Coronavirus Impacting Theme Parks

[BeeastFarmer]

2 hours ago, jimlaheyscar said:

Everywhere here has them. Kroger, Walgreens, Publix, walmart. The shot is free no matter where you go. Sounds like you should just take care of yourself and sign up somewhere else.

That's not entirely true--the vaccine itself is "free" (funded by the taxpayers), but the entity administering it may charge an administrative fee.  Most places do not, but some do.  

@SnakePlissken, I don't want to contradict your employer, and I don't know the circumstances, but in KY, there is no mandated place to get it.  Local health departments, private pharmacies, chain pharmacies and super sites are all open for anyone over 60 (or maybe 50 here) and first responders/health care workers were first on the list.  It is not acceptable that as a first responder who puts himself in harms way, that you have not had an opportunity to get one of the vaccines.  Speaking of first responders, have you checked out Firstnet phone service?  It's a banging deal and I love my service.  It was opened up for nurses about a year ago and I haven't looked back--excellent service at a very affordable rate.  

 

[SnakePlissken]

I scheduled my first shot for April 2.

[CoastersRZ]

I just received the first dose of my vaccine.  Second one is scheduled for April 14th.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

1 hour ago, CoastersRZ said:

I just received the first dose of my vaccine.  Second one is scheduled for April 14th.

Good luck with the side effects! Just know that it means the vaccine is working and that it'll help in the long run. 

[robintodd]

4 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

I just received the first dose of my vaccine.  Second one is scheduled for April 14th.

Got my second 2 Friday's ago (pfizer).  Arm was sore the next day and I ran a 99.9 temp for 6 hours starting 30 hours after the injection.  Wasn't sore or anything, just planned on taking it easy.  1 hour after I broke the temp I felt great.  My wife had maderna and after her 2nd got a 99 temp starting 18 hours after the injection for about 8 hours, then fine.  

Just plan on taking it easy and have a blanket on hand if you're subject to getting the chills.

[SnakePlissken]

3 hours ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Good luck with the side effects! Just know that it means the vaccine is working and that it'll help in the long run. 

That is why I scheduled it for my day off.

[flightoffear1996]

I got my first one and still need to schedule my 2nd one.  My arm was sore for about a 10 but not anything different than a flew shot.

[bengals fan]

my first shot  i had sore arm for two days then one day of itching.  after second doe sore arm three days then one day of itching.

[Cedar Fair Fanboy]

^ so that's 5 days of side affects if you got 2 shots

[bengals fan]

1 hour ago, Cedar Fair Fanboy said:

^ so that's 5 days of side affects if you got 2 shots

if you include the 2 days of itching it will be 7 total days. itching is one possible side effect.

 

.  .

[jimlaheyscar]

Man, parks have been slammed this spring.  It's great to see business booming.  I think it's going to be a big year with lots of busy days at parks across the country.  

[SnakePlissken]

Parks down south are slammed due to spring break and maybe due to some seasonal parks delaying openings.

[Snowball]

I definitely think KI will be slammed when they open. Every entertainment-type venue that I've been to lately has been absolutely slammed, even bowling alleys. Went to TopGolf this morning and it had a 3 hour wait at 10:30am on a Sunday.

[JimParker85]

CF parks, ALL opening way late and with short weekend only hours are going to be nightmare busy if they get good weather. Think about Carowinds. Opening 2 months late, all other Southern parks are slammed right now. Silver Dollar City has been begging people on social media to show up early or stay away until evening and increasing hours. Crazy pent up demand. 

And if Cedar Fair decides to keep the half full trains and 30 minute cleaning cycles... Look out. (SF and Herschend are filling trains)

We are planning for our first KI trip of the season to be over Memorial Day. Even with our all season Fast Lane, I'm preparing for it to be about as busy as I've ever seen the park in a non-Haunt setting. 

