Coronavirus Impacting Theme Parks

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Someone posted this video a few days ago, I don't really agree with what he said. 

 

[coaster sally]

If its on the internet it must be true.

 

 

2 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Someone posted this video a few days ago, I don't really agree with what he said. 

 

 

[bjcolglazier]

I neither agree or disagree with what was said in the video. Some of the points are potentially valid, we'll just have to wait and see. Any large venue whether it be a concert venue, a major sports venue or league, or an amusement park is hurting right now. I saw a fan video posted from Universal Orlando---granted it was right after they re-opened---but the park was desolate. They rely massively on tourism from around the globe, which makes it slightly different from KI. But when you combine the fear of Covid-19 combined with those concerned about people not wearing a mask and those who won't go if they do have to wear a mask...this not going to be a banner year for any park, and certainly not KI.

My family happens to enjoy Chuck E Cheese (haters gonna hate). But it's kind of the same thing. How do you protect guests to the nines, enforce a million rules, force people to do things they don't want to do (potentially throw them out), and then expect them to have an amazing time while they pay their hard-earned $ in what has become a crappy economy where one has to make really difficult decisions about where to spend their entertainment dollars?

It's ugly out there.

[bengalsguy23]

I would imagine even if Kings Island were to flip the script and say now no masks (they won't). About the same number of people that complained about the mask policy will complain about the lack of a mask policy and say they are not going.

[raggedman07]

Cool with me either way...less waiting.

[FreedomPenguin]

The mask situation is unfortunate. I was all excited to go, but screw mask. Not even interested in supporting KI Til they revoke that order myself. Sold my stock off too when it hit 40 few days ago. Bought in at 18. 
 

If someone’s concerned with covid. Wear a mask, it’s not my responsibility to keep you safe. It’s theirs to protect themselves. 
 

I would rather just get it. Get immunity and be done. Community immunity. If you’re old, and really unhealthy, stay at home. 

[chibul]

5 minutes ago, FreedomPenguin said:

The mask situation is unfortunate. I was all excited to go, but screw mask. Not even interested in supporting KI Til they revoke that order myself. Sold my stock off too when it hit 40 few days ago. Bought in at 18. 
 

If someone’s concerned with covid. Wear a mask, it’s not my responsibility to keep you safe. It’s theirs to protect themselves. 
 

I would rather just get it. Get immunity and be done. Community immunity. If you’re old, and really unhealthy, stay at home. 

You really don't understand how this virus works.

It's also really sad to see "it's not my responsibility"...we should all care about public health and look out for one another. 

Also, there's absolutely no evidence of "immunity" with this virus whatsoever.

[lifetimecoaster]

I read back a couple pages and got caught back up. For the folks awaiting their start dates to work at the park, I genuinely feel bad for you guys. As I've mentioned a few times in this thread, I've been working like nothing happened for the whole pandemic. We slowed way down for a while, and that felt safer to me, because we weren't packing the dealership full of people day in and day out. In the past 2 weeks, we've gone right back to normal daily numbers, and it's been a little less comfortable to have so many people making their way through here. That part alone is stressful. Add to that, people are indeed becoming meaner to their fellow man, and you actually have an even worse situation. I've been yelled at and cussed at because we are trying to structure our schedule around not having 10 people standing around in our tiny office at the same time, and it's been nothing but a fight. The whole "what do you mean I can't do what I want when I want" mentality is tiring. I can only hope for your sake that being in a fun environment will shape the attitudes a little bit. A little advice: keep your cool, don't let them get to you. Their ridiculousness isn't your battle. 

I'm still not exactly super happy about the idea of all of the signage everywhere about social distancing, much as some have stated about the virtue signaling, if I hear "social distancing" much more, I'm going to lose my mind. As far as the masks go, I've seen numerous posts on the Facebooks that says they are allowing people to wear neck gaiters. If that's the case, then go grab you one of those. That's what I wear at the climbing gym, and I can tell you 100%, that of the masks, it's the easiest, lightest, and stays put FAR better than much else of what I've tried. As an added bonus, if you get the bottom of it wet where it rests on your neck, it helps keep you cool. I got mine at REI for about 20 bucks. I highly recommend that route. I'm considering leaning towards at least 1 visit to KI this summer now that I've actually done strenuous exercise wearing it. It's not bad, other than it fogs my glasses all to hell. As to my first point however, I'm going to need to see a shift in humans prior to making my solid decision. I don't want to be in a park with angry evil people. That's something I have no desire to be involved with. 

