Garet

Source I'm sure this is going to cause some panic even if he didn't interact with guests.

^Potentially. But there were a lot of pictures in the Korean newspapers of the recently deserted markets getting packed again and even in our town the restaurant/bar area was starting to get full again so it does seem people are resuming their routines. Even if T Express has one train and low staff a 70-minute line is better than how it looked two weeks ago.

I've seen a couple of posts here about testing and recovering here in Korea. Testing: There is wide-spread testing here and they're pretty thorough. They have shipping containers set up in car-parks away from the hospitals where you can register at one, give a medical interview at the next (symptoms, where you've been etc.) take a nasal swab and tongue swab at the third and then finally give a spit sample. You then go home and are advised to self-quarantine until your results two days later. If you come into contact with someone infected or the government asks you to test it's free. If you're paranoid or have a sore throat and are worried about infecting your family it will cost you.... about $20-25. There's no shortage of people who have been and got tested just to be safe. There are even drive-through versions set up across the country with the same thing but you can stay in your car if you're worried about being near other people doing the test. Recovery: Yes, the numbers are low here but from what I hear it's because the government is very cautious to actually confirm someone as recovered and put them back out into the population. As far as I'm aware even if you test negative it will be a little while after before you get released (and I think you have to be re-tested to make sure it wasn't a false result) and counted as recovered. Expect the numbers to start going up now we are a few weeks into the outbreak. I'm honestly surprised that countries where the outbreak has only just started somehow already have so many recovered. Also, someone sent me this asking if it's true. I really have no idea if it is, I hope it's fake and it's not that expensive elsewhere.

Everland had pretty big lines this weekend, looking at the app which is good to see. We are almost 3 weeks since the break-out here. The fear of the virus hitting Korea is gone because well it's already here and now 3 weeks in people seem to be accepting it's going to be around and things seem to be getting back to normal-ish.

Thanks for the kind words and I appreciate it but we are doing pretty ok here. I typed that more to make a point there's a factor as big as fear in play that you won't see in the news. We could afford to go to Everland or Lotte World but I'm a hope for the best, prepare for the worse kind of guy. I just don't want to have unnecessary spending and find my job gets delayed even more and not have enough to cover it. As it stands, I should be back at work. I had money put away for a USJ trip and to finally try Nagashima Spa Land (I seem to be cursed on getting there I always delay with a new roller coaster announcement and now this). That trip is lost because I'll have to work that time I was going to be off and because Japan has blocked entry to people from Korea. Considering where I live it's not exactly a once in a life-time trip so it's not a big deal. If my biggest fallout from this crisis is a vacation I can't even take, and my family is well provided for I consider myself one of the luckiest ones. The fact I can be a month unpaid and survive mostly on money put away for a birthday trip to just USJ, it's express pass 7, and a hypothetical Nintendo Land pass either says something about the cost of living here... or how ridiculous USJ prices have become.

Not sure when this happened because I haven't seen it elsewhere but Fuji-Q has it's own Toy Story Mania style ride based around the Naruto anime now? https://www.fujiq.jp/en/attraction/kagakuningudojo.html

Main park is still closed but it's an indication that things are getting ready to go back to normal. Source

I mean if hypothetically, somehow the park was that dead they'd got through all the groups and even the back-up groups early, couldn't the park just open up the standby line?

[youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

So as someone who is in Korea, I can tell you that although there is fear as far as parks are concerned it comes down to money and the economy just as much or maybe even more than fear. Fear just sells more headlines. We have friends unpaid in the factories of big companies because of a shortage of parts or because one worker came into contact with someone who had the virus and is quarantined and the government wants it closed for decontamination and a precaution. YOu hear of people who were sent to China despite the outbreak on a business trip which couldn't be delayed only to land and find Korea had jumped 600 cases and the China side of the business locking them in the hotel since they've mostly contained theirs to Hubei area (I think they had 11 cases outside the area and 7 of those were actually Chinese tourists who caught it in Italy. The kicker is Korea will also quarantine when they come back for 2 weeks so people will miss almost a month of work. For example, and I don't say this out of pity but to show why we don't go to the parks in Korea right now, I teach young kids in a private school so one place that is most heavily affected since that is where fear can come into it. Our school closed the last week of February so parents had to get a refund for that and of course no one paid for March. We were supposed to be closed for 2 weeks but the government 'strongly advised' that schools reopen March 23. But literally, as I typed this the cases here jumped by 500 so I really don't know when I'll be back at work. Nearly 90% of all those cases are in a different area and there's only 100 in the whole of Seoul total throughout this crisis so far but it's enough to shut us down. I know it was brought up how Tokyo was busy before the shutdown but as far as I'm aware their jobs and economy were business as usual. For a lot of people, not just the education sector, it comes down to: How long will this last? How much unpaid time off will I have to take? Will I have a job to go back to? (Some places have seen a 90% sales drop but still have rent to pay.) Will we end up having to take 2 weeks more unpaid if a student/parent/customer comes into contact with a patient and government shuts the business/shop/school? I'm not saying this to get pity just giving you an example as someone in an outbreak. For people like me, we cut every unnecessary spending to see our families through (I don't know how many students I'll even have left when I do return to work for this reason) and that includes going to the parks. If you're not getting paid, you're not going to be spending on park tickets. People are going to be looking at their travel plans and seeing if they can still afford it. On the park's side, all it takes is one infected visitor and they'll be national headlines, a PR crisis, and fear all over their name driving down numbers even more than they are. If the government tells them to close there's a risk of all that, they're going to take it. I'm starting to think we need a coronavirus thread listing closures and where people can discuss their thoughts and fears.

