COVID-19 & Coasters: Coronavirus Impacts on the Amusement Industry

Register or Login to Hide This Ad for Free!
I'd love to be the guy that says to some mom - "Sorry ma'am, but you're too hot..."

(Or reverse the above to remain politically correct ?)
 
While temperature checks are fine, I guess, they hardly address the real problem. I think people who are asymptomatic are much more likely to go to an amusement park. Even if that prediction proves false, temperature checks will never catch the people who are showing no symptoms and/or have no idea they are contagious.

Perhaps this is more to make other guests feel a false sense of security?
 
  • Like
Reactions: ..… and horsesboy
No park wants the Diamond Princess headlines of a bunch of park guests dying from visiting. Between bad publicity and lawsuits, it could be a very dangerous or even fatal blow.

At best I could see the parks open with severe capacity limits and very strict operating protocols around sanitization and distancing. Making that work is problematic as the gate revenue has to cover the additional costs of operating in that environment, which may not be feasible at a market clearing price (think $200+ Disney ticket prices with not everything open).
 
Pretty decent look at what some of the challenges of reopening the parks are going to be
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
Temperature checks are proving less effective.

As far as parks opening im not sure that opening with limited capacity would be cost effective unless they open with less attraction and snack and food places open. I also do not see them being able to social distance the crowds. Ive seen it over and over at places like Walmart, Kroeger and Home Depot people bunching up at the doors, getting carts and the checkouts. I will say that BGW with the way they physically check your restraints will be a problem and they will need to look at how Disney does it where you basically check your own as the cast member checks from a distance. If they do go the limiting route of park entry they are going to have to work out a system of figureing out a way to decide who can get in any given day. If they just limit it at the park traffic will be a nightmare or lines at the gates will me massive.
Now the talk of parks doing temperature checks, I am torn on how I feel about this. I feel like places like BGW will do temperature checks but it will be like their metal detectors where they are there but dont really work. I could also wonder how places that may enforce temperature monitoring could exclude people that may have temperatures elevated but are not sick or contagious. I also think it would be a good thing at the same time. Last summer we stood in like for Slinky Dog Dash for about 45 minutes behind a family who stood fairly quite. Then after about 45 minutes the mom started dishing out medicine right there in line and talking about how they were all feeling and by the sounds of it they all had the flu but were going about their park days as normal.....not what you want to hear at the beginnng of a week long vacation. Luckily we didnt get sick.
 
How would this be done in a sanitary, non-contaminated, and clean way? Even if a safe way is implemented, will the cast members follow the rules tightly? Also, temperatures of what level get you blocked? Someone in our family naturally runs 99.9 as a normal. Many women, of varying ages, also have occasionally higher temperatures due to biological functions, or age, unrelated to any illness.
 
  • Like
Reactions: warfelg
BGW Family said:
How would this be done in a sanitary, non-contaminated, and clean way? Even if a safe way is implemented, will the cast members follow the rules tightly? Also, temperatures of what level get you blocked? Someone in our family naturally runs 99.9 as a normal. Many women, of varying ages, also have occasionally higher temperatures due to biological functions, or age, unrelated to any illness.
Click to expand...

you can use a inferred thermometer and get a readying that is pretty accurate from feet away. Most cases of temp check are looking for 100 and over while that might nab some healthy people the vast majority who are running 100 or higher are sick with something even if it's not ?Covid.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zachary
I think it's ridiculous that parks think that temperature checks will keep the parks "safer". Like someone posted (above) it's more theatrics than an effective stopgap.

"According to Robert Redfield, the director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 percent of people infected with the new coronavirus don't present any symptoms or fall ill but can still transmit the illness to others.

Redfield on Tuesday told NPR that "we have pretty much confirmed" that "a significant number of individuals that are infected actually remain asymptomatic."

So, despite some efforts, roughly 1 in 4 you let in the gate is probably a carrier with no high temperature.

I tend to agree with the Wells Fargo analyst - until we see a vaccine it's just not safe to enter crowded environments...no matter how much you want to ride the new roller coaster.

www.sciencealert.com

It's Estimated 1 in 4 Coronavirus Carriers Could Be Asymptomatic. Here's What We Know

At least one-third of the world is under some type of lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, as governments urge social distancing to stymie the virus' spread.
www.sciencealert.com www.sciencealert.com
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ziva, jeffh and BGW Family
WDWRLD said:
Temperature checks are proving less effective.

As far as parks opening im not sure that opening with limited capacity would be cost effective unless they open with less attraction and snack and food places open. I also do not see them being able to social distance the crowds. Ive seen it over and over at places like Walmart, Kroeger and Home Depot people bunching up at the doors, getting carts and the checkouts. I will say that BGW with the way they physically check your restraints will be a problem and they will need to look at how Disney does it where you basically check your own as the cast member checks from a distance. If they do go the limiting route of park entry they are going to have to work out a system of figureing out a way to decide who can get in any given day. If they just limit it at the park traffic will be a nightmare or lines at the gates will me massive.
Now the talk of parks doing temperature checks, I am torn on how I feel about this. I feel like places like BGW will do temperature checks but it will be like their metal detectors where they are there but dont really work. I could also wonder how places that may enforce temperature monitoring could exclude people that may have temperatures elevated but are not sick or contagious. I also think it would be a good thing at the same time. Last summer we stood in like for Slinky Dog Dash for about 45 minutes behind a family who stood fairly quite. Then after about 45 minutes the mom started dishing out medicine right there in line and talking about how they were all feeling and by the sounds of it they all had the flu but were going about their park days as normal.....not what you want to hear at the beginnng of a week long vacation. Luckily we didnt get sick.
Click to expand...

