Theme Parks & Shopping Districts Reopening General Thread

[Jerroddragon]

I actually think beaches are safer than theme parks as long as you aren't partying together with some giant group.

It's also not about the people who want to go, it's about the people who are forced to work there. Wanna know why I might have a little bit of thoughts on this? Sure, places like Universal and Disney have procedures in place, but I have two friends from the parks who have gotten COVID since the parks have reopened and an friend of a friend that works at a recently reopened hotel has just got COVID. Now I know a lot of people that work at the parks, so I was probably bound to know someone get it eventually, but these people were forced back into unsafe working conditions. I don't say that as in these parks aren't trying, but it's out there and you can't stop it just by doing some extra cleaning and procedures.

Idk what the answers are. I just know that it's not really healthy (mentally or physically) for people to basically be forced into going back simply because they have no choice due to their landlord basically being on the verge of evicting them.

What makes it hard is this has no end in sight. If it was until the end of the year sure we could find a way, but no clue how all the theme parks don't go under if we have no end in sight and the TM/CM's close their jobs (which I assume they like/need) need money to live normal lives.

Best bet is workers have conversations with bosses and normal people like me push for those same managers to enforce rules if I see at the parks people acting against the rules

 

[Journey_On]

but I have two friends from the parks who have gotten COVID since the parks have reopened

I've heard of bare minimum 4 TMs getting it since reopening. It's a mess and I feel incredibly bad for all of my TM friends right now.

Pretty sad and scary. :/ UO is doing their own sort of contact tracing for TMs. Lots of phone calls and conversations happening.

Currently in line to get tested at the OCCC, and I saw another UO TM (they had a car magnet) several cars ahead of me. I hope more TMs get tested.

 

[Teebin]

I wonder if companies hiring right now are actively searching for new employees who have provably had the virus and recovered? That would be a plus facing the public!

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Looking on the app, Universal seems a lot quieter today. Most rides have a 15-20 minute wait with nothing over 25 minutes.

 

[Mad Dog]

Looking on the app, Universal seems a lot quieter today. Most rides have a 15-20 minute wait with nothing over 25 minutes.

Yes, I thought the same when I looked at it around noon. My guess, is that with most of the present guests being local, that weekends will be much busier than weekdays, at least until they coax more out of state tourists into hotel stays.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Yes, I thought the same when I looked at it around noon. My guess, is that with most of the present guests being local, that weekends will be much busier than weekdays, at least until they coax more out of state tourists into hotel stays.

I just got an AP offer for Surfside rooms starting at $79 through July 24, so they're trying to boost hotel occupancy.

I wasn't planning on returning to the parks until after July 4, but whenever I go back to Uni/Disney, it definitely won't be on a weekend. Uni's capacity issues over the last couple days have already given me pause about returning regardless, but if weekdays remain consistently quiet, I'd be fine going.

 

[Mad Dog]

For those concerned about social distancing in Universal queues, Len Testa of Touring Plans, actually went and measured the distances between the 'where to stand' spots in various Universal queues. He found they often exceed six feet, and sometimes are actually distanced at up to ten feet in the more spacious queues, Gringotts being one of the 10 ft. spacing between parties.....Touring Plans also updated their Universal crowd calendars since they felt they had enough data from the past week to get a good handle on line times.

 

[Magic Feather]

I just got an AP offer for Surfside rooms starting at $79 through July 24, so they're trying to boost hotel occupancy.

I wasn't planning on returning to the parks until after July 4, but whenever I go back to Uni/Disney, it definitely won't be on a weekend. Uni's capacity issues over the last couple days have already given me pause about returning regardless, but if weekdays remain consistently quiet, I'd be fine going.

The $79 AP offer has been available since day 1 of the re-opening, but that fact that they are actively advertising it seems to accurately reflect what I have been hearing about Uni's reopening financials not looking great, with quite a few venues seemingly running at a deficit. While numbers have been getting a little bit better, especially on weekends, I would not be surprised to see some changes to the way things were being operated to cut some costs for the time being.

For those concerned about social distancing in Universal queues, Len Testa of Touring Plans, actually went and measured the distances between the 'where to stand' spots in various Universal queues. He found they often exceed six feet, and sometimes are actually distanced at up to ten feet in the more spacious queues, Gringotts being one of the 10 ft. spacing between parties.....Touring Plans also updated their Universal crowd calendars since they felt they had enough data from the past week to get a good handle on line times.

Did he take into account the markers in an adjacent queue that runs right by it? I've heard a lot of people say that the gap seems really long until that was accounted for, and it becomes a lot more like 6 ft.

 

[Mad Dog]

The $79 AP offer has been available since day 1 of the re-opening, but that fact that they are actively advertising it seems to accurately reflect what I have been hearing about Uni's reopening financials not looking great, with quite a few venues seemingly running at a deficit. While numbers have been getting a little bit better, especially on weekends, I would not be surprised to see some changes to the way things were being operated to cut some costs for the time being.

