teacherkim

Bought tickets for our somewhat local road trip out of STL on 7/27. Technically as a SFSTL employee my son gets two free tickets, which we have been used before, but there was no way to do that on the website and in the current climate it seems churlish to make an issue out of it. I will just support the park and pay for the day and be happy they are happen.

Booked a few nights at the Breakers for the end of July. Plan on being in the park 7/30 & 7/31, will post how our day goes. Excited to finally utilize our platinum passes that I haven't been able to use yet.

Reserved two spots for 10:30 on 7/29. While there are still plenty of spots left that far in advance, I did notice they had far less available for the morning slots than later in the day. They really seem to want to control the mob at the front gate. Will FINALLY get to process our plat passes that I purchased last August? September? Can't even remember, whenever the "sale" was going on. Will let everyone know how the day goes.

So I just bought a couple tickets. There was nothing on the website about reserving a date after July 3 (we don't plan on being there until Aug 1) just a note that all 2020 tickets must be used by Oct 31. We've never been to IB before but since our theme parking this summer is obviously going to be somewhat restricted we are making a HW, KK, KI, CP run out of STL and decided to stop at IB on the way home. Seems like the perfect summer to support small parks and make those stops we never made time for before. The lack of almost any precautions is a bit disturbing but I will just monitor things and see where it all stands in another month and either cancel or not depending on how safe we are feeling and where the virus is raging, or not, at that point. At this point we may just have to accept that it's going to rage through since human behavior is what it is.

Like Prozach said, it was the Mayflies. They come out from the bottom of the lake which is totally gross. Despite their name June is when they are at the worst. I try to avoid June now, not like it ever gets that hot up there anyway. And brushing Mayflies out of your hair. Grossest. Thing. Ever.

I like your plan. I also think that sometimes it's worth it to spend a little more money for convenience. I'm glad you guys are getting to take your trip this year. IF you are living within your means it is TOTALLY worth it, in my opinion. It's a small trip and there won't be a true family vacation this year....but I guess I will take it. Shrug.

Well for just a 3 hour or so drive I would either drive on in or just stay at our hotel at KI, wouldn't be worth it to me to drive part way on such a short drive. I know it seems a little silly to get to CP at 10:30 at night but we would be settled and can sleep in the next morning, versus just sitting around a generic hotel room after we are done at KI. I mean I've done HW in one day before and that's 6 hours round trip.

Nice! Thanks. That's helpful because we will be coming from KI so I can decide if I would rather drive late after the day at KI or wait until early the next morning, which would save me a night at the Breakers.

Sigh. Well I'm sorry to hear about the further mess down there. We are just going to do a HW, KK, KI, CP road trip. Easy to control/modify and since these are all parks we go to usually once a year, not a big deal if we can't get on certain things. in fact I may spend one day just laying on the beach at the Breakers. Just as well that Joel doesn't ask for too much time off of work since they are having such a short season anyway.

So, I think we are going to try and go for a couple days in late July. We have platinum passes but I have no problem booking at the Breakers. Not sure though which nights to book. If we want to go to the park on a Thursday/Friday do we book for Thursday and Friday night or Wed and Thurs night? Will probably give them a call to clarify. Or just book three nights and be safe.

Per the employee in my house there is no electronic queueing system, just normal lines with social distancing markers put in place (that people apparently have not been paying much attention to) and yes they are selling flash passes.

Guess we are just going to stick to parks we can easily road trip from home so if we don't get on everything it isn't such a big deal. That way we can just chill and save a lot of money for next year.

Yeah, but MO is still on the 50 person gathering thing but SFSTL was able to open with the restrictions in place, mostly because it is outdoors I think. Besides if IL is letting zoos open under phase 4 (which they are) then why not amusement parks? Oh well. SFGA would be a tack on to the last day of the road trip so we can make a late decision I guess.

So, I really wanted to reschedule our cancelled spring break trip for August but sadly thinking we may just have to postpone the whole thing to next year. I'm not personally scared to travel or anything but with the surge you guys are having down there don't want to be in a position where we may have to quarantine when we get home and/or have things get shut down again right before we leave. Plus with the wonky hours and reduced capacity thinking it would be crazy to go to the trouble and expense to fly down. And some of the historical sites I wanted to visit in San Antonio are closed with no announced opening date. Bummer. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be until 2021.

