Sarasota, FL – ( NewMediaWire ) – September 21, 2020 – Florida’s major theme parks have been open for months while California’s remained closed. California Gov. Gavin Newsom mentioned in a late August press conference that these closures could be changing soon. Theme park reviewer Jessica Brambilla recently commented on what Newsom explained in the conference and what that means for California theme parks.
“State officials state that they haven’t been sitting idly by,” Jessica Brambilla said. “They’ve been ‘actively’ working with theme parks, including the famous Disneyland, on developing a reopening plan. Although, few of us in the industry haven’t been provided much information.”
Jessica Brambilla explained that the roughly five months of closure California theme parks have endured has put some at risk for closing indefinitely. Theme park executives have been begging for some type of information from the Governor in regards to when they can realistically expect to open. Jessica Brambilla added that theme parks have reopened in Florida, Texas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Missouri, New Jersey, and a variety of countries around the world.
“Newsom’s answers regarding reopening remained a bit vague,” Jessica Brambilla explained. “But he commented that he will be having a meeting regarding the issue this week. As theme park professionals, we really hope he can come out with an opening date and possibly some guidelines.”
Jessica Brambilla explained that Newsom didn’t have much information on hand about the reopening of parks but insisted that he would be having meetings regarding the issue the very same week. It is the first time the governor has spoken about the reopening of theme parks since late June.
Theme park experts, like Jessica Brambilla, state that parks will need solid reopening guidelines to continue preparing for reopening dates, whenever they may be. Jessica Brambilla explained that theme parks were one of few business categories that were marked as “closed” throughout all four tiers of the governor’s new four-tier system implemented on Aug. 31, 2020.
“This pandemic has been difficult for all California businesses, but we’re seeing theme parks really being pushed aside as unimportant,” Jessica Brambilla said. “Theme parks are businesses with hundreds of employees, and they contribute astronomical amounts to local economies. They shouldn’t be overlooked in reopening plans.”
Theme park officials from Disneyland, Legoland California, Universal, Six Flags, and SeaWorld are now calling on Newsom to start taking action toward the reopening of California theme parks. Disney officials have stated that Disneyland has been ready to open since July 2020, while president of Legoland California Kurt Stocks has been pushing the governor especially hard.
Individual views on the reopening of theme parks may vary from person to person and business to business, but one thing is for certain, California theme park executives and employees want more information than is being provided.