Did he take into account the markers in an adjacent queue that runs right by it? I've heard a lot of people say that the gap seems really long until that was accounted for, and it becomes a lot more like 6 ft.

no idea

 

[Clive]

Did he take into account the markers in an adjacent queue that runs right by it? I've heard a lot of people say that the gap seems really long until that was accounted for, and it becomes a lot more like 6 ft.

I always figured the extra length was to account for the fact that the "stand here" spaces are rarely held by a single individual, but typically a multi-guest party... meaning you'd need some extra breathing room to maintain the six feet.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I love they were smart enough to add space, and not just try to do the minimum of 6 feet. These leaves room for the idiots to mess up and hopefully still leave room for 6 feet between you and them

 

[Mad Dog]

Looking at the Touring Plans app, the parks appear to be on the slow side today, not dead, but slow.

 

[GA-MBIT]

Just went to Seaworld. Blech.

The only attractions open are the coasters and Infinity Falls, so all of the lines are obscenely long. The vast majority of people are either wearing their mask wrong or not wearing one at all. I didn't see a single employee correct anyone. No one cared at all. Zero social distancing, people walked right over stickers with no care at all. None of the coasters worked with my mask, it felt like it was gonna fly off everytime. Crowds felt worse than Universal somehow. I don't know if Seaworld is cutting down attendance at all. It certainly didn't feel like it.

I've been to Uni multiple times since open and have not felt unsafe. I felt unsafe every minute at Seaworld. If anything is gonna make me go full Teebin levels of paranoid it's gonna be the kind of lax behavior and policing I saw today. Seaworld in 2020 feels like a Six Flags park built out of the fading remnants of early IoA. Not going back for as long as we have to worry about all this.

 

[Mad Dog]

Just went to Seaworld. Blech.

The only attractions open are the coasters and Infinity Falls, so all of the lines are obscenely long. The vast majority of people are either wearing their mask wrong or not wearing one at all. I didn't see a single employee correct anyone. No one cared at all. Zero social distancing, people walked right over stickers with no care at all. None of the coasters worked with my mask, it felt like it was gonna fly off everytime. Crowds felt worse than Universal somehow. I don't know if Seaworld is cutting down attendance at all. It certainly didn't feel like it.

I've been to Uni multiple times since open and have not felt unsafe. I felt unsafe every minute at Seaworld. If anything is gonna make me go full Teebin levels of paranoid it's gonna be the kind of lax behavior and policing I saw today. Seaworld in 2020 feels like a Six Flags park built out of the fading remnants of early IoA. Not going back for as long as we have to worry about all this.

"Full Teebin Levels Of Paranoid".....A classic phrase. I need to remember that one.

 

[Teebin]

I felt unsafe every minute at Seaworld. If anything is gonna make me go full Teebin levels of paranoid it's gonna be the kind of lax behavior and policing I saw today.

Be sure to check your temperature over then next few days!

 

[GAcoaster]

Apparently like SeaWorld, Disney is not paying contractors either:

Unpaid construction bills piling up for SeaWorld, Walt Disney World

Theme parks in Central Florida have been working with county and state leaders on reopening their parks safely.

www.wfla.com

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

"Full Teebin Levels Of Paranoid".....A classic phrase. I need to remember that one.

"The park was teeming with a Full Teebin of paranoia"

 

[shiekra38]

Just went to Seaworld. Blech.

The only attractions open are the coasters and Infinity Falls, so all of the lines are obscenely long. The vast majority of people are either wearing their mask wrong or not wearing one at all. I didn't see a single employee correct anyone. No one cared at all. Zero social distancing, people walked right over stickers with no care at all. None of the coasters worked with my mask, it felt like it was gonna fly off everytime. Crowds felt worse than Universal somehow. I don't know if Seaworld is cutting down attendance at all. It certainly didn't feel like it.

I've been to Uni multiple times since open and have not felt unsafe. I felt unsafe every minute at Seaworld. If anything is gonna make me go full Teebin levels of paranoid it's gonna be the kind of lax behavior and policing I saw today. Seaworld in 2020 feels like a Six Flags park built out of the fading remnants of early IoA. Not going back for as long as we have to worry about all this.

Blackfish 2: This Time the Mask is Off

 

[Mad Dog]

"The park was teeming with a Full Teebin of paranoia"

"A Full Teebin' theme park equivalent of the 'Full Monty',

 

[Mad Dog]

Apparently like SeaWorld, Disney is not paying contractors either:

Unpaid construction bills piling up for SeaWorld, Walt Disney World

Theme parks in Central Florida have been working with county and state leaders on reopening their parks safely.

www.wfla.com

Yes. I recall, on some other matters with one of their companies , about a month or two ago, I mentioned Disney was having difficulty paying refunds.