COVID-19 Coronavirus and Theme Parks Official Thread

[mark549]

All they are trying to do is flatten the bell curve so hospitals aren't overwhelmed.

[djcoastermark]

Major Breaking - Disney World Closing March 15

[Canobie Coaster]

^ And Disneyland Paris announced they're closing the same dates as well- March 15 through March 31.

 

Per cnet:

 

Disneyland, Disney World, Disneyland Paris closing through end of March amid coronavirus fears

 

Disney is closing the rest of its theme parks, in addition to the already shuttered parks across Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai remaining shut.

 

Disney is temporarily closing Disneyland in California during ongoing concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus. It'll be shutting the doors of the Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks from Saturday, March 14, through the end of the month. The Downtown Disney shopping and dining area will remain open. Disney's three hotels at Disneyland -- the Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier and the Grand Californian -- will remain open until March 16 to allow for guests to make travel plans.

 

The decision to close down followed California Gov. Gavin Newsom saying that all gatherings of more than 250 people across California should be canceled for the month of March. Earlier Thursday, Newsom said at a press conference that the ban on gatherings wouldn't apply to the Disney parks or to casinos, card rooms or theaters "because of the complexity of their unique circumstances." Newsom said he'd spoken with former Disney CEO Bob Iger on March 11, and had decided the Disney theme parks in Anaheim could remain open.

 

In a statement later Thursday, Disney Parks said there haven't been any reported cases of COVID-19 at Disneyland Resort but that "in the interest of our guests and employees" it had decided to close the parks after carefully reviewing Newsom's executive order about large gatherings. The company said it would continue paying cast members during the closure and that it would work with guests who want to change or cancel visits, and refund those with hotel reservations during the closure.

 

As of March 12, US cases of coronavirus were sitting at around 1,300. Of those, more than 170 were in California.

 

Late Thursday, Disney announced Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris will also close Sunday, March 15, through the end of the month, according to The New York Times. Disney confirmed the news. This includes the Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios parks in France, and the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach parks in Orlando, Florida. It follows a Paris theme park worker reportedly testing positive for the coronavirus on March 11, with French cases currently sitting at over 2,200.

 

The Disney Village and Disney Springs shopping and dining areas and the multiple hotels on each property will remain open, ABC reported. Disney Cruise Line will also suspend new departures as of March 14 for the remainder of the month, ABC, which is owned by Disney, said.

 

Last month, Disney said the temporary closure of its Shanghai and Hong Kong theme parks could impact its second quarter earnings by $175 million, with $135 million of that associated with Shanghai Disneyland, and $40 million pegged to Hong Kong Disneyland.

 

Both Shanghai Disney and Hong Kong Disney closed in late January, though Shanghai began opening restaurants and stores on March 9 in Disneytown, Wishing Star Park and at the Shanghai Disneyland Hotel. All guests at those destinations must undergo temperature screening, present a Health QR Code at dining venues, constantly wear a mask and "maintain respectful social distances at all times while in stores, queues and restaurants," according to Shanghai Disney's website.

 

Hong Kong Disney remains closed entirely.

 

The Tokyo Disney Resort was shuttered in late February, with the company announcing on March 11 that it'll extend the closure of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea through early April. The grand opening of the new Tokyo Disneyland area, which was scheduled for April 15, has been postponed to mid-May or later.

 

The coronavirus causes an illness called COVID-19, which exhibits pneumonia-like symptoms. The virus was first reported to the World Health Organization on Dec. 31 after originating in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 has spread globally, to Africa, the Americas, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, the UK and other parts of Asia. Chinese scientists have linked the disease to a family of viruses known as coronaviruses, which include SARS and MERS.

 

Coronavirus deaths now top 4,700, with over 127,000 cases confirmed worldwide. The World Health Organization declared the virus a global pandemic on March 11.

 

In its statement about the Disneyland closure, the company said guests impacted by the measure can contact the Walt Disney Travel Company with questions at (714) 520-5050. It also asked for patience since call volume was likely to be heavy -- indeed, a reporter dialed the number several times Thursday afternoon and was able to get through only once, receiving error messages on the other occasions.

 

https://www.cnet.com/news/disneyland-disney-world-disneyland-paris-closing-through-end-of-march-amid-coronavirus-fears/

[tinaalsgirl]

Flattening the curve - EXACTLY.

