Walt Disney World Continues to Raise American Flags Every Day despite Closure

The Walt Disney Company announced on March 27th that Disneyland, California, and Walt Disney World, Florida will close indefinitely amid the global pandemic. For the first time in history, all six Disneylands around the globe are in an indefinite closure.

Ever since the COVID-19 hit the world, every place dedicated to entertainment has been significantly affected, and Walt Disney Company is not distant from that. Since January, the company has gradually closed each of its six Disneylands around the globe.

On March 27, the two parks, Disneyland Resort, California, and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, were closed with no opening date. However, according to a recent post made by Josh D’Amaro, WDWR’s president, on Instagram, the American flag is still raised every day.

The moving video, also shared by the resort’s social media, shows a group of uniformed employees raising the American flag inside Magic Kingdom park in the courtyard situated at the entrance with the famous Cinderella castle in the background.

INDEFINITE CLOSURE

According to the media, on March 12th, Disneyland and Disney World reported that they both would close over the weekend, following the closure of major tourist attractions and events worldwide, but on the 27th, the Walt Disney Company declared an indefinite closure due to the spread of the virus.

Later, an official announcement was made by the company through their Twitter saying that “While there is still much uncertainty with respect to the impacts of COVID-19, the safety and well-being of our guests and employees remains The Walt Disney Company’s top priority.”

The post also manifests the company’s concerns about the payments of the park employees, so they wrote in the statement that they “have made the decision to extend paying hourly parks and resorts cast members through April 18.”

DISNEY AROUND THE WORLD

The decisions on closure have not only affected the American parks, in fact, but they have also been the lasts two on taking action. On March 12th it was already announced the closure of California’s Disneyland and on the 16th, of the Florida park. That same day Disneyland Paris also closed its doors.

In January, Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland both decided to close its doors, as the danger and the spread of COVID-19 were growing rapidly in both cities. Later in February, Tokyo Disney Resort did the same.

These days, all six parks remain shut down, which makes this the very first time in history that all six Disneyland Resorts are closed. Also, it is the first time the parks close due to an illness outbreak.

CHINA’S RECOVERY

Hopes are not lost and lights might be soon turned on, since recently Shanghai Disneyland announced that they began to “partially resume operations on March 9, 2020”. Although the theme park itself is not yet reopening, some shopping and dining places are starting to receive guests.

To maintain control of coming back to normal and to limit the spread of the virus, the park will take temporarily some actions such as to let in a limited number of guests, reduce hours of operation and several precautions will be taken before guests are allowed to enter the park.