COVID-19 Coronavirus and Theme Parks Official Thread

[teacherkim]

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"

[mark549]

I expect the lawyers who work for insurance companies will have a major role in determining when any of these parks will reopen. Imagine the liabilities if a park reopens and there's an outbreak traced to them. I think Cedar Fair has a better understanding of this than Six flags due to extending their 2020 passes to the end of 2021. If there's a second wave of cases (likely given simmering frustration with closures) then large gatherings may be unlikely this year.

 

TL, DR - I doubt any will open back up unless or until their insurers are willing to guarantee coverage

[Haymaker]

NY did a statewide anti-body test this week to try and determine how many people have had the virus and not known. It found that 13.9% of the 3000 people tested had the antibodies. Extrapolated, that means its possible 2.7 MILLION people have already had it. That, combined with the earliest death now being almost a month sooner than they thought, tells me that this thing is a lot further along then they think. They just dont have the hard data to back it up yet.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

That sounds encouraging. Hopefully we can learn enough about how this virus works to get an evidence-based plan to move on.

[prozach626]

The annoying fall-back argument I keep seeing against keeping parks closed is that trains can be sprayed/sanitized between every run, hand rails can be sprayed/sanitized constantly, etc. But, I would imagine those practices would require a ton of sanitation supplies that may not even be available. It seems like there are so many people who think that the catch-all solution is just to spray more chemicals.

 

I'm all for opening more consumer services using safer practices, but I hope parks don't try to pull the trigger too soon. The public entertainment industry should be one of the last in line to open. Patience is starting to wear thin with the masses.

[Garet]

I mean here in Korea we had virtually no lockdown and for theme parks, outside of indoor rides being closed, the parks have been open every single day. Everland and Lotte World never closed and the parks haven't exactly been ghost towns. People have to do temperature checks and wear masks and there is hand sanitizer all around for people to use as they choose but their attractions are cleaned every hour not after every cycle as far as I'm aware and not a single case has been linked back to the parks yet. And this is from a country that was once the second biggest outbreak in the world and we're down to single digits a day increases (although we're still being warned of a potential second wave.)

 

 

Apart from restaurants around the U.S. army bases (the one group of people who are actually quite restricted) going out of business, the only other big thing affected was schools being closed because they could switch to online teaching. Kids cafes have restricted how many kids can come in but even they are still open. Everything else throughout the crisis remained the same. We never had any lockdown. Most people still went to work in offices or factories. Restaurants and nice cafes were still being packed, people still meet at the bars or walk in the park together. The playgrounds are full of kids again I've even seen a lot of people without their masks lately.

 

This isn't Koreas first outbreak, we had a big MERs outbreak a few years back which lead the government to prepare in case it happened again. Instead of a nationwide lockdown, Korea has a law that you lose the right to some privacy if it's in the interest in public safety. What it basically means is if you are confirmed with corona they can look into your bank records and other things to track exactly where you've been and at what times. They use that to trace who you've been in contact with and then those people get tested and quarantined. It leads to finding the cases very early so the death rate here was low. Although names are omitted, the emergency alerts include age, sex, and location so there were some stories of affairs being exposed when people could work out who the emergency alerts were about.

 

I do think Korea also got lucky in that our initial outbreak came from a giant church group localized in one area and made the government go into red alert early which combined with the tracing meant it got contained before it was too widespread and that early fear kept a lot of people locked up without it being mandatory.

 

I lost my job sadly, due to working in a private school that decided it would rather fire the existing long term teachers who are expensive and rehire new ones when it reopens but for most people life is back to normal for them now. As far as I'm aware, I think apart from China we are one of the only countries to have a full-scale outbreak (10,000+ cases) and come out the other side so far and the only one with no mandatory nationwide lockdowns.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

What it basically means is if you are confirmed with corona they can look into your bank records and other things to track exactly where you've been and at what times. They use that to trace who you've been in contact with and then those people get tested and quarantined. It leads to finding the cases very early so the death rate here was low.

This testing and contact tracing seems to be exactly the right thing to do, and Korea got on it immediately. In the US, we have had no such thing at all. A lot of state and local governments are doing a good job trying to get PPE and tests, but they're being undermined by the federal government that just wants it all to go away while at the same time being unwilling to do the actual work of fighting the outbreak. Instead, they've been waging a propaganda campaign to convince people that they should support the deaths of millions of Americans just so a few already wealthy people can continue extracting wealth from the working class. It's so frustrating that we can't even get Americans to agree that the most important thing is to fight the outbreak. Korea had a much more united approach, and thus drastically different results.

[Garet]

^This article sums up the tracing quite nicely: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/23/test-trace-contain-how-south-korea-flattened-its-coronavirus-curve

 

I think the other keywords to take away from that are 'Voluntary cooperation.' We didn't have any lockdown but nobody went stupid. There was no panic buying from the supermarkets so that carried on as normal without crowding, and people went to work still but took all precautions they could.

