Disney owned business to open at Disney Springs on May 27, union leader says

While third-party-owned businesses are scheduled to open May 20 at Disney Springs, Disney-operated stores and restaurants will open a week later on May 27, a union leader told two news publications.

Eric Clinton, president of the Unite Here Local 362, told both the Hollywood Reporter and the Orlando Sentinel that second phase opening on May 27 will include Disney owned businesses, but he did not know which stores specifically would open.

Disney World has not made any official statement.

The first round of Disney cast members are scheduled back to work on Saturday to prepare the shopping and retail area for its May 20 first phase opening.

Clinton told the Hollywood Reporter that Disney guests will have their temperature checked and be required to wear masks. In addition, plexiglass divides are being installed at registers. The company is also instituting new training about health and safety amid the pandemic.

While Disney Springs is starting to open, there is still no announcement of when the theme parks and resorts might reopen. Disney CEO Bob Chapek on Monday, when Shanghai Disneyland reopened, said it is a good sign that Disney Springs is opening, but there is no information on when the theme parks would reopen.

When the park do reopen “we are likely going to require is masks for both the cast and the guests. And I think the masks for the guests will be something that is culturally that is different,” Chapek told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin.

In Asia, the practice of wearing masks was commonplace, even before the coronavirus, but that is not the car in the U.S. “So that will be something that will be a little trying, I think for some of the guests, particularly in the hot and humid summers that we tend to have,” Chapek said.

Walt Disney World is now taking booking for July 1, but that doesn’t mean Disney will begin operating in July, Walt Disney World Senior VP Thomas Mazloum said.