Are you trying to suggest that it’s a large percent of people that are off put by wearing masks? Like a large enough to completely tank a park? I’m highly skeptical that’s going to happen. It’s a vocal minority when it comes to masks.
COVID-19’s Impacts on BGW
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Are you trying to suggest that it’s a large percent of people that are off put by wearing masks? Like a large enough to completely tank a park? I’m highly skeptical that’s going to happen. It’s a vocal minority when it comes to masks.
Based on what I saw at Hershey’s opening weekend, which I’ll admit is a sample size of one, it’s a lot more than a vocal minority that don’t like wearing masks. I’ll agree there’s a vocal minority that is really bad and won’t do anything more than minimally comply when they are told to, but there’s a big contingent of guests that isn’t much better and basically nullify the usefulness of masks.
The vocal minority should of course be kept out of the parks if possible as they are problematic. The next, much larger group of mask adverse guests can and should be worked with, otherwise the parks are looking at half their attendance gone, which I’m not sure is that sustainable.
Working with a group that doesn’t want to wear masks is a great way to keep this pandemic going.
Which park that isn’t mandating masks everywhere (and there are several, including all the water parks) has actually had a spread event. Considering one sick employee at Kings Island made the news, I’m sure a super spreader event at a park would be big news.
There are plenty of bars and other indoor activities that have spread events, but the parks are largely outside and just aren’t as high risk as they are being made out to be unless they cram the place full.
For the record, I have ALREADY cancelled a trip to a park BECAUSE they opted not to mandate masks. That is, legitimately, the ONLY reason I decided not to visit.
I am very skeptical of any claims attributing low attendance to mask policies. I'm confident no one here has the data required to even begin to show that mask policies are a big driver of the lower attendance we've seen at many parks post-COVID. Furthermore, I'm even more confident in saying that none of us have the data to even suggest that mask policies come close to the general disincentivizing effects of COVID in general, the current state of the economy, travel patterns, entertainment priorities, current cultural shifts in social interaction, etc.
I am very skeptical of any claims attributing low attendance to mask policies. I'm confident no one here has the data required to even begin to show that mask policies are a big driver of the lower attendance we've seen at many parks post-COVID. Furthermore, I'm even more confident in saying that none of us have the data to even suggest that mask policies come close to the general disincentivizing effects of COVID in general, the current state of the economy, travel patterns, entertainment priorities, current cultural shifts in social interaction, etc.
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Well.....I can tell you I have had dozens of guests either cancel completely or postpone their trips till 2021 because of mask policies. Its not that they are against them its the fact that they dont want to spend that kind of money and have to deal with them.
I've been advising non-enthusiast friends and acquaintances to postpone park trips till 2021 because of all the restrictions, closures, complications, etc. of visiting parks right now. It's just not a good time for more casual visitors to head out to destination parks in my opinion.
Anyway, taking this from a different angle for a moment...
At the end of the day, masks ARE going to be required at BGW when the park reopens. It's not actually up for debate in my assessment—the state will require a mask mandate to be in place—plus it is now the industry standard—there's no way in hell BGW is bucking that trend. We can debate the effects on demand, attendance, etc. till we're all blue in the face, but it's inconsequential—masks are essential and they will be required throughout the park.
Unless.....they dont open at all this season and by next the mask issue should be over.
Like tends to happen at times, the main point gets bastardized.
Wear a mask:
239 scientests ban together to write a warning on the airborne transmission
I mean hell, what is happening in other states should be proof that these "wear a mask if you want to" isn't working AT ALL yet there's still people saying 'oh we should work with people that don't want to wear them'. I'm sorry but just look around and see that doesn't work. The mask you have feels uncomfortable? Do some research and buy a really thin mask. Want some? Here you go: https://pomchies.com/ I got myself 6 of these and they don't bother me at all.
Want to see the inside of your favorite parks again? Wear the mask. Reduce the cases. Do your part about getting things reopening and implore others to wear masks. Stop making it ok to 'work with people' that want to be assholes (sorry but that's the way I see it right now).
Last thing I'll leave this with:
Masks are like bra's. They may be uncomfortable, they must be worn in public, but you can take it off as soon as you get home.
Wear a mask:
239 scientests ban together to write a warning on the airborne transmission
I mean hell, what is happening in other states should be proof that these "wear a mask if you want to" isn't working AT ALL yet there's still people saying 'oh we should work with people that don't want to wear them'. I'm sorry but just look around and see that doesn't work. The mask you have feels uncomfortable? Do some research and buy a really thin mask. Want some? Here you go: https://pomchies.com/ I got myself 6 of these and they don't bother me at all.