[PatchesC]

Here's a few thoughts on this. KI will have a full week of Passholder previews, so they may be able to correlate what percentage the have already spent the money to come are willing to go under the current requirements.

The fact that Cedar Fair follows many IAAPA recommendations for safety and operations already, the mask requirement isn't that surprising because it was strongly recommended from them. 

The fact is Ohio required masks for a few specific sectors: salon customers, nursing home visitors, ect. It makes me question if it's a CF decision, or a government decision but either way doesn't matter at this point to me. 

[PatchesC]

20 minutes ago, lifetimecoaster said:

It's not bad, other than it fogs my glasses all to hell. As to my first point however, I'm going to need to see a shift in humans prior to making my solid decision. I don't want to be in a park with angry evil people. That's something I have no desire to be involved with. 

I ordered this off of Amazon that seems to work well for antifog. I've only had to apply it twice a week and doesn't leave the blurry film on it I've had with antifog wipes. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07PBCZ7C6?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

[lifetimecoaster]

6 minutes ago, PatchesC said:

Here's a few thoughts on this. KI will have a full week of Passholder previews, so they may be able to correlate what percentage the have already spent the money to come are willing to go under the current requirements.

The fact that Cedar Fair follows many IAAPA recommendations for safety and operations already, the mask requirement isn't that surprising because it was strongly recommended from them. 

The fact is Ohio required masks for a few specific sectors: salon customers, nursing home visitors, ect. It makes me question if it's a CF decision, or a government decision but either way doesn't matter at this point to me. 

 I would put my opinion at about 85% that it was Cedar Fair that decided it. I think you're from Indy too, but can't recall.... Here in Indy AMC theaters announced they would be opening, but wouldn't be requiring masks. There was an uproar over it, so they reversed the decision within hours of announcing it, there was an uproar from the other crowd. You can't make a good decision right now, so the best decision is always to err on the side of caution. That's what I think happened with Cedar Fair. "We will lose going left, we will lose going right, so lets veer towards the safest thing we can do, and face the backlash from those that aren't interested in the safe bet" 

[PatchesC]

1 minute ago, lifetimecoaster said:

 I would put my opinion at about 85% that it was Cedar Fair that decided it. I think you're from Indy too, but can't recall.... Here in Indy AMC theaters announced they would be opening, but wouldn't be requiring masks. There was an uproar over it, so they reversed the decision within hours of announcing it, there was an uproar from the other crowd. You can't make a good decision right now, so the best decision is always to err on the side of caution. That's what I think happened with Cedar Fair. "We will lose going left, we will lose going right, so lets veer towards the safest thing we can do, and face the backlash from those that aren't interested in the safe bet" 

I'm an hour south in Seymour, perfect spot to hit multiple amusement parks at least. People here are barely wearing masks and are more worried about "protests" and rumors of "thousands" of people lately. (Small town paranoia)

[lifetimecoaster]

19 minutes ago, PatchesC said:

I'm an hour south in Seymour, perfect spot to hit multiple amusement parks at least. People here are barely wearing masks and are more worried about "protests" and rumors of "thousands" of people lately. (Small town paranoia)

Trust me, it's not a lot better up here in big city paranoia land. It's easy to get sucked into the anger and ridiculousness. 

BTW, thanks for the pointer on the glasses fog spray!! I need to get some of that, because more often than not, I climb without my glasses on, and that's not super easy to do blind!! 

[SnakePlissken]

41 minutes ago, lifetimecoaster said:

 I would put my opinion at about 85% that it was Cedar Fair that decided it. I think you're from Indy too, but can't recall.... Here in Indy AMC theaters announced they would be opening, but wouldn't be requiring masks. There was an uproar over it, so they reversed the decision within hours of announcing it, there was an uproar from the other crowd. You can't make a good decision right now, so the best decision is always to err on the side of caution. That's what I think happened with Cedar Fair. "We will lose going left, we will lose going right, so lets veer towards the safest thing we can do, and face the backlash from those that aren't interested in the safe bet" 

I still dont see how they expect you to eat popcorn and drink soda with a mask on. I can understand requiring masks in the lobby but in your seat watching the movie is absurd. 

