Shanghai Disneyland shuts over COVID, visitors stuck inside park

Shanghai’s Disneyland Resort abruptly closed Monday to comply with China’s strict COVID-19 protocols, leaving visitors stranded inside the theme park.

The resort broke the news at 11:39 a.m. local time Monday, or 11:39 p.m. ET Sunday, that it would immediately shut the main theme park and surrounding areas, including its shopping street, until further notice to comply with virus curbs.

All guests were directed to stay inside the park until they returned a negative test for the virus.

“We will notify guests as soon as we have a confirmed date to resume operations,” the theme park said in a statement Monday.

The Disney park added on its website that was prohibiting people from entering or exiting and that all guests inside the location would need to wait for the results of their tests before they could leave.

Anyone who had visited the park since Oct. 27 would need to test for COVID-19 three times in three days, the park said, adding that the two hotels at the resort will remain open.

Disney said that guests impacted by the lockdown will be able to choose a date to visit up to six months from the day the park and resort reopens or receive a refund.

Shanghai has amassed 97 cases of COVID in the past 28 days, and 64,282 cases total, with 595 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Across China, there have been 178,178 cases and 212 deaths in the past month.

In recent weeks Disney Shanghai has been ben requiring visitors to present a negative nucleic acid test, which helps detect viruses and bacteria, up to 72 hours before entering the facilities, NPR reported. Guests who have been abroad within the last 10 days have not been allowed at the resort.

The resort has also said that guests must also undergo temperature checks, maintain social distance, and wear masks indoors and outdoors except when eating or drinking.

During the height of the pandemic, Disney Shanghai closed several times, first in January 2020, and then a handful of times in 2021 amid surges of the virus.