The best way to think about their decision making here is what each section of the park gets them as an opportunity to make money, with the understanding that daily ticket prices will be lower than normal and a lot of their attendance will come from members who aren't going to question the perceived value of the visit compared to someone considering buying a single admission for what we all acknowledge would be a lesser experience.
England gets you shopping and dining (and theoretically the theater, although if they're going to do distanced entertainment they'll open France), while Scotland gets you the stables, a coaster with an extended outdoor queue for distancing, and the train (if they want to run it as a loop a la Christmas Town, although they have an exit through the gift shop problem). Ireland, meanwhile, gives you the newest attraction in the park with Finnegan's, more shopping, and a bit of space to do food stalls since they're going to have social distancing issues at normal venues.
France would get you the outdoor amphitheater and a larger coaster draw. Italy gets you a water ride. The question is which of these do they think adds value and also adds cash opportunities.
Not sure where this is coming from, but it tracks with this logic (although I feel like they would want to be open during the day on weekends to appeal to families, although I highly doubt they open Sesame staffing-wise). Their goal is not to create a full-day park experience. Their goal is to create a situation where people see the park as a destination for a night out, where you'll go on a ride or two, eat some food, maybe enjoy some entertainment, see the animals, and then perhaps grab a COVID-themed souvenir on the way out. If they can reduce staff costs enough to get the admission fee down to sub-Christmas Town levels, the hope would be that you could get somewhere close to the average visitor spend (I think it's somewhere between $25-30), that's a way to create cash flow and "prove" their safety policies are working/being enforced.
Is this something there's actually a market for outside of members? Do MEMBERS want this? These are all questions it's hard to answer, but I have to think the park has either done some consumer surveys or feels like it's worth the risk (again, if this even materializes).
England gets you shopping and dining (and theoretically the theater, although if they're going to do distanced entertainment they'll open France), while Scotland gets you the stables, a coaster with an extended outdoor queue for distancing, and the train (if they want to run it as a loop a la Christmas Town, although they have an exit through the gift shop problem). Ireland, meanwhile, gives you the newest attraction in the park with Finnegan's, more shopping, and a bit of space to do food stalls since they're going to have social distancing issues at normal venues.
France would get you the outdoor amphitheater and a larger coaster draw. Italy gets you a water ride. The question is which of these do they think adds value and also adds cash opportunities.
I hear that the park may operate 3 or 4 days a week and only be open in the evening.
Not sure where this is coming from, but it tracks with this logic (although I feel like they would want to be open during the day on weekends to appeal to families, although I highly doubt they open Sesame staffing-wise). Their goal is not to create a full-day park experience. Their goal is to create a situation where people see the park as a destination for a night out, where you'll go on a ride or two, eat some food, maybe enjoy some entertainment, see the animals, and then perhaps grab a COVID-themed souvenir on the way out. If they can reduce staff costs enough to get the admission fee down to sub-Christmas Town levels, the hope would be that you could get somewhere close to the average visitor spend (I think it's somewhere between $25-30), that's a way to create cash flow and "prove" their safety policies are working/being enforced.
Is this something there's actually a market for outside of members? Do MEMBERS want this? These are all questions it's hard to answer, but I have to think the park has either done some consumer surveys or feels like it's worth the risk (again, if this even materializes).