Credit: Universal Orlando

The Florida park will reopen to resume competition with Disney.

Walt Disney Co. recently announced that while the majority of Disney World in Orlando, Florida would be remaining closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they would attempt a partial reopening starting with the Disney Springs shopping and dining complex on May 20. Likely in a response to this partial opening, Disney’s chief competitor in Orlando, Universal Studios, announced a partial reopening of their own, and on a much faster timescale.

NBCUniversal announced on Tuesday that the CityWalk portion of Universal Studios Orlando, which hosts various stories and restaurants, will be reopening this Thursday, May 14. CityWalk will only be open from 4 to 10 PM during the day, and all visitors will be required to wear a face mask and have their temperature taken. The rest of Universal Studios, as well as its companion park, Islands of Adventure, will remain closed until at least May 31. Universal’s other park in Hollywood will also remain closed until further notice.

Credit: AP Photo/Sam McNeil

While Disney’s US theme parks, one of their chief sources of income, have remained closed, the recent reopening of Shanghai Disneyland on Monday, albeit with new health-compliant guidelines in place, has turned a tidy profit for the company. In the first week, tickets to the park, which had its capacity reduced to 27,000 by government stipulations, completely sold out, and the park was at capacity. According to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, that capacity will be gradually increased by 5,000 visitors every week, provided no major viral events occur within the park.

When asked about the US parks, Chapek told The Hollywood Reporter “We want to open up as soon as we can across the world, but we are going to do so in a responsible way. We want to get our cast back to work as soon as possible.”