Shanghai Disney Resort to partially reopen as Covid-19 abates in China’s commercial hub

Disneytown, the Wishing Star Park and the Disneyland Hotel will resume operations on November 17 on the outskirts of China’s commercial hub

Disneyland theme park and the Toy Story Hotel remain shut, according to Shanghai Disney Resort, without saying when they would reopen

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Visitors to the Shanghai Disney Resort when it reopened after a two-month shutdown on June 30, 2022. Photo: Reuters.

Published: 7:15pm, 16 Nov 2022

Shanghai Disney Resort said it would reopen some of its rides, shows and hotels, after China’s relentless zero-Covid pursuit forced The Walt Disney Company to suspend operations at its flagship Asia theme park twice this year.

Disneytown, the Wishing Star Park and the Disneyland Hotel will resume operations on November 17 on the outskirts of China’s commercial hub, while the Disneyland theme park and the Toy Story Hotel remain shut, according to the operator and the Shanghai government, without saying when full resumption will occur.

The latest move book-ended a wholesale closure that began on October 31 when a resurgent Covid-19 outbreak trapped thousands of visitors at China’s largest foreign-owned entertainment venue, subjecting them to tests. The theme park was closed for two months until June when Shanghai authorities shut down the city of 25 million residents to snuff out a resurgent – but mostly asymptomatic – outbreak of the Omicron variant.

Local authorities had since succeeded in bringing the latest flare-up under control. Still, residents must test negative in nucleic acid tests in the last 72 hours before they are allowed to board public transport or enter public venues including shopping centres and restaurants.

Visitors to the Shanghai Disney Resort being subject to Covid-19 tests on Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. Photo: Chinatopix via AP.

The gradual relaxation in Shanghai followed last Friday’s cut in the quarantine period for inbound travellers to “5+3” from “7+3,” seen as the first tentative steps in a path towards exit of China’s zero-Covid pursuit.

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