ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is sending a team to Florida to see how health and safety measures have been implemented at theme parks like Walt Disney World since reopening.


What You Need To Know

  • California officials to visit Florida

  • Team plans to observe reopening protocols at the theme parks

  • Disneyland and other theme parks remain closed in California

  • Disney World's theme parks reopened in mid-July 

Newsom made the comments during a COVID-19 update on Monday. During the Q&A portion of the update Newsom was asked about what he’s learned from other states in regards to their approach to reopening theme parks.

Newsom said he is sending a team to these sites to see what’s going on.

“And so this week, as a proof point of that, we have supported an effort to actually find out directly by sending our own team to these sites, as relates to theme parks, to get a better sense of what’s going on,” Newsom said. “While we absolutely take people’s word for information that they provide us, we want to see things for ourselves.”

Since reopening in mid-July, Disney World’s theme parks have had several measures in place, including mandatory face masks, temperature checks, capacity limits and social distancing protocols.

Orange County health officials have previously said that no COVID-19 outbreaks have been linked to any Central Florida theme parks since their reopening.

Meanwhile, Disneyland and other California theme parks remain closed as they await reopening guidelines from the state. The delay lead Disney executive chairman Bob Iger to step down from Newsom’s economic recovery task force.

Disney also recently announced it would lay off 28,000 workers in its Parks, Experiences and Products division, saying Disneyland’s continued closure was partly to blame.