coneyislandchris

But if you didn't post it to social media, did it even really happen?

Maybe I'm overthinking things, but don't red, orange, and yellow seem significantly shorter than blue, teal, and green? Seems like the warm color slides will always have an "advantage" over the cool colors when it comes to finishing first. (You know, if anyone actually cares about that.)

I just received an email earlier this morning from Sesame Place, stating that they are extending the 2020 season passes through the entirety of the 2021 season. Not sure if this is something they are doing chainwide. Has anyone with passes for any of the SeaWorld or Busch Gardens parks received anything similar as of yet?

For what it's worth, I switched from my standard double-layer cloth face mask to a disposable mask just before I got on Thunder Creek Mountain because I was worried specifically about that. The splashback wasn't too bad at all, but I still got rid of it after the ride.

Since someone in the Facebook group was asking how Dorney has been, I wrote up a quick report for my visit this past Thursday. Figured I'd crosspost it over here. Shouldn't be too many surprises though, especially if you've read Mike's report a few pages back. --- I was just there this past Thursday from opening until about 4 PM. I would estimate there were maybe 500-1000 people there altogether? When I left, the parking lot didn't have cars further back than the first five rows closest to the gate. The entrance process was fun. While they say you need to fill out a health screening on the app prior to entering the park, it's not checked at any point. Instead a security officer screams at you from a safe distance; "DO YOU HAVE ANY SYMPTOMS OF COVID-19?! DO YOU CURRENTLY HAVE COVID-19?! HAVE YOU BEEN IN CONTACT WITH ANYONE WHO CURRENTLY HAS COVID-19?! NO?!? OK YOU'RE CLEAR WALK AROUND THE CORNER! NEXT!" Then you walk through the remainder of the tent, through an area that has masking tape marked off on the ground, and apparently that's the temperature check. They were, overall, very good with enforcement of their social distancing policies. Most of the coasters had 2/3s of their rows closed off. In the case of Steel Force and Thunderhawk, that meant that every three-row car they were only seating people in the first row, unless you were in the last car, in which case it was the last row that was opened up. Every single ride, the operators made sure to announce that you need to keep your mask on and covering both your mouth and nose. Several times I heard the operators yell at people who weren't respecting that rule mid-ride, and in one case, actually stop the ride (Sea Dragon) and tell them to get off. That being said, the vast majority of park attendees were respecting the rules and wearing the masks the proper way, and giving each other distance in the queues. With the exception of Steel Force, which had a thirty minute or so wait, everything else was either a walk-on, a station wait, or at most, five minutes. All the major coasters were running two trains. Rides where you would typically be asked to double up with others were no longer enforcing that, and so, I got solo rides on both Demon Drop and Thunder Creek Mountain. (I didn't try the rapids ride to push that conclusion to its obvious limit.) Possessed is currently not running, presumably for the rest of the season. Other rides that were closed were Meteor, Zephyr, White Water Landing, and I think maybe one or two others. As others in the thread had mentioned, Wildwater Kingdom is currently not open, and not planning to open at all for the season. For me, it was probably a good thing that Possessed wasn't running. It's safe to say I've packed on a few extra pounds since the start of the quarantine, to the point where I requested the "big boy" seats on both Hydra and Talon. While Hydra's seat was quite roomy, on Talon, it was still a really tight fit. I have a feeling that I would have been walk-of-shamed off Possessed, were it running. Definitely a heavy motivation to get back to my daily workout routine. The Chickies and Pete's across from Sea Dragon was thoroughly spaced out to comply with social distancing. Where it used to be jam packed with tables, I think there were maybe about five or six inside the entire area, all quite a ways away from each other. The chicken cheesesteak is still my go-to lunch pick. This was my first visit back to an amusement park since the beginning of January, and to say I was nervous going in was an understatement. But overall, I was put at ease with everything they did to make it as safe as could be, I was happy that my fellow park-goers were following those guidelines, and I would definitely return again. Honestly, all I've wanted for the past several months is just a few hours to pretend everything is okay. Even when it's not okay. Even when things are pretty damn far from okay. And to that end, Dorney induced that temporary feeling of escapism in me for just a little while on Thursday. Total ride rundown: 1x Talon 1x Hydra 1x Enterprise 1x Apollo 1x Whip 1x Thunderhawk 1x Steel Force 1x Demon Drop 1x Thunder Creek Mountain 1x Musik Express 1x Tilt-a-Whirl