Want to see the inside of your favorite parks again? Wear the mask. Reduce the cases. Do your part about getting things reopening and implore others to wear masks. Stop making it ok to 'work with people' that want to be assholes (sorry but that's the way I see it right now).
Last thing I'll leave this with:
Masks are like bra's. They may be uncomfortable, they must be worn in public, but you can take it off as soon as you get home.
Attendance to regional parks is not low because of masks. It's low because of the required reservation systems in place. Your day has to be planned way in advance, whereas places like beaches and parks can be visited without the advance planning. Parks like Disney won't be affected because they have such a large draw regionally, domestically, and internationally.
Very much agreed and well said. I think part of it too is not wanting to pick a day then have it be too hot, too humid, raining, or whatever they don't want weather wise. Add in that some families comfort level change day to day on what they are willing to do.
I think what we are seeing at parks is two groups won't go:
1) The group of extreme caution. This is the people that still don't really leave home. Just aren't really leaving anything to chance.
2) The group that will refuse to follow any guidelines of what to do and won't give their business to places that require masks.
In between you generally have then the two groups that will go:
1) The group that is cautious about what they are doing. The wearing a mask even when it's not required. Bringing their own sanitizing items. I think this is the group that is willing to go to the park because of the guidelines in place.
2) The "I don't care" group. This is the group that doesn't really care. The taking the masks off the moment they can. Pulling it down all the time. Won't complain about having to wear it, but also won't speak up when it's not required.
IMO there's a somewhat 5th group on this (and this is where I count myself)
Going to where the mask everywhere. I will remove it when I deem myself safe. There's some places I'm willing to go but there's also places I'm actively avoiding. I'm unlikely to go this year to a park anyways because I'm putting it as one of those places I don't feel safe at.
Some food for thought here...
With Universal Orlando, SWO, and BGT being open for a month now, I think what would be more instructive here is seeing them survey guests that have visited in the past month. Apart from a reopening push, attendance has been below expectations to the point that Universal Orlando had to do layoffs. Surely they knew guests would be more regional in the short term, but why has attendance been below even their lowered expectations?
Yes, increased cases could explain part of that, but I think rswashdc could be on to something, and surveying park visitors at parks that have been open will either support or refute that hypothesis. Most people might answer a survey like the one BGW sent out saying that they support wearing masks, but having actual survey data from reopened parks would be more helpful as BGW plots a path forward.
I think this is an interesting conversation, because there's got to be a balance between having enough staff to maintain everything we need to stay safe; and being overstaffed.
I think as for your second part there: there's nothing to base this response off of. There's no historical event they can look at and use as a model to build out to have an idea of the what the return was going to look like. So I think reopening efforts were a shot in the dark as to how to staff and how to open.
I mean Hershey has some complaints of the Boardwalk having reduced hours, half the rides being closed, no extension of passes, no price reductions.
Every park has it's own response and none of them are right.
Blundered market research? Arrogant optimism?
I was talking to someone last night who theorized that parks just simply aren’t on anyone’s mind right now—and I think there may be something to that. Parks are doing essentially zero marketing for their reopenings. Parks really aren’t offering anything special to try to get people to visit—they’re just like “whelp, welcome back, enjoy the masks or whatever.”
Maybe people would be thinking about parks if parks were actually doing something interesting? Maybe people would be thinking about parks if parks were promising zero queues—instead utilizing virtual queues for everything (as many previously stated they would be and then failed to implement)? Maybe people would be thinking of parks if parks were open from 4 to midnight with some special event going on? There’s a ton of room for experimentation right now—but the parks are just like “fuck if, no one is showing up, time to lay off a bunch of staff and/or cut our schedule in half.”
I question whether it was a sound financial decision for many parks to reopen right now at all—but now that much of the industry has decided that they’d rather be open than closed, they actually have to work to bring in guests—somehow parks seem to have entirely forgotten that that’s a required aspect of their jobs. Guests have to be convinced to spend their time and money in amusement parks—demand doesn’t just magically happen—it has to be fostered. This is even more true in a post-COVID world. This is where I believe the parks are currently failing.
PS: Massive props to Disney for actually seeing this issue on the horizon and working to fix the problem in Epcot by creating a Frankenstein-style summer festival from Flower & Garden and Food & Wine. This new special event has already guaranteed at least one additional Epcot visit from me and I’m confident that I’m not alone.
