LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Several Disney World resorts and restaurants are reopening this week after a year of being closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Citricos restaurant reopened in the Grand Floridian Hotel with a “Mary Poppins Returns” theme.
The Polynesian Resort was filled with guests for the first time in over a year on Tuesday and had plenty of updates.
[TRENDING: Judge puts hold on lifting CDC’s no sail order | Blue Origin’s first passenger spaceflight| ‘Virus not over us:’ COVID hospitalizations increase]
“We need guest appeal. Guests change, modify, so do our resort needs so that was part of this inspiration was to get it to that level guests are looking for,” Assistant Producer of Resort Portfolios Shawn Moore said.
Rooms now have traces of the movie “Moana” spread without.
“You have Maui, you have ‘Moana’, you have a reference back to the islands,” Moore said.
The resort reopened Monday.
“Polynesian is the original resort that we opened here so we’re just doing a little bit of a facelift and giving it more theming,” Maribeth Bisienere said, the Senior Vice President of Resorts.
Bisienere said it’s also a major opportunity for staff who can return and those looking for jobs in Central Florida.
“As the largest single-site employer for Florida this is a wonderful opportunity to add and help everybody quite frankly,” she said.
With the 50th anniversary just around the corner, Bisienere said Disney Imagineers have been busy, making sure even the smallest details are refreshed and ready for the celebration in October.
“This is just one more resort that we’re well on our way to opening all 31,” she said.
Disney is asking unvaccinated guests to wear masks when visiting.
By Dec. 9, all of the Disney resorts are scheduled to be reopened.