Nagashima will be closed until at least March 13th: https://www.nagashima-onsen.co.jp/yuami/info/492912023712.html The notice leads to the bathing page but the Spaland calendar also reflects it's across the whole park: https://www.nagashima-onsen.co.jp/spaland/fee/index.html

Fuji Q is also now closed until at least March 9th: https://www.fujiq.jp/en/news/h5f6de000001vct0.html

Everland is operating as normal but with more hand sanitizers and disinfecting of the rides. They are asking for guests to wash hands often and wear masks and people with fevers over 37.5 will not be allowed in the park. In other news on my pre-outbreak visits: T-Express now has a no loose items policy and they are no longer allowing guests to lower their bars and attendants are checking pockets which has slowed operations a bit. Lenny's Magic School seems a weird addition. It's a shooting ride and the rotating part of the mad house seems to be a lot more neutered than it was before. It's just strange because a unique ride (for Korea at least) has become a screen-based shooter, except the shooting haunted house next door just had an upgrade last year to also become a screen-based shooter. They're building a new public bus drop-off right at the entrance gates... This one's a bit confusing since there used to be a drop off 5 minutes walk from the entrance (which is still standing) but they made a new one only a few years ago when the Everline subway station opened and made everyone take the shuttle bus but are now going back and making a new one 400m from the first. I haven't really updated with pictures lately because there's nothing really to update. I joke that rides like Small World knock-off and Eagles Fortress were replaced by gardens but it does seem like the park struggles more with each visit. Restaurants closed or much smaller menus. Rides like rotating house become another screen shooting ride. Parades becoming stationary floats for photo ops. Lots of rides only open for half the days. Amphibious safari boats not allowed in the water anymore. Water park only opening some flumes for July and August etc. It's hard not to feel sorry for the park, there have been big investments (Panda exhibition, new flume ride, a big water slide in Caribbean Bay) but attendance has fallen for the last 3 years now and the park has had a lot of bad luck. This is the 2nd viral outbreak in 5 years to scare away visitors and with political problems affecting foreign attendance from China and Japan as well, it seems the park has started to struggle.

Source

^Isn't this it: http://www.olc.co.jp/ja/news/news_olc/20200228_1/main/0/link/0228.pdf

All mention of Lionsgate has been removed from their websites.

^ & ^^ Yep, that was what I instantly saw since I see so many similar bottles here in Korea. It's that or a bottle from the 'hangover cure' market that's been getting more and more popular in Asia. Used to be a bunch of 'healthy drink' bottles thats expanded to food, tablets and now they've been advertising in English lately.

Here's the thing, I've seen this on screamscape and their post is linked to Disney and More which seems to also quote SCMP as it's source... but that site has had an anti-theme park bias in their editorials for a while. Especially since the Ocean Park bail-out, they've been running a lot of articles about how the theme parks/money the government invests should just be used for housing and trying to use their platform to sway public opinion. How much truth is there is to the hotels being quarantine centers? I honestly don't know, it could have been floated as a vague idea in a meeting of possible quarantine centers. But so far SCMP seems to be the main source for these sites and they clearly think the land the parks sit on (again most of their editorials are more aimed at Ocean Park having a second government bail-out.) and until I see more sites reporting this that don't link back to SCMP, I'll take it with a pinch of salt.

^That's the old Fuji-Q. This moderately better one will have 2 8 person trains but will take one off the track at 1 PM to wind down ready for closing time.

I'd insert a joke about how low capacity it will be, but my visits to Fuji have been steadily getting better and better and most of their coasters when they opened were record-breakers (although I still don't understand how Eejanaika's inversion were counted) or looked pretty unique (the pretezl loop shuttle, the indoor shooting thing) l, so I'm really curious what will show up.

Source

The official announcement:

Ocean Park is closed due to the virus. Considering how much the park has been struggling and that Lunar New Year is one of their busiest times, this is really going to hit hard for them this year.

Alton Towers and Chessington have also removed theirs.

Be advised the park is shut due to the virus outbreak: It could be a case of just being closed for the Chinese New Year when they would have been swamped with people and reopening after that but depending on how this epidemic unfolds over the coming days and weeks, there's a chance it could also become longer.