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Coronavirus: Impact on Theme Parks

davidm said:
Booked a hotel* just near Hersheypark (for early June) at lunchtime yesterday. Optimistic me? ?

( * picked the cancellable-rate though**, since everyone's travel insurance is now invalid due to the WHO declaring it a pandemic :cool: )

(** not all hotels on the trip are on cancellable-rates though, might be down a not-insigificant-amount if it all goes pear-shaped*** :oops: )

(*** I will be annoyed, but not surprised, if the parks all shut-up-shop, hmmmmm)
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Join the club :( Me being as keen as I am pre-booked several theme park tickets and hotels for my US trip. Hopefully it'll go ahead as planned, but if not I'll be down a significant amount too. Will have to claw back what I can on my travel insurance.
 
^ the point about travel insurance is that I expect many (mine certainly does) specifically excludes paying out for costs related to WHO-declared pandemics. Its all about the small-print, insurance will always find any reason they can to not pay out!

I'd be down a couple of hotels and a whole bunch of pre-paid park tickets, but I'd assume if proper travel-bans happen I'd get flights refunded. Still an annoying amount of £ but hey its not the end of the world - oh, maybe it is. :(
 
Efteling have said they're introducing a 'maximum number' of people in their queue lines, which will see queues temporarily closed when that number is reached, and are encouraging people to leave larger gaps between groups in queue lines. They've also removed some tables and the like from certain areas.

Source: Looopings (sorry)

The park also has a set up FAQ about coronavirus: https://www.efteling.com/en/park/information/frequently-asked-questions
 
Slamming Coastercore said:
Join the club :( Me being as keen as I am pre-booked several theme park tickets and hotels for my US trip. Hopefully it'll go ahead as planned, but if not I'll be down a significant amount too. Will have to claw back what I can on my travel insurance.
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Well trump has just banned all flights from the EU to america (bar UK), so let’s see how long it is before we are added onto that list!
 
AndrewRollercoaster said:
If the UK banned EU flights we would stay off that list probably but this travelling via the UK loophole I think could mean we get on it very soon.
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Isn't the caveat "within 14 days"? So it's not like you can just have a layover in Heathrow from Berlin. At least, that's how it read when I looked at the statements this morning.

But yes, it's hard to see how we aren't going to end up on that list very soon...
 
Hixee said:
Isn't the caveat "within 14 days"? So it's not like you can just have a layover in Heathrow from Berlin. At least, that's how it read when I looked at the statements this morning.

But yes, it's hard to see how we aren't going to end up on that list very soon...
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Will be interesting to see how they will track that. I've never had a passport stamp travelling in/from Europe.
 
I've never been to America, but I've heard how strong their security protocols are. Wouldn't be a bit surprised if they ask Europeans flying from the UK to prove they haven't been in one of those countries in 14 days, or over anyone from the UK.
 
Hixee said:
Surely... surely... that's tracked on your 'digital' passport?
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I'm not going to lie, I don't know enough about passports and travel to know what they can and can't track. But certainly if people think they can cheat the system, I'd imagine they can't.

Even then, I'm not sure how I'd feel about travelling to America if I'd been in Europe very recently, given some of the stories I've heard about security. Just me and my largely uninformed opinion personally though.

caffeine_demon said:
Does that just mean there'll be another queue for the main queue line?
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I'd imagine most people will see a closed queue line and just do something else. The park is probably quiet enough right now it won't cause much of an issue for now.
 
Just been on the phone to Phantasialand and had contact with a europa park staff member last night.

Both parks still plan to go ahead and open on their scheduled dates for the beginning of the season, however the government have the power to close them down at any point. Phantasialand said they are preparing to open up on the 4th April, however if the government choose to close theme parks or Brühl city council make a decision to close the park down, then they have no choice but to oblige. It is exactly the same situation for Europa park.

If the theme parks do close, the hotel resorts will still remain open and events with below 1000 participants will still run. For example, fantissima is still running as there are only 300 participants per night. However obviously if the limit of amount of guests allowed in an event changes(could be lowered to 100), then these events will also be forced to cancel. I would not know whether the hotel resorts would then shut in these circumstances.
 
JoshC. said:
I'm not going to lie, I don't know enough about passports and travel to know what they can and can't track. But certainly if people think they can cheat the system, I'd imagine they can't.

Even then, I'm not sure how I'd feel about travelling to America if I'd been in Europe very recently, given some of the stories I've heard about security. Just me and my largely uninformed opinion personally though.
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What stories have you heard about the security in America?
 
This is getting suck-ier by the day. I'm not too concerned about the fever itself, but the thought of closed theme parks? It's enough to give any of us the cold sweats.
Certainly gonna hold off on booking any cheeky Euro weekenders for the time being, and I'm not too keen to pay any more money for the US trip that we have booked either, not until this whole thing has blown over.
If it does blow over... ?
 
Pretty good summary of the US-imposed restrictions in this article:
www.theguardian.com

Trump's EU coronavirus travel suspension explained: who is affected and will it help?

President’s order takes effect Friday and halts most travel from Europe
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Key points at the moment are that it's currently only a 30-day ban so anyone planning trips from May onwards is OK for the moment, and that if you fly from the UK then you need to have not been in the EU countries for at least 14 days prior to departing for the US. So again as long as you have at least a 2 week break between trips you will be OK based on the current rules.

All in all though it's looking quite bleak for worldwide travel and theme park trips for the near future at least. I've got trips to Sweden in May and the US in August that I won't be spending any more money on for the moment :(
 
Spring DOM in Hamburg has been cancelled that was scheduled to start two weeks from now - likely other funfairs and themeparks in Germany will not happen in March, April and May at least. There has been no annoucement so far as its in the responsibility of each state - but its highly expected as things go massively downhill here.

All sports events go withput spectators or are cancelled. Likely all public museums, libraries, schools and universities will shutdown next week. Limitations on travel and border closures are already discussed and if the medical miracle will not happen those are expected.

So far: If you are planning to visit Europe from now to May: Don't! You are not covered by our health systems!
 
I was going to a conference in Gothenburg in June, which has now been postponed indefinitely. Honestly, if things stay bad for that long, I'd expect there to be a number of parks out there that won't open at all this year. And that begs the question whether they will be in economic shape to open at all next year either. The whole travel industry will be hit worse from this than anything that has happened since the beginning of post-WWII tourism. Thankfully, parks shouldn't physically deteriorate that badly from a year in standstill, and when this is all over they would still be as lucrative to operate, but I'd imagine it would take some time to sort out the paperwork if/when new owners take over.
 
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