All options are on the table when it comes to reopening California’s theme parks, including potential legal action, said Erin Guerrero, executive director of the California Attractions and Parks Association (CAPA).
Guerrero spoke at a media event Wednesday, the day after California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration released guidelines as to when and how theme parks in the state could open. CAPA and theme park executives panned the guidelines as too restrictive, saying they would force larger parks to remain closed “for the foreseeable future.”
Asked if CAPA was exploring the potential of legal action against the state, Guerrero said, “I think that all options are open at this point. We’re going to continue to explore our options. Our No. 1 goal is to be allowed to reopen responsibly. Obviously, we’d love to keep that conversation going [with the government] and come up with a reasonable timeline for reopenings, but at this point any options are viable.”
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Park executives on the call argued that their indefinite closure is greatly impacting their employees, most of whom remain out of work, and the surrounding communities and businesses.
Ken Potrock, president of the Disneyland Resort, said the overall health of a community is driven by employment that provides income. Workers are able to feed and house their families and access medical care. Unemployment brings with it negative impacts on people’s health, he said, and anxiety and joblessness can take a huge toll on unemployed workers. That, in turn, affects things like suicide rates and life expectancy.
“This pandemic is a much broader health crisis when unemployment becomes a factor,” Potrock said.
Karen Irwin, COO of Universal Studios Hollywood, said reopening parks in California is less about resuming operations and more about getting employees back to work.
“The economics can’t be ignored,” Irwin said.
Reopening with limited capacity will not generate a large amount of profit for the parks, she said. Instead, her focus is on getting up and running again to bring people back to work.
The park executives also argued that theme parks are only allowed to reopen once their home county reaches a Tier 4 on the County Risk Level scale, which means there is moderate risk for exposure to Covid-19. Many other businesses have been permitted to open at the Tier 3 level.
“We all believe that we’ve proven that we can responsibly reopen,” Potrock said. “I think that’s really, really important based on the lack of any data that says differently.”
Raffi Kaprelyan, regional vice president of Cedar Fair, which operates Knott’s Berry Farm, California’s Great America and Gilroy Gardens, encouraged residents to get in touch with lawmakers on behalf of theme parks in support of their reopening.
Meanwhile, CAPA and the park executives said they would continue lobbying to be permitted to reopen.
“We strongly believe that responsibly reopening amusement parks on a reasonable timeline can and should be done at the same time as the state continues to fight this pandemic,” Guerrero said. “We do not think the two are mutually exclusive. We will continue to urge Gov. Newsom to revise the guidance and allow for us to open on this reasonable timeline in Tier 3 to get the signature theme park industry back up and running, put people back to work, help revitalize the communities surrounding them and provide the much needed resources to local governments.”