Contrast that with a photo of CitiWalk the first weekend it was opened to the public after the covid lockdown. Couldn't have been more than a couple hundred people in CitiWalk that first Saturday.
Theme Parks & Shopping Districts Reopening General Thread
- Thread starter Scott W.
- Start date
-
Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.
- Status
Contrast that with a photo of CitiWalk the first weekend it was opened to the public after the covid lockdown. Couldn't have been more than a couple hundred people in CitiWalk that first Saturday.
- Jul 8, 2019
- 1,289
- 2,506
By my count earlier there were eight triple digit waits, another seven with 60+ minute waits, and Hagrids, JPRA, Gringotts, and Minions were on VL.
If *that’s* where the line finally gets drawn for capacity, it’s pretty obvious that Universal doesn’t give a damn about the in-park experience. Pay to come in and only get to go on three rides? Ehh, whatever.
If *that’s* where the line finally gets drawn for capacity, it’s pretty obvious that Universal doesn’t give a damn about the in-park experience. Pay to come in and only get to go on three rides? Ehh, whatever.
- Jun 27, 2017
- 8,142
- 5,294
I mean...yeah its on them a little
But these people coming know what they are getting into. Unless its a week day your coming to a theme park in a busy time of the year, after a lock down where people are bored and rides can't have as many guest on them.
I really feel nothing for anyone going to the parks right now and having not the best time, its a choice
- Apr 18, 2018
- 1,165
- 4,339
Honestly, IMO, it’s on them a lot.
Yes, it’s a holiday weekend and people want out but Universal (+ all the parks) has the capability to lower the capacity to a point that’s manageable for the TM’s they wanna pin the responsibility on.
Unfortunately though, like any multi billion dollar conglomerate, money > safety. It’s just more uncomfortable looking to watch in this current climate.
- Nov 3, 2015
- 2,198
- 3,693
- Sep 7, 2015
- 312
- 979
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t they close both parks at the same time last night (8pm)? That just can’t happen. It creates too much of a bottleneck even in the pre-Covid world.
Stagger the closings by an hour (USF 8, IOA 9). Then create a traffic flow from that goes from IOA’s entrance, around the water, towards USF arches, so that traffic leaving IOA can’t intersect with USF in that Cowfish/Red Oven Pizza Part of Citywalk.
11:00 AM Sunday and both IOA & USF have very long lines posted already. Historically, Universal doesn't have early Sunday morning crowds, for whatever reasons, during normal Labor Day weekend times,
and during normal seasonal Sunday mornings. Generally the crowds come around noon and later in the afternoon. This is the fourth straight Sunday that early morning crowd has happened. Interesting....................................
One other point, and I'm just guessing on this. Universal has a fairly larger demographic share of young adults. Both national and international reporting has noted that large segments of that demographic doesn't
take the covid threat very seriously. Probably most of the weekend guests are there just to have a good time and don't feel unsafe. I'd also guess most of those guests wouldn't be wearing masks if they weren't required.
The people that believe strongly in the covid threat are probably not coming to Universal on weekends, regardless. Just my guess though.
Last edited:
They ran commercials saying they were excited to welcome guests back. The shots of empty rides are illustrating that the parks have been sad without guests while they were closed. I never got the sense that they were saying lines were short.
They explicitly say "We miss you. It's totally not the same without you." And it was filmed while they were closed.
Yea, closing both at the same time was not a good move. I'm glad they extended the hours, but they should've kept the staggering.
- Aug 17, 2009
- 8,021
- 9,957
You are correct and they're doing it again tonight Both close at 8 PM tonight.
And all 3 parks are at capacity yet again.
Last edited:
- Jun 27, 2017
- 8,142
- 5,294
It takes two to tangle and kinda getting sick of people (and especially Americans) not taking responsibilities for their actions.
They choose to go to a theme park during a Pandemic one of the busiest weekends of the year, they choose to do no research on crowd levels and listen to the company that wants your money advertisements. Not saying Universal is the good guys here but tired of people playing the Victim card for everything, do your research and make smart choices no one is forcing you to go out right now. If you have a bad time or get sick its on you, you made the choices that lead to it. Universal/Disney are not holding a gun to your head.
If we are taking workers, it is a little difference and my old advice to them is if they don't like how this is being handled start now looking for better work. I've worked at jobs that don't care about you, start looking now because it can be a long road to a better job and life and sorry they are having such stressful days but use it as motivation to find something better.
