As summer vacation heats up, our complicated reactions to the coronavirus pandemic and worldwide shutdowns stay complicated. But one thing is simple: Disney lost a ton of money as a result. Per their earnings report, Disney's theme park unit, home of such summer vacation mainstays as Disneyland and Disney World, lost $1 billion in its second quarter earnings as a result of the coronavirus shutdowns.

Now, before you start throwing Disney a pity party, the corporation as a whole still earned around $18 billion in revenue during their second quarter -- which is, y'know, a little more than I have in my pocket right now. But even that figure comes a lot lower than their normal revenue earnings. And their Parks, Experiences and Products segment plays a huge part in these losses. As said, that segment lost the company $1 billion in revenue. Their total revenue loss in Quarter 2? $1.4 billion, "primarily due to revenue lost as a result of the closures." This means that their theme parks make up 71% of their losses this last quarter -- a remarkable look into how important they are to Disney's overall economic practices.

Some of the key pieces to this staggering financial loss? New, expensive attractions like Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge certainly required a higher number of attendees to offset the costs; with literally no attendees, that's going to be hard. Disney also cited "the net cost of pay to employees who were not performing services as a result of actions taken in response to COVID-19" as part of these losses -- which might explain their very, very questionable decision to enact widespread salary cuts and furloughs to their park employees.

The American parks have been closed since mid-March -- and no official statement has been given on any reopening plans, even as the rest of America (especially Florida, home of Disney World) flirts with the first steps of reopening non-essential businesses. However, on a global scale, Disney is ready to re-open one park on May 11: Shanghai Disneyland. Per Variety, Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke about the promising response and return to pseudo-normalcy undergone by China during the pandemic:

We know how much our guests have been looking forward to returning to Shanghai Disneyland, and our cast is excited to begin welcoming them back. As the park reopens with significantly enhanced health and safety measures, our guests will find Shanghai Disneyland as magical and memorable as ever.

What are these "significantly enhanced health and safety measures"? Read them all here: they could be a good sign for what American park-goers should expect when our theme parks finally re-open.

Limited and pulsed attendance with an advanced reservation and entry system. Visitors will only be able to buy admission tickets for selected dates, and annual pass holders will have to make reservations in advance.

Controlled guest density. Lines will be spaced out and ride vehicles will be loaded to meet social distancing guidelines. The park will manage capacity, though it did not say how many total visitors it will allow in the park at any given time.

Implementing required government health and prevention procedures. Disney will screen visitors’ temperatures and implement use of the government-issued Shanghai Health QR code, which is a contact tracing and early detection system used in China.

Increased sanitization and disinfection measures. The park will make hand sanitizer available at the start of each entrance and exit to rides and attractions. Disney said “high-touch locations such as ride vehicles, handlebars, queue railings and turnstiles will have increased sanitization.”

Training for cast members. Disneyland workers will receive training on “contactless guest interaction, cleaning and social distancing and will receive additional protective equipment including masks.”

For more on all things Disney, and to cheer yourself up a bit, check out this delightful deep dive on Babu Frik.