teacherkim

Hey Bert! I am very tentatively thinking the first full week of August but of course that will depend on how the parks are doing in the next couple of months. I don't think there will be any issue getting a flight or hotel a little later than normal. Guessing travel will be lower than normal all summer. I will for sure check dates with you before I book.

So, with our original Texas trip in March cancelled, Coasterstock in May cancelled, and CCon in June cancelled........and things very slowly starting to open back up with unsure success/results; I am thinking/hoping that we may get to reschedule the Texas trip for maybe early August?!? Will be checking in to see what the locals are posting about operations once things do open up again. I know as of yesterday there was still no word to employees of SFSTl about restarting training but businesses around the park are starting back up so expect to hear something soon. Got $400 worth of travel funds with SW burning a hole in my pocket

Yeah I think the "limited capacity" thing is all about making the public feel more comfortable, it will be very easy to manipulate. Same with the employees wearing facemasks, more about optics than anything else. Sanitizing will be the most effective thing.

So, just for purposes of keeping everyone up to date on all the happenings; ACE has cancelled CoasterCon. Although more accurately they are postponing the entire thing one year. I think a lot of the parks will be open by the end of June but with restrictions in place, large events will probably be difficult for awhile. On the good news front it appears Disney and Universal are eyeballing an early June opening, again with the aforementioned restrictions in place. Some Orlando youtubers have stated that they have heard from employees that training will start back up in May. And where those two parks go I suspect the rest will follow. Hoping we can reschedule our cancelled Texas trip for later in the summer and make the (for us) more local HW,KK,KI, CP run. I may finally get to use those CF platinum passes.

Yeah I am guessing that is a big cultural difference..... I cannot see American kids doing it.

That photo of the family in masks cracks me up, not because I'm disrespecting the virus or making fun of things, but there is NO way you are going to keep a mask on kids that young all day. Nope. Nada. Never. Not gonna happen. And they will constantly be pulling at it, pulling it down to pick their nose, touching things with their hands and then touching the masks etc, etc.

Well getting back to the parks sooner rather than later is one thing we can all agree we want to do! The real bottom line is we are all making educated guesses on what will happen based on rumors and very small bits of info leaking out from many many sources and biased by what we want to happen and our personality traits leaning toward glass half full or glass half empty. Hate to resort to old adages but "only time will tell"

AND unlike fairs, theme parks can, and I have no doubt will, have jugs of hand sanitizer at every ride, restaurant, store, and bathroom entrance. Fairs tend to be much more temporary so that will be harder to do, as well as limiting capacity like you said. I meant May in general for businesses not necessarily theme parks. Does seem though some are starting to target June 1 as a possibility.

Apparently Universal has sent out surveys to passholders asking about different measures like; masks, lowering park capacity, virtual queues, wiping down rides between riders, temp taken, etc etc. Which would indicate they are at least working on ways to open. Will be curious to see if CF and SF do something similar. Although everyone is going to have such different opinions on that I'm not sure it's practical to even bother with a survey. They will just have to make a decision and then see if people show up. I think the reopening plans are being worked on but for the most part they are not publicizing much yet because it makes people jump to conclusions. And I find it very unlikely if the rest of the states start opening up that CA will be able to stay shutdown.......just not practical. Coronavirus is not going away entirely and staying shut down until when or if a vaccine is available is also not practical. I'm guessing things will start to open up in May and it will come down to the feelings of the individual. If you are still nervous or feel at risk then don't go. The million dollar question will be how many people stay away by choice if they don't have to. I tend to think people will come (whether they should or not) but of course I could be totally wrong, lol.

That's great news! Hope it works out alright and other parks can target June 1.

Well never did get an email, lol, BUT did get the refund and cancelled my hotel. Drat.

Coasterstock at KI is officially cancelled. While I no longer had any expectation that it was going to happen on the original date I was really hoping they might reschedule but I guess that was just too difficult since they do not have a firm opening date yet. Money has been automatically refunded. I guess we could put that toward a HW,KK,KI,CP run later in the summer. At this point now waiting to see about CCon. Just read that Pennsylvania is planning to start opening up things slowly after May 8th.......which may cut it awfully close for late June and theme parks. However, hope springs eternal and so back to the wait and see mode. Meanwhile our not yet been used CF platinum passes are sitting on the shelf, mocking me

Hmmmm........didn't get the email yet and we are registered attendees. Will keep an eye out for it and my refund. Hope I can put that money toward a HW, KI, CP run maybe later in the summer.

Damn. There goes the boy's birthday present. Not surprising of course but I was really hoping they would be able to reschedule. Did you get an email or just have advanced knowledge? I haven't gotten any communication yet and nothing posted on their facebook or website. Although I do see on the website that it isn't listed under events anymore with the next thing being Carnivale starting June 6........maybe there is some hope they will be open by then?

Wouldn't that be a bitch if we were finally getting something really good for next year's anniversary and then it gets delayed due to Coronavirus cutbacks. I feel cursed.

Lol, I was thinking exactly the same thing but didn't want to complain about a new coaster. Hopefully, it will get filled in over time.

