Disney's CEO Bob Chapek said Disneyland and the company's other theme parks should be operating mask-free by 2022.

Disney's parks have remained closed or reopened at limited capacity to allow for social distancing since the global lockdowns for the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic were put into place in March 2020. According to Deadline, Chapek provided an update on the company's theme parks on their recent conference call, saying he doesn't expect them to resume normal operations in 2021. "We have no doubt that when we reopen up in parks that were closed, or increase capacity, that that we will have some level of social distancing and mask wearing for the remainder of this year. That is our expectation," he explained.

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"I believe that [U.S. President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci] said earlier today that he hopes that there are vaccines for everyone that wants them by April of this year," Chapek added, "and if that happens, that is a game changer and could accelerate our expectations and give people the confidence that they need to come back to the parks." He went on to say he anticipates some overlap until it's confirmed the general public has achieved herd immunity, "But do we also believe that we will be in the same state of six-foot social distancing and mask wearing in [2022]? Absolutely not.”

With Disney California Adventure and Disneyland still closed for the time being, Disney has been taking advantage of the shut-down to make long-anticipated changes to some of the latter's older attractions. Recently, Disneyland announced it will redesign the Jungle Cruise ride to remove the elements featuring offensive caricatures of non-white people. Disney said it expects to finish this update at its Jungle Cruise rides at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World in Florida in 2021 but admitted the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could prevent that from happening.

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Other changes to Disneyland's rides include Splash Mountain being rebranded as a ride based on Disney's 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog. The ride was previously adapted from the studio's 1946 live-action/animated movie Song of the South, which has long been infamous for its romanticized depiction of life on a Southern plantation shortly after slavery was abolished during the U.S. Civil War. Disney has made other efforts to distance itself from the film in the past, with former CEO Bob Iger confirming Song of the South will never be released on Disney+, saying it's "not appropriate in today's world."

Source: Deadline