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Holiday World updated their COVID-19 policy on the website to reflect Indiana's new mandate:

The advisory recommending a 14 day quarantine currently affects travel from Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arizona, Nevada and Idaho. While it's only a recommendation at this time, it will certainly impact travel plans to the Ohio parks and for Ohioans wanting to visit open parks in those states.

It's impossible to control every individual's behavior in a public setting, but I feel good about the layered approach Cedar Fair and other major park companies are taking with masks, distancing, cleaning, enforcement, & limiting indoor activities. With Fast Lane, the floor stickers are configured so that people in the two lines aren't waiting side-by-side. When people stand as instructed, they shouldn't be within 6' of another group. In some queues, there are long gaps between stickers to accomplish this. On my visits, employees have come through the line periodically to sanitize queue rails and correct guests who aren't following health protocols.

I have seen very good compliance with masks and distancing so far. In ride lines on Friday, I saw several people reminded either by an associate to keep their face fully covered and/or to stay on the social distancing markers. I wasn't there today, but 30% of people not wearing masks isn't at all consistent with what I've seen at Kings Island this year.

While this forum is an escape for many, it's also a place to find different perspectives on the issues facing the park industry and beyond. COVID-19 is arguably the biggest single event to ever impact the industry. Constructive dialog and mutual respect make KIC what it is, even in this age of polarization. The Swedish model relied on herd immunity, supported by a relatively low population density and excellent access to healthcare. They got control of the virus, but at a high human cost. The cost of this strategy in the US would likely be much higher. There are indeed some encouraging signs that COVID infections may becoming less lethal. Whether this is due to a younger demographic getting infected, partial herd immunity to the virus, better treatment protocols, or other factors is not yet known. As KDD and others have noted above, there are potential long-term health implications to consider among survivors. Those who have recently been infected haven't progressed through the disease yet. We shouldn't wait for death numbers and ICU numbers to spike before responding to earlier indicators. You raise a good point. If the virus is spreading unchecked anywhere, it's a problem everywhere. Opening borders will require testing and contact tracing. You're right that we can't contact trace 65k people/day - that becomes more important once the virus is controlled by physical and/or immunological means.

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are now requiring Ohioans to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200714/new-york-2-other-states-say-visitors-from-ohio-must-quarantine-for-14-days There's a lot of misleading and false information going around, unfortunately. A localized, significant increase in the percentage of tests coming back positive (like we've seen in many states) isn't due to errors inherent in testing. This metric is important for understanding how and where the virus is spreading so that it can be controlled. Recent studies on T-cell COVID-19 immunity have indicated that immunity among the population might be higher than antibody tests indicate. This is almost certainly very good news. However, uncontrolled spread in the community is still dangerous even if immunity is further along than we thought. We don't yet know how many of those among the recent spike in cases will die or suffer long-term health consequences. We do know how to slow the spread: face coverings, social distancing, limiting large gatherings, and good hand hygiene.

Unfortunately, even enthusiasts sometimes fail to properly secure loose articles in their cargo pockets before riding. The pouches were a good solution because the ride operators could verify that they were closed, but they did slow dispatches. Getting rid of them for the time being was the right call to keep capacity up and reduce touchpoints amid the pandemic. Hopefully we see pouches return once the pandemic is over.

I moved the conversation about Steel Vengeance loose articles to the relevant thread, so this topic can stay focused on Orion. https://kicentral.com/forums/index.php?/topic/33751-steel-vengeance-no-longer-allows-cell-phones-on-the-ride-or-in-line-with-you

They plan to be open in August, but they haven't announced dates or hours yet. The flash sale is only for currently available dates. I'd keep an eye out for promotions after August dates open up.

As of July 4, the loaded pulled pork fries were listed on the menu board with the dining plan symbol, and I was able to order them. I'm not the biggest fan of cheese sauce, but they were good! The pulled pork is very similar to what's at Coney Barbecue, and RPW fries go along great.

^ For passholders, the reservation is tied to your season pass. When they scan you in at the front gate, they're able to see your reservation for that day.

This is not accurate; guests have been asked to return to their car and wait until shortly before their reservation time before entering. If ticket distribution goes like it did over Opening Weekend, you should be able to enter the park at noon and still get an Orion ticket for later in the afternoon or evening.

Holding off until the second day was almost certainly a deliberate decision rather than tickets not being ready. A long line for the new coaster on Opening Day is the expectation, and a regular line ensured everyone at the park that day had the chance to ride if they were willing to wait.

If I'm exposed to the virus, isolating myself for 14 days or until I can get a test is a small price to pay to not spread the virus further. Android phones with Google Maps store your location history for future reference if this feature is enabled, but it's not stored often enough to identify who you were in close contact with. Mobile networks also store data about which towers were connected to, but it's not detailed enough to identify precise locations. Unless you're in a society like China where everyone is tracked all the time, contact tracing generally relies on voluntary compliance.

Since face coverings are here to stay at Kings Island, we should have a thread to discuss which types of coverings work best and where to find them. As I mentioned in the Coronavirus thread, I bought a few of these $4 packages of cloth masks from Target, which worked well for me at Kings Island over the weekend. They tend to move around when breathing heavily, but I liked that they didn't tug too hard on my ears while staying secure on my face. I'd recommend the adult small/medium size; the large/XL masks are very big. What has everyone else found success with?

The steps to access the reservation portal are somewhat convoluted: Visit the Kings Island online store and go to Menu->Order Lookup Type your e-mail address and phone number to look up your order Click the order that contains the reservation you want to change Press "View your receipt" In the receipt window/tab that pops up, click the blue link above your reservation time(s) labeled "Manage Reservation" The online store opens up with options to reschedule your reservation The reservation portal currently doesn't allow you to cancel a reservation outright, but you can change it as many times as you want to.

Personally, I'm hoping more parks relax reservation restrictions on weekdays. As it stands now, an impromptu visit to KI on a lightly crowded weekday is impossible if I have two future visits scheduled already.

For processing season passes, that can be done online this season. From the Welcoming You Back FAQ:

The guest experience with ride tickets is much better than waiting in a 2+ hour queue amid reduced capacity. On Saturday, most guests had a minimal wait when they showed up for their return time. We returned toward the end of our return timeslot and waited less than 10 minutes.

Which type of facemask were you wearing? Some are a lot more comfortable than others. I found these 2-layer cloth masks for $4/pack at Target, which worked really well for me over the weekend.

It's probably a capacity thing; a relatively small food stand in the newest area of the park isn't set up to keep up with the demands of the dining plan.

The wait times thread would be a good place to post dispatch time observations, though a post for every cycle is probably more information than we need. When the general public is loaded onto a new ride for the first time, patience is a virtue.

Cedar Point reservations are now online available on Cedar Point's website and mobile app. For now, there is a limit of one active reservation per passholder. I reserved Saturday, July 11 at 10:00am. https://www.cedarpoint.com/welcoming-you-back#

We didn't try screaming, but wearing them on the coasters wasn't an issue at all with the masks we wore. @IndyGuy4KI and I had simple cloth masks, while @acole5292 had a disposable paper mask. I'll experiment with some other masks this week at Kings Island. Just as enthusiasts have figured out cargo shorts, I'm sure we'll master pandemic facemasks. It was frustrating that many weren't taking social distancing seriously. We tried to keep our distance from others throughout the day, aided by the mostly light crowds. Cornball had some rows closed off for social distancing, at least when we rode.

They want to ensure social distancing as people get to the front gate. A big crowd waiting for turnstiles to open would not be ideal.