[larrygator]

I've always wanted queue railing in any room like that simply because I always end up with a group that rushes to the door to be the first ones out and I end up getting on the ride after people who were behind us in line. It's not something that I would stop riding a ride about but it's just a pet peeve of mine.

Meh, the difference is often only a few minutes.

 

It's more that I somehow always end up around people who feel the need to be right on top of your back or even push to get through the door asap than waiting a few extra mins that annoys me.

 

It's a horrible entitlement that people have. They must be first at all costs. It prevails among enthusiasts also.

[A.J.]

I mean here in Korea we had virtually no lockdown and for theme parks, outside of indoor rides being closed, the parks have been open every single day. Everland and Lotte World never closed and the parks haven't exactly been ghost towns. People have to do temperature checks and wear masks and there is hand sanitizer all around for people to use as they choose but their attractions are cleaned every hour not after every cycle as far as I'm aware and not a single case has been linked back to the parks yet. And this is from a country that was once the second biggest outbreak in the world and we're down to single digits a day increases (although we're still being warned of a potential second wave.)

Oh dear, I wish that more people here in the U.S. were willing to take the time and read / follow instructions. This quote from Everland's guide is particularly poignant -

 

Even if it is a bit inconvenient,

A lot of people draw the line there, and it's unfortunate.

[bert425]

Garet. . thank you for sharing.

 

that info from the Parks above is super interesting, and was really glad to see/read it for myself.

 

looks like some good plans, and hopefully other Countries are paying attention!

[ytterbiumanalyst]

^This article sums up the tracing quite nicely: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/23/test-trace-contain-how-south-korea-flattened-its-coronavirus-curve

 

I think the other keywords to take away from that are 'Voluntary cooperation.' We didn't have any lockdown but nobody went stupid. There was no panic buying from the supermarkets so that carried on as normal without crowding, and people went to work still but took all precautions they could.

That's a great article. The people of Korea are an example for us all.

[prozach626]

^^

 

I agree. But, are there more penalties to non-compliance or is it strictly the culture? Maybe a combination of both? This is a legitimate question, not a philosophical question.

 

I mean here in Korea we had virtually no lockdown and for theme parks, outside of indoor rides being closed, the parks have been open every single day. Everland and Lotte World never closed and the parks haven't exactly been ghost towns. People have to do temperature checks and wear masks and there is hand sanitizer all around for people to use as they choose but their attractions are cleaned every hour not after every cycle as far as I'm aware and not a single case has been linked back to the parks yet. And this is from a country that was once the second biggest outbreak in the world and we're down to single digits a day increases (although we're still being warned of a potential second wave.)

 

 

Apart from restaurants around the U.S. army bases (the one group of people who are actually quite restricted) going out of business, the only other big thing affected was schools being closed because they could switch to online teaching. Kids cafes have restricted how many kids can come in but even they are still open. Everything else throughout the crisis remained the same. We never had any lockdown. Most people still went to work in offices or factories. Restaurants and nice cafes were still being packed, people still meet at the bars or walk in the park together. The playgrounds are full of kids again I've even seen a lot of people without their masks lately.

 

This isn't Koreas first outbreak, we had a big MERs outbreak a few years back which lead the government to prepare in case it happened again. Instead of a nationwide lockdown, Korea has a law that you lose the right to some privacy if it's in the interest in public safety. What it basically means is if you are confirmed with corona they can look into your bank records and other things to track exactly where you've been and at what times. They use that to trace who you've been in contact with and then those people get tested and quarantined. It leads to finding the cases very early so the death rate here was low. Although names are omitted, the emergency alerts include age, sex, and location so there were some stories of affairs being exposed when people could work out who the emergency alerts were about.

 

I do think Korea also got lucky in that our initial outbreak came from a giant church group localized in one area and made the government go into red alert early which combined with the tracing meant it got contained before it was too widespread and that early fear kept a lot of people locked up without it being mandatory.

 

I lost my job sadly, due to working in a private school that decided it would rather fire the existing long term teachers who are expensive and rehire new ones when it reopens but for most people life is back to normal for them now. As far as I'm aware, I think apart from China we are one of the only countries to have a full-scale outbreak (10,000+ cases) and come out the other side so far and the only one with no mandatory nationwide lockdowns.

 

That's great. Thanks for taking the time to share that information. Sorry about your job loss. Seems like the aforementioned firing high wage/hiring low wage workers seems to be a worldwide practice.

