokyo Disneyland reopened, but TokyoDisneySea remained closed for nearly 2 weeks extra.

[micromind]

The reasons of why they would only open one at a time:
-To keep operating costs low
and
To prevent a mad rush return to the parks

In addition, when the parks intially shut down, several impromtu closure projects were started(according to a previous MC Update). Pirates went down for an immediate refurbishment and repavement was being done in Frontierland. At the time, TDA was still planning for a 2 week closure. Now parks construction appears to have been halted. In addition, past reports on the board, imply that the parks will need some upkeeping before reopening. So a staggered opening may be more favorable.

This happened, when the Tokyo Disneyland Resort reopened from the 2011 Tsunami/Earthquake. Tokyo Disneyland reopened, but TokyoDisneySea remained closed for nearly 2 weeks extra.

The operating costs makes sense but it seems to me that opening only one park would make the mad rush worse because there is less space for people to occupy.

[rld275501]

Neither, anytime soon. DCA-sure it has wide walkways, but not when there’s a construction wall on one end and food kiosks on the other side. Disneyland still has RotR which is a huge issue, the boarding groups are congregating more people in a smaller area!! The only park that would’ve been able to stay open through this is DCA 1.0. Honestly, I bet if they’d known about Coronavirus it would’ve led them to put Star Wars and Marvel themed shopping malls in the 3rd park instead of the two existing theme parks. Definitely was a great idea to put the most popular IP too congregate more people in the same area!

[Imagineer45]

Both parks will likely open at the same time to better spread people out. Downtown Disney and the hotels are the most likely candidates to open before either park.

[C. Andrew Nelson]

I'm going to bet that Walt Disney World opens before the Disneyland Resort does. I think government officials in Florida will be much more keen to reopen buisnesses sooner than our officials here in California.

Setting that aside, I predict that (barring any major issues caused by sitting idle for so long) both parks in Anaheim will reopen at the same time, but that Disney will put a cap on the number of guests they let into each park, just like many groceries stores are doing now, in order to facilitate a certain level of social distancing. Once they reach a designated occupancy they will shut the gates to anyone else coming in unless enough people have exited. That's what I think will happen for at least the first month as Disney and health officials assess the situation.

Putting a cap on attendance is not unheard of in the theme park industry. I don't know if they still do it, but this was Legoland's practice for many years. Once that park reached a certain occupancy they stopped admitting guests because they didn't want little kids to have to wait in ridiculously long lines and get all whiny about it, something that my wife and I always appreciated about Legoland. Disney could adopt a similar strategy temporarily when reopening the Disneyland Resort.

[Chadanooga]

Andrew,

You may be right about Florida opening first. Hard to say though. WDW relies heavily on international tourists, and DLR has a huge local AP base.

Which CA park do you think would open first, if they only open one in Anaheim?

[Spongeocto4]

After 6 month, we have the winning prediction! DCA will (partially) reopen 1st, with Buena Vista Street reopening.

Out of the 31 votes, only 4 guessed correctly! They are myself, Benny , linkeq2001, and TLand2055!

[Eagleman]

Any of the the two parks to open up first
IMO it would be Disneyland.......

[greenalfonzo]

Hopefully Main Street is not far behind. It's essentially all shops and restaurants, and would still provide the great holiday photo ops.

[TacAlert]

They have been closed 8 months almost. Plenty of time to prep.

[rld275501]

This is about which PARK will reopen first. For the record, both parks are still closed. Sorry, but I do not count Downtown Disney Extends to Buena Vista street as a "Park opening" when Disney explicitly stated the park remains closed in their announcement.