I know this information doesn't do you a whole hell of a lot of good NOW, but for reference, their app does in fact show a comprehensive list of all the rides that are currently closed throughout the park. Under the main menu's "RIDES" subheading, if you click on "Closed Rides", it shows the full list of rides that are closed temporarily, closed for staffing, and closed for the season. For example, I'm taking a look at it right now from almost 200 miles away and it's showing the following rides as closed: Cocoa Cruiser Ferris Wheel Frog Hopper Frontier Flyers Hershey Triple Tower - Hershey's Kisses Tower Hershey Triple Tower - Reese's Tower Kissing Tower Laff Trakk Mini Scrambler Mini-Himalaya Monorail Pony Parade Red Baron Sidewinder Skyview SooperDooperLooper Storm Runner Tea Cups The Claw Tidal Force Tiny Tracks Twin Turnpike - Speedway Wave Swinger Whip Wild Mouse Wildcat With that being said, you're absolutely correct that that information is nowhere to be found on their website, and would probably be a good candidate to migrate over as well.

Wow, RIP Dorney Park, I guess.

I watched the video last night and felt like it was 17 minutes of CNBC not saying a whole lot of anything. If the video is called "how they plan to survive coronavirus" I would think it'd be the focus of the video, not like two minutes of throwaway comments at the very end of it. But hey, lots of great stock footage...

Count me in the "RMC the heck out of Wildcat" category of enthusiast, please.

^ Do keep in mind they state on that page "We are working to make as many attractions available to you as quickly as possible, and more rides will become available over time. We encourage you to check back often." So although I doubt that Adventure or OO will suddenly and miraculously open up, I'd be a bit surprised if they weren't able to get a little bit more of Surfside opened. Also, the Henekee is that kiddie ride with all the different vehicles going around under an umbrella. The littlest ones will be crushed.

If Great Adventure manages to run & enforce as well as what I've been hearing about ops down at Over Georgia, I'll be looking forward to a trip later this summer or in early Fall. Also, if this means that the end of the Drive-Thru Safari is near, I would definitely encourage anyone who hasn't checked it out as of yet to try and make it before they close it off to personal vehicles once again. My family and I drove through a couple weekends back and it was absolutely awesome. Highly recommended.

Really encouraging to see such a good response overall from the guests. Seems like Universal really thought out how to properly implement social distancing procedures throughout the park. Great report and photos, thanks Jedi!

I voted for "No, I'll wait a little longer." There's a few different factors at play here. One, I have some medical issues that put me into a group that's at higher risk of contracting the virus and having a really bad time with it if I were to do so. I don't want anything to do with that, quite frankly. Two, I've been following the reopenings, and as much as I'd like to get the hell out of this house and get back to some coastering, it'd be selfish and dangerous of me to do so at first, especially if I do catch something and bring it back home with me to my family. Three, if I were to make the decision to go and check some parks out, I'd want them to be open for a while first and hear first-hand reports about how they're implementing their safety procedures, whether or not the majority of their guests are complying with the rules or not, and if infection numbers in the surrounding areas have increased since opening. Being an early adopter on this does nothing but add extra unnecessary risk that quite honestly I can't afford to take at the moment. And fourth, in some situations, the theme park experience won't be what we would be hoping for. I'm specifically talking about Disney here. I was hoping to take my son out to Disneyland back in April -- clearly, that didn't happen. We were also looking at booking a Christmas trip down to Orlando for this upcoming winter season. I've since held off on that. In the case of the Disney parks, it's more than just about riding as many rides as possible. It's the entire experience. The fireworks, the parades, the character dining, the shows, and everything... and right now, from everything I've heard, it wouldn't be worth making that once-in-a-lifetime trip with the family to get a more bare-bones experience. Right now I'm leaning towards pushing both of those back until 2021 unless something drastically changes between now and the end of the year. That being said, I'm still keeping my eyes and ears open, weighing my options, and there's a few things that I have on the calendar that I haven't yet cancelled. We currently have a room booked for a weekend mid-August down in Wildwood, and we also have a few days planned in Williamsburg (including a stay at the Great Wolf Lodge) around my son's birthday in September. If we're able to make those happen, great. If not, we've adjusted our expectations accordingly already. And of course, this weekend we're going to be heading out of the house for the first time in months as a family and taking a trip down to Six Flags Great Adventure... that is, for the drive-thru safari.

