The economic world seems to stop when the COVID-19 pandemic spreads! Flights are canceled. Trips have been postponed. Some countries were in a lockdown, and the rest of the world is in quarantine. For the first few weeks, it’s understandable that the leaders of several countries and states were anxious about what to do next. Yet is it within their capacity that lies the precautions that its citizens need to follow.
Days, weeks, and months have passed, and new ‘normal’ has been regulated. For instance, California and Florida have respectively been the first and third states, with most cases recorded. And in each location lies most business enterprises, including entertainment parks such as Disney World and Disneyland. Now you might wonder, ‘Why is Disney World Open but Disneyland is Closed?
Let’s see the key differences between these two Disney theme parks and the reason behind this question.
Disney World VS Disneyland
| Location: Orange County, Florida | Location: Orange County, California |
| Governor: Ron DeSantis | Governor: Gavin Newsom |
| Regulation: Business-Friendly | Regulation: Over-Regulated |
| Closed on: 15th of March | Closed on: 14th of March |
| Status: Re-Opened Gradually | Status: Still Closed |
| Revenue: 77,000+ jobs with $700 Sales Tax | Revenue: $8.5 Billion (with 78,000+ jobs) |
Does it have something to do with health and safety standards, or it has something to do with politics, with each governor’s policies? Come to think of it, California and Florida are the only two states with Disney Theme Parks. Simultaneously, both of them have the most spiked covid cases within the United States of America. However, after 3 months, it was announced that Disney World would gradually open its doors to visitors and travelers by the second week of July. On the other hand, Disneyland remains closed and has no plans to open.
These two Disney theme parks had one-day differences before they closed down, yet after a few months, the latter one decided to open. But Disney World is not the only theme parked that decided to open. Even Universal Studios and SeaWorld at Orlando State have opened as well.
Florida’s Governor, Ron Desantis, has no plan to reschedule or re-close Disney World anytime soon, even the spike of COVID-19 surges in the state. He said that Disney World employs many people, which could potentially be laid off if they won’t do anything about the opening. On the other hand, Governor Gavin Newsom of CA implemented a strict over-regulation of the California State that doesn’t allow such entertainment theme parks to open.
Newsom said that the state: “is in no hurry in putting out guidelines,” as he refers to the plans of opening up the Disney Theme parks and other attractions and parks association, for instance. He added that unless COVID-19 data becomes stable or gains lower cases, he will provide new guidelines for the state and its citizens regarding this matter.
Now that we know why Disneyland decided to remain closed, how does it affect the market and our economy?
How does it affect the economy?
Disney World has over 77,000 employees alone without counting the vendors, cleaners, and other essential workers. This means that these people had a chance to go back and make a living. Meanwhile, as Disneyland decided to close for over 200+ days (and counting), the $8.5 billion revenue is starting to splurge down. Not only that, about 78,000+ employees can potentially lose their job in the theme park forever, and may even decide to change their career.
These stubborn Californian policies of theme park openings became a reason for Disney, the stockholders, and the local government to lose billions of dollars. Sooner or later, these can highly affect the entire economy, and more businesses can go bankrupt.
What Is It For Us?
Health-wise, we can all agree with Governor Newsom’s decision to postpone the re-opening of Disneyland. The pandemic cases are still on the rise, and until ‘a safer’ measurement and changes in COVID-19 cases happened, then it would definitely stay as close as possible as it can be. It can protect us, our family, friends, and even relatives to catch the disease and make it easier for doctors, nurses, and other medical practitioners to do their job. But as entrepreneurs or marketers, we have many reasons to believe that what Governor DeSantis decided with Disney World was the state’s best decision for us this year.
Money is not dead. It is continually flowing as more tourists and travelers start visiting Disney World, and spend time for recreation. But because of the strict health implementation of wearing face masks and social distancing, they may not receive the profit they used to earn back in the early quarter of this year. So whichever their decision is, it doesn’t change the fact that it has something to do with ‘policy.’ Indeed, Disney World relies more on businesses that can benefit the majority of the state’s citizens. At the same time, Disneyland focuses more on its people’s safety, and it seems like the latter is working pretty well. So there’s no way we can blame the one and praise the other half or claim which one is a better leader simply based on theme parks policies.
What about you, which one do you prefer, California’s ‘over-regulation’ or Florida’s ‘business-friendly’ policy?
