COVID-19 & Coasters: Coronavirus Impacts on the Amusement Industry
- Thread starter GrandpaD
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Another personal tip I’ve picked up: buy some Listerene breath strips. Those little things are so strong that your mask will stay smelling minty fresh for hours. I HATE smelling my own breath while wearing a mask, so breath strips have been a legitimate game-changer. Popping one in your mouth every few hours makes wearing a mask so much more pleasant.
Just got an email from BGT about summer nights. Looks like they are doing fireworks, and, counter to other parks, they are actually expanding their hours. With everything else going on in that park, sounds like a definite hard pass.
SEAS Cleary only cares about the income. They need the cash fast and packing their parks is the quickest way to get it.
Having done a few hours at SFA and a day at HP, I’m pleasantly surprised about the level of enforcement at both parks.
Smart move money wise.....bring in guests at night when its cooler. Thats what sucks right now, only open in the heat of the day.
I was shock by the level of enforcement I event witnessed them calling security on someone who was none complying with the mask order after repeatedly warnings to put it back on and keep it on.
My point a while back was that we need to judge the parks on how the ste responding and enforcing compared to general society not the ideal situation which no one seems to be able to reach. I honestly think that from what I witnessed on my visit that at least SFA is doing better then most of society in those areas.
I actually disagree.
We should judge every business by how well they rate against an objective standard. This isn’t something that it would be nice if they did. Nor is it a question of convenience. This is a public safety issue. Either they are keeping their properties safe or they aren’t.
We cannot afford to give anyone a pass for making a good effort or even worse for merely doing better than someone else. This is a serious disease that spreads incredibly easily. There are simple mitigation techniques that could dramatically reduce the numbers of victims. Anyone who isn’t trying for 100% compliance is simply irresponsible.
We should judge every business by how well they rate against an objective standard. This isn’t something that it would be nice if they did. Nor is it a question of convenience. This is a public safety issue. Either they are keeping their properties safe or they aren’t.
We cannot afford to give anyone a pass for making a good effort or even worse for merely doing better than someone else. This is a serious disease that spreads incredibly easily. There are simple mitigation techniques that could dramatically reduce the numbers of victims. Anyone who isn’t trying for 100% compliance is simply irresponsible.
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Witnessing HP today, the park and staff really set a gold standard in operation and enforcement. Also, nearly all park goers were compliant with masks and distancing. I don't know if I would return on a regular basis, if at all (I'm pretty freaked by this pandemic). But being there and seeing how things were handled, I was put mostly at ease.
I agree with @Nicole’s response as well, but I want to take this from another angle too.
In the last few days I’ve been to two Universal parks, two SEAS parks, and a Disney park (on their opening day no less). Before this, I’ve been to a Six Flags park (SFA).
Universal and Disney parks both had nearly perfect mask compliance—I’m talking 99+% “nearly perfect.” Social distancing was not always possible at these parks in brief moments of passing or the like (think, walking by someone in a grocery store), but I NEVER saw two non-socially-distanced groups standing or sitting anywhere.
Mask compliance was lower at Six Flags America than at either Universal park or EPCOT, but it was still well within reason in my opinion. Social distancing was easy and, though I saw people enter other people’s personal space once or twice, it wasn’t a chronic issue and anyone aware of their surroundings could have easily avoided it if they had wanted to.
Busch Gardens Tampa and SeaWorld Orlando were ENORMOUS outliers. Mask compliance was a mere fraction of what I saw at Universal, Disney, or even SFA. Social distancing didn’t seem to be in anyone’s vocabulary—including the parks’—guests were repeatedly funneled into situations in lines and the like where social distancing was impossible. Where I saw good distancing and mask enforcement at Disney and Universal and mostly adequate enforcement at SFA, I saw none in the SEAS parks.
Comparing those two SEAS parks to the other parks I’ve visited thus far fully justifies my desire to have them shut down in my opinion. While I agree that there is a certain bar that we should require businesses to meet (like what @Nicole said), I also think that, even just comparing current performance in the industry, the bar is set infinitely higher than what some parks (read: SEAS) is currently implementing.
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Trying to take a step back, and attempting objectivity, I think if theme parks and coasters are among your top hobbies... you might want to find another hobby for a while. I say the following with peace and love.
