Theme park guidelines have been updated for California theme parks! While there has been a great deal of confusion recently regarding reopening guidelines, the Secretary for California Health and Human Services Dr. Mark Ghaly has released a rather large update on reopening guidelines for California theme parks.

Theme parks have been given the all clear to reopen in California, but the new guidelines do present specific requirements and tiers that will need to be met.

During the press conference, Dr. Ghaly did offer comments on what had been seen while visiting Florida theme parks including social distancing protocols, how lines were being handled, and concerns about the level of mixing groups. Theme parks were slated as a higher risk setting than other venues like outdoor stadiums for a number of reasons including:

• A large number of visitors from different areas

• Visitors spending several days in parks

• Large scale mixing

• Frequently touched surfaces

In regard to larger theme parks, that include Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood, they will be able to resume operations at Tier 4 under a limited capacity of 25%. This fourth tier is based off of California Governor Newsom’s four-tier Blueprint for A Safer Economy.

According to the OC Register, this essentially means that Disneyland will be unable to reopen for several weeks or months. Their ability to reopen will be dependent on the county that they reside in to reach the “least-restrictive “minimal” risk level”.

Upon reopening, whether it be by the end of 2020 or pushed back to 2021, face masks will be required for all visitors and a reservation system will need to be implemented. Dr. Ghaly had this to say on face mask availability in parks: “Face coverings must be made available to visitors who lose their face coverings during a ride or attraction.”