Received an email this morning that Aquatica San Antonio is reopening this Saturday, June 6th. I'm assuming SeaWorld can't be too far behind at this point either.

I'd buy that on a t-shirt.

Totally agree. I'd love to see Carowinds be the Knott's Berry Farm of the East Coast!

Oof, that Facebook comments section makes my stomach crawl. I've deleted the Facebook app from my phone for the month, so I'm missing out on the good times over there, I'm sure. I'm actually really surprised to see the hardline stance they're taking under their FAQ's heading of "What if I have medical reasons to not wear a mask?":

Just looking at the Aquatica calendar, excluding the first week of operation, it appears that the days that SeaWorld is closed, Aquatica will be open. Monday and Wednesdays, SeaWorld is open, Tuesdays and Thursdays, it's Aquatica's time to shine. So any day in Orlando, passholders will have at least one property to visit. Meanwhile, looking at the Tampa calendars, it's surprising to see that Adventure Island is only open Thursdays through Sundays... so no matter what, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Tampa, you'll be plum outta luck.

Honestly, pretty excited for this to make a return. I have good childhood memories from the prior incarnation of the safari, and I hate to say it, but I've never spent the time doing SORA since they opened that. Given the way everything is going right now, I wouldn't mind packing my family in the car and making the drive down so my wife and kids can experience this!

It appears that they have upgraded their information regarding the reservation system they plan to implement once the parks reopen. The full details and FAQ can be found at https://sixflags.com/reserve. Some takeaways; - Once the system goes live, they'll be opening reservations to attend throughout the remainder of the calendar year all at once. - At first reservations will be limited to only members and season passes holders, with them opening up space for day ticket holders at later dates. - Higher priority will be given to people on the higher tiers of membership (ie Diamond & Diamond Elite). - When making a reservation, you will apparently be able to order masks at the same time. While it doesn't say whether or not masks will be mandatory to wear when entering/enjoying the park, it definitely sounds as if they're at least considering the possibility. - When you make a reservation, you will not only be reserving a date, but also a specific time for entry into the park, in order to ease congestion at the gates. If you arrive too early, they will be asking you to wait inside your car. They also make note that they have more wide-ranging safety measures planned to ensure proper social distancing, but they're outside the scope of the reservation system and not discussing them yet.

^This. I wouldn't see them completely scrapping the season because the new entry isn't ready. Their temporary setup that they've had since the start of last season is perfectly fine in the interim. So you’re saying that if Covid never happened the park would not open the entire year because their new entrance isn’t ready???? No, that's not even remotely close to what I'm saying. How did you manage to come up with that based off the words I typed?

If the new entrance isn't ready, I assume they'd just use the temporary entrance like they did last year. ^This. I wouldn't see them completely scrapping the season because the new entry isn't ready. Their temporary setup that they've had since the start of last season is perfectly fine in the interim.

I know a few pages back there were some questions raised in regards to how waterparks would be handling the reopening process. Well, earlier today, Camelback Resort in PA appears to be the first one so far to announce how they're going to be handling everything. They are looking at a June 11th reopening date for their indoor waterpark, Aquatopia, as well as the attached lodge and the nearby mountain adventure park which includes ziplines, a mountain coaster, and the like. The outdoor waterpark, Camelbeach, currently has no posted reopening date, but they are waiting on clearance from state officials. They've posted an extremely thorough plan on their website which can be found over here. Some things to note: - They are only opening 35% of the available guest rooms for booking (approx 160 rooms). - They will be doing wellness screenings and taking temperatures at the main entrance for all guests, vendors, and employees. If anyone is exhibiting symptoms of a fever, their entire party will not be permitted access to the resort. - They will not group multiple parties together into the same raft. - They plan on sanitizing all lounge chairs after use. - Their buffet restaurant has been converted to table-service only, and most other food locations will be serving grab-and-go only. As with all parks, I wish them the best of luck in their return to normal.

Oh, that looks super sweet. Mat racers are my daughter's favorite type of waterslide, so I'm sure she'll be really happy once we get back down there. Hopefully the next time around we'll actually be able to carve out some time for the waterpark portion of Carowinds, since last time we got hit hard by rain during our trip -- we ended up making the drive up to Great Wolf Lodge that day instead and getting some daypasses there, which was fine, but obviously not what we were hoping for.