Earlier, The California Attractions and Parks Association held a press conference to respond to the new theme park reopening guidelines issued by the state of California yesterday, saying that the guidelines would keep the parks closed indefinitely, and hinted at taking possible legal action against the state.
What’s Happening:
- Led by Executive Director Erin Guerrero, the California Attractions and Parks Association gathered presidents from some several of the more prominent parks and resorts in the state to respond to the new theme park reopening guidelines that were issued by Governor Newsom’s administration yesterday.
- Guerrero was joined by:
- Kurt Stocks, LEGOLAND California Resort
- Raffi Kaprelyan, Regional Vice President, Cedar Fair: Knott’s Berry Farm, California’s Great America, Gilroy Gardens
- Karen Irwin, President and Chief Operating Officer, Universal Studios Hollywood
- Ken Potrock, President Disneyland Resort
- The group collectively agrees that the guidelines are unfair, and would keep the parks closed indefinitely, with many employees left out of work and unable to feed and house families.
- The group also mentions numerous times that sister parks are open around the country and even around the world and are a controlled environment making the safer than more common activities, like grocery shopping or dining at some restaurants.
- Ken Potrock emphasised they are not at cross purposes with the state, but believes they’re just not aligned on a collaborative and balanced approach that is driven by science and data.
- When asked if partial reopenings are a possibility, Karen Irwin said that the primary concern is bringing team members back to work, and they have explored reopenings with the already-permitted businesses on site, but that would only allow a fraction of team members back, and although is something that might happen, should not mitigate the problem of not having the entire park open and bringing back every employee.
- When asked if parks would be considering any legal action to get the parks to reopen in the state, Guerrero stated that “all options are open at this point.”
What They’re Saying:
- Erin Guerrero: “I think that all options are open at this point, we’re going to continue to explore our options, our number one goal is to be allowed to reopen responsibly. Obviously we’d love to keep that conversation going and come up with a reasonable timeline for reopenings, but at this point, any options are viable.
- Ken Potrock: “The concept of trying to come up with a collaborative solution I think is the end goal for all of us. One that is fair and balanced and takes into account all the facts that we are referring to. So, I think that’s the ultimate opportunity and one that we all will gladly and willingly would roll up our sleeves and work with the administration to do so, but it has to be a much greater back and forth dialogue, not just a “you told us what to do” we’re now trying to do that with all intent and now the goal line keeps moving. So again, we want to be able to have this reasonable dialogue so we could move forward to this collaborative solution.”