Disney on Wednesday announced it is postponing next month’s phased reopening of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
The Anaheim theme parks, which have been closed since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic, had planned to welcome back visitors on July 17.
However, the company decided to delay it because California officials indicated they won’t be issuing reopening guidelines for theme parks until after July 4, according to a statement on Disney’s Twitter account.
“Given the time required for us to bring thousands of cast members back to work and restart our business, we have no choice but to delay the reopening of our theme parks and resort hotels until we receive approval from government officials,” the statement read.
The change does not affect Downtown Disney, which is still set to open again on July 9. A time frame for when the theme parks might reopen has not yet been provided.
“Once we have a clearer understanding of when guidelines will be released, we expect to be able to communicate a reopening date,” the statement said.
The announcement comes amid a statewide surge of COVID-19 cases. California reported more than 7,000 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, beating the state’s single-day record for positive tests that had been set the previous day.
Check back for updates on this developing story.