 

[SnakePlissken]

6 hours ago, JimParker85 said:

CF parks, ALL opening way late and with short weekend only hours are going to be nightmare busy if they get good weather. Think about Carowinds. Opening 2 months late, all other Southern parks are slammed right now. Silver Dollar City has been begging people on social media to show up early or stay away until evening and increasing hours. Crazy pent up demand. 

And if Cedar Fair decides to keep the half full trains and 30 minute cleaning cycles... Look out. (SF and Herschend are filling trains)

We are planning for our first KI trip of the season to be over Memorial Day. Even with our all season Fast Lane, I'm preparing for it to be about as busy as I've ever seen the park in a non-Haunt setting. 

 

It is not just Cedar Fair. Parks like Kennywood and Kentucky Kingdom have rather bad operating calendars this summer. Kennywood is closed every Monday and Tuesday all summer, closing at 7pm every night except a few Saturdays. Kentucky Kingdom has no days where they stay open past 8pm and closed almost every weekday and Friday in August. No Night rides at all. Dollywood closes at 6pm right now on weekdays. When Hershey opens it is 7pm and 8pm closes all summer. No night rides there either.

[JimParker85]

That Hersheypark calendar is rough. We've got 2020 season passes that are good until June 30 of this year. If they get Storm Runner open we will make one trip back before they expire. Such a fun vibe there at night, the 7pm close is a downer. Kennywood I'm staying away until I see Steel Curtain actually operate. I wonder if we'll see any other parks add hours as SDC has. 

[SnakePlissken]

1 hour ago, JimParker85 said:

That Hersheypark calendar is rough. We've got 2020 season passes that are good until June 30 of this year. If they get Storm Runner open we will make one trip back before they expire. Such a fun vibe there at night, the 7pm close is a downer. Kennywood I'm staying away until I see Steel Curtain actually operate. I wonder if we'll see any other parks add hours as SDC has. 

I'm a firsttime Hershey passholder. Did they always close that early in the spring and summer?

Also I would go to Kennywood just for Phantoms Revenge but I understand how bad the park owners have been fumbling the ball on everything the past couple years. So unless some big changes happen there is no way I would buy a pass there.

[coaster sally]

Park calendars are SUBJECT TO CHANGE.  Like has been stated SDC has increased hours already.  I love Hersheypark, yes its magical at night.  I will wait to make my visit to kennywood till the big two are up and running.

We probably won't bother with any CF parks except maybe coasterstock this year since we are traveling to ride the big 5 New coasters opening this year and going to Hawaii.

[JimParker85]

Under pre Covid operations, Hershey mostly closed at 9 or 10pm after Springtime in the Park. Even last season they opened with a 10am to 9pm schedule, we were there the week after July 4. However, demand at the start of last season was low, even with Candymonium opening. So they reduced hours to the 7pm close by mid July. CP and KI found similar soft demand last July and ended up with much smaller August calendars, in the case of CP about half the operating days as normal. 

A lot of these parks are being very conservative with the calendar. In CF's situation it's clearly a money saving measure (by their own admission) so I'm skeptical that we'll see operating hours increase even if the demand is high. 

[silver2005]

15 hours ago, JimParker85 said:

That Hersheypark calendar is rough. We've got 2020 season passes that are good until June 30 of this year. If they get Storm Runner open we will make one trip back before they expire. Such a fun vibe there at night, the 7pm close is a downer. Kennywood I'm staying away until I see Steel Curtain actually operate. I wonder if we'll see any other parks add hours as SDC has. 

I'm in the process of choosing a trip between PA/NJ and NC/TN and with that, the NC/TN trip is getting a bump. 

[JimParker85]

Ontario is going into a full lockdown for 28 days. Wonderland had an amazing, beyond- expectations-great 2019. Yukon a huge hit, WinterFest PACKED even with challenging weather. Hotel on the way (now cancelled). Now the real possibility of losing 2 full years at North America's highest attendance seasonal park. Awful. My home park, I miss it very much. 

