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Coronavirus: Impact on Theme Parks

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Well looks like you are right...

Drayton manor have now updated their policy and you don’t need to bring a mask at all anymore.

Won’t be visiting, feels ridiculously unsafe visiting a UK park now with this new ridiculous guidance from the government. Uk parks are written off for the whole season now for me.
Looks like we won’t be visiting as a family either, I’ll be riding solo... I don’t care but my daughter does... The only way I kept her calm in Holland was by showing her how low their case rates were compared to the UK... Can’t do that now can I ??

When is that sodding quarantine thing over? Will just spend Monday to Thursday in Germany every week ???
 

Mushroom

Goon of the Year
Lightwater Valley opening 18th July. BUT Ultimate, Raptor Attack and Apollo stay closed
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Nice to see that they are still in enough financial stability to operate!

I wonder why Ultimate’s closed, however; Raptor Attack I can understand, as it’s indoors and some areas of the queue look quite tight, and I think Apollo’s indoors too, isn’t it? (Apologies; I don’t know Lightwater Valley too well) But The Ultimate should surely just work like the roller coasters at other theme parks?
 

SilverArrow

Certified Ride Geek
This is their official explanation. Not sure I buy it as being purely covid related. Might be that due to ongoing investigations they aren't allowed or don't want to run the big rides or more likely can't afford to run them and train staff etc. Surely this means the water slide, eagle's claw etc will be closed to? Are the kiddie rides social distanced then? I can understand that they're cheaper to staff, run (less training, less power) and maintain (smaller) but it looks pretty negative.

Maybe they're just doing a Dreamland and cutting some of their losses but this looks like a bad sign to me.
47b8805da6066905742695385ca998b5.jpg
 
As parks slowly open back up and us enthusiasts start to plan new trips I think it would be helpful to know of changes that parks have made to extend their usual seasons and amend opening times. So feel free to post changes you know of here. Might manage to squeeze in some potentially overlooked park visits ?

The original post below is for Carowinds, but all notes of changes are appreciated.

Original post.
"So i'm unsure of the source of this rumour, but I seem to recall hearing somewhere that due to the late start of this season some parks in southern states, like Carowinds, may be considering staying fully open during the winter months. As many of you know, usually they do Winterfest with just Afterburn and Copperhead Strike open, but in the interest of increasing footfall they might keep the rest of the park open as well.

Has anyone else heard any rumours of that nature? Would be super helpful to know.

Feel free to shut down this thread if it's in the wrong place or if there is no foundation for this rumour (I may have dreampt it or something haha), but i'm convinced that I did hear that somewhere."
 
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MountedShooter

Mega Poster
I would love that to be the case, still don't even know when Carowinds is planning to open. They did say that 2020 Season Passes would be good through the 2021 season.

Six Flags over Georgia's current calendar only goes through Dec 31st. The 2019 season went through Jan 5th 2020.

Dollywood lists Jan 2 as the last day they are open and every day after that they list as being closed.
 

MountedShooter

Mega Poster
Hopefully someone with insider info will come forward. I've never been to Carowinds and was planning on going in May pre COVID. Carowinds website hasn't been updated since May 8th. SFoG was just updated in the last week since they are now open. I haven't really been following any of the other parks.
 
Neither have I, but currently planning on visiting Florida in November. If Carowinds is fully open (including Fury) then I'd fly from Orlando to Charlotte and then back on one day of my trip. It's such a pain getting for the UK to the states, want to do as much as possible when I go.
 

MountedShooter

Mega Poster
I don't blame you making the most of a single trip. Fury is the reason I'm dying to go to Carowinds myself. I live about half way between Atlanta and Columbia, SC. Driving I'm 2 hours from SFoG and 3.5 from Carowinds and about 5 from Dollywood (no good route) and Orlando is 6.5 hours.
 

Professor

Previously AndrewRollercoaster
In The Netherlands they will allow funfairs to operate from 1st of July. In addition to allowing group events, gyms reopening etc. They are basically bringing many lockdown easing rules forwards a whole two months.
 

JammyH

Hyper Poster
In The Netherlands they will allow funfairs to operate from 1st of July. In addition to allowing group events, gyms reopening etc. They are basically bringing many lockdown easing rules forwards a whole two months.
Probably due to all the protests which have been taking place, looks like they have been successful then.
 

Youngster Joey

Strata Poster
Is it true that some states in America never imposed any sort of lockdown or social distancing? Or did I imagine that?

This is correct. South Dakota never imposed a statewide lockdown. I believe some other states also did not impose statewide lockdowns or waited way too long but i'm forgetting which ones in particular.
 

Leon

Roller Poster
This is their official explanation. Not sure I buy it as being purely covid related. Might be that due to ongoing investigations they aren't allowed or don't want to run the big rides or more likely can't afford to run them and train staff etc. Surely this means the water slide, eagle's claw etc will be closed to? Are the kiddie rides social distanced then? I can understand that they're cheaper to staff, run (less training, less power) and maintain (smaller) but it looks pretty negative.

