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Coronavirus Impacting Theme Parks


Hawaiian Coasters 325

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36 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

@PatchesC August 8th is a really early school start date.  Are there longer than normal breaks?  (also 8/8 is a Saturday)

That's the normal week for us to start. Get the first Friday in October (we have Oktoberfest here), Wednesday before Thanksgiving, depending on which day it falls maybe a few extra days after New Years Day, then 1 week spring break in early to mid March before a long stretch to end of school couple days before Memorial Day.  Didn't realize it was a Saturday the school needs to correct their calendar then, I was going off what they emailed to kid lol.

Definitely leave little room for visiting seasonal themeparks, without my work schedule included.

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2 minutes ago, PatchesC said:

That's the normal week for us to start. Get the first Friday in October (we have Oktoberfest here), Wednesday before Thanksgiving, depending on which day it falls maybe a few extra days after New Years Day, then 1 week spring break in early to mid March before a long stretch to end of school couple days before Memorial Day.  Didn't realize it was a Saturday the school needs to correct their calendar then, I was going off what they emailed to kid lol.

Definitely leave little room for visiting seasonal themeparks, without my work schedule included.

Well some districts are considering Saturdays...

https://kfiam640.iheart.com/content/2020-05-13-schools-considering-saturday-classes-to-make-up-for-lost-time/

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34 minutes ago, IceePirate said:

No announcements today from the state, try again Thursday hopefully.

I highly doubt it will be Thursday. Especially with the governor's comments the other day. I believe when they announce plans for big places like amusement parks and water parks, they'll say they will be making an announcement on those a few days before. 

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5 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

I highly doubt it will be Thursday. Especially with the governor's comments the other day. I believe when they announce plans for big places like amusement parks and water parks, they'll say they will be making an announcement on those a few days before. 

I know in my heart that you're right, but I can always dream lol. Either way, a trip to Holiday World for me is looking quite a bit more likely in mid July if the park doesn't open by then. I have 3 finals and a midterm right around July 4th, so I couldn't go to the park even if it did open then.

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26 minutes ago, KIfan73 said:

I check the webcams here and there, and this is the first day I have seen any activity.  Several work trucks visible at various locations.  Hopefully it's a good sign!

Wonder if they ever get self conscious knowing there's cameras :huh:. It'd be hard for me not to work there and wave once in awhile lol

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I have to give Six Flags credit when they deserve it.  That video and the policies I have seen are fantastic. 

I have been an advocate for using thermal imaging for temperature checks, and its great seeing a park implement it.  This is exactly how it should be done, it has already been proven due to previous outbreaks and frankly it is likely more reliable then trying to use the handheld laser thermometers that Universal has been using.  I hear way too many stories about people who read so low they should be in a coma or dead.  Also that will be a giant upgrade for their gate security. 

Its going to come down to implementation and frankly there is a real chance they Six Flags their policies into a steaming pile of garbage.  But so far I am impressed, and I am actually looking forward to trying it out at one of their parks later this year.

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6 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

I have to wonder if SIX and FUN roll this stuff out to all the parks this year (that are allowed to open) or if they will just run pilot programs at a few select parks this year.  This all a lot of new systems and procedures.  

What could possibly go wrong? :P 

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1 minute ago, King Ding Dong said:

I have to wonder if SIX and FUN roll this stuff out to all the parks this year (that are allowed to open) or if they will just run pilot programs at a few select parks this year.  This all a lot of new systems and procedures.  

The good news is I remember reading FUN already tested the mobile ordering. And they already use the same developer that has virtual queue tech developed for ticket purchases. Hopefully it's a matter of working out a rhythm more than tons of additional training hours.

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1 hour ago, PatchesC said:

Wonder if they ever get self conscious knowing there's cameras :huh:. It'd be hard for me not to work there and wave once in awhile lol

 I did effectively that once. We stood on the road past Diamondback, and I waved at the camera, then stood there watching for myself on the camera. Turns out, it's about 5 minutes behind usually. 

 I also wave to the Mystic camera when I'm on Diamondback. 

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13 minutes ago, PatchesC said:

The good news is I remember reading FUN already tested the mobile ordering. And they already use the same developer that has virtual queue tech developed for ticket purchases. Hopefully it's a matter of working out a rhythm more than tons of additional training hours.

Hopefully it will be better than the test run at Carowinds last year...it was only at one place and you could only order a whole pizza, even though it said you could get meal plan items?

And in true CF fashion, you couldn't order a drink or a drink refill on the app.  They still cannot figure out how to allow that to happen LOL. 

Gotta love going to a kiosk or online ordering and scanning your meal plan, yet still have to see a person at the register to get your drink refill.  I can assure you that will still be the process.  And you could only make one order at a time.

