California Can Soon Reopen Theme Parks & Here’s What You Need to Know

No one was more excited to get the news that California can start the process of reopening theme parks than residents themselves––except maybe theme park enthusiasts! Disneyland, Six Flags, LEGOLAND, Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios and more have all been closed since last March but new guidelines will soon allow the parks to reopen. First things first, there are a few things you need to know. California currently utilizes a color-coded, tiered system that places counties into varying levels of “openness” based on Covid-19 case rates. Only parks in counties that are in the red, orange and yellow tiers will be able to open.

That means that all parks in the purple tier, where the virus is still considered “widespread” will not be eligible for reopening. Once the county moves to the red tier, amusement parks are eligible to open starting Apr. 1. While in the red tier, parks can operate at a limited 15 percent capacity. Once they move to the orange tier, they can increase to 25 percent, and 35 percent once in the yellow tier. Now for the potentially bad news: for now, attendance is limited only to in-state visitors. That means, don’t start planning that big Disney trip to California just yet!

But keep that chin up. Currently California has administered over 10 million vaccine doses so that yellow tier is closer than ever!