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Coronavirus: Impact on Theme Parks

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Giga Poster
Boudewijn Seapark in Belgium will have their ice rink be set aside as a vaccination center in the coming months, and will have a capacity of vaccinating up to five thousand people a day. The location will have a separate entrance from the rest of the park when it's allowed to open again so as to not confuse people showing up to be vaccinated with regular visitors.

Source: Looopings (in Dutch)
 

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Giga Poster
Thanks to new pandemic legislation in Sweden Gröna Lund will finally be allowed to re-open in the spring, says the park’s information director. The park will open with limited capacity to comply with regulations and virtual queues are being explored. The park has also begun recruiting 1,500 new staff with a targeted opening in April.

https://www.expressen.se/dinapengar/grona-lund-oppnar-till-varen-100-procent/ (in Swedish)

Liseberg is set to make a decision by the end of the month.
 
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Giga Poster
Toverland recorded a €2.85 million loss due to the multiple closures and attendance losses during the 2020 season (down to 534,000 visitors, the lowest in eleven years, compared to a record 862,000 visitors in 2019). The park's managing director calls it an "unbelievable financial blow," but does not fear bankruptcy happening, saying that the park's financials are structured in a way so that "the future of Toverland is guaranteed."

The losses have also not affected future expansion plans, it appears. The park is "hard at work behind the scenes" on future expansion that will go forward as planned.

(in Dutch)
 

VonRolland

Hyper Poster
Toverland recorded a €2.85 million loss due to the multiple closures and attendance losses during the 2020 season (down to 534,000 visitors, the lowest in eleven years, compared to a record 862,000 visitors in 2019). The park's managing director calls it an "unbelievable financial blow," but does not fear bankruptcy happening, saying that the park's financials are structured in a way so that "the future of Toverland is guaranteed."

The losses have also not affected future expansion plans, it appears. The park is "hard at work behind the scenes" on future expansion that will go forward as planned.

(in Dutch)
Oh no not the dreaded dutch scum known as l***pings, on a positive note at least Toverland are continuing the expansion
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Anybody else feel like it’s going to be much harder to travel this year than it was last?

seems like even once things look better here and restrictions begin to lift, there is a lot of fear, fear of foreign mutations that could potentially undermine the vaccine effort. I have a feeling that this will have a huge bearing on foreign travel this year :/
 

Heth

Mega Poster
Anybody else feel like it’s going to be much harder to travel this year than it was last?

seems like even once things look better here and restrictions begin to lift, there is a lot of fear, fear of foreign mutations that could potentially undermine the vaccine effort. I have a feeling that this will have a huge bearing on foreign travel this year :/
Indeed, now is not the time to start getting hopes up.
 

SilverArrow

Certified Ride Geek
Anybody else feel like it’s going to be much harder to travel this year than it was last?

seems like even once things look better here and restrictions begin to lift, there is a lot of fear, fear of foreign mutations that could potentially undermine the vaccine effort. I have a feeling that this will have a huge bearing on foreign travel this year :/
Yeah and now the vaccine exists (which is obviously great in the long run) there's an easily quantifiable variation in the level of protection different countries have. Some countries are a long way behind others so there could be specific travel routes closed for a long time yet.

In other news, I don't think it's been mentioned elsewhere but Conneaut Lake Park is going up for auction after filing for bankruptcy due to Covid-19 losses. A buyer is said to be lined up.

Not a theme park but still the attractions industry, Sandwich Wildlife Park (formerly the Rare Species Conservation Centre) in Kent is to close permanently because of Covid-19. It is the sister park to Wingham Wildlife Park.
 

Will

Strata Poster
To be awkward (again) that article really needed some proof-reading - the headline suggests that's when the car parks (parking lots?) will be opening.

I can confirm I've had an email from CP though. Just 4 weeks after booking flights, I'm now about as confident of getting there in May as I am of Stoke getting promoted.

Also had the realisation that (obviously) there'll be no February half-term events at UK (or most other) parks, as the virus and restrictions continue to say '**** you' to park finances at every turn.
 
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Youngster Joey

Strata Poster

as of March 26th Amusement parks can re-open in New York (not that any of the outdoor ones will open that early anyways). Considering they never were allowed to open last year this is a pretty big deal.
 

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Giga Poster
Not a park, but Hamburg's Miniatur Wunderland, which features the largest model railway in the world, has suggested that on certain days they'll only allow in people who've been vaccinated, the benefit being that the exhibit can operate at full capacity and with no mask or social distancing requirements. On other days, the exhibit would allow everyone in whether they've been vaccinated or not, but with current restrictions in place.

According to the owners, operating at 25% capacity with restrictions in place as they've done throughout 2020 isn't financially feasible, and this option would allow them to have "full sales" on days where they'll only allow vaccinated people in. Critics of the proposed policy have pointed out that vaccinated people aren't fully protected from spreading or getting infected by the virus, and that it's unfair to groups that cannot or won't be vaccinated at the moment, like children or pregnant women. The owners want to prevent a scenario where Wunderland is only open to vaccinated visitors, however, and so this "middle ground" option is the one being considered.

https://www.ndr.de/kultur/Oeffnung-...d-stellt-Ideen-vor,miniaturwunderland304.html (in German)
 
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