Jew

Yes it is. It is a hallmark ornament.

Since sports are currently on hiatus, I figured I’d catch up with The one TR I didn’t do from last season yet:Wrigley Field. It definitely lives up to the hype. We went for opening day and the energy was incredible. The area around the stadium (Wrigleyville) is nothing but bars and restaurants too, with the streets shutting down for game day. Amenity wise it’s pretty bare ones given the stadium is so old, but the atmosphere is great. The famous manual scoreboard The famous rooftop bleachers The famous entry sign As you can imagine, concourse was cramped. But the recent renovations made for plenty of food and drink options to keep lines short The famous bleachers View from our seats The famous press box where special guests sing take me out to the ballgame

Bought a new shelf to finally display most of the collection. Still more to add. Quarantine project

Keep it civil please

Unfortunately people in Sweden are responsible, they have good universal healthcare, and great Infrastructure so many already worked at home. Basically the opposite of the U.S.

Oktoberfest has been canceled in Munich.

Georgia will be a good case study with most "gathering" type businesses being able to reopen by the end of the month. Hopefully it works out and will serve as a blueprint for the rest of the nation.

Low capacity+magic mountain=go on a weekday to ride this, Assuming they don’t end 365 operation as a cost saving move.

It’s a good first step that will give much needed data on what the impact of phased reopening will have on spread.

Gateway ticketing (the system Disney and universal Orlando amongst others use for ticketing software) held a webinar last week talking about guest experience in the current world: https://www.gatewayticketing.com/community/the-new-guest-experience/

Definitely moved the needle for the industry. Was jaw dropping at the time.

Let's avoid this thread becoming a political commentary/debate thread please.

I suspect we’ll see states try to “reopen” with mandatory face coverings and other states subsequently mandate quarantine for visitors from those states

It’s not Mexican food if it came from Trader Joe’s Also, LA County just moved stay at home order to May 15th.

Speaking to Six Flags specifically, the state of things is eerily similar to their last bankruptcy: heavily leveraged, recession, and parks impacted by a virus (the Texas parks took a hit and SFM was completely closed for a week from Swine Flu), and the loss of international licensing revenue.

Yes,their short term costs are virtually non existent, but the fixed costs still remain. Salaries and wages for the remaining staff, interest on debt, insurance, property taxes, maintenance, etc. are still there. Plus when the parks do re-open, they will be looking at having their "start up costs" to reopen (the massive supply orders, massive hiring effort, training, etc.) all hit at once instead of spread out over months like they would normally be. Six Flags, for example, had to borrow an additional $130 million, stop its dividend and stock buybacks completely, cancel or delay $40-50 million in expansions+reduce other non labor spending by $30-40 million to stay afloat. And that assumes parks can be operational by the mid May timeline they have announced. As far as any money that comes in for memberships/season passes during this time, that money has to go on the books as a liability for the time being since they are receiving money but unable to deliver the product. It'll come off the books when people have the ability to redeem the full value of their pass. There will be some offsets (like writing off the donation of food) and presumably some of the bailout funds for keeping some staff on, but there is no doubt this is going to be the worst year for the theme park business for a long long time.

Every day a park was supposed to open is a day where costs mount with no revenue coming in. Their 2020 budgets are already ruined. There's no such thing as "making money" in the traditional sense this season. All any park will be able to do is salvage whats left and squeeze what profit they can out of whats left by managing costs (cutting where they can) and pricing (my guess would be prices on everything goes up inside the park and on premium stuff like VIP tours, while ticket prices go down to get people back in). But that "profit" is really just offsetting the loss.

Disney and Universal are massive employers for the markets they are in. That's not just a blip on the radar. It's a needle mover in both CA and FL on their own. The IMF is predicting the worst recession since the great recession. "Social distancing" won't be the norm forever, but it most certainly will when the parks first re-open unless our understanding and treatment of the virus gets significantly better. Getting back to the theme park discussion...we are already past the point of no return for this year/season being successful. Easter/Spring break wiped out. Beginning of summer (Memorial Day) weekend looks to be gone as well if you take Universal's closure as an assumption for the rest of industry. That's before evening taking into account attendance for the remainder of the year is most certainly going to be down based on the factors I already touched on. Six Flags, Cedar Fair, and Sea World all have market caps low enough someone could swoop in and easily become the majority shareholder and force actions like closing parks to sell the land they sit on. There's no avoiding the fact this year is going to be absolutely devastating to the business. 2021 will likely see a return to what 2020 was supposed to be, with growth not returning until 2022. Project timelines will have either shifted or been outright canceled to adjust. Parks will close or have new owners. Going to be a wild ride to see how it all plays out.

