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Disneyland Closure Could Add Up to a $5 Billion Hit to Southern California

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The pandemic’s shuttering of Disneyland has cost the Southern California economy $3 billion already and will cost it another $2 billion through March 2021 if the theme park remains closed, according to a Cal State Fullerton forecast.

Anil Puri, director of the university’s Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting, says the school’s economists made those estimates based on work sponsored by Disneyland a year ago that attempted to quantify the resort’s economic footprint. The Anaheim park’s strong visitor draw powers numerous related businesses, such as hotels to eateries.

The estimated  $5 billion loss comes as Disneyland and the California theme park industry are in a heated battle with Gov. Gavin Newsom over how and when the attractions, closed since spring, can reopen. New health guidelines issued Tuesday suggest most park reopenings won’t occur until next year — if not next summer.

Working off the previous estimate of the park’s $8.5 billion impact on the region, and assuming an extended closure, Fullerton estimates a loss of 46,000 Disneyland and related jobs in Southern California — 28,000 already lost through September and another 18,000 jobs could be gone by March. Orange County will feel the brunt of the region’s losses: 33,000. Continue reading in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune