Coronavirus Impacting Theme Parks

[coaster sally]

4 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

Look how successful Coney Island's reservation system works...

 

Its probably going to be hard for coney even to max out their limited capacity.  No one wants to go since rides are gone and people complaining of masks.

[King Ding Dong]

37 minutes ago, gad198 said:

@medford - if someone offered me a choice between (1) having access to the park in 2020 with their current reopening protocols and (2) no access to the park until 2021 with a normal (pre-coronavirus) strategy I'd sign up for #2 right now.  Going to the park has to offer some sense of enjoyment, and right now all of the "extras" necessary for a visit (reduced capacity on rides, face masks, distancing, etc.) have the potential to suck a lot of fun out of visiting the park.  I'd gladly skip this year if it meant not having to worry about having to deal with any of those things next year.

Regarding face masks - I simply cannot see how many guest face masks will be kept sanitary throughout the course of their visit.  Continued touching and/or re-adjusting a mask makes it unsanitary (in fact, I've talked to about a dozen doctors who have all said that in a surgical setting that if they touch their mask at all they have to stop and go through the whole sanitation process again before they can re-enter).  As soon as the mask becomes damp it becomes unsanitary.  Coughing or sneezing into a mask without covering your face is a hazard to others.  What's the difference between someone wearing a mask improperly versus not wearing one at all?  

Because the primary purpose of the face masks in this setting (non-surgical) is not to protect the wearer but to act is a partial barrier of one's own aerosol exhaust.  Not perfect by any stretch but any barrier will reduce to some degree the distance some of the aerosol travels.  In this context contamination is not a large factor.   If one chooses to wear a more sophisticated mask to help protect them from others exhaust they may do so and follow additional protocols.  As @BeeastFarmer will point out those more medical grade masks such as N95s are still in short supply and should be reserved for the health care industry.

 

17 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:

About a month and a half ago I was in contact with someone who test positive. They had a stuff nose for a few days and that was it. I had a test done to be sure and was negative. I was outdoors and tried to keep my distance. We were in the same a yard for about an hour with no mask. I believe your chance of getting COVid would be rather low in just passing by someone on the midway. 

That is true.  We do know that viral load is a major factor in transmission, so one instance of passing by a symptomatic or presymptomatic person even if they are yelling, singing or breathing heavily is probably low.  However what we do not know at this point is how multiple low viral load exposures stack over time. Is it cumulative over say a 6 hour period where you may pass the same person several times or possibly dozens of shedding presymptomatics?  Scientists are working on that answer but without using human lab rats, which would be unethical, that is a difficult thing to study.  Nearly every time I have been to the park there is always that "one person" that stands out for some reason, may be their incredible height, or some outrageous clothes they wear, whatever.  In a typical day at the park I may pass by that person 10-15 times, that I notice. 

So those people that are subject matter experts on this recommend we wear some kind of face cover to mitigate to some degree that risk at this point in time.

[raggedman07]

5 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

@BeeastFarmer Nearly every time I have been to the park there is always that "one person" that stands out for some reason, may be their incredible height, or some outrageous clothes they wear, whatever.  In a typical day at the park I may pass by that person 10-15 times, that I notice. 

So...the hot chic...gotcha

[jimlaheyscar]

Hershey stepped up today.  "We are opening July 3rd. Reservations are open now.  Go."

Great seeing all these opening days.  Come on VA, NJ, NY, etc.

[SnakePlissken]

2 minutes ago, jimlaheyscar said:

Hershey stepped up today.  "We are opening July 3rd. Reservations are open now.  Go."

Great seeing all these opening days.  Come on VA, NJ, NY, etc.

I've given up on Virginia for this year. Pre Covid that was gonna be my big July trip. Gonna have to make that next years trip. Unless I have enough money to go to Tampa and Ride Iron Gwazi next year.

[coaster sally]

5 minutes ago, SnakePlissken said:

I've given up on Virginia for this year. Pre Covid that was gonna be my big July trip. Gonna have to make that next years trip. Unless I have enough money to go to Tampa and Ride Iron Gwazi next year.

BGT looks to be taking Dennis Speigel's advice and waiting till next year.

[gad198]

21 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

Because the primary purpose of the face masks in this setting (non-surgical) is not to protect the wearer but to act is a partial barrier of one's own aerosol exhaust.  Not perfect by any stretch but any barrier will reduce to some degree the distance some of the aerosol travels.  In this context contamination is not a large factor. 

I just want to focus in on the statement in italics.  If you have large amounts of people decked out in face masks that are using them improperly or are unsanitary (which will be a good bet at a place like Kings Island, especially with as long as people will be wearing them), how is this good for anyone?  If two face mask wearers are both wearing unsanitary masks, they may marginally help others, but they're also increasing their own infection chances.  I fail to see how that's good for anyone.

[PatchesC]

Is Worlds of Fun just not that popular of a Cedar Fair park to begin with, or do you think the m@sk policy, reduced hours, no waterpark announcement, ect. has driven demand that far down? We're into day 2 of reservations released and only the 1st day has been fully booked up. This is what's still left for June 23rd. It just seems odd when I'm wondering if I'll manage to get any for KI or CP opening weekend.

[LuckyluvsKI]

Did they post any update on when the restart of payment plans would be? And if it just the same about and your months extend the 3 it was off or will all 3 be due to catch up first?

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

56 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

BGT looks to be taking Dennis Speigel's advice and waiting till next year.

Has BGT stated they are waiting til next year? I've always thought that since they are open all year that they can still open it at any time this year. 

[BeeastFarmer]

Ok, we are back to nitpicking masks.

Face coverings, masks, barriers, whatever we are calling them currently are in place to theoretically protect others.  A virus is so small it can get thru a bandana, surgical mask and standard mask.  But in the course of daily life, we excrete (sometimes rather forcefully) mucus and saliva, which is the transport media for the virus.  The theory is, if your mouth and nose are covered, the liquid portion of this will be contained in the mask.  So after about 30 minutes, most masks are saturated and in a clinical setting, they need to be changed.  This all went out the window a few months ago.  I have to wear a standard mask for about 13 hours a day when I am at work.  I follow the rules, one of which is to change it when it's moist or wet, which magically happens after 30 minutes.  So I go thru many masks a day, which can dwindle the supply if everyone follows the rule.

An amusement park or grocery store is not a clinical setting.  So in theory, the masks should stop the projectile fluids.

N95 masks--unless you have been fit tested in the previous 12 months, wearing an N95 mask gives you no further protection than a standard mask does, and will serve to the protect other theory.  Also of note--facial hair and N95 masks are incompatible.  These masks should be reserved for people on the "front lines."  There are still people being hospitalized for the virus.

Someone mentioned a surgeon touching his nose.  That issue is not so much about the mask, but about the gloves.  Sterile gloves are a big deal in procedures.  Because surgical masks are not considered sterile, if someone is doing a sterile procedure and touches the mask, they would have to stop, re-sterilize and begin again.  Same principle as if the surgeon had touched a bedsheet or bedrail. I wish I could find the M*A*S*H* clip with Hot Lips and Charles to illustrate this point.

Finally, my personal thoughts:  I think for the most part, the mask issue is superfluous.  But it is what Cedar Fair is doing.  If I want to go to the park, I will follow their wish.  I may not be perfect in my execution.  But I will try.  I am not militant anti-mask.  A Scripture comes to mind, and I hope this is not against TOS, I am not promoting one faith over another at all, but I think it is good life advice and even though I don't execute this principle very well every moment, it is good to think about when thinking about interactions with others:

Philippians 2:3,4:  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others as better than yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  (there is some specific words next which would violate TOS, so I am leaving those out).  Verse 14:  Do everything without complaining or grumbling.

 

 

[chibul]

16 minutes ago, PatchesC said:

Is Worlds of Fun just not that popular of a Cedar Fair park to begin with, or do you think the m@sk policy, reduced hours, no waterpark announcement, ect. has driven demand that far down? We're into day 2 of reservations released and only the 1st day has been fully booked up. This is what's still left for June 23rd. It just seems odd when I'm wondering if I'll manage to get any for KI or CP opening weekend.

This is what I'm wondering, and I think it's more that people are being cautious. This is a forum of enthusiasts and not representative of the public as a whole, even the passholding public. So I'm guessing demand will initially be very low.

[MoreFogPlease]

16 minutes ago, chibul said:

This is what I'm wondering, and I think it's more that people are being cautious. This is a forum of enthusiasts and not representative of the public as a whole, even the passholding public. So I'm guessing demand will initially be very low.

I think it depends on the park. I know it’s comparing apples to oranges, but when the Cincy Zoo opened up reservations, most of the spots were filled up pretty quickly for a few weeks out.

[IceePirate]

17 minutes ago, MoreFogPlease said:

I think it depends on the park. I know it’s comparing apples to oranges, but when the Cincy Zoo opened up reservations, most of the spots were filled up pretty quickly for a few weeks out.

Yeah, the first day booked up in about an hour. I actually could've gotten the last 2 spots for the entire day if I wanted to lol. I checked back on Wednesday and the next open date for a weekend is like the 20th with not that many spots left. I'm predicting that we will see the park fully booked for the first week of operations, and then another week or so when ticketing opens up. After that, pent up demand will likely have been satiated. We might not be seeing that many reservation spots from WoF because people can only reserve 1 day at a time. I think it's very likely that the people who go a couple days a week will take up the remaining spots after they had their day in the park.

[King Ding Dong]

1 hour ago, LuckyluvsKI said:

Did they post any update on when the restart of payment plans would be? And if it just the same about and your months extend the 3 it was off or will all 3 be due to catch up first?

I have not seen a new statement however going back to their old statements they said something to the effect of when the parks open you will need to be “current” on your payments in order to use the pass.  Since the payments were paused they will just continue where they left off and as long as your payment processes you will be “current”.  
 

Here is where it gets a little tricky with Platinum Passes.  Canada’s Wonderland is my Home Park this year and there is no announced opening date and my payments were paused (albeit about a month after the US parks paused).  So can I use it at CP and KI while the payments are still paused?  I assume so, I am current and if they wanted to process the last 2 payments they would go through.  
 

In hindsight I should have made manual payments in April and May as the exchange rate was even more favorable than it was before and has since crept back to its historical average.  I probably will get those last two payments in soon just in case things go south and wipe out the my savings by purchasing through CW.  

[CoasterFan3180]

Arnolds Park, a small boardwalk park in northwest Iowa which had already reopened, is temporarily closing again due to rising Covid-19 case numbers in the area. I’m afraid we might also see this happen at some other parks.

https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/arnolds-park-announces-temporary-closure-due-to-covid-19/article_ce456da2-c460-5a7c-8cbb-cc04ec8d2174.amp.html

[robintodd]

20 minutes ago, CoasterFan3180 said:

Arnolds Park, a small boardwalk park in northwest Iowa which had already reopened, is temporarily closing again due to rising Covid-19 case numbers in the area. I’m afraid we might also see this happen at some other parks.

https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/arnolds-park-announces-temporary-closure-due-to-covid-19/article_ce456da2-c460-5a7c-8cbb-cc04ec8d2174.amp.html

Just because someone had to look it up.  It stated on their website: Wearing masks or face coverings if you wish to do so (not a requirement for entrance).

[IndyGuy4KI]

Petition to end mask policy. I don't see this changing anything right now. I don't have a desire to wear a mask anymore than anyone else, but I still think it's the safest thing for the park and the guests.

https://www.wlwt.com/article/petition-circulates-to-nix-kings-islands-face-mask-policy/32849406

[SonofBaconator]

I was under the impression that the site is supposed to promote park policies and not argue them.

[standbyme]

35 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Petition to end mask policy. I don't see this changing anything right now. I don't have a desire to wear a mask anymore than anyone else, but I still think it's the safest thing for the park and the guests.

https://www.wlwt.com/article/petition-circulates-to-nix-kings-islands-face-mask-policy/32849406

They lost me at "Stand up for our rights!" 

[CoastersRZ]

4 hours ago, coaster sally said:

Its probably going to be hard for coney even to max out their limited capacity.  No one wants to go since rides are gone and people complaining of masks.

I was down at Coney for about an hour today doing some work for scheduling.  There were quite a few people at the pool today.  I don`t know if capacity was reached or not, but there was a nice group of people there.  I also wore a mask the entire time I was there.  It didn`t really bother me, but I wasn`t outside the entire time, or doing anything strenuous.

I would hope that KI`s hours will go to at least 8pm when they open.  I will be hard pressed to make it up to the park after work if they close at 7 like Worlds of Fun is.  I will likely have to take a vacation day to visit KI if I cannot get a reservation during a weekend.

[bjcolglazier]

35 minutes ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Petition to end mask policy. I don't see this changing anything right now. I don't have a desire to wear a mask anymore than anyone else, but I still think it's the safest thing for the park and the guests.

https://www.wlwt.com/article/petition-circulates-to-nix-kings-islands-face-mask-policy/32849406

Interesting. I don't know if it's safer or not, but I can do it most of the time and so will---as best I can. So many differing viewpoints and for differing health reasons. I think someone here wanted those who don't wear masks banned from the park. I assume he meant permanently. And then he followed that up by telling us he tried to wear a mask mowing his lawn and couldn't do it--had to hire a kid. I just hope everyone brave enough to attend the park puts their phones and judgement away and has a good time. And, perhaps most of all, I hope nobody gets sick because of their visit.

[IceePirate]

I would feel more comfortable if park guests would wear masks. My biggest issue is preventing my glasses from fogging though as I can never get the mask to fit just right. Trying to find solutions for it, but I could imagine that that's quite a significant amount of people's major concern.

[JubJester]

If the worst thing for some of you is simply having to wear a mask, I think your life is in good shape.

[King Ding Dong]

12 minutes ago, bjcolglazier said:

Interesting. I don't know if it's safer or not, but I can do it most of the time and so will---as best I can. So many differing viewpoints and for differing health reasons. I think someone here wanted those who don't wear masks banned from the park. I assume he meant permanently. And then he followed that up by telling us he tried to wear a mask mowing his lawn and couldn't do it--had to hire a kid. I just hope everyone brave enough to attend the park puts their phones and judgement away and has a good time. And, perhaps most of all, I hope nobody gets sick because of their visit.

I definitely would not recommend bringing your lawn mower to KI and mowing the grass. That very well may result in a ban.  Certainly not while wearing an N95 mask (that may upset @BeeastFarmer), but if you must a cloth mask should work fine.
 

Being a bit selective and disingenuous in your story telling today, eh BJ?

[bjcolglazier]

I just don't want militant King Ding Dong in my queue. But if you've just got allergies and can't wear a mask...get in line! It's okay.

[LuckyluvsKI]

2 hours ago, King Ding Dong said:

I have not seen a new statement however going back to their old statements they said something to the effect of when the parks open you will need to be “current” on your payments in order to use the pass.  Since the payments were paused they will just continue where they left off and as long as your payment processes you will be “current”.  
 

Here is where it gets a little tricky with Platinum Passes.  Canada’s Wonderland is my Home Park this year and there is no announced opening date and my payments were paused (albeit about a month after the US parks paused).  So can I use it at CP and KI while the payments are still paused?  I assume so, I am current and if they wanted to process the last 2 payments they would go through.  
 

In hindsight I should have made manual payments in April and May as the exchange rate was even more favorable than it was before and has since crept back to its historical average.  I probably will get those last two payments in soon just in case things go south and wipe out the my savings by purchasing through CW.  

Thanks! I'm hoping it just restarts s as normal then in July. I wish I had figured out manual payments might see if I can just pass it off early. 

[King Ding Dong]

Just now, LuckyluvsKI said:

Thanks! I'm hoping it just restarts s as normal then in July. I wish I had figured out manual payments might see if I can just pass it off early. 

Just log into the payment portal and you can make a payment there.

[chibul]

21 minutes ago, IceePirate said:

I would feel more comfortable if park guests would wear masks. My biggest issue is preventing my glasses from fogging though as I can never get the mask to fit just right. Trying to find solutions for it, but I could imagine that that's quite a significant amount of people's major concern.

Pro tip - take the upper part of the mask, and fold it over inside. Then put it on, and pinch the bridge of your nose while pulling the mask downward. Worked wonders for me (I use a surgical mask so I can't vouch for any other types).

[King Ding Dong]

35 minutes ago, IceePirate said:

I would feel more comfortable if park guests would wear masks. My biggest issue is preventing my glasses from fogging though as I can never get the mask to fit just right. Trying to find solutions for it, but I could imagine that that's quite a significant amount of people's major concern.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-keep-your-glasses-fog-free-while-wearing-a-mask/
 

I used to have a commercial product that worked wonders, it came in a small bottle and was like a paste, you could hold up your glasses to a humidifier and they wouldn’t fog.  Probably was some sort of soap base as I have used just straight dish soap and wiped it off well with a paper towel with no clarity issues.  
 

(I don’t think fogging is most people’s issue it is usually comfort or ideological)

17 minutes ago, bjcolglazier said:

I just don't want militant King Ding Dong in my queue. But if you've just got allergies and can't wear a mask...get in line! It's okay.

Awww.  Your so sweet.