I know it's still early in the year, but it's gotten pretty bad in Canada. I'm getting my second vaccine shot on Friday. For many in Ontario, there is no chance to get one anytime soon. 

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

35 minutes ago, JimParker85 said:

Ontario is going into a full lockdown for 28 days. Wonderland had an amazing, beyond- expectations-great 2019. Yukon a huge hit, WinterFest PACKED even with challenging weather. Hotel on the way (now cancelled). Now the real possibility of losing 2 full years at North America's highest attendance seasonal park. Awful. My home park, I miss it very much. 

I know it's still early in the year, but it's gotten pretty bad in Canada. I'm getting my second vaccine shot on Friday. For many in Ontario, there is no chance to get one anytime soon. 

Ik Canada's Wonderland is being used as a mass vaccination site. Wonder if they're being paid any sort of money to do it. In terms of the park itself, it has yet to make any sort of announcement, but I do believe wonderland will be the last park in the chain to open their gates again knowing how things are in Canada and how they view theme parks there. If they can't open this year, I'm kinda scared for their future bc I don't know how they can survive staying closed for 2 summers. Unless they get some sort of recovery payment from the government, they need to look for ways to make some sort of revenue or 2019 may have been their final season. Maybe hosting some drive thru holiday events in the fall/winter like Six Flags did. 

[JimParker85]

They did actually set May 14 as the open date, but I'd be shocked if they open in May now. Ontario's minister of tourism and culture tweeted out some cold water about the park's ability to open the day after they sent out the reopening info to passholders, so I've been skeptical throughout. It just sucks. We're hoping to visit our first parks this year in late April, but I'm very worried for my home park. 

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

18 minutes ago, JimParker85 said:

They did actually set May 14 as the open date, but I'd be shocked if they open in May now. Ontario's minister of tourism and culture tweeted out some cold water about the park's ability to open the day after they sent out the reopening info to passholders, so I've been skeptical throughout. It just sucks. We're hoping to visit our first parks this year in late April, but I'm very worried for my home park. 

Ik I find it ridiculous since parks have been open for the past 6+ months and hasn't had one outbreak traced back to them. In fact, CF even stated that they haven't had one case traced back to them. It's just that some government officials don't understand that and continue to play around and continue to think that theme parks are dangerous when the data proves that if you operate with proper protocols ie mandatory masks, social distancing, reduced capacity etc they are completely safe. I don't want to get into politics though since it isn't allowed in here. I think if Canada's Wonderland can't get open by July they need to file a lawsuit against Ontario (Idk how that works in Canada), but it worked here in Ohio.

[silver2005]

So, I got part 1 of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday.  I have a auto-immune programmed immune system, just without the organ my body was auto-immuning, so it hits viruses and the like pretty hard from the get go.  As expected for me, I did get a little sick, but only mild achiness and head grogginess.  If I had to work today, I probably would have.  

Just throwing this out there in case anyone here has someone affected by auto immune disorders and wants to know how they may affect them, albeit anecdotally.  

[bengals fan]

these ads have been running on Cincinnati TV.     

 

[chad_1138]

Disney World is allowing outdoor maskless photos beginning tomorrow (actually have started today).

https://wdwnt.com/2021/04/update-photopass-photographers-allowing-guests-to-remove-masks-for-photos-today/

[SOBwasaSOB]

Got my first phizer shot today and so far experiencing only a slightly sore arm.

[IndyGuy4KI]

Official Announcement from Knotts on their reopening.

https://www.knotts.com/park-update

Quote

It’s official: Knott's Berry Farm is reopening its gates next month as the theme park safely resumes regular operations with limited capacity and new reservation requirements. The park will reopen to season passholders May 6, with plans for a grand reopening to the general public on May 21 for a summer-long, Knott’s 100th Anniversary Celebration. "The Knott's Family Reunion" looks to reunite family and friends in a safe and fun environment after a year-long closure due to COVID-19.

 

[jimlaheyscar]

In other park news, Dollywood has moved to masks only while indoors and no more temp checks, effective today.