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That whole “process” seems really weird to me.  So you “order” your food from the app but then they do nothing with that order until you actually arrive at the location and “check-in”.  So now you still have to wait for them to make your food.   I am not in the restaurant business so they may have their reasons, but if I ordered takeout for a restaurant and they didn’t start preparing it until I arrived I would not be a happy camper.   

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i'M a Doordash, Grubhub and other apps delivery driver. There are some places that don't even start making the order until the driver arrives. I avoid those places like the plague, time is money. And the great thing about being an independent contractor is I don't have to accept every offer thrown at me. 

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11 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

That whole “process” seems really weird to me.  So you “order” your food from the app but then they do nothing with that order until you actually arrive at the location and “check-in”.  So now you still have to wait for them to make your food.   I am not in the restaurant business so they may have their reasons, but if I ordered takeout for a restaurant and they didn’t start preparing it until I arrived I would not be a happy camper.   

They probably do it to minimize complaints about food not being hot & fresh and also to not waste any food if someone orders something and doesn't pick it up. I worked for Chipotle for 3 months in college and you wouldn't believe the amount of people who would place mobile orders and never pick up the food. Still got the money from them since they had to prepay, but it was still a waste of time, effort, and food.

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16 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

That whole “process” seems really weird to me.  So you “order” your food from the app but then they do nothing with that order until you actually arrive at the location and “check-in”.  So now you still have to wait for them to make your food.   I am not in the restaurant business so they may have their reasons, but if I ordered takeout for a restaurant and they didn’t start preparing it until I arrived I would not be a happy camper.   

Is it app checkin or go to a person/kiosk checkin? Does seem odd unless people just assume it's made right away and they'll show up with it. Only mobile order system I've experienced in a park is the mouse. 

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Just because he hasn't made it public doesn't mean he hasn't given them a estimated date that they could aim for. If they didn't know something was close they wouldn't have bothered starting to testing rides etc. if money is a big concern as people say why waste time and energy starting up rides Unless they have some idea of a start date and doing so might expedite the process a little.

pulling from my workplace, no they don't have a specific date but they do have a date range which is  allowing them to start putting effort into preparations etc. they have let us know we're close though think it depends how Vegas goes and what materials they can get a hold of. Plexiglas has become quite the commodity lately lol ;) 

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Just because he hasn't made it public doesn't mean he hasn't given them a estimated date that they could aim for. If they didn't know something was close they wouldn't have bothered starting to testing rides etc. if money is a big concern as people say why waste time and energy starting up rides Unless they have some idea of a start date and doing so might expedite the process a little.
pulling from my workplace, no they don't have a specific date but they do have a date range which is  allowing them to start putting effort into preparations etc. they have let us know we're close though think it depends how Vegas goes and what materials they can get a hold of. Plexiglas has become quite the commodity lately lol  

Diamondback hasn’t been testing though. On the webcam the splashdown isn’t even filled up.


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I'm think at this point you lost one of the biggest summer holidays.  If a vaccine is expected in early November I think at this point I would make the tough call and shut the park down and try to re-open mid march.  You can add operating days throughout the year and slowly make up the missed season.  Kings Island will be lucky enough to recover from this.but some of the smaller parks I feel will not.  I am surprised we havent seen some parks exchange hands.  Cedar Fair could use some more parks with longer operating schedules.  SFOG? 

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I'm guessing we just need some reliable data about the virus spread outdoors. And it'll arrive soon I would think. Literally everything I've read up to today suggests it almost always spreads indoors. Not so much outdoors when it's hot and humid out. We'll see. Been loosening things up in Indiana for about three weeks now, and cases and deaths both trending down versus the peak in mid-late April.

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I don’t think Cedar Point would be testing rides if they haven’t at least heard something. They’re original opening date wasn’t until may do they didn’t even have trains back on any tracks or anything before the pandemic. I don’t think they would be going through the process or re adding trains and testing them if they didn’t hear something from the gov. 

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One reason they might be testing is the same reason some airlines are flying empty planes right now. If you run the rides a couple times every few days, you don't need to get them reinspected. Plus it probably keeps the supervisors fresh for when they need to train associates. In addition to that, Cedar Fair is apart of the Ohio Travel & Tourism group, so they might just be testing out different methods on how they want their rides to operate.

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^Why would the rides need to be re-inspected when they haven’t been inspected at all for this season? Do they even do yearly inspections? If they do they would need them anyways so why do them now if they don’t have a re-opening in mind.  And if they are trying to figure out different methods of operation why wouldn’t they just use one rollercoaster instead of testing multiple? Not arguing just asking. :)

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I'm sitting here wondering why.other rides at KI aren't testing yet. Only Orion is the only one fully testing. Yes WindSeeker has gone up and down the tower a couple times, but I'm wondering why they haven't started testing other coasters in the park. Like I always thought we were ahead of Cedar Point in off-season work before the shutdowns happened. 

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