Shanghai Disneyland offered a media tour of the park to showcase the new social distancing procedures in place when the park reopens on May 11th, which you can see in the video below.
Arrival Experience
Andrew Bolstein, Senior Vice President of Operations for Shanghai Disneyland, led the tour and started with the arrival experience. Guests will go through a temperature check and show their government health QR code before lining up for security, where markers on the ground and Cast Members with signage and verbal prompts will keep groups one meter apart. Similar spacing will be kept as Guests use their ticket to enter the park.
Disney Characters
Characters will be part of the experience, but only from a distance. They will appear on character procession parade floats and stage shows, which all have markers indicating where Guests may stand to observe. With limited park capacity, the resort is not expecting to max out on standing space for these entertainment offerings.
1-Meter Queue Markers
Any que area throughout the park is prepared with one-meter markers. For example, outdoor food carts have markings on the ground. High touch surfaces throughout the park will be regularly wiped down, such as trash cans. When Guests approach an attraction, Cast Members outside have signs in multiple languages and will remind Guests to keep one meter behind the party in front. Yellow tape lines are on guard rails and ropes to make the distance easy for Guests to see.
Modified Attraction Seating
The video shows two different boat attractions with modified seating capacity. Voyage to the Crystal Grotto will not be using the center seating area and has blocked off spaces where Guests can sit around the perimeter of the boat. Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure has row seating and the attraction will skip rows. As Guests exit the attraction, they are presented with multiple opportunities to sanitize their hands.
Gift Shops
Gift shops have capacity restrictions and one-meter markers at checkout locations. Some attractions exit into gift shops and Guests will be directed through an alternate exit if the shop is at capacity.
Restaurants
Restaurant seating areas are limited to 50% of capacity, with every other table blocked. Queues aren’t expected with the low park capacity limits, but yellow markers are on the ground just in case a queue forms. Pickup areas have blocked space where Guests can’t stand to ensure social distancing and avoid crowding. Hand sanitizer is at every pay station so Guests can sanitize after touching money or credit cards.
The video offers an interesting look at what a Disney Park experience will look like in 2020. With Shanghai Disneyland being the first park to reopen, all other theme parks will be closely watching to put in place best practices discovered during this initial phased reopening.