Disney theme parks may not reopen until 2021 due to coronavirus

, scientists expect a vaccine will take 18 months and some of the restrictions will remain in place until a cure is developed.

Disney boss Bob Iger said in an interview to Barrons: "In order to return to some semblance of normal, people will have to feel comfortable that they’re safe.

"Some of that could come in the form, ultimately, of a vaccine, but in the absence of that it could come from basically, more scrutiny, more restrictions.

"Just as we now do bag checks for everybody that goes into our parks, it could be that at some point we add a component of that that takes people’s temperatures, as a for-instance."

This could be difficult to implement at the gates due to the sheer volume of guests, but could be a short-term option when they first open.

Another change could be virtual queues - something that is already in place in certain parts of the park such as the new Rise of the Resistance ride at Star Wars: Galaxy Edge.

According to The Orange County Register, a new "Virtual Queues" section has been added to the Disneyland app since the park's closure.

Disney has stopped paying 100,000 workers in order to save $500m a month, affecting more than half the Walt Disney Corporation's workforce.

Many of the unpaid parks and hotel staff join the estimated 22 million Americans thrown out of work in four weeks - the worst stretch of US job losses on record.

Sun Online Travel contacted Disney for comment.