Shanghai Disney Visitors Just Got an Unpleasant Surprise

Park closed indefinitely on Monday, and guests inside can't leave till they show negative COVID test
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 31, 2022 11:53 AM CDT
Visitors Trapped Inside Shanghai Disney
Visitors pose for photos outside the Disney theme park in Shanghai on June 30.   (AP Photo/Chen Si, File)

An NPR headline from early Monday morning notes that, due to COVID, Shanghai Disney and its adjacent shopping community will be closed indefinitely from Halloween on forward. What that headline fails to mention is that all the visitors at the theme park when officials decided to abruptly close the gates are now trapped inside, and they won't be let out until they take a COVID test that shows they're negative, reports Reuters. Meanwhile, anyone who'd previously been in the park since last Thursday needs to now take three COVID tests over three consecutive days.

The move comes after 10 reported COVID cases in Shanghai on Sunday, all involving people who were said to have been asymptomatic. Shanghai has been at the epicenter of long and unpopular coronavirus lockdowns, with millions often shut in what the BBC calls "unusual locations" such as workplaces and stores like Ikea. The city's Disney park has shut down before: Last November, 30,000 were forced to remain inside the park's gates until testing for contact tracing could be completed.

The park also closed for three-plus months earlier this year due to a wider lockdown. Shanghai Disney says that it will be providing refunds this time around, and that tickets will be valid for six months. One bright spot in what's surely at least an inconvenience for most of the trapped guests: Some of the rides inside the park remain operational during their mandatory stay, with a park spokesman noting all applicable health and safety guidelines are being followed, per Reuters. (More Shanghai Disney stories.)

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