Crowds come for last weekend before theme parks close

Theme parks in Central Florida are closing their gates as the coronavirus outbreak continues.

For the next two and a half weeks both Disney and Universal will be shutting down their parks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. While the parks have closed before for 9/11 and hurricanes, this will be the longest closure the parks have seen.

With this weekend being the last few days for the parks to be open, guests said they are going to enjoy the time they have.

“I think there’s a little bit of Disney – ignorance is bliss,” said Edd Flynn who is visiting from the United Kingdom. “Everyone is here to enjoy themselves. There’s hand sanitizers everywhere.”

“I think it’s going to be busy,” said Roy Bradbury, who is visiting Orlando from the U.K. with his wife. “All we’ve brought is hand sanitizer,” Kathleen Bradbury said. “So we brought plenty of that with us.”

This time of year is normally busy, as many schools across the country are out of session for Spring Break. Starting Monday theme park guests will have to make other plans. Some said they would just go to other attractions that are open like Busch Gardens in Tampa.

The parks said while they are closed their hourly employees will continue to be paid for their schedule work throughout the month. Hotels and restaurants at Disney and Universal’s CityWalk will also remain open for now.“It’s these people’s livelihoods, but they have to do what they need to do don’t they,” Roy Bradbury said.

The parks said they will continue to monitor the spread of the coronavirus, meaning there is a chance the closures could last beyond the end of this month.
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Tourists react to theme parks closing due to coronavirus