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Coronavirus: Impact on Theme Parks

Hixee

Flojector
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Out of interest (we are heading up to WMSP in a few weeks - committed to tickets, but looking to at least be prepared for what to expect) what do you think it was that caused the issue? Over-crowding, under-staffing, both, neither?
 

Will

Strata Poster
^
Short of staff keeping cars moving and not letting people actually stop to look at the animals (obviously a daft idea), I don't think there was a lot staff could have done. Today, it was solely down to too many bored people taking advantage of one of the few places they could get a (cheap) ticket too, but I'd still recommend they let fewer people in from the 4th to avoid chaos in the pedestrianised areas.

Our problem may have been booking a 12PM timeslot, so perhaps it's best first thing and definitely not starting a safari drive on the hour. Also, try to avoid broken down cars as they cause chaos!

We'd have done Chester Zoo again as I had a brilliant day there on its opening day, but alas it's booked up until August.
 
Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your day @Will. Although if nothing else, I guess it paints a promising picture for the recovery of UK tourism post-COVID if the crowds are still flocking to attractions!


Indeed, I was surprised at how many people had come to Flamingoland just for the zoo given that the opening wasn't advertised beyond the website. The reason why the beaches are getting rammed is because people are fed up with being stuck inside all the time and there is literally nothing else to do. Tourism will recover provided that attractions can reopen safely while still making it worthwhile.
 

SilverArrow

Certified Ride Geek
In case anyone is interested here is the updated list of animal attractions that have applied for and have been accepted for the new grant scheme. You'll notice it's only smaller collections as I think there are various criteria they have to meet (and consequently theme park wise I think Old Macdonald's is the only one with a cred on it).
 

JammyH

Hyper Poster
Just an update re: masks in the UK.

They will be compulsory in shops (as well as on public transport) in Scotland from next week. Will England follow suit?

I have also heard from some English restaurants who are advising their customers to wear a mask when they are not sat at the table, including when going to the toilet. Cineworld staff are also petitioning that masks should be mandatory when in the cinema foyer, so I think we could see them more universally adopted by a lot of businesses. Perhaps some parks like Drayton manor and paultons park will change policy and either recommend or require masks in certain areas of their parks?
 

TommyAlex

Mega Poster
The safari parks won't be as busy after this weekend, I'm sure of it. They were packed whilst they were the only attractions open, but once other places are open these crowds will go and pack out those places instead, until the next things reopen and so on. It seems to be whenever something new is allowed to reopen, everyone goes mad for it - hence why I'm avoiding basically everything that reopens on Saturday for another couple of weeks.
 

Bentleya

Mega Poster
Just an update re: masks in the UK.

They will be compulsory in shops (as well as on public transport) in Scotland from next week. Will England follow suit?

I have also heard from some English restaurants who are advising their customers to wear a mask when they are not sat at the table, including when going to the toilet. Cineworld staff are also petitioning that masks should be mandatory when in the cinema foyer, so I think we could see them more universally adopted by a lot of businesses. Perhaps some parks like Drayton manor and paultons park will change policy and either recommend or require masks in certain areas of their parks?


Compulsory masks is just a sure fire way to kill off business; as many - like myself won't bother going out. I'm all for masks in certain situations, but I'd rather catch the virus and get this mushy thing over and done with.
 

JammyH

Hyper Poster
Compulsory masks is just a sure fire way to kill off business; as many - like myself won't bother going out. I'm all for masks in certain situations, but I'd rather catch the virus and get this mushy thing over and done with.

Studies in China have analysed antibodies and assessed that antibodies only stick around in people who have had the virus for up to 2 months. Therefore, herd immunity is no longer a “viable” option, not that it ever was anyway.

If the virus doesn’t run itself out, or scientists don’t find a successful vaccine, we could be stuck with this virus in the long run.

Compulsory masks do not “kill off business”. In germany, France, spain and italy masks are pretty much compulsory wherever you go, and those countries have managed to get their economies running again safely and successfully.

I’d rather everyone was wearing masks, we got the economy up and running again and with universal masking we don’t risk a second wave than do what england are doing at the moment where we are on the knife edge of a second wave, compulsory masks could put that to bed. And honestly, masks aren’t that bad, you get used to them, it’s all the hysteria and overreaction that makes them seem worse than they are.

I wouldn’t go out actively trying to catch this virus. Studies so far have evidenced you can catch it twice, and whilst you might have an improved immune system if you survive it the first time, people respond to it in different ways and unfortunately some people’s immune systems can not cope with this virus, I certainly wouldn’t want to actively take the risk.
 

Ethan

Strata Poster
Studies in China have analysed antibodies and assessed that antibodies only stick around in people who have had the virus for up to 2 months. Therefore, herd immunity is no longer a “viable” option, not that it ever was anyway.
Not saying this is incorrect, but where's your source for that? Recent news seems to be saying the opposite.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Not saying this is incorrect, but where's your source for that? Recent news seems to be saying the opposite.
I’d like to know this also as I’ve only seen evidence of medium to long term antibodies...

And if true, it doesn’t bode well for hopes of a vaccine either!!!
 
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JammyH

Hyper Poster
I can’t say how reliable the study is(or the website) it was carried out in China and it’s a relatively small sample size, but these are the conclusions they’ve come to nonetheless:


In my head, even if antibodies do last a long time, I’d rather prepare myself for the worst and just assume they don’t last and re-infection is possible, planning for worst case scenario if you like and then if antibodies do last, then I can take it as a positive and feel a bit better about things. But if it’s true antibodies don’t last, it ruins any chances of immunity building up throughout the community.

My dad had a really bad illness at the end of January which he insists was covid, a really nasty illness with the exact same symptoms. He took an antibody test a couple of weeks ago and it came back negative. If it was really covid that he had (unfortunately we will never know as tests weren’t available back in Jan) then it would provide some support to the fact antibodies don’t last.