[lifetimecoaster]

1 minute ago, SnakePlissken said:

I still dont see how they expect you to eat popcorn and drink soda with a mask on. I can understand requiring masks in the lobby but in your seat watching the movie is absurd. 

I think it will end up being detrimental to their bottom line for sure. They make absurd profit on the snacks and drinks at the movie theater, but I'm certain there are going to be provisions for removal of the masks for drinking and eating. 

[chibul]

1 minute ago, lifetimecoaster said:

I think it will end up being detrimental to their bottom line for sure. They make absurd profit on the snacks and drinks at the movie theater, but I'm certain there are going to be provisions for removal of the masks for drinking and eating. 

Which of course will then defeat the purpose.

Shifting gears...I'm pretty confident today is reservation day. 11 days before the park opens...which is when World of Fun's reservations went live.

[teenageninja]

23 hours ago, flightoffear1996 said:

People who are worried about cloth mask should ask some of the characters who walk around deal with the heat. 

Not sure if the policy is still the same, but the characters would only walk around for 15 minutes at a time, then have at a minimum of 15 minutes of break in the cool before going back out.

[IceePirate]

1 hour ago, lifetimecoaster said:

I think it will end up being detrimental to their bottom line for sure. They make absurd profit on the snacks and drinks at the movie theater, but I'm certain there are going to be provisions for removal of the masks for drinking and eating. 

Hey, from your earlier post, I would like to wear a neck gaiter or even surgical mask, but the park made their blue masks as apart of our uniform. They're kinda terrible cloth masks tbh, and we can't bring our own

[flightoffear1996]

Is the park going to offer mask to buy?  What if you lose your mask or what if it gets ruined?

[chibul]

7 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:

Is the park going to offer mask to buy?  What if you lose your mask or what if it gets ruined?

I would plan to bring extras. That's what we're doing.

[lifetimecoaster]

13 minutes ago, IceePirate said:

Hey, from your earlier post, I would like to wear a neck gaiter or even surgical mask, but the park made their blue masks as apart of our uniform. They're kinda terrible cloth masks tbh, and we can't bring our own

That's not ideal for sure, but I suppose it could be worse... somehow it could be worse. 

[robintodd]

2 hours ago, lifetimecoaster said:

I read back a couple pages and got caught back up. For the folks awaiting their start dates to work at the park, I genuinely feel bad for you guys. As I've mentioned a few times in this thread, I've been working like nothing happened for the whole pandemic. We slowed way down for a while, and that felt safer to me, because we weren't packing the dealership full of people day in and day out. In the past 2 weeks, we've gone right back to normal daily numbers, and it's been a little less comfortable to have so many people making their way through here. That part alone is stressful. Add to that, people are indeed becoming meaner to their fellow man, and you actually have an even worse situation. I've been yelled at and cussed at because we are trying to structure our schedule around not having 10 people standing around in our tiny office at the same time, and it's been nothing but a fight. The whole "what do you mean I can't do what I want when I want" mentality is tiring. I can only hope for your sake that being in a fun environment will shape the attitudes a little bit. A little advice: keep your cool, don't let them get to you. Their ridiculousness isn't your battle. 

I'm still not exactly super happy about the idea of all of the signage everywhere about social distancing, much as some have stated about the virtue signaling, if I hear "social distancing" much more, I'm going to lose my mind. As far as the masks go, I've seen numerous posts on the Facebooks that says they are allowing people to wear neck gaiters. If that's the case, then go grab you one of those. That's what I wear at the climbing gym, and I can tell you 100%, that of the masks, it's the easiest, lightest, and stays put FAR better than much else of what I've tried. As an added bonus, if you get the bottom of it wet where it rests on your neck, it helps keep you cool. I got mine at REI for about 20 bucks. I highly recommend that route. I'm considering leaning towards at least 1 visit to KI this summer now that I've actually done strenuous exercise wearing it. It's not bad, other than it fogs my glasses all to hell. As to my first point however, I'm going to need to see a shift in humans prior to making my solid decision. I don't want to be in a park with angry evil people. That's something I have no desire to be involved with. 

My wife heard a tip to put a napkin between the mask and the bridge of your nose.  That way the napkin will soak up the moisture and your glasses won't fog.

[jimlaheyscar]

I've now been to a mask park (SFoG) and a non-mask park (Holiday World).  I'll do either to ride coasters and have a good day. But, HW was a lot more comfortable.  It was like visiting a normal amusement park.

 

[robintodd]

17 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:

Is the park going to offer mask to buy?  What if you lose your mask or what if it gets ruined?

I believe Universal is selling masks for $6 or 3 for $15.  Hopefully CF will follow suit (I would love a Beast one.  Plus Cedar Point can make a 150 year anniversary mask.  I would buy one just as a collectors item.

https://allears.net/2020/05/14/news-universal-orlando-selling-hand-sanitizer-and-face-masks-at-its-retail-locations/

[chibul]

5 minutes ago, robintodd said:

My wife heard a tip to put a napkin between the mask and the bridge of your nose.  That way the napkin will soak up the moisture and your glasses won't fog.

One thing that's helped me is a tip I learned from a friend - fold the upper part of the mask down slightly, pull the bottom down (over your mouth, as you normally would) and then put your glasses on. Reduces the fog for me significantly.

[lifetimecoaster]

Just now, robintodd said:

My wife heard a tip to put a napkin between the mask and the bridge of your nose.  That way the napkin will soak up the moisture and your glasses won't fog.

That sounds like another interesting tip!! I frankly have more than enough trouble with just the neck gaiter. I have some pretty severe anxiety inducing claustrophobia, so just wearing the mask is enough, adding more layers may make it worse. 

 

If I may too.... I'm off on another point right now, I saw over the weekend that there were some folks posting pics from other parks that have opened already complaining because social distancing was not being followed. Look guys, I know that the new thing is putting people and places on blast for not adhering to guidelines... but please just don't. We are finally reaching a point where the parks can open. We are finally reaching a time where we are being able to have a little fun, don't get the parks shut back down after their first weekend by sharing these pictures online and drawing attention to the fact. 

[chibul]

6 minutes ago, lifetimecoaster said:

That sounds like another interesting tip!! I frankly have more than enough trouble with just the neck gaiter. I have some pretty severe anxiety inducing claustrophobia, so just wearing the mask is enough, adding more layers may make it worse. 

 

If I may too.... I'm off on another point right now, I saw over the weekend that there were some folks posting pics from other parks that have opened already complaining because social distancing was not being followed. Look guys, I know that the new thing is putting people and places on blast for not adhering to guidelines... but please just don't. We are finally reaching a point where the parks can open. We are finally reaching a time where we are being able to have a little fun, don't get the parks shut back down after their first weekend by sharing these pictures online and drawing attention to the fact. 

See, I can't agree with that. If parks aren't doing their part to enforce social distancing (which is even more important than masks), people need to know about that. 

[FreedomPenguin]

3 hours ago, chibul said:

You really don't understand how this virus works.

It's also really sad to see "it's not my responsibility"...we should all care about public health and look out for one another. 

Also, there's absolutely no evidence of "immunity" with this virus whatsoever.

I simply do not care. The fact that it’s making places wear mask is annoying. I’m not wearing one, so I’m not going. Those who complain about others not wearing one should just worry about themselves. 

[lifetimecoaster]

11 minutes ago, chibul said:

See, I can't agree with that. If parks aren't doing their part to enforce social distancing (which is even more important than masks), people need to know about that. 

 I get both ends of this argument, but we are all intelligent enough to know by now how the general population of our country is behaving in regards to the pandemic. You and I both know that some will abide by the guidelines, some wont. What ends up happening when you start going all "Karen" on social media is that it draws the attention of the folks that have the authority to say "shut it back down, they aren't following the rules."

[Joshua]

2 hours ago, lifetimecoaster said:

We will lose going left, we will lose going right, so lets veer towards the safest thing we can do

Which is the unfortunate part. Public health shouldn't be a political issue. Heck, it's not even an American issue. It's an everybody issue.