The Missouri governor announced yesterday that the stay at home order will go until May 3rd but starting on May4th businesses will be allowed to start re opening. There will be future announcements as to what exactly that looks like, there is a task force working on it. We have had curbside pick up at most restaurants the whole time. Agree it will place more responsibility on the individual but there is no way to keep a stay at home order in place for a year or whatever until a vaccine or treatment is in place. The bad guys always try to get clever (even though they seldom are) don't they? Also choosing to be cautiously optimistic.

That's good news. This from from the FAQ on the Carowinds site answered my most pressing question (that had not been addressed in previous updates): 2020 Platinum Passes will be valid at all Cedar Fair parks through the 2021 Season. I'm really glad to hear that as we bought Platinum passes for the first time last fall and hadn't even gotten to use them yet. Thought maybe Kharma was out to get me. On the other hand I wonder if that is in anticipation of many of the parks maybe not being able to open until later in the summer.

Andrew, I teach in exactly the same type of district although it is very small and our secondary students have been one on one for awhile now

Another thought I just had. They may also be waiting to see what ACE does about CoasterCon since many members attend both events. Currently CC is scheduled for late June and they have not pulled the plug yet but are delaying registration until early to mid May. They would also have to coordinate with things like Coastermania at CP so they don't end up on the same days, or one day apart. Just some reasons why they maybe haven't made a decision yet.

So one month from today we are supposed to be driving to Coasterstock and exactly one month ago we were supposed to be flying down to Texas for a quick Spring Break visit to the parks down there. John I would be patient (hard I know) until you know exactly what they decide to do. While I realize the original weekend is unlikely at this point, I am sure they would prefer a reschedule but are waiting as long as they can to be sure of a safe date and lower the chances of a double reschedule. The airlines and hotels are being very generous with last minute changes and cancellations. They announced the closing of the Texas parks the day before we were to leave and I cancelled our SW flight and hotel less than 24 hours before flight time and check in time, and this was early on in the pandemic, March 13. Not one bit of hassle or question. Hilton allowed a late cancellation without any fees and SW gave me a voucher with a very generous expiration date.....I cannot imagine you will have an issue. But if you can hold out until they decide and it is a reschedule then you can just make one contact to move your dates and it will save you the additional aggravation of having cancelled and having to rebook.

Ha, Andrew I'm sure our PBIS team would love to have CP as a reward! On the other hand a lot of my students have never even been to SFSTl which the 8th graders get as an end of year reward if they qualify. As far as students knowing they don't have to do anything else to pass. Yes, but remember they had to be passing to begin with. Also, of the approximately 9 weeks we would have had left around here, easily 3-4 weeks of that would have been state testing and/or finals. The truth is guys that for the most part the students that want to do well and improve will and the ones that don't care won't. Whether they are physically in school or not is somewhat inconsequential. Yes, learning from a teacher is best but at this point in the year finishing online isn't the end of the world. The unfortunate thing is how many students out there do not have a family that push/help them in a productive way and I do worry about my many students now trapped in homes with abusive and drug addicted family members. Not getting political, just putting things into perspective.

Most of the middle and high school students in St Louis County have chromebooks and one of the cable companies is offering free internet for 60 days if you have a student in your house. The elementary kids in many districts, it's a little trickier, there has been a combination of packets and chromebooks available for pick up in front of schools on certain days. Andrew I would say at the moment about half of my students are completing work, but I full expect that to drop as they realize they can essentially keep their grade by doing nothing.

That's a good question and it makes sense, but I'm still not sure you'll have the demand. Also, if we're completely in the clear enough for parks to be open I'd imagine schools would be in the clear to open. I bring that up, because wouldn't next year's school year start a lot earlier to make up for this year? I'm not sure if it works like that, but that will shave days off of the Monday - Friday operating season. Has anyone heard any rumors on what's going to happen to the school year? Missouri schools cannot open any earlier than 14 calendar days before Labor Day now per a new law going into effect this year. So the date is already set for August 24 for most districts as that is the earliest they can have students in the building. There are also issues of getting summer school in and giving custodians/maintenance crews enough time to do the work they need to and cannot with students in the buildings. Most states have already made it official that days will not have to be made up as long as online learning continues through the last scheduled day of the current school year and have cancelled state testing and finals and such. Online learning is not great and most are doing a sort of hold harmless grading system; in other words a students grade can improve but not go down. Which of course means many won't participate......but we were 3/4 ths of the way through the year and let's be honest, it's not the end of the world.

by bert425 » Fri Apr 10, 2020 9:17 pm Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick both had press conferences today and leaks are coming that Abbot is going to have an executive order to reopen Texas non-essential businesses at some point next week. Abbott has been in constant contact with Trump (per the local news). . .and they are itching to get the economy going again ASAP regardless of any pesky pandemic. Leaks from a round-table that Patrick was involved in say he wants things open back up by May 1. all I can say is: Idiots (if the science is there? yep, fine. . but all the Doctors are saying it's too soon, and wait until June). so we'll continue to be staying home, regardless of what our Gov & Lt. Governor say. I saw that on a news feed and wasn't sure how accurate it was. I guess, unfortunately for you, that will make Texas a big experiment and it will be interesting to see how much it swings the other states one way or the other. Stay safe!