There s a lot on deck for theme parks in the coming months, particularly where Disney is concerned. As the East Coast resort prepares for its milestone anniversary, Disneyland Resort takes another step forward on its year-long road toward reopening. We ve also got some truly out-of-this-world news. Here s all the theme park news you need to know, in this galaxy and beyond:
DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE IS REOPENING (SORT OF)
Disney California Adventure, one of the two parks comprising Disneyland Resort, will at long last bring guests back into its coastal grounds for a new ticketed dining event starting next month. Attractions will not be in operation as per current California COVID-19 restrictions, and while there will be an aspect of carefully crafted entertainment as per Disneyland President Ken Potrock, food and beverage seem to be the main focus here. Still, fans are elated; the experience, offering theme park flavors multiple days per week, will undoubtedly provide a contr
Millions of guests to Disney’s theme parks live vicariously through Joe Rohde.
The famed theme park designer and patriarch of Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom is alternately a student and a teacher, an academic and an artist, a tourist and a documentarian.
He’s also the most vocal champion of the belief that theme parks you know, places filled with popcorn, candy-coated churros, lowbrow stuff are cultural institutions.
But as of this week, Rohde, 65, is officially retired after 40 years at Disney, where he’s led teams behind major projects at resorts and parks in Anaheim, Florida, Hawaii and Paris. He’s leaving at a time of huge disruption for the Walt Disney Co., including significant pandemic-forced layoffs, more than 400 of which hit Walt Disney Imagineering, the secretive arm in which designers like Rohde create theme park experiences. Where Imagineering goes next without him is a question for many and a worry for some.