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As much as SeaWorld clearly would have opened BGW a month ago if they had been allowed to do so, it's definitely true that the other regional park reopenings have provided some valuable data, although as this discussion has shown we're never going to get a full grasp of how much their struggles with attendance were preventable. Would any amount of marketing convince someone to choose a theme park in this situation? I don't know, honestly, and they don't either.
But I'm very curious to what degree BGW thinks that it's different than the other parks: it's the most membership-focused of the SeaWorld parks, and definitely has a stronger sense of regional "identity" than something like SFA. I think there's enough points of distinction for them to reasonably think that they could be an outlier and be successful within this climate out of sheer loyalty from their member base, but perhaps what we're seeing at this point is that SAYING you'll go to a theme park during a pandemic in the surveys these parks sent months ago and ACTUALLY going to a theme park during a pandemic when given the opportunity aren't the same thing.
But I'm very curious to what degree BGW thinks that it's different than the other parks: it's the most membership-focused of the SeaWorld parks, and definitely has a stronger sense of regional "identity" than something like SFA. I think there's enough points of distinction for them to reasonably think that they could be an outlier and be successful within this climate out of sheer loyalty from their member base, but perhaps what we're seeing at this point is that SAYING you'll go to a theme park during a pandemic in the surveys these parks sent months ago and ACTUALLY going to a theme park during a pandemic when given the opportunity aren't the same thing.
I think there is another issue that some people may be overlooking: the weather. Theme parks in July are bad enough, but being outside all day in high heat and humidity with a mask on may keep a lot of people away. I think @Zachary is correct that they should have considered evening vice daytime hours.
Honestly, spending the day outside in the Summer in either Virginia or Florida with a mask on for the "pleasure" of standing in queues for rides running at half capacity during a pandemic that seems to getting worse not better sounds like the opposite of fun. I think it makes a lot of sense to postpone amusement park trips until the Fall (at the earliest).
I also think the parks were either engaged in wishful/magical thinking about the public's desire to drop $100 on carnival rides and food, or they hadn't considered that the recent industry boom time (yes, I know there were financial issues, but they were doing relatively well) was not the norm and they shouldn't plan based on 2019 attendance figures. In fact, I think they should have looked at 2001 as a guide to general interest.
Honestly, spending the day outside in the Summer in either Virginia or Florida with a mask on for the "pleasure" of standing in queues for rides running at half capacity during a pandemic that seems to getting worse not better sounds like the opposite of fun. I think it makes a lot of sense to postpone amusement park trips until the Fall (at the earliest).
I also think the parks were either engaged in wishful/magical thinking about the public's desire to drop $100 on carnival rides and food, or they hadn't considered that the recent industry boom time (yes, I know there were financial issues, but they were doing relatively well) was not the norm and they shouldn't plan based on 2019 attendance figures. In fact, I think they should have looked at 2001 as a guide to general interest.
You mean people say something and actually do something else?
Regardless of one's politics, a lot of survey results from Fall 2016 were illustrative in that regard.
The survey asked one whole question on would you go to the park with a mask despite heat and humidity.
It did not mention anything if rest areas would be a thing, or if there would be alternative ways to cool down despite wearing a mask, however. Which I feel should have been a follow up question.
The survey I got just spent most of it's time asking if I'd be willing to wear one or not. With occasional mentions of how important is: more cleaning, cleaning in-between riders, spacing queues/virtual queue, and cashless options.
This whole conversation (in general) is making me feel like I'm the only one who got this survey, and now everyone has to take my word that it actually said these things. Which makes me rather anxious? Like I got some bullshit survey and it wasn't legit.
A survey very much like this was going around a while ago, but I haven't seen word of one being sent more recently. In part because the reality is that as has been noted, the industry standard has been set: reservations, temp checks, mandatory masks, rest areas, sanitizer stations, etc. That's not going to budge anytime soon, given the current state of things, so at this point any newer survey should really be saying "here's the situation, are you coming or not?"
In the many things my job entails, I am responsible for designing and analyzing web surveys through a partner vendor that specializes in measuring customer experience.
I can say that based on what @Applesauce wrote about it, there's a good chance there's maybe 2-3 direct questions then several others to measure quantifiable degrees. There may be one or two that reconfirms, but depending on how they're worded they may actually be measuring something different no matter how similar they seem.
Anyways, curious to see if there are any net results.
I can say that based on what @Applesauce wrote about it, there's a good chance there's maybe 2-3 direct questions then several others to measure quantifiable degrees. There may be one or two that reconfirms, but depending on how they're worded they may actually be measuring something different no matter how similar they seem.
Anyways, curious to see if there are any net results.