Could China Be Paving the Way for How Theme Parks Reopen?

While the US Disney Parks have been closed a little more than a month now, Shanghai Disneyland has been closed since the end of January in response to the global health crisis.

As the United States is a few months behind China in regards to the health crisis, US theme parks might be able to turn to Asian theme parks to best navigate their own path forward.

Attractions Magazine has reported that China’s theme parks are pioneering new procedures that could set the standard for western parks.

China’s Fantawild theme park reopened this week, with strict safety measures in place such as capped attendance, staggered seating on attractions, mandating face masks and temperature checks, and requiring that visitors book their appointments online in advance. You can read Attractions Magazine’s article on Fantawild’s reopening in full here!

While unconfirmed, pictures have also been shared on Twitter that allegedly show steps that Shanghai Disneyland could be implementing as they move towards a potential future reopening, purportedly showing spaced stickers that would allow for distance between guests as they entered the park.

Breaking：look at these stickers in line-up area before security check
，keep social distance to avoid #speakmoistly #ShanghaiDisneyland #SHDL #上海ディズニーランド #Disney #Disneypark #Disneyland pic.twitter.com/6pj4xJ31Bk

— DONGDONG (@gourmetdyy) April 22, 2020

The same user also shared a tweet stating that the park was doing internal testing with Cast Members, potentially hinting to staggering seating on attractions and in shows.

Breaking: Since school re-open date confirmed by gov, the park speed up internal testing. Today is indoors theatre ,CM guests are seated every other row,each family group separated by some seats #ShanghaiDisneyland #SHDL #上海ディズニーランド #Disney #Disneypark #Disneyland pic.twitter.com/T99yrIm5D5

— DONGDONG (@gourmetdyy) April 20, 2020

While it’s important to note that Disney has not confirmed any such practices for Shanghai Disneyland, nor have they revealed a reopening date, the measures would be in line with what has been seen at reopened theme parks in China such as Fantawild.

Recently, we have seen similar measures discussed by members of the US theme park industry, such as Josh Sprouls, CEO of Universal Orlando Resort. In a meeting for the Re-Open Florida Task Force, Sprouls spoke to health precautions being considered for when Universal Orlando reopens, including the staggered seating and distance between park-goers that we are seeing implemented now in China.

Be sure to subscribe to AllEars for all of the latest news regarding the park reopening.

What do you think of the safety measures China is implementing in their parks? Do you see Fantawild’s protocol being used by Disney? Let us know in the comments.

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