The month of April will mark the reopening of three major theme parks crucial to the Valley economy: Six Flags Magic Mountain in Santa Clarita, Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City and Burbank-based Walt Disney Co.’s Disneyland in Anaheim.
Six Flags Magic Mountain, a property of Texas-based Six Flags Entertainment, was first to fully reopen on April 1, allowing guests to visit its line-up of roller coasters including X2, Goliath and West Coast Racers, a racing coaster that debuted in January 2020 only to close, along with the rest of the park, last March.
“Californians are ready to visit their favorite Six Flags theme park and have some fun,” Senior Vice President of Park Operations Bonnie Weber said in a statement. “Last year, we set the standard for safely operating our parks and entertained nearly 7 million guests in adherence to government and CDC health guidelines. We will follow those same stringent guidelines as we reopen our rides and attractions in our California parks.”Each theme park is subject to the current orange tier coronavirus restrictions set by the state, including operating at 25 percent capacity and with increased sanitation procedures. All guests must be California residents, use an online system to reserve tickets ahead of entry and adhere to temperature check and masking requirements.NBCUniversal’s Universal Studios Hollywood allowed annual and season passholders to preview the park on April 15 and opened to the general public the next day. While some of the park’s attractions remain closed due to distancing requirements, two brand new additions, “The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash!” and “Jurassic World – The Ride,” debuted with the reopening.
“We are incredibly thrilled to finally be able to open Universal Studios Hollywood, return team members to work and welcome guests back to enjoy our amazing rides,” Karen Irwin, president of Universal Studios Hollywood said in a statement. “It has been a very challenging year and we are overjoyed to have arrived at this moment.”Disneyland and California Adventure parks will open April 30, but started taking reservations April 15. The parks’ online reservation system opened to long, virtual lines, with some Twitter users reporting wait times as long as eight hours to reserve tickets. The newest addition to the California Adventures grounds, the Marvel Avengers Campus, will open June 4. Tickets for weekend are already sold out.
Theme Parks Flip Switch
