Theme Parks & Shopping Districts Reopening General Thread

[Nick]

I'm beginning to think that it may be a lot closer to that 2021 date that Wall Street Analysts predicted than not before California theme parks reopen. This was unthinkable back when the reopening committee formed in what, May? Even more so once Disneyland set an opening date and City Walk reopened.

I believe this is possible. Thought process along the lines of "F it, if we're going to have to work here, might as well get our Rise ride in finally ".

Yup. This was literally the first time they could've gone to experience the land since it opened and the last time for who knows how long due to limited capacity.

 

[DeadSexeh]

Honestly, the fault lies at the foot of the government for not extending the extra $600 per month and helping out small businesses more so they didn’t need to reopen.

It seems like an easy solution but history tells us that when you have money problems and your solution is to print more your currency will struggle. On the other side it does seem very American, maximize debt and future me will figure those problems out.

 

[Nick]

Interesting choice to leave the touch screens uncovered and operational on SSE:

 

[Frank Drackman]

Close all the Orlando area Parks. Bulldoze the buildings, and start replanting those Orange Groves. They should be able to support a population of a few thousand in the Orlando area.

I saw a few Orange tree whilst out the other day. I do recall years back being at a party at a ranch overlooking rolling hills of orange groves while watching friends play (in a band) while seeing MK's fireworks in the sky.

But times have changed. I imagine a weed like hemp would grow well in this climate! CBD is a new buzz word or something, but I would think it would be easier than citrus.

I hear MidEvil Times has opened back up...so many things to do, some day, just not these days! For now, when we can get out, we try to support some small folks in any outdoor type mall we can find.

 

[Mad Dog]

I saw a few Orange tree whilst out the other day. I do recall years back being at a party at a ranch overlooking rolling hills of orange groves while watching friends play (in a band) while seeing MK's fireworks in the sky.

But times have changed. I imagine a weed like hemp would grow well in this climate! CBD is a new buzz word or something, but I would think it would be easier than citrus.

I hear MidEvil Times has opened back up...so many things to do, some day, just not these days! For now, when we can get out, we try to support some small folks in any outdoor type mall we can find.

Yes, and I recall last year some type of issue that was destroying the Orange groves in Florida. I remember the first time we drove to Florida in 1979 and visited the Baseball Spring Training camps in the Bradenton/Sarasota/ClearWater/
Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg area. The drive through I4 had the sweet scent of Orange trees. That was a good memory.....I hope the best for Orlando though. Lots of good friends and good times down there. Still time to get it together yet.
Orange County is nowhere near the disaster that southern Florida is, at this point in time. Hopefully, the people pull together and get the case count down. They really haven't been hit hard by deaths yet, though the next 14-21 days will
be critical.....and yes....always support the local businesses. That's been the mantra of my brother and me for our entire adult lives. Might cost a few bucks more, but give them your money instead of the big boxes. :thumbsup:

 

[TommyJK]

It seems like an easy solution but history tells us that when you have money problems and your solution is to print more your currency will struggle. On the other side it does seem very American, maximize debt and future me will figure those problems out.

The thing is, the American Government has spent $3 Trillion (with a capital T) and what has it gotten for that unprecedented spending?

It was supposed to tide everyone over in order to flatten the curves nation-wide until it was safe to properly re-open the economy again. But it was mis-spent, didn't end up adequately helping lower income folks or small business that were hurt the most and led to tons of states rushing re-opening without a single state (from what I can tell) re-opening against the CDC guidelines of having 2 weeks of decreasing cases followed by careful and slow re-opening in a phased approach. With robust testing and contact tracking to keep any new outbreaks at bay.

And once re-opened people just went hog-wild with many just going back to normal without taking the added precautions needed to curb any spread.

From the outside it looks like the US pee-peed away $3 trillion without too much to show for it.

 

[TheGentTrent]

I can't imagine what cleaning the Omnimovers must be like. That's hundreds of vehicles to wipe down...

 

[Clive]

The thing is, the American Government has spent $3 Trillion (with a capital T) and what has it gotten for that unprecedented spending?

It was supposed to tide everyone over in order to flatten the curves nation-wide until it was safe to properly re-open the economy again. But it was mis-spent, didn't end up adequately helping lower income folks or small business that were hurt the most and led to tons of states rushing re-opening without a single state (from what I can tell) re-opening against the CDC guidelines of having 2 weeks of decreasing cases followed by careful and slow re-opening in a phased approach. With robust testing and contact tracking to keep any new outbreaks at bay.

