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Disney executives: Disneyland likely to remain closed through 2020

Disney executives: Disneyland likely to remain closed through 2020
Posted at 6:30 PM, Nov 12, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-12 21:30:07-05

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Disney officials say they do not believe Disneyland or California Adventure parks will reopen before 2021.

During an earnings call on Thursday, Disney Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy said the Anaheim theme park will likely remain close through the end of the fiscal first quarter, which ends in late December.

"While some of our parks are open with limited capacity, we currently anticipate Disneyland resort will remain closed at least through the end of the fiscal first quarter," McCarthy said.

RELATED: San Diego County businesses sue amid rollback in reopening restrictions

McCarthy added that the company does not have any indication of how long restrictions on theme parks will last.

California introduced reopening guidelines for small and large theme parks in October. Small theme parks with a capacity of less than 15,000 visitors can reopen in the state's moderate (orange) tier while large parks like Disneyland can reopen in the minimal (yellow) tier.

Orange County is currently in the red tier and would need to post two weeks of orange tier data to move forward. The county would need to do the same to move into the yellow tier. Disney's Anaheim parks may then need time to prepare for visitors if able to reopen.

RELATED: California rejects San Diego's request for reopening tier change

Disney CEO Bob Chapek said on the call that California's "arbitrary standard" for COVID-19 guidelines is hurting employees and surrounding businesses.

“Unfortunately, we’re extremely disappointed that the state of California continues to keep Disneyland closed despite our proven track record,” Chapek said. “Frankly, as we and other civic leaders have stated before, we believe state leadership should look objectively at what we’ve achieved successfully at our parks around the world, all based on science, as opposed to setting an arbitrary standard that is precluding our cast members from getting back to work while decimating small businesses and the local community."