Wow. This thread and the FB page for SFGA are totally dead. ANY word on the street about an opening date? SFSTL opened this week. Since we probably won't be doing any big trips this year, thought we might make a HW, KK, KI, CP run in late July and talked about adding on Indiana Beach and SFGA since they aren't that out of the way coming home.

I'm not so sure that is actually the case. I mean my son used them yesterday, without gloves, and had no issues. Although I did give him a mom lecture about washing his hands before he ate. More worried about the chemicals than the virus at this stage

That is correct. I just posted on the thread for the two Texas parks to inquire if that is happening there as well. And yes capacity is a joke, particularly if you have a mechanical issue that causes you to go to one train operation, which happened yesterday. Now how long that will last remains to be seen.

At SDC they were also doing the method of loading groups and leaving an empty row behind the group, makes sense. At SFSTL not only are they leaving every other row empty they are sanitizing the train AND running it empty between each group. Glad to hear they have upped the merch, I always thought that was a weak area at HW

Hmmm, this could all be super annoying if you are planning multi park road trip. Plan it out but then potentially cannot get a reservation in one park on the day you need to be there and then have to start all over. I wonder how fast they will fill up the first few weeks.

So, I'm curious, particularly since I am still trying to decide if we should reschedule our cancelled spring break trip for August. At SFSTL they are not only leaving every other row empty on coasters but also sanitizing AND running the train empty every other cycle. Is that happening across the chain or just at our park? Checking in with those of you that have been to the Texas parks. It will be a factor in my deciding if we will come down for a visit or perhaps postpone til next year sometime. Anyone been to SFFT yet? I asked in the SFOT thread too. Just want to know what sort of restrictions and wait times we will be dealing with before I fly down.

So, I'm curious, particularly since I am still trying to decide if we should reschedule our cancelled spring break trip for August. At SFSTL they are not only leaving every other row empty on coasters but also sanitizing AND running the train empty every other cycle. Is that happening across the chain or just at our park? Checking in with those of you that have been to the Texas parks. It will be a factor in my deciding if we will come down for a visit or perhaps postpone til next year sometime. I'm going to ask in the SFFT thread too.

Yeah but is commercial grade REALLY necessary? I mean I've not heard of a health professional suggest anything more than regular household cleaner is needed to kill the virus and my son has to use the stuff all day then. I'm afraid if we keep up with widespread use of that type of cleaner long term we're gonna have a generation of young people with messed up immune systems. I was getting a little annoyed at SDC the other day when they "came down the line" with the hand sanitizer before you boarded the coaster but now I'm thinking that is preferable to the running empty trains method. Interesting to see how long they keep this up. On another note, you might all be glad to know security is on top of things. Apparently, there was an incident of some guy harassing a girl in the line and verbally abusing her pretty badly, but she reported it and the last he was seen security was taking him away.

So I can report per the ride op in my house: 1) Excalibur was running with people on it. Not his ride but he walked by. 2) On the coasters every other row empty and then after each cycle with people they must clean and run the train empty. So figure roughly 1/4 -1/3 capacity every two trains, depending on the coaster. And Mine Train had a mechanical issue that only allowed them to run one train. Apparently the wait was pretty outrageous. 3) But they did not have to run empty rides in the BB area, just social distance and then wipe down. Not sure about the other flats. 4)Hand sanitizer at every entrance but not forcing it on people like at SDC. 5)There were employees enforcing masks around the park. People not doing so well on social distancing in the lines. However, it was the FIRST day and I'm sure some of the routines will get smoothed out over the next few days. As well as they are liable to make adjustments to the procedures.

Boo. No night rides in the best night riding park. But to be expected this year I guess, certainly better than no rides at all.

Do you really see haunts happening with social distancing? Well at the moment both KI and CP are still showing them on the events page........so, I don't think it's off the table. I mean it would be fairly easy to incorporate masks on the scareactors.