 

If you wanna see what happens when you DON'T flatten the curve, just read up on what Italy's going through. On the World News with David Muir tonight, they showed video of a guy who has been quarantined alongside his DEAD (from COVID-19) SISTER'S BODY and he can't find a funeral home who would bury her. (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/funeral-services-refused-collect-body-coronavirus-victim-200310144913034.html)

 

I currently have an 84-year-old grandmother who is on in-home hospice with less than a year to live from stage 4 cancer that has spread to her organs. Living with her are my aunt who has Lyme disease, Celiac's, and god knows what else. Also living in that household is my dad, who is 61, has hypertension. All three of those family members have a high risk of severity and death if they were to catch this. Thankfully, my dad's work is with computers so he's been working at home for years now; he makes good money; and he has a Costco membership. And thankfully, he's taking this seriously and has been stocking up for self-isolation.

 

I don't know when I'll get to see my grandma again. I don't know if I'll get to see her before she passes. If she doesn't come down with this, then there's still time. If she gets it... that's it. Game over for her.

 

AND, my 86-yr-old grandpa and 84-yr-old grandma (maternal) are not in a good situation either. My grandma had a MASSIVE stroke a year ago, and while it mostly affected her speech, the cause of the stroke was high blood pressure and she's struggling to keep it down because she's getting upset constantly because people can't understand quite what she's trying to tell them. And my grandpa, he broke his hip last year and had to get a replacement (that incident was the catalyst for my grandma's bp to rocket and cause the stroke).

 

THEN, a month or two later, my grandma, who at that time hadn't yet re-learned how to use the phone, walked out of the house, down the block, across the 4-lane busy road, and was almost to my aunt's house when my grandpa managed to find her.... She'd been unable to wake him up, and since she didn't know how to call my aunt, she decided to walk there. This led to my grandpa being hospitalized because his fatigue turned out to be heart failure. He ended up with seven stents and he still doesn't have more than ~30% use of his front valve or something like that.

 

TL;DR - I have grandparents I love very much and I would very much like to see them continue to live. Cancelling/closing large events and slowing the spread aka "flattening the curve" will make it less likely for my grandparents to get this disease that absolutely would kill them if they got it.

 

Please consider your words more carefully next time, southpuddle.

[Nrthwnd]

Oh, "for the record," Canada's big music night, The Junos (Cdn version of The U.S.Grammys) to happen (and be broadcast on tv) this Sunday in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (had to write that place out)....has of course, been cancelled.

 

And some musical acts are already there, starting to get ready for events.... that are now cancelled.

Talk about instant information.

 

Oh, Canada. All for the best, I know. Still.

[Garet]

Closures

 

America

 

Disneyland - Closed until the end of March

Disney World - Closed from the 15th until the end of March

 

Universal Hollywood - Closed until March 28th

Universal Orlando - Closed from March 15th

 

Europe

 

France

 

Disney Paris - Closed from the 15th until the end of March

 

Asia

 

China

Shanghai Disneyland - Closed indefinitely

 

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Disneyland - Closed indefinitely

Ocean Park - Closed indefinitely

 

Japan

Fuji Q Highlands - Had a closure from the start of March - March 9. Now reopened.

Nagashima Spaland - Closed until the 19th

Tokyo Disneyland/DisneySea - Closed until early April

Universal Studios - Closed until the 22nd

 

South Korea

E-World - Closed 29th February until 20th March

Gyeonju World - Closed 24th February - 13th March

Robot Land - Closed 27th February - 15th March

 

If any of the official sites update i'll try and change the links or if any one posts any other parks but it'll be the end of the day since in happier news after 3 weeks being affected by the virus (job wise), i'm finally off back to work to prepare for the kids returning in April so I won't be just sitting bored at my computer all day anymore.

Edited March 13, 2020 by Garet

[tinaalsgirl]

Thanks for the recap, Garet.

 

And I'm glad you're able to get back to work!

[Nrthwnd]

Personally, March and April are the two nicest months of the year, for me and David. We have our two birthdays, a week apart (we're both Aries - go figure), and a big time anniversary all by Earth Day. Guess it'll be better to celebrate everything "closer to/in home", etc.

Glad we got to Disneyland, last September. David enjoying the non-spinniness of a tea cup.

Edited March 13, 2020 by Nrthwnd

[3Mutts]

Honestly I think the reason alot of these parks are closing is not to contain the virus but instead to save money. Disney and Universal in particular rely on tourists for a majority of their guests and right now the airline industry is in the tank with many people posting videos of empty airplanes on social media. Less people flying to Orlando = less people going to Disney and Universal and if Disney and Universal are going to lose money running their parks why should they stay open?

[Nrthwnd]

I want/need a hug.

