Disney closed Walt Disney World on March 15, 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic and has since been discussing different scenarios on how to reopen when the “Stay at Home” orders eventually ease. New speculation discussed by WDWMagic suggests that Disney is considering reopening the parks in phases and has a rough timeline for when that may happen.
In regard to when Walt Disney World may begin reopening, Disney is apparently considering June as an optimistic possibility with September as a worst case scenario. Whenever the decision is made that Disney can begin reopening, it’s reported that the theme parks will open in phases.
What would Walt Disney World reopening in phases look like? The one example that was discussed involved the Magic Kingdom welcoming guests back first with Epcot being the last to reopen. It’s unclear which order Disney would use in regard to opening Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, but it sounds like they’re fairly certain that the Magic Kingdom will be first and Epcot would be last.
Despite the note that Disney isn’t doing a ton of upkeep around the parks, the belief is that it would only take a week or two to get things back up and running. It’ll also be much easier to make the park(s) ready for guests with a phased reopening that can spread the work out.
Walt Disney World opening in phases would allow for Disney to ease back into full operation and wouldn’t require a huge volume of cast members, which is important as the Fall Advantage Disney College Program has been cancelled and the cultural representatives have returned home. It may be quite some time before we see Walt Disney World operating as it was before the parks closed.
