The Shanghai Disneyland theme park will reopen to visitors later this week, park management announced on Tuesday. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, ahead of a resumption of operations on Thursday.
The park was shuttered on March 21, 2022, as city authorities tried to contain the fast-spreading omicron variant of the COVID-19 disease.
Management said that the park will see a “careful ramp up of operations.” In the first stage of reopening it will resume operations with limited daily capacity and enhanced health and safety protocols.” These will include unspecified capacity limits.
Management also warned that some rides and experiences including Explorer Canoes, Selfie Spot with Mickey at the Gardens of Imagination and Marvel Universe will remain closed.
All guests, regardless of age, will be required to present a green Shanghai Health QR Code (“Suishenma”) and a negative Nucleic Acid Test (NAT) taken within 72 hours (from sampling time) prior to entering any area of Shanghai Disney Resort.
There will be temperature checks on arrival and guests will be required to wear their masks at all times.
Additionally, all guests visiting Shanghai Disneyland Hotel are required to present a green Telecommunication Data Based Travel Itinerary Card (Travel Itinerary Card) and complete the Health Declaration Form during check-in at the Front Desk and Magic Kingdom Lounge.
The Shanghai Disneyland Resort had allowed some shops and one of its hotels to reopen from June 15. Similarly, other theme parks in China including the Universal park outside Beijing had also been quicker to restart operations.
The hesitancy on the part of the theme park proper in Shanghai may have been a reflection on previous stop-start operations and on the far-reaching consequences of China’s strict anti-COVID policies. Just a single confirmed case among a park visitor could trigger the park’s temporary re-closure. In October last year, during a previous reopening phase, tens of thousands of visitors were locked inside the park following a visitor’s positive test.
Other commentators have suggested that Shanghai, China’s commercial capital, is still only slowly recovering from a draconian lockdown and testing regime that left many people hungry and angry.
China’s economy is also slowing down. And, although central government has vowed to achieve a 5.5% economic growth target this year, Chinese consumer sentiment has been hit by rising levels of unemployment and a dangerous property crisis.