The big news about Disneyland recently has been the back-and-forth between park executives and the California government over the terms of reopening.

©California Governor Gavin Newsom

Despite the fact that Disney has used several channels to call for the Governer’s office to release theme park reopening guidelines, the government has yet to do so. Yesterday, we learned that there’s no promise of a specific date for guidelines in the future, and now Governor Newsom has echoed those sentiments.

At the end of today’s press conference on climate change, Newsom was asked about his reaction to Disney Chairman Bob Iger stepping down from the California Economic Recovery Task Force. Newsom elaborated on his sentiments towards Iger and the state’s intentions when it comes to releasing the theme park guidelines.

Disneyland Social Distancing Signs

“I had a wonderful conversation with Bob, who has been very active and participatory in our task force,” Newsom said, “I’m incredibly grateful for his support, his insight, his council over the period of the last number of months. And it didn’t come to me as a surprise at all. There’s disagreements in terms of opening a major theme park. We’re going to let science and data make that determination.”

Newsom notes that while contention regarding the reopening of Disneyland was a factor in Iger stepping down, they have had productive conversations. However, Iger’s actions have not affected Newsom’s stance on the reopening of major theme parks.

Disneyland Park Social Distancing Markers

He continued, “I understand the dialectic, the friction, the frustration that many business leaders have that they want to move forward sectorally to reopen; but we’re going to be led by a health-first framework and we’re going to be stubborn about it. And that’s our commitment, that’s our resolve.”

Newsom goes on to confirm that there is no plan for the immediate release of guidelines saying, “And while we feel there’s no hurry putting out guidelines, we’re continuing to work with the industry, amusement parks.”

Disney California Adventure Exit Gate

The Governor also took the opportunity to remind everyone that Disney isn’t the only amusement park waiting for the guidelines. “You’ve got all kinds of amusement parks, including smaller parks that are out there on the piers like down in Santa Cruz, and others that may be impacted,” he said, “And so we’re trying to work through all of those things. It’s very complex — these are like small cities, small communities, small towns. But we don’t anticipate in the immediate term any of these larger theme parks opening until we see more stability in terms of the data.”

Sleeping Beauty Castle

It seems that Disneyland’s reopening will have to wait until the Governor’s administration agrees that the trends of data surrounding the global health crisis point to what they deem a safe reopening. As always, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the news from Newsom and Disney, so stay tuned.

Click here to learn more about the latest California statements when it comes to theme park reopenings.

What do you think of Newsom’s statements? Tell us in the comments! 

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