By Emma Sharman
Co-Editor-in-Chief
The Happiest Place on Earth is set to begin a phased reopening of both the Disneyland and California Adventure parks starting on April 30. Even before this, however, California Adventure had been open for one month to a very limited quantity of people in the form of an event titled “A Touch of Disney.”
The event “could be viewed as a test run or a soft reopening,” according to The New York Times, and ran from March 18 until April 19.
The tickets to attend were $75 each. One ticket would grant you entrance to California Adventure, parking, and a voucher for $25 worth of food and beverage samples (with the exception of alcoholic beverages). Temporary food carts had been established throughout the park, with each one providing its own variety of food and drink samples. Rides were running for maintenance and show, but could not be ridden by guests.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE DISNEY APP
Pictured is Emma Sharman and family enjoying themselves in front of Carthay Circle at A Touch of Disney.
Most of the ordering of food or drink items had to be done mobily using the guests’ smartphone in order to avoid crowding and gathering in lines. This was both for efficiency and COVID safety.
The response to this test-run/soft opening for the theme parks has been mixed.
“I think it would be nice to see Disneyland open its doors again.” says PEACE sophomore Ricardo Arredondo.
COMPASS junior Maile Mireles shares a similar perspective, stating “I’m glad Disneyland is reopening because a lot of people enjoy going as a family outing to relax.”
On the other hand, some students are concerned that opening the doors to theme parks will cause an increase in COVID-19 numbers. Such is the case for COMPASS senior Ian Sepko, who says “I don’t think any amusement park should open up yet.”
In addition to this, most of the stores throughout the park were open for shopping. Two restaurants— Lamplight on Pixar Pier and Carthay Circle— were offering reservations for sit-down meals that could be made in advance, which sold out almost immediately. Costumed Disney/Pixar characters also waved to attendees from a significantly over a 6-foot distance in some areas of the park, and guests also enjoyed the interactive photo spots.
LA Magazine described the event as “a hybrid of the park’s Food and Wine Festival and a walking tour of California Adventure.”
Natalie Dew • May 13, 2021 at 2:32 pm
May 13, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 8 (May 11, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote an article titled, “ “A Touch of Disney” Event Sends Disney Lovers Dancing Back to the Parks”. Throughout this article, Sharman talks about the “A Touch of Disney” event in great detail explaining how the event works with precautions to COVID. They use their own personal experience to shed light on this event, including pictures of them enjoying their time at Disney. They include input from sources such as The New York Times and LA Magazine to back up the information about the event. They explain how there are mixed reviews about the reopening of the park since people are still skeptical about COVID and large gatherings. To prove that Disney is aware of these concerns, they explain how, “Most of the ordering of food or drink items had to be done mobily using the guests’ smartphone in order to avoid crowding and gathering in lines.”
Overall, Emma Sharman’s article was a great way to shed light on the events that Disney is offering during this time. They made Disney seem like so much fun through the pictures they provided and their experience. The prices of the event were very reasonable and although Disney isn’t offering this event anymore, if they ever do something similar to this in the future, I know it’ll be worth it.
Sincerely,
Natalie Dew, Grade 12
Natalia Vega • May 12, 2021 at 3:59 pm
May 12th, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 8 (May 11th, 2021) Emma Sharman wrote an article titled “ “A touch of Disney” even sends Disney Lovers Dancing back to the parks”. The way they talked about the park reopening made it really fascinating and something to look forward to. I loved the pictures they used and how they tied together with the Disney experience they had. I think for the most part I agree with them because it has been a very tough year trying to distance ourselves and be out of contact and keeping that 6ft distance so small reopenings or new changes are very exciting.
I was really intrigued when you talked about what the park has to offer, not to mention the starting price to get inside, which covers your entry plus food. I definitely want to take a deeper look into buying tickets because the price is not bad at all and it’s honestly felt like ages since I’ve been to Disneyland. I remember you mentioning the fact that you had to do a lot of transactions/purchases through the phone which makes sense to avoid contact between other people and maintain a safe distance. I think it is all a really big change to the dynamic we are used to but I’m very glad someone was able to give a good description of what it would be like and make it seem worth my while. I also really enjoyed your pictures, Disney looked like a blast!!
Sincerely,
Natalia Vega, Grade 12