Hong Kong Disneyland To Reopen This Week After Two Coronavirus Closures

Here's hoping second time's the charm for Hong Kong Disneyland. Following two closures for coronavirus (COVID-19) control reasons, Hong Kong Disneyland is set to reopen this week — again. The Hong Kong Disneyland reopening has been set for this Friday and will operate five days per week.

Variety reports that the Hong Kong Disneyland theme park is set to reopen this week following two closures to curb potential coronavirus outbreaks. The Disney theme park will reopen on September 25 and will be closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays (except public holidays) during its initial reopening stage. This will require Hong Kong Disneyland to extend the lifetime of existing annual visitor passes.

"Hong Kong Disneyland park will officially reopen to the public on Sep 25, 2020. In alignment with the latest guidance from health and government authorities, the resort will continue its measured approach with health and safety measures such as capacity control, health screenings, temperature checks, requiring face masks, social distancing, and increased cleaning and sanitization," park operators said on Tuesday.

The park said it will continue to control capacity as required by the government, though it has not specified what that capacity should be. All visitors will be required to pre-book online.

"Character experiences will be offered in a new way, including selfie spots around the park to allow guests to take photos with their favorite characters with appropriate social distance," operators said. One of the changes include the restriction of live performances to outdoor venues during the initial reopening stage until further notice.

Hong Kong Disneyland was first closed between January 23 to June 18 out of abundance of caution during the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak. However, it was forced to close again on July 15 after a month of operation when Hong Kong experienced a "third wave" of cases, with 173 confirmed cases between July 5 and 11, per reports.

The third wave has now been largely subdued in Hong Kong. On Tuesday, Hong Kong reported six additional cases of coronavirus, four of which came from abroad. That brings the total number of cases in Hong Kong to 5,039 so far, with 103 fatalities.

In a better world, Disney Parks would take cues from Hong Kong's actions with Hong Kong Disneyland, which is majority-owned by the government alongside the territory's other theme park Ocean Park. Disney World in Florida had faced criticism for reopening when coronavirus cases were spiking in the U.S., with the state one of the epicenters of the pandemic's resurgence. This past week, the U.S. passed 200,000 coronavirus deaths.