The parks will need to raise prices and limit capacity to have a chance at opening. The prices will have to be much higher to compensate for both the lower capacity and the extra staff needed to continuously clean every part of the park that is open - e.g. each restroom will probably need at least two attendants: one to clean stalls after every use and another to manage access.

I'd assume the parks would figure out what their safe capacity can be and then do variable ticket pricing to manage demand up to the capacity in tickets. If it's similar to golf courses that are open, all sales would be ahead of time with no walk up purchases. Season passes will have to be modified or limited in some way to manage demand with appropriate refunds or extensions to compensate pass holders.
 
Perhaps our laser thermo is cheap, but we get a five degree lower difference between it and an oral thermometer. Some sort of calibration or verification would seem prudent.
 
rswashdc said:
The parks will need to raise prices and limit capacity to have a chance at opening. The prices will have to be much higher to compensate for both the lower capacity and the extra staff needed to continuously clean every part of the park that is open - e.g. each restroom will probably need at least two attendants: one to clean stalls after every use and another to manage access.

I'd assume the parks would figure out what their safe capacity can be and then do variable ticket pricing to manage demand up to the capacity in tickets. If it's similar to golf courses that are open, all sales would be ahead of time with no walk up purchases. Season passes will have to be modified or limited in some way to manage demand with appropriate refunds or extensions to compensate pass holders.
Click to expand...
Well.....BGW anyways has already shot themselves in the foot on this one because they failed to remedy the problem of so many various annual passes and memberships and continuing to allow people to hold onto very old annual passes at a very cheap rate and be grandfathered.
 
Shouldn't be a hot take but will be one to some on this board:

Every park is going to fail to remedy the problem because there is no true single solution, therefore every one of them would have holes.

Now my idea at the start was scoffed at that the parks should be in contact with each other to help each other determine best practices. They didn't do that now all parks are doing their own things to mixed results. My friends with Lake Compounce passes were returned their money and told they have to purchase again at RAC rates when the park reopens. They lose out having purchased at Black Friday prices. BGW is still charging. I've heard some parks defer payments, but only if you call to defer. Some are charging and tacking on months. Some are offering refunds. It's a mess.

Meanwhile, my field of work actually got together and come up with solutions. Even though all courses are doing a slightly different tweak on it, the general consensus is no teaching lessons, limit golf cart usage (some courses are charging double usual fees), closing the driving range (or using "no touch" style systems), encourage online prepaying of rounds, closing shops, no beverage carts. Some courses have even stopped all F&B sales so they could temporarily allow BYOB on the course. But the PGA came up with a plan and courses are following it.

But alas the amusement industry did not. The industry as a whole shot themselves in the foot IMO.
 
WDWRLD said:
Well.....BGW anyways has already shot themselves in the foot on this one because they failed to remedy the problem of so many various annual passes and memberships and continuing to allow people to hold onto very old annual passes at a very cheap rate and be grandfathered.
Click to expand...
BGW would have a mess of a time working through all their different passes. It's much easier as say Cedar Fair to extend all their 2020 passes into 2021 and let passholders visit 1 or 2 times a month in 2020 to keep capacity down.
 
warfelg said:
Shouldn't be a hot take but will be one to some on this board:

Every park is going to fail to remedy the problem because there is no true single solution, therefore every one of them would have holes.

Now my idea at the start was scoffed at that the parks should be in contact with each other to help each other determine best practices. They didn't do that now all parks are doing their own things to mixed results. My friends with Lake Compounce passes were returned their money and told they have to purchase again at RAC rates when the park reopens. They lose out having purchased at Black Friday prices. BGW is still charging. I've heard some parks defer payments, but only if you call to defer. Some are charging and tacking on months. Some are offering refunds. It's a mess.

Meanwhile, my field of work actually got together and come up with solutions. Even though all courses are doing a slightly different tweak on it, the general consensus is no teaching lessons, limit golf cart usage (some courses are charging double usual fees), closing the driving range (or using "no touch" style systems), encourage online prepaying of rounds, closing shops, no beverage carts. Some courses have even stopped all F&B sales so they could temporarily allow BYOB on the course. But the PGA came up with a plan and courses are following it.

But alas the amusement industry did not. The industry as a whole shot themselves in the foot IMO.
Click to expand...

The thing is the PGA has some info sharing capacity to its members (from what I remember when working bag drop/pro shop at a country club for a few years) built into it's structure. I'm not positive, but there could also be some light regulatory duties as well, though I was for sure not high enough on the payscale to be fully informed.

Does IAAPA offer the same thing to it's member parks? Is there any regulatory structure within that organization? Are most parks actually members?
 
Jonesta6 said:
The thing is the PGA has some info sharing capacity to its members (from what I remember when working bag drop/pro shop at a country club for a few years) built into it's structure. I'm not positive, but there could also be some light regulatory duties as well, though I was for sure not high enough on the payscale to be fully informed.

Does IAAPA offer the same thing to it's member parks? Is there any regulatory structure within that organization? Are most parks actually members?
Click to expand...

PGA is more of a membership, kinda like being an IAAPA member. Do you need it? No. Does it help to have it? Sure.
 
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: Mushroom, wombat96 and Nicole
You must log in or register to reply here.
Consider Donating to Hide This Ad