Some analysts now predict that Disney‘s theme parks could remain closed well into April.
The predictions come only a week after Disney announced that they would be shutting down their Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure parks in Anaheim, CA, and Disney World in Orlando, to help mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The shut down was expected to last until the end of March, but according to a report by the Orlando Sentinel, not all analysts trust the parks will reopen so soon. They believe that the new guidelines from the CDC and substantial financial losses exceeding $1.4 billion for Disney could extend the shutdown through mid-April or even later.
As COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly, it’s not entirely unreasonable to assume major theme parks and other similar social gathering hotspots could see closures ever further into the summer. With most of the world’s governments advising or enforcing self-quarantines and global hysteria taking over, it’s unlikely that many people would make much of an effort to visit places like Disneyland anyways. It also may turn out that Disney would suffer a larger financial hit by trying to keep the park running than it would to just keep it closed for the time being. Either way, the company is going to be taking a big loss this year between the theme park shutdowns and the delay of various films on their release schedule.
COVID-19 has now infected over 230,000 people worldwide and is nearing a death toll of 10,000. The World Health Organization has also declared the virus a pandemic, and many countries have enforced strict travel bans, curfews, and even total lockdowns.
No one is entirely sure where things will go from here, but just because you can’t visit the Magical Kingdom doesn’t mean you can’t have some Disney in your life while you’re stuck inside the house – there’s always Disney+. So, go ahead and binge watch the entirety of The Mandalorian again. After all, we could all use a little more Baby Yoda right now.