 

How is capacity affected by the safety measures? Is it like the previous post about Disney where only one person is allowed per train and markers are set a certain distance apart? Maybe I missed it (since I've been up almost 24 hours), but is there a limit to attendance? I'm curious if US parks do really start to open if skip-the-line/fast lane/flash pass systems will still be available. (asking for a friend...) Are they still, or were they ever, available in Korea?

 

How long does it usually take you guys to fully get back to normal?

[Garet]

^^

 

I agree. But, are there more penalties to non-compliance or is it strictly the culture? Maybe a combination of both? This is a legitimate question, not a philosophical question.

 

I don't think I've seen any penalties except there is deportation for foreigners who don't quarantine for 14 days after arrival. For Korean's, I'd assume a fine for breaking quarantine but again we don't have a lockdown that's purely for people flying in from abroad.

 

I find Korea very different from Japan, Korea is more do what I want (traffic laws are broken continuously by drivers, especially buses and trucks which will plow and cut everything off with the understanding they're bigger and heavier) or pushing in lines and jumping ahead than have the culture of compliance. In our last outbreak quite a few would break quarantine.

 

How is capacity affected by the safety measures? Is it like the previous post about Disney where only one person is allowed per train and markers are set a certain distance apart? Maybe I missed it (since I've been up almost 24 hours), but is there a limit to attendance? I'm curious if US parks do really start to open if skip-the-line/fast lane/flash pass systems will still be available. (asking for a friend...) Are they still, or were they ever, available in Korea?

 

How long does it usually take you guys to fully get back to normal?

 

 

I'm a prepare for the worst but hope for the best kind of guy so I haven't been out to the parks because even though I have unemployment insurance to cover me, I've been to so many crappy interviews lately, where I've won the job but suddenly been offered lower than what I asked or was advertised or not even offered insurance and pension that was always standard, they always seem shocked when I turn them down 'Aren't you desperate for a job because of corona?' and the pay on jobs right now here is actually even lower than when I started 10 years ago because employers seem to be looking for people desperate to work that we are avoiding all unnecessary spending including gas and snack money if we trek out to parks until the market picks up.

 

That said, looking at some other bloggers I know or youtube Vlogs, rides seem to be loading as usual and at least for Korea no limits on how many can enter, looking at the apps fast passes are still running and I can still get paid ones on the site. The only thing is those footprints in the queue lines to distance people, there's no virtual queueing, and it seems people are just ignoring them and grouping up like always so the queues are basically normal.

 

 

I don't approve of this video since T Express has a strict no loose items policy, I guess because of the corona the attendants aren't allowed to pat like they usually do. This guy's an idiot for having his phone out on a ride and shooting vertical videos but T Express is filling up fully with no staggered seating. It was the only video I could find right now where I could see if they were staggering seats.

 

 

So basically the park is running normal, rides are running full, these rides aren't separating seats and others I looked up on blogs aren't either so the only inconvenience is just you have to have a temperature check and wear a mask.

 

[pakossa]

Sorry, don't have the time to go through all the posts, but did anyone come out with a coaster or park-themed face mask yet? (If not, I think that would be neat, especially if we'll need to wear them when the parks reopen.)

[Nrthwnd]

^ Actually, I was thinking that maybe getting a mask with the words Thank You! across it,

would make some workers' day at any park. Just a suggestion. Or one with Thumbs Up on it.

Maybe even this across a face mask?

[prozach626]

Sorry, don't have the time to go through all the posts, but did anyone come out with a coaster or park-themed face mask yet? (If not, I think that would be neat, especially if we'll need to wear them when the parks reopen.)

Yeah. I had the idea of making one with straps that go behind your head or around your ears.

[KarlaKoaster]

I'm surprised Vistaprint don't do one where they print a photo-realistic image of your mouth on the mask so that you can enjoy the peace of mind of a mask without looking like you're wearing one.

[SharkTums]

Everyone under the sun is making custom masks, just google search. My mom made me some Sumikko Gurashi themed ones and even a Shellie May one for Robb!

[Dar]

Energylandia are selling branded masks in their shop for 36 złoty (£6.95/$8.60), not sure what Poland's plan is for theme parks but it could be a small, but not insignificant, fund to keep things ticking over.

[teacherkim]

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.

[Garet]

^ You'd be surprised. Before I lost my job I was teaching at a private kindergarten and kids aged 3-6 wore their masks well all day long. I think Asian children are more used to masks since they wear them often when the air quality is low.

[teacherkim]

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

[viola_ted]

I don't know if this is anything worthwhile, but I noticed Disney World took down their page about the temporary closures and operations. Might be nothing, but you never know!

 

Edit: It was just a glitch on my end. Disregard oops

[tuxedomask5432]

A company called Holovis is holding a webinar for attraction owners and operators of theme and amusement parks. Their technology is supposed to help parks and attractions set up their own virtual queues. There's hope for 2020 Webinar