And once re-opened people just went hog-wild with many just going back to normal without taking the added precautions needed to curb any spread.

From the outside it looks like the US pee-peed away $3 trillion without too much to show for it.

They kicked the true economic crisis down the road a bit. That's it.

 

[Mad Dog]

The thing is, the American Government has spent $3 Trillion (with a capital T) and what has it gotten for that unprecedented spending?

It was supposed to tide everyone over in order to flatten the curves nation-wide until it was safe to properly re-open the economy again. But it was mis-spent, didn't end up adequately helping lower income folks or small business that were hurt the most and led to tons of states rushing re-opening without a single state (from what I can tell) re-opening against the CDC guidelines of having 2 weeks of decreasing cases followed by careful and slow re-opening in a phased approach. With robust testing and contact tracking to keep any new outbreaks at bay.

And once re-opened people just went hog-wild with many just going back to normal without taking the added precautions needed to curb any spread.

From the outside it looks like the US pee-peed away $3 trillion without too much to show for it.

Not only mis spent, but much not spent. By Treasury accounts from a week or two ago, 1 Trillion has not yet been spent. And so much of it had loopholes that many individuals and businesses have lucrative scams getting money
they have no rights to get. Whenever, or if, this ever gets audited in future years there's going to be a lot of stories out there and a lot of businesses and individuals paying money back.

 

[DeadSexeh]

The thing is, the American Government has spent $3 Trillion (with a capital T) and what has it gotten for that unprecedented spending?

It was supposed to tide everyone over in order to flatten the curves nation-wide until it was safe to properly re-open the economy again. But it was mis-spent, didn't end up adequately helping lower income folks or small business that were hurt the most and led to tons of states rushing re-opening without a single state (from what I can tell) re-opening against the CDC guidelines of having 2 weeks of decreasing cases followed by careful and slow re-opening in a phased approach. With robust testing and contact tracking to keep any new outbreaks at bay.

And once re-opened people just went hog-wild with many just going back to normal without taking the added precautions needed to curb any spread.

From the outside it looks like the US pee-peed away $3 trillion without too much to show for it.

Agreed, hence why I am not so much on board with the let's throw more money at the problem and hope for different results.

 

[Nick]

Agreed, hence why I am not so much on board with the let's throw more money at the problem and hope for different results.

The reason it feels like the government needs to throw more is because the $3 trillion was massively misspent as you said. Had the money been spent right and this virus been managed correctly, no one would feel like there’s a need for more money or to continue the extra $600/week.

 

[DeadSexeh]

The reason it feels like the government needs to throw more is because the $3 trillion was massively misspent as you said. Had the money been spent right and this virus been managed correctly, no one would feel like there’s a need for more money or to continue the extra $600/week.

I would be on board with having extra money available for unemployment, but $600 a week is way too much for my area atleast. Everyone I know who has gotten the money has been making more money off unemployment than when they work and it's not like they had bad jobs. Heck having an engineering degree and working in the field it would be darn near a push if I was getting unemployment instead. Man we got really off topic, didn't realize this was the reopening thread. My bad

On topic I am always on the side of giving people the choice and not telling them what to do. Glad to see parks are reopening and they are appearing to do them in as safe a way as possible. Now I don't know the interworkings of the park, but in my ideal world I would like the see the parks work with those employees that aren't as comfortable working. Maybe try to switch them to an outdoor work space with less guest contact then their normal spot or at the bare minimum let then know they can take as long as they want to come back they will keep a spot open for them. Again I always stand on the side of pro options.

 

[Tbad556]

Thought it was interesting to learn that Universal's GEST TM's actually have clickers on them currently to keep track of how many times they have to ask a guest to put a mask back on throughout the day. From what I've heard, the average in-park TM counts roughly 50-150 per shift and the average CityWalk TM counts anywhere from 200-450 per shift.

