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Coronavirus: Impact on Theme Parks

VonRolland

Hyper Poster
I tried to go to six flags over Texas Sunday and all the reservations were full but we went anyway... there were lines for parking and we got up to the front and they said there were over 20,000 people there and they weren’t taking any more walk-ups! Forget Covid!
Have a Six Flag's Day! Having seen recently i am amazed how badly they are operating in regard's to Covid
 

CSLKennyNI

Giga Poster
Europa Park every winter has a large ice sculptures display. Obviously last winter season couldn't take place but they'd kept the display in the hopes of letting guests see it when the park reopened for Easter. However with lockdown continuing and that is not happening so they've turned the power off and let the 30 ice sculptures melt.

A thread of pictures and info - mention is made that the resort attracted over 2 million guests last year. EP alone in 2019 attracted 5.75 million.

And a video of Blue Fire melting:
 

Matt N

CF Legend
That’s incredibly sad to watch... isn’t there any way the park could have saved those for next winter?

I know that the practicalities of keeping sculptures like that cold for an extended period of time are quite difficult and expensive, so I understand why they did it, but surely whatever they’ve done for the past 4 months or so would have sufficed for a decent length of time?
 

cookie

Giga Poster
That’s incredibly sad to watch... isn’t there any way the park could have saved those for next winter?

I know that the practicalities of keeping sculptures like that cold for an extended period of time are quite difficult and expensive, so I understand why they did it, but surely whatever they’ve done for the past 4 months or so would have sufficed for a decent length of time?
It was too expensive to keep them cold. They've probably lost a fair chunk in the months spent just keeping them around, so sooner or later they had to cut their losses. It was probably going to be even more difficult as the climate got warmer, anyhow.

On the attendance front, two million guests with capacity restrictions, June opening, and a cancelled winter season is honestly more than I expected. Hardly good enough for the resort, but I thought more people would've stayed away. Then again, I do remember reading (and seeing) a lot of the European parks still being fairly crowded in the summer.
 

cookie

Giga Poster
This hasn't been mentioned yet in this thread, but one of the first COVID-induced park casualties is a small Japanese park named Kashiikaen Yuenchi, located in Fukuoka. As the park expects only around half their regular attendance this year, they've announced that they will shut their doors permanently on December 30th, 2021. A better season than anticipated could potentially reverse it, but the decision seems to be pretty final.

The park is home to a Meisho jet coaster named Pegasus and a small powered coaster. As a lot of smaller parks in Japan were already struggling prior to COVID, I wouldn't be surprised if it's not the only casualty.

Source:
https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/mersr6 (links to a Japanese article)
 
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cookie

Giga Poster
The Swedish health authority has now recommended that the government delays the easing of restrictions until May 3rd, citing predicted spikes in cases after the Easter holiday. Don't think we're going to see Gröna Lund or Liseberg open before late May at this rate.
 

Professor

Previously AndrewRollercoaster
Brave Nottingham youngsters practicing social distancing:


Meanwhile the gardens at Alton Towers (re-opened yesterday) looked deserted going by TPW's vlog.

Utterly pointless for businesses to continue to suffer.
 

Professor

Previously AndrewRollercoaster
So you're essentially saying "some people have car accidents all the time, so why should the rest of us bother driving safely", no?
Nope not saying that at all, those scenes make a mockery of businesses which continue to suffer and even when they can finally open will have guests acting far more responsibly + all the covid measures they had to put in place.

Some people seem to think social distancing and mask wearing will disappear from June 21st. I doubt that very much. It has still not been made clear.
 

rob666

Hyper Poster
Brave Nottingham youngsters practicing social distancing:


Meanwhile the gardens at Alton Towers (re-opened yesterday) looked deserted going by TPW's vlog.

Utterly pointless for businesses to continue to suffer.
Those idiots, combined with the other two incidents well covered in social media, represent about .0001% of the national population.
Why should we scrap the current system, which appears to be working, because of a few idiots?
 

swalesuk01

Roller Poster
Brave Nottingham youngsters practicing social distancing:


Meanwhile the gardens at Alton Towers (re-opened yesterday) looked deserted going by TPW's vlog.

Utterly pointless for businesses to continue to suffer.
Also you will find most of those brave Nottingham youngsters are students from across the country

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
 

Will

Strata Poster
^
It's alright, the nice weather's expected to end after today, so it will die down again.

For my part, I've said I'll quite happily keep wearing a mask and being allowed to stay 2 metres from strangers for as long as required - it's the other restrictions I want gone. That said, supermarkets in my area are back to being a total free-for-all.

I went for a walk around Trentham Gardens after work yesterday which was very quiet - I'll try to check out the Towers Gardens if there's a nice day when I'm not in work :)
 

SimonProD

Mega Poster
I personally think that parks and funfairs can open with reduced attendance and safety measures. Funfairs even more than parks as the later have mostly outdoor rides with outdoor queues. I also hope the EU Vaccination Pass comes earlier than later as those visitors could get a "free pass" in that specified safety measures might not be enfoced on those visitors. The main problem IMHO are food venues - were you quite logically have to remove the facemask - I'd only allow outside to-go food at the moment - and only indoor dining for those vaccinated.

I for one don't believe in Covid-Tests that are done by non-professionals. You cannot proove poeple are doing them right and that they don't use them on their cat or dog.
 

Will

Strata Poster
^
85860.jpg


Hehehe. Kitty.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
I’m not sure when Disneyland Paris is currently expecting to reopen, but I’m assuming they’re not expecting it to be too soon, as it’s just been announced that the park will be used as a mega vaccination site, hiring firefighters and other emergency services staff to administer up to 1,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine each day: https://apple.news/ACSDeHNxlTteY-MmhMWCtWA

Interesting; I wonder how long this will be open for?
 

Rein

Roller Poster
I’m not sure when Disneyland Paris is currently expecting to reopen, but I’m assuming they’re not expecting it to be too soon, as it’s just been announced that the park will be used as a mega vaccination site, hiring firefighters and other emergency services staff to administer up to 1,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine each day: https://apple.news/ACSDeHNxlTteY-MmhMWCtWA

Interesting; I wonder how long this will be open for?

This vaccination site will be located in the convention center of the Newport Bay Club hotel. It can easily stay in operation when the parks reopen.
Source: leparisien.fr
 
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