- Aug 17, 2009
- 8,021
- 9,957
I mean, sure, but this also completely ignores the fact that they can spread COVID to those who didn't make the choice to visit the parks in these conditions. Look at the Maine wedding and the repercussions that has had. 147 cases and 3 deaths and none of the deaths were even from individuals who attended the wedding. These park conditions can have legitimate consequences beyond the parks and it's massively irresponsible for Universal to turn a blind eye for some money.
And IDK if you realize it, but the job market is not the easiest to find a job in right now. Everyone can't just up and leave. A lot of people are struggling financially right now.
- Jun 21, 2016
- 3,802
- 8,322
You aren’t wrong.
I think his point is, they can go to a wedding, a party or universal. It’s not going to change their risk tolerance level or devil may care attitude. So even if they weren’t at universal, it’s unlikely they would’ve been sitting on their couch at home.
- Aug 17, 2009
- 8,021
- 9,957
Sure, but I'd rather not become the centralized hotspot for everyone's careless COVID rendezvous
You don't see these type of shenanigans at Gatorland
- Apr 18, 2018
- 1,165
- 4,339
What I was saying is that Universal isn’t totally innocent in this and really should have some blame placed on them as well and I’m personally kinda getting sick of this getting excused. While a lot of people clearly wanna go to the parks and they’re all well aware of the risk involved (myself included), at the end of the day Universal (and, again, all the parks) still has the responsibility and capability to limit how many people enter their parks at this time.
Now obviously they do have a capacity limit but the pictures of the shoulder to shoulder walkways, to me, shows that maybe they could at the very least consider rethinking their capacity limit, going to a park reservation system, or both. Cause from my perspective, all this looks like is caring more for the bottom line than putting a harder limit on things to keep themselves and everyone else as safe as possible, and to me, it’s not a good look. Also, telling the front of the line TM’s, who seem to be taking the brunt of these capacity issues, to simply find a new job, is not a good look either.
With the capacity they set for yesterday at the very least, i'm not even sure how possible it was for social distancing to happen and as stated above, they've been running ads of empty parks and since Disney is on a reservation system right now, Universal is simply much easier to go to and walk in on a whim. I understand people want to get out, and that's a risk people take, but the capacity Universal had the parks and CityWalk set to yesterday was simply far too high.
From Robert Niles (Theme Park insider owner/editor), his comments, pertaining to his article on the Labor Day weekend crowds reaching capacity. Niles responding to a "Twitter" Universal news page about lack of mask wearing in the parks,
"I would not consider that a source with a good reputation. And individual photos are rarely an honest depiction of crowd behavior-especially for showing distancing, as those pictures often just tell you more about the focal point
of the camera. It's just too easy to selectively edit photos to make a crowd look bad. Every-in-person, on-the ground report I've received has said that crowds at Disney and Universal are doing an excellent job with mask usage.
Yes, you can find people misbehaving, but they are very much the exception rather than the rule"..This comment comes from Robert Niles, who has been a very strong proponent of safety in the parks, in his numerous articles
on theme parks, since they have reopened.
"I would not consider that a source with a good reputation. And individual photos are rarely an honest depiction of crowd behavior-especially for showing distancing, as those pictures often just tell you more about the focal point
of the camera. It's just too easy to selectively edit photos to make a crowd look bad. Every-in-person, on-the ground report I've received has said that crowds at Disney and Universal are doing an excellent job with mask usage.
Yes, you can find people misbehaving, but they are very much the exception rather than the rule"..This comment comes from Robert Niles, who has been a very strong proponent of safety in the parks, in his numerous articles
on theme parks, since they have reopened.
- Aug 17, 2009
- 8,021
- 9,957
Honestly, I strongly disagree with him here. There's plenty of non "Theme Park Twitter" twitter accounts complaining about being in the parks and witnessing firsthand terrible mask usage. Every single TM friend I know has complained about how frequently they are fighting with guests over this. It's not just people basing it off of "one picture" or "Twitter Universal news page" and it's weird to pretend all is well.
I was there Friday. It wasn’t very busy, but it was the worst we’ve seen mask compliance in the parks thus far. I think guests are feeling more lax now and it’s not good. It was still only some individuals not following the rules, but it felt like we saw more of them throughout the day than usual.
- Status