On the other hand, my aunt had the virus really badly around the beginning of April and has been taking regular antibody tests since, and they have always come back positive and there’s been no fading of antibodies.

At this stage I really have no clue, and I feel like we are as in the dark as we were 3 months ago, there hasn’t really been much clarity in anything, but I guess figuring this kind of stuff out takes a long time. But I’m just personally going to assume antibodies don’t last and prepare myself for the worst. And I’m certainly not going to go out and catch covid so it’s “over with” as I still think there’s literally no clarity over whether you can get re-infected or not.

I just want the whole thing to be over, i really hope antibodies do last as then we could build up some immunity as a society, otherwise we are kinda screwed aren’t we?
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
I can’t say how reliable the study is(or the website) it was carried out in China and it’s a relatively small sample size, but these are the conclusions they’ve come to nonetheless:


In my head, even if antibodies do last a long time, I’d rather prepare myself for the worst and just assume they don’t last and re-infection is possible, planning for worst case scenario if you like and then if antibodies do last, then I can take it as a positive and feel a bit better about things. But if it’s true antibodies don’t last, it ruins any chances of immunity building up throughout the community.

My dad had a really bad illness at the end of January which he insists was covid, a really nasty illness with the exact same symptoms. He took an antibody test a couple of weeks ago and it came back negative. If it was really covid that he had (unfortunately we will never know as tests weren’t available back in Jan) then it would provide some support to the fact antibodies don’t last.

On the other hand, my aunt had the virus really badly around the beginning of April and has been taking regular antibody tests since, and they have always come back positive and there’s been no fading of antibodies.

At this stage I really have no clue, and I feel like we are as in the dark as we were 3 months ago, there hasn’t really been much clarity in anything, but I guess figuring this kind of stuff out takes a long time. But I’m just personally going to assume antibodies don’t last and prepare myself for the worst. And I’m certainly not going to go out and catch covid so it’s “over with” as I still think there’s literally no clarity over whether you can get re-infected or not.

I just want the whole thing to be over, i really hope antibodies do last as then we could build up some immunity as a society, otherwise we are kinda screwed aren’t we?
Yeh I don’t think it holds much weight... It says that the levels dropped (70%...) No expert but I think it’s normal for detectable levels to drop, as long as they don’t disappear...

It also mentions Asymptotic, we’ve known for a while that the level of antibodies present depends on the severity of symptoms... Research is ongoing into other immune responses that lead to people being asymptomatic in the first place :)

Honestly though, I just can’t wait until we know more for sure!!!!

British studies have found that antibodies last AT LEAST 2 months and likely longer ;) But we’ll have to wait until it’s been around longer to know how long :)

 

JammyH

Hyper Poster
The latest from BBC news:

People arriving in England from countries including France, Spain, Germany and Italy will no longer need to quarantine from 10 July, the government has confirmed.

The full list of countries exempt from quarantine from 10th July will be posted on Friday during the day.

 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
The latest from BBC news:

People arriving in England from countries including France, Spain, Germany and Italy will no longer need to quarantine from 10 July, the government has confirmed.

The full list of countries exempt from quarantine from 10th July will be posted on Friday during the day.

We land back ON THE 10th!!!! ?

Talk about cutting it fine!
 

JammyH

Hyper Poster
These are the following countries, set to be announced at midday, which will be free from quarantine when arriving back into the UK. Please note the government’s plan has changed these are not air bridges! Therefore you will need to check restrictions and requirements for the country you are travelling into before booking and travelling.

A preparatory draft list of 55 of the countries likely to be exempt from restrictions, seen by The Telegraph, includes:

Latvia
San Marino
Poland
Austria
Norway
Italy
Hungary
Turkey
Switzerland
Netherlands
Liechtenstein
Cyprus
Malta
Iceland
Slovakia
Serbia
Germany
Luxembourg
Lithuania
Reunion
Australia
Finland
St Pierre and Miquelon
Andorra
New Zealand
Slovenia
Czech Republic
Gibraltar
Spain
Greece
St Kitts and Nevis
Martinique
Monaco
St Lucia
Canada
Wallis and Futuna
Trinidad and Tobago
Montenegro
Bermuda
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Taiwan
Japan
Singapore
Vietnam
Brunei
French Polynesia
Denmark
Belgium
Estonia
France
Malaysia
Ireland
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas and Barbados
 

Tonkso

Hyper Poster
This is reassuring, given our Florida 3 week awesome holiday has been postponed until some point next year, we've looked at a two week non-coaster holiday in Turkey instead as an option.
 

CSLKennyNI

Giga Poster
Europa Park will most likely be staying open through until January says Thomas Mack. Rather than the 3 week off season in November between the Halloween and winter events the park would remain open to try make up for lost time with the start of season delay.

 

cookie

Giga Poster
Europa Park will most likely be staying open through until January says Thomas Mack. Rather than the 3 week off season in November between the Halloween and winter events the park would remain open to try make up for lost time with the start of season delay.

Does this mean they'll cancel the Christmas markets + the giant ferris wheel or will those be put up while the park's open?
 

CSLKennyNI

Giga Poster
Does this mean they'll cancel the Christmas markets + the giant ferris wheel or will those be put up while the park's open?
The Christmas events will still be happening.
Opening on weekends in November has actually been considered for a few years now so I'm not surprised they've finally gone for it; just the interview doesn't make clear if will just be weekends or full openings. Certainly weekends only would allow for decorating during the week but I'm sure it would all be possible to set up during operating hours too.
 

JammyH

Hyper Poster
So UK park opening day.

Looking at the merlin parks... half the rides are shut at all of them.

Is anyone there who can provide any updates of their experiences so far?
 
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