Disneyland is hoping to reopen in late April

• Disneyland is expected to reopen in late April, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said Tuesday.
• The company will give a firm date in the coming weeks, he said.
• California on Friday issued guidelines that allowed theme parks to reopen starting April 1.

Disney's chief executive on Tuesday gave some indication as to when the company's flagship theme park would reopen.

During Disney's annual shareholders meeting, CEO Bob Chapek said the company hoped to welcome guests back to Disneyland by "late April," without giving a specific date.

"Here in California, we're encouraged by the positive trends we're seeing, and we're hopeful they'll continue to improve and we'll be able to reopen our parks to guests with limited capacity by late April," Chapek said.

Chapek said Disney would share an official opening date in the coming weeks.

The announcement came days after California issued new public-health guidelines that allowed theme parks to reopen starting April 1 with mandatory mask-wearing, limited capacity, and other precautions as long as they aren't in one of the state's highest-risk zones.

The state's theme parks have been closed since March 2020, and Chapek said it would take Disney some time to get things back up and running.

"The fact is it will take some time to get ready for our guests - this includes recalling more than 10,000 furloughed cast and retraining them to be able to operate according to the state of California's new requirements," he said.

The company reopened Florida's Disney World in July, since COVID-19 restrictions have been much more relaxed in the state. Disney has a clear incentive for opening its California parks as soon as possible - closed theme parks cost the company $2.4 billion in operating income during the fourth quarter of 2020.