Maybe they're just doing a Dreamland and cutting some of their losses but this looks like a bad sign to me.
47b8805da6066905742695385ca998b5.jpg
Anyone else feel like this is more a sign of a more serious problem here than using the social distancing excuse ?
I really hope i am wrong here but i am having serious american adventure vibes here I.E closing the missile and nightmare niagra .
 

JammyH

Hyper Poster
From the telegraph today (don’t know how reliable it is but it supposedly confirms the three-stages of air bridges where we won’t have to quarantine if we are flying from these countries):

Air bridges" with a series of short-haul destinationsare set to be unveiled at the weekend as the Government plots a three-stage approach to revive flying.

The first tranche of bridges are expected to be with popular "low-risk" holiday destinationsincluding France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Germany, largely to "re-fire" the Mediterranean tourist industry from July 4, according to sources.

Portugal is not expected to be included after its spike in coronavirus rates, but the bridges mean people going on holiday to the other destinations will not be required to quarantine for 14 dayson their return to the UK.

Ministers hope the plan will enable families to start planning Mediterranean summer breaks to the most popular destinations this weekend.

A larger second set of countries is expected to be unveiled next week, including other EU nations such as Denmark, Norway, Finland and Holland along with "low-risk" Caribbean islands and La Reunion, a French department in the Indian Ocean, which Public Health England has identified as having minimal infections.

Ministers are examining at least one long-haul "air bridge" to Australia, although there are difficulties over transiting in stop-over countries which could carry a risk of spreading coronavirus.

Any traveller will be expected to ensure that any stop-overs are in nations with low coronavirus rates or risk having to self-isolate on their return to the UK.

Ministers are also looking to open bridges to "low-risk" British territories including Gibraltar, Bermuda, Montserrat and the Falklands Islands as soon as possible. Even though the number of flights and demand is low, they are regarded as special cases.

It is understood that countries in a third wave, such as Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong, have been told it is unlikely that "air bridges" will be established before late summer.

'Air bridges': The likely destinations

First tranche including:

France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Germany

Second tranche including:

Denmark, Norway, Finland, Holland, 'low-risk' Caribbean islands, La Reunion

Third tranche including

Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong


The USA, where Donald Trump has closed the borders, is unlikely to be opened until after November, although that will depend on whether states can reduce their coronavirus rates.

New Zealand is planning to keep its borders closed with a 14-day quarantine until March because of fears of a second winter wave of coronavirus. That may change if a vaccine is developedand proves effective by then.

The UK bridges policy is expected to be finalised at a Covid-19 strategy meeting on Thursday with Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office Minister, Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, and Priti Patel, the Home Secretary.

Mr Shapps is understood to have been pressing for a more ambitious, bigger opening of "travel corridors" in the initial phase, describing them on Wednesday as a "massive priority" to reinvigorate the aviation industry, help rebuild the economy and enable Britons to enjoy overseas summer sun.

The criteria for deciding which countries, to be published on Monday, is focused on the virus infection rate, whether it is rising or falling and whether the prospective destination has a test and trace system to limit any outbreaks and social distancing rulesas strict as the UK's.

It will be set against their popularity as destinations for Britons and the economic case, which could mean dozens of countries in the first two waves.

Mr Shapps told MPs on Wednesday: "You can see there are a lot of complexities.

"I don't want to be evasive but I don't also want to give people false hope, which is why I need to wait until the end of the process and wait until June 29."

The European Commission has warned that it would be discriminatory to allow travel corridors between some but not all EU countries with similar "low-risk" coronavirus profiles.

Backbenchers are making similar pleas. Henry Smith, the chairman of the cross-party Future of Aviation group, said: "I would like to see air corridors across the whole of the EU and Schengen area."

The Department for Transport, however, argues that there is no legal impediment to bilateral deals. "We would regard that as their problem. I don't think you can imagine Brussels trying to tell the Spanish: 'You can't take Britons," said a minister.

The moves came as the airport ground handling company Swissport announced plans to cut more than 4,500 jobs. The Airport Operators' Association warned in a report on Wednesday of 20,000 job losses at airports and a further 100,000 in associated businesses.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), on Wednesday joined BA's parent company, Ryanair and Easyjet in a legal challenge to ditch quarantinebecause of the economic damage.

—-

Also to elaborate, I read an article this morning saying if the UK doesn't open up to all of the EU/Schengen at once and instead does these travel corridors which are pretty much confirmed, the EU commission will be taking the uk government to court as the proposed air bridges are actually illegal and discriminates against lots of different EU countries.
 

cookie

Giga Poster
Tivoli Gardens has extended their summer season until early October, leaving only five days (from the 4th to the 9th) to prepare for their Halloween event, to make up for lost time, so some parks are doing it.
 

MountedShooter

Mega Poster
I was just reading an article stating that the governor of North Carolina has just extended phase 2 of reopening and has now made wearing masks mandatory statewide. This will likely push Carowinds reopening even further behind.
 
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