First, the recent posts here aren't really reassuring: some parks do it right, some parks don't, and some are in between. Getting all parks and park goers to be self enforcing effectively is a fairly lofty task. Doable, but lofty. But hey, that's only a small piece of the COVID pie because...
Most parks need x amount of people to show up during operations in order to shit out a profit. So now think about park fans for a second. For those of us who believe in science and reality, it's scary to be around others who are potentially infected - so the mere idea of swimming in a petri dish of people doesn't really elicit thoughts of joy and fun. However, for those who believe this is some sort of hoax or overreaction, going to a park enforcing these kinds of rules is a major turn off because of rights, the Confederate flag, immigrants stealing jobs, or something (I dunno - just guessing). Anyways, trying to get x people into your park in the now is a pretty tough proposition that's going to get a whole lot tougher because...
Oh shit, we just recently hit 20% unemployment with a number probably closer to 25%. So even if COVID magically went away, no one is going to have disposable income and those who do will be too scared to spend their money on such luxuries as theme park tickets and overpriced bar food passing as a "meal."
Anyhow, I wouldn't just write off the summer. I think this comet is going to have a very long tail. I actually wonder how much of the industry is going to survive, if at all.
First, the recent posts here aren't really reassuring: some parks do it right, some parks don't, and some are in between. Getting all parks and park goers to be self enforcing effectively is a fairly lofty task. Doable, but lofty. But hey, that's only a small piece of the COVID pie because...
Most parks need x amount of people to show up during operations in order to shit out a profit. So now think about park fans for a second. For those of us who believe in science and reality, it's scary to be around others who are potentially infected - so the mere idea of swimming in a petri dish of people doesn't really elicit thoughts of joy and fun. However, for those who believe this is some sort of hoax or overreaction, going to a park enforcing these kinds of rules is a major turn off because of rights, the Confederate flag, immigrants stealing jobs, or something (I dunno - just guessing). Anyways, trying to get x people into your park in the now is a pretty tough proposition that's going to get a whole lot tougher because...
Oh shit, we just recently hit 20% unemployment with a number probably closer to 25%. So even if COVID magically went away, no one is going to have disposable income and those who do will be too scared to spend their money on such luxuries as theme park tickets and overpriced bar food passing as a "meal."
Anyhow, I wouldn't just write off the summer. I think this comet is going to have a very long tail. I actually wonder how much of the industry is going to survive, if at all.
And just so we’re all clear here: There’s only one path for parks returning to any semblance of profitability.
Basically, I’m saying this: If you love this industry like I do, do everything you can to tame this pandemic—masks, distancing, voting, educating—everything. It’s the only way out.
- The pandemic has to wane. Parks will not find worthwhile success as long as the pandemic is still out of control—the last month and a half of park reopenings have demonstrated this.
- Parks must retain their reputations for safety. If guests visit an open park and feel unsafe, that feeling gets attributed to the park—and, sometimes, the whole industry. Those reputations will stick long past COVID. Parks only function if guests think they’re safe (see: Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom).
- The economy has to recover. Point #1 is required before this can even begin to be addressed and, as troubling as the first two requirements are, this one is the real wildcard here. Even when the pandemic is a distant memory, there’s a good chance the industry will still be left dealing with the economic fallout. We lost a lot of parks in the last recession—and I worry history is going to repeat itself—and the prognosis looks worse and worse the longer this goes on.
Basically, I’m saying this: If you love this industry like I do, do everything you can to tame this pandemic—masks, distancing, voting, educating—everything. It’s the only way out.
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To go along with my previous comments of people putting thier nasty ass masks on tables, I was watching a youtube video today where at a Disney dining location they were given plates to put their masks on while dining. Toothsome Chocolate is also providing bags for this purpose while dining.
Going to see how Dollywood is handling things and see if I can finally ride this bad boy today.
Overall the park and the staff did a very good job, especially in the midways.
However, upon entering we witnessed issues right off the bat. There was a sizable group that completely passed the screening/temperature check area. I brought it up to the security guard and he said it was impossible. I gestured to the area that they walked through, which was not roped off, and he sort of shrugged; “If they made it this far, they had to have been checked”.
After that I started feeling relaxed about the measures in place. I had seen many videos released in the last month or so which showed that they were taking this very seriously and enforcing their rules consistently. I rode this wave for about an hour or two, and witnessed many staff members asking guests to wear their masks properly (or at all) and being extremely polite about it. All in all I thought we were in for a fun, safe day.
