The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new masking guidelines. Those who were completely vaccinated don’t necessarily need to wear a mask both indoors and outdoors. This includes crowded places. This is big news for Disney that just opened their theme parks. Their current mask policy is that you are only allowed to take off your mask if you are eating in one spot. You can’t walk around if you are eating or drinking. Also, you can only take off your mask if you are going to have your photo taken.
According to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, “Today’s guidance that we got from the CDC in terms of those that were vaccinated do not necessarily need to wear masks anymore, both outdoors and indoors is very big news for us”.
Increased Demand
The Disney CEO said that there’s an increased demand for theme parks. One of the reasons for this is Governor Ron DeSantis’ executive order that canceled local COVID restrictions in Florida. Florida no longer has a mask mandate on public areas. However, privately-owned companies can still have their own mask policy.
Chapek said that wearing a mask in Florida during summer can be daunting. He added that it is “going to make for an even more pleasant experience” if individuals can take off their masks. Also, if you are going to visit Florida, there will be no vaccine passport requirement.
However, the mask policy isn’t the only thing that is going to change. Disney World in Orlando announced that it is going to phase out temperature checks by May 16.
The revenue from parks plummeted by 44% to just $3.17 billion. However, things are looking up for theme parks. Disneyland in California opened in April after staying closed during the pandemic. Chapek expects more people to go to their parks after CDC’s announcement. He mentioned that 80% of furloughed park employees have been called back in anticipation of the increased number of visitors.