 

[Jerroddragon]

With What is happening with CA, I hope Universal can find something to open where it be restaurants or tours of the upper lot and maybe you go on the tram (since its outside and can easily block off rows and have plastic between areas)

But hope the team there is trying to figure out how to get some people to safely work, just in case they don't give you the extra unemployment dollars after this month.
Heck even if it was a dinning pass you pay for "X" amount for and use on restaurants in the upper lot and then get a time on the app to get on the tram (for "free" after dining)

Have Movie nights in the center area, or the Potter Light show

 

[Nick]

With What is happening with CA, I hope Universal can find something to open where it be restaurants or tours of the upper lot and maybe you go on the tram (since its outside and can easily block off rows and have plastic between areas)

But hope the team there is trying to figure out how to get some people to safely work, just in case they don't give you the extra unemployment dollars after this month.
Heck even if it was a dinning pass you pay for "X" amount for and use on restaurants in the upper lot and then get a time on the app to get on the tram (for "free" after dining)

Have Movie nights in the center area, or the Potter Light show

They have restaurants open, it's called CityWalk.

The fact of the matter is - and I know reality sucks - the state just for all intents and purposes closed again. I don't see anyone going to a SoCal theme park until at least September, maybe October if i'm being honest. It's not just a flick of a switch and may need to start the whole reopening task force process over again.

We'll see how things stand a month or so from now, but if we go another month or a little more and we're still in a similar position, I don't think theme parks reopen in 2020 in California at that point.

 

[Red Carpet]

The fact that the California government is willing to put things back into shutdown has created a lot of uncertainty in it's economy. Many businesses are now concerned that when they are allowed to reopen, it won't last long before they are asked to shutdown again. Restarting a business after being shutdown is a challenge. But doing that over and over again could be disastrous. If California's economy is to recover, there has to be assurance that an opening is permanent.

 

[Nick]

The fact that the California government is willing to put things back into shutdown has created a lot of uncertainty in it's economy. Many businesses are now concerned that when they are allowed to reopen, it won't last long before they are asked to shutdown again. Restarting a business after being shutdown is a challenge. But doing that over and over again could be disastrous. If California's economy it to recover, there has to be assurance that an opening is permanent.

If you go through one of the other COVID threads, myself and others were preaching this exact same thing back in early June when we reopened too early. It was inevitable that by having the shortest possible close possible, we were going to end up in a vicious cycle. If we would've held out for a bit longer, we could've contained it better and then we hopefully wouldn't have this situation where we're opening and then closing on an a loop.

Opening early was always going to do more longterm damage than staying closed, but nobody wanted to believe it because Wall Street was in a panic and clearly they're who we should listen to during a pandemic.

 

[Red Carpet]

If you go through one of the other COVID threads, myself and others were preaching this exact same thing back in early June when we reopened too early. It was inevitable that by having the shortest possible close possible, we were going to end up in a vicious cycle. If we would've held out for a bit longer, we could've contained it better and then we hopefully wouldn't have this situation where we're opening and then closing on an a loop.

Opening early was always going to do more longterm damage than staying closed, but nobody wanted to believe it because Wall Street was in a panic and clearly they're who we should listen to during a pandemic.

We would have had a spike in cases no matter when we open. If we were to have the lock down last a few months longer, we would have the same problem we have now, but just a few months later down the road.

Hong Kong seemed to have things "under control". Hong Kong Disneyland is shutting down again.

 

[yankees13]

Bittersweet I won’t be making my way down this year. I’ve been following on a daily basis seeing what’s going on in the parks. I can’t imagine the parks being a fun experience right now. If I was local, I could see myself hanging out at CityWalk for the night. But the rapid rise in cases would probably keep me away. I’m just hopeful we’re in. better spot next year. I’m itching to get back. Hoping all you Floridians are staying safe

 

[TommyJK]

We would have had a spike in cases no matter when we open. If we were to have the lock down last a few months longer, we would have the same problem we have now, but just a few months later down the road.

Hong Kong seemed to have things "under control". Hong Kong Disneyland is shutting down again.

Sorry but I don't buy this. There are numerous other countries that held longer lockdowns followed by more gradual and stringent re-openings and they have crushed the curve without new "re-spikes". Hong Kong (and currently the US) is the exception and not the norm.

Now that being said, if the US had a longer lockdown, it may be feasible to opine that another spike would have been inevitable because too much of its citizenry wouldn't follow more stringent re-opening rules due to an innate overindulgence of "personal freedoms and liberties".

But to say subsequent spikes are inevitable just isn't true as is being played out in many other places in the world.