This changed quickly though. The only people wearing their masks seemed to be those disciplined enough. Beyond that, queues were a nightmare. Mask were taken off immediately, people crowded right behind you, and complained if you gave the people ahead of you any distance whatsoever.
I want to be sure to give the staff credit for trying very hard and even coming up with clever ways to encourage guests to adhere to the few simple rules that they’ve implemented. Guests however, seemed completely incapable of keeping more than a single thought in their head at a time, and were by far the most dangerous element of our day. There were many who were doing the right thing, but many more who couldn’t do the minimum asked of them.
There was a lot more to condemn/commend, but this was my snapshot of our day at Dollywood during the pandemic.
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Honestly, my experience at dollywood a few years ago was similar: the guests by far were the worst part. Obnoxious, no sense of personal space or how their actions affected other's park experience. Other than that and ride operators not making any announcements during ride shutdowns (including announcing that the ride was shutdown in the first place), it was a good park. Still won't go back though.
Surprised I haven't seen this story brought up yet.
www.clickondetroit.com
These employees were caught attempting to go to work while symptomatic. Who knows how many days they worked while pre-symptomatic and contageous. Who knows how many guests they exposed. Now imagine these people were working the line at the Smokehouse or the Festhaus, or touching everyone's stuff at a bag check station. Or getting within every guest's arm reach to scan your pass at the gate. Or, imagine how many of these workers are minimum wage paid asymptomatic carriers who are never removed from the work force. If masks are only required for customer facing areas, imagine the spread between workers in the crowded breakrooms, backstage areas, or dressing rooms.
That's why I'm not all fired up to get back to the park. #1, I don't want to get sick from an asymptomatic carrier. #2, I don't want my friends who are park employees to get sick, either. In my opinion, not only should they not open until it's safe for the public, they should also not open until it's also safe for the employees.
3 Cedar Point employees test positive for coronavirus
Three employees at Cedar Point have tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19), park officials have confirmed.
www.clickondetroit.com
These employees were caught attempting to go to work while symptomatic. Who knows how many days they worked while pre-symptomatic and contageous. Who knows how many guests they exposed. Now imagine these people were working the line at the Smokehouse or the Festhaus, or touching everyone's stuff at a bag check station. Or getting within every guest's arm reach to scan your pass at the gate. Or, imagine how many of these workers are minimum wage paid asymptomatic carriers who are never removed from the work force. If masks are only required for customer facing areas, imagine the spread between workers in the crowded breakrooms, backstage areas, or dressing rooms.
That's why I'm not all fired up to get back to the park. #1, I don't want to get sick from an asymptomatic carrier. #2, I don't want my friends who are park employees to get sick, either. In my opinion, not only should they not open until it's safe for the public, they should also not open until it's also safe for the employees.
I have it on good authority that Cedar Fair has been very strict about enforcing masks behind the scenes too. If an employee is on property and not eating or drinking, their mask stays on. They’ve also apparently been strictly enforcing social distancing guidelines behind the scenes too.
This is the issue when there's no federal guidance and there's also poor insurance and paid sick leave for employees. They get a little sick and feel the need to go to work.
Cedar Fair will be giving their Q2 earnings presentation at 10am on Wednesday, August 5th.
There will likely be a grim outlook. I’m anticipating that they’ll make a chain-wide announcement about Halloween Haunt (and maybe WinterFest) events by this date (if not before then), similar to how they hinted at Grand Carnivale’s cancellation in the Q1 call two days before the official announcement.
I’m also hoping we hear more about which CF parks they think will open this season.
There will likely be a grim outlook. I’m anticipating that they’ll make a chain-wide announcement about Halloween Haunt (and maybe WinterFest) events by this date (if not before then), similar to how they hinted at Grand Carnivale’s cancellation in the Q1 call two days before the official announcement.
I’m also hoping we hear more about which CF parks they think will open this season.
Cedar Fair to Announce 2020 Second Quarter Results on August 5; Live Audio Webcast of Earnings Call at 10 a.m. EDT
CEDAR FAIR TO ANNOUNCE 2020 SECOND QUARTER RESULTS ON AUGUST 5; LIVE AUDIO WEBCAST OF EARNINGS CALL AT 10 A.M. EDT
www.businesswire.com