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

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One stock analyst is predicting Disney parks won't open until January 1, 2021.-

”[T]he economic recession plus the need for social distancing, new health precautions, the lack of travel and crowd aversion are likely to make this business less profitable until there is a widely available vaccine."

If this prediction holds true, what about the rest of the Amusement Industry? Disney (and probably Universal) have the cash and expertise to make adjustments rather quickly. But, if the quickest to turn things around is January for Disney, how far behind will the others be? Spring, 2021?

www.marketwatch.com

Disney is in ‘the eye of the storm’ — analyst warns parks may not open until January

Concerns about a long recovery period for Walt Disney Co.’s parks segment have prompted at least the third downgrade of the media giant’s stock this month.
www.marketwatch.com www.marketwatch.com
 
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Cedar Fair is making the argument that their parks contribute greatly to local economies.

This article focuses mostly on Cedar Point and Kings Island, but the company makes arguments for their entire chain of parks.

There were two things that popped out to me. The article says that neither Kings Island nor Cedar Point could open until mid-summer due to Governor Mike DeWine’s executive orders. Also it was said that:

“In the meantime, Cedar Fair has prepared for its eventual opening by purchasing thousands of masks, plexiglass partitions and working out the strategies best suited for keeping people safe.“

sanduskyregister.com

Cedar Point's parent company argues it's vital to local economy

Cedar Point's parent company gave testimony to the Ohio House's Economic Recovery Task Force.
sanduskyregister.com sanduskyregister.com
 
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I know this is an apples to oranges thing (parks primarily outdoors; casino resorts indoors) but it's interesting to note the mindset of the public travel-wise to places with large crowds -

"90% of Americans view visiting a casino as somewhat or very risky from a health perspective, according to a new survey by the American Gaming Association. That's up from 74% in March." - Gaming Today News
 
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Another big piece of Cedar Fair news: the company has announced an offering of $875 million senior secured notes.

If I’m being quite honest, I’m not sure what this means. Is this a fancy way of saying that CF is taking out a loan until 2025?

I noticed that Seaworld has done something similar and it got its own thread. Feel free to move this if needed!

www.businesswire.com

Cedar Fair Announces Offering of $875 Million Senior Secured Notes

CEDAR FAIR ANNOUNCES OFFERING OF $875 MILLION SENIOR SECURED NOTES
www.businesswire.com
 
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If it’s true that Disney won’t reopen until 2021 (which I doubt), I fear that a lot of other parks will never reopen.
 
Many regional parks can open sooner than Disney I imagine. Disney is very reliant on out-of-market customers and staffing. That is far less true for smaller, regional parks.

Anyway, with Georgia about to reopen many businesses, do we think any of GA’s parks will follow? I think either of the Atlanta-area FECs (Fun Spot Atlanta & FunXcess) could very well open their doors soon. There hasn’t been any mention of a reopening yet from Fun Spot Atlanta that I could find. FunXcess’ website is down right now so I gave them a call and was told that a decision hasn’t yet been made.
 
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Fun spot Orlando was open far longer than anyone thought reasonable.. so it would not surprise me at all if fun spot opened as soon as it was legally allowed.
 
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Zachary said:
Many regional parks can open sooner than Disney I imagine. Disney is very reliant on out-of-market customers and staffing. That is far less true for smaller, regional parks.
Click to expand...

I've been on this train from the start. Parks reliant on more interstate travel and resort like stays are in more trouble from a timeline perspective. Smaller parks are going to be able to target opening to a sub-group much easier without having something unexpected.
 
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I'm sure we'll see a better recap of the conference call soon -

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Also indicated "they might" allow face coverings...
 
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Shanghai Disneyland going through internal testing in preparation of park opening. Follow-up tweet days HS reopen April 27.

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Zachary said:
"might allow face coverings"

Uhh... might... allow...? Excuse me Universal, but maybe try requiring face masks...?
Click to expand...
I wonder if they mean "might allow face coverings on rides". Not all face mask styles have the strongest restraints and could easily fly off on some rides getting caught in the machinery.
 
I hear from now on every RMC Raptor is going to unhook every car from each other and send them out individually. They're calling it "Social Distancing: The Ride".
 
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