[Lotologist492]

I know it's not a theme park but I received an email letter from Starbucks which had at least some potentially good news in it. The letter states the usual precautions most US businesses are taking for COVID19 which they too are implementing. In the same letter they mention mainland China where cases are now declining and 90% of their locations have since reopened. This would suggest a 2-3 month cycle for this virus to run its course. Whether or not this plays out the same way here in the States remains to be seen.

[Nrthwnd]

^ I got one from them, Broadway Across Canada/America,

and our grocery franchise, Sobeys. Everybody's on it, now.

[coasterbill]

Honestly I think the reason alot of these parks are closing is not to contain the virus but instead to save money. Disney and Universal in particular rely on tourists for a majority of their guests and right now the airline industry is in the tank with many people posting videos of empty airplanes on social media. Less people flying to Orlando = less people going to Disney and Universal and if Disney and Universal are going to lose money running their parks why should they stay open?

 

This was this afternoon...

[Nrthwnd]

^ Two hours for the Jungle Cruise? You have got to be kidding me.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ Remember, this is the new and improved Jungle Cruise that shows you the 9th wonder of the world, the underside of water!

[masterbeer]

Keep everyone safe and do handwashing all the time.

[multimueller]

I'm just curious. Disney just posted their ticket policy:

 

"If you are unable to visit by December 15, 2020 you may apply the value of a wholly unused ticket toward the purchase of a ticket for a future date."

 

which basically means: you can reschedule, but you will not get a cash refund. In Germany that would be straight-out unlawful. How is the legal situation in the U.S.?

[AmyUD06]

It is what is is. Plenty of industries do not offer full refunds (common in the hotel sector, virtually universal in low-price air travel); it's all part of the fine print when you buy your ticket.

[multimueller]

To be more specific: I buy a theme park ticket with a fixed (although changeable) date. The park has to close on that date. They are not legally obligated to refund the ticket price? (where I life, they would be)

[AmyUD06]

I understood you the first time.

 

So long as they let the ticket be valid another day that they are not closed, or let you put the purchase price toward other future purchases, no they are not obligated to issue a refund by any federal law.

 

Individual states/counties/municipalities in some areas may have ordinances prohibiting such behavior, but it's not federally controlled in the US.

[multimueller]

Thanks for the precise reply. That's a big diffence to Germany, where we have a federal law called "Allgemeines Leistungsstörungsrecht" under which the refund is statutory.

 

Similar to the EU tourist ban, European users are blocked from disneyworld.disney.go.com (a "General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR" thing) and we have to buy our tickets from the Walt Disney Travel Company in London. It will be interesting to see if they will offer refunds to German guests who are affected. Brexit might be a factor here, too.

[convtang]

To be more specific: I buy a theme park ticket with a fixed (although changeable) date. The park has to close on that date. They are not legally obligated to refund the ticket price? (where I life, they would be)

 

That's because you live in a civilized country that cares about its citizens. The US is no longer governed "By the people, for the people." It's now "By the corporations, for the corporations and only the corporations."

 

This is the main reason all of this hysteria is so worrying. Since US corporations are only about money and shareholder value, most of them do not offer their hourly employees paid sick leave. The healthcare industry is run by giant corporations that are probably rejoicing at the tests that they will be able to charge an arm and a leg for.

[WolfBobs]

Taking advantage of the flight prices and booked a $40 round trip flight on Frontier to Orlando at the end of April. *shrugg*

 

At the end of the day, if things are still shut down by April 27th I'm only out $40. But I'm gonna take advantage of this and live my life while I can! lol

 

Never tell me the odds!

[AmyUD06]

To be more specific: I buy a theme park ticket with a fixed (although changeable) date. The park has to close on that date. They are not legally obligated to refund the ticket price? (where I life, they would be)

 

(Politcal BS that has no place in the discussion.)

 

And how well is Italy doing with their "free" government-run healthcare-for-all in this situation? Please take your opinions on to the functionality of health care in the US elsewhere.

[Woodie Warrior]

People in the US are being turned away from testing if they don't match every single symptom, because the government is saying we don't have enough tests available. But somehow we have enough to test every member of the Utah Jazz team? Our health care system is fine if you're rich and wealthy enough. It's about to fail the rest of us. Sometimes there is no way to not make a discussion political- this is a global pandemic and governments need to be doing their job. It's simply cocky and (very American) to believe that this virus isn't going to hit us just as hard as it's hitting Italy.

 

The fact that Six Flags and Cedar Fair haven't announced closings yet is crazy to me. It's inevitable at this point, I'd be shocked if they don't announce by this weekend.