Went to Hershey yesterday for opening day and first time in a park since COVID began and had several observations:
- The park seemed pretty busy, though it’s likely the attendance wasn’t super high. Main issue was a lot of attractions were closed causing longer queues in the attractions that were open. I assume this is a staffing issue and will get resolved shortly.
- Mask wearing is very inconsistent. You must wear a mask or face shield to enter the park, but after that there wasn’t much enforcement except on a few rides. I’d put overall mask wearing at about 50-60% of guests, with about 5-10% of guests not wearing a mask at all - I.e, they took it off and put it away. Since there are no mask rest areas the remainder it’s hard to judge harshly since it was quite hot out and people could be catching their breath, eating, or getting a drink.
- Social distancing In queues was pretty much non existent. They were stickers and arrows down, but hardly anyone followed them. This was worst in the water park where masks aren’t used. Hopefully better staffing can resolve this, though staff were metering in people for what would be riskier crowded areas.
- Cleanliness was pretty good and high risk areas such as restrooms and changing areas were being constantly cleaned.
- Some rides went every other row, some did not. I couldn’t really discern the why for each.