Hong Kong Disneyland was already closed, but now Shanghai Disney is joining with a closure scheduled to start tomorrow, Monday, March 21st. Given the time difference between the United States and China, that means that within hours, the theme park will officially be closed. The cause is COVID-19 which China is reportedly experiencing in high numbers.
Given that the Hong Kong properties will not reopen until April 22nd (at the earliest), it would likely not be surprising if Shanghai Disney follows and remains closed until mid-to-late April.
Shanghai Disney Resort to close from Monday as China battles COVID outbreak https://t.co/h4wdYwU9AC pic.twitter.com/iVJVqBU87K
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 20, 2022
The Chinese Disney Parks have been a difficulty for the company since the pandemic began. Who can forget the Shanghai Resort being shut down over “one” COVID positive person, and then everyone being locked inside the park until each and every individual could be retested and sent home for quarantine? That was special.
Something disconcertingly dystopian about the fireworks at Shanghai Disney framing a mass covid testing pic.twitter.com/hgyhBNqWg9
— Nick Marro (@nickm4rro) November 1, 2021
The re-closure of the Chinese Parks will be a major hit on Disney Parks’ revenue stream, though they operate with far more money going to the Chinese government than domestic parks pay to the United States. As a result, losing Shanghai and Hong Kong is less damaging than losing Orlando (by orders of magnitude).
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