Regarding that unemployment number, it’s still going to rise. For example, look at the Disney announcement: Disney employees still on payroll until April 19, with paycuts for Executives. Presumably many still in the workforce also had to take paycuts. The industry will survive this and rebound strong over the course of the next few years. But it’s not happening right away. It will be a slow and steady recovery as people manage their budgets, we find out more about the virus, and learn to adjust to any new norms (like how to manage social distancing and sanitation at a theme park where everyone is used to being in close proximity and everything is touched by thousands of people daily). This is a unique (and hopefully only once in a lifetime) worldwide health emergency and recession with still so much unknown. It’s as far from a healthy market for theme parks as you can possibly get.

Under normal circumstances, I would agree. People absolutely spend outside their means. I am guilty of it many times splurging for things like World Series tickets or last minute trips since airfare was cheap on my credit card. However, this is not anything close to normal circumstances or even a normal recession. The bills, rent, mortgages, etc. temporarily suspended will need to start being payed back. Businesses will open back up, but it is extremely unlikely the demand will be the same for bars, restaurants, clubs, retail stores, hotels, airbnb, airlines, etc. So many peoples small businesses, jobs, and incomes are still in jeopardy even after places begin to re-open. Even large companies that were heavily leveraged like AMC Theaters & perhaps even Six Flags might have to go bankrupt since they can't service their debt with no revenue. This isn't just a normal foolish decision like netflix vs. a coat for your kid...this is now "how do I afford to keep a roof over my head? Is it even really safe to go out?" Theme parks will be lucky to retain 70% of their business for this year.

It's high dollar to anyone who didn't have a pass. Plus, there will be a segment of those who did have passes who have other more pressing financial needs even after the world is "re-opened." That also assumes everyone will be comfortable gathering in larger groups again (assuming parks will reopen with additional safety measures in place, but still will be impossible to truly "social distance" and avoid touching unsanitized common items). Theme Parks don't thrive on uncertainty. Yes, there will be a segment of the population that is dying to get out and can still afford their pass and will be dying to buy food and drink at Disney (or whatever park they patronize) again (That's me!...as long as my employer keeps me on the payroll working from home). Those people will be out in full force. But that's only a small segment of the business.

Yes, the circumstances are worse this time because it’s a financial crisis and a health one too. People want to go out, but they’re not going to return to the high dollar items right away.

I think this is going to be the first of many capital projects throughout the industry delayed or canceled.

As a reference point, here's how the industry looked in 2009 when we were just dealing with the recession (save for the H1N1 in Mexico): TEA 2009 Attendance Report I love the optimism (especially since my stock portfolio includes Comcast, Disney, and Cedar Fair among others) and my "side hustle" involves music festivals, so my bank accounts would REALLY appreciate things getting back to normal ASAP...I just don't see it happening right away. People need certainty with their finances and to feel comfortable going out in public being in close proximity to people again. It's going to take awhile to get to that point. I plan to travel as soon as I can to take advantage of the cheap flights, but I know I am in the minority.

Normally I would agree, since I myself have fallen into the fiscally irresponsible category plenty of times in my life (like impulse purchases of World Series tickets...twice). However, this is not anything close to normal. The situation really forced everyone to take a good hard look at their finances, since so many "steady" jobs were temporarily wiped out and many of those jobs may not return. It's no longer "well, hey, I can just pick up an extra shift or work some overtime to make up for this..." or whatever logic someone would normally use to justify a luxury item. That doesn't even take into account the fact inevitably there will still be people worried about gathering in large groups again. Bottom line IMO: people will most certainly come back, but business will not be the same for awhile. There will not be nearly as many people buying the premium passes, VIP tours, skip the line passes, buying pricey food/merch, etc. People will take advantage of their "free" pass extensions, but will not be as eager to spend in the parks. At best, I would say attendance will be back to 60-75% of what it was, but spending in the parks will be down. I expect parks to be offering very aggressive deals and free items to bring people back and retain passholders.