Coronavirus Impacting Theme Parks

[coaster sally]

9 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

I agree completely. I don't see the park opening up anytime soon. Its not worth risking the health of employees or guests especially if there's still a need to continue practicing social distancing. Sports leagues keep pushing their opening days back every month. 

Unless there's a steep drop in cases and an increase in people recovering, I don't see the park opening back up anytime soon.

You need to have a vaccine available.

[BeeastFarmer]

You need to have a vaccine available.

What does a vaccine have to do with his post? He didn't state that there isn't a need for a vaccine.

If be very concerned with a rushed vaccine.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[King Ding Dong]

The photo in this Dispatch article on the protests at the Statehouse today looks like the beginning of every zombie movie ever made.

https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200413/gop-lawmakers-protesters-call-on-dewine-to-begin-re-opening-ohio

[Joshua]

45 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

The photo in this Dispatch article on the protests at the Statehouse today looks like the beginning of every zombie movie ever made.

https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200413/gop-lawmakers-protesters-call-on-dewine-to-begin-re-opening-ohio

Michigan's protestors are carrying assault rifles. I'm sure they see themselves as "protecting our freedoms," or something like that, but frankly, their getup makes them look like the radical terrorists you fight against in Call of Duty. It's... not a good look.

[SonofBaconator]

^ All I can see is that on a Pure Michigan commerical with the music on in the background

[Joshua]

Ohio vs. Michigan games will have a different feel, that's for sure!

[King Ding Dong]

The Confederate battle flags at the Michigan protests were puzzling on several different levels.  

[PatchesC]

28 minutes ago, Joshua said:

Michigan's protestors are carrying assault rifles. I'm sure they see themselves as "protecting our freedoms," or something like that, but frankly, their getup makes them look like the radical terrorists you fight against in Call of Duty. It's... not a good look.

Honestly it's pictures like this that make me want to avoid even going to essential places when I need to. 

[Joshua]

1 hour ago, PatchesC said:

Honestly it's pictures like this that make me want to avoid even going to essential places when I need to. 

I've noticed an uptick in crazy drivers lately and last week, on my way into Wal-Mart, some lady who was parked on the curb, was sticking her head out and screaming at me. Why? I have no idea. My guess is because I was wearing a mask? 

[PatchesC]

47 minutes ago, Joshua said:

I've noticed an uptick in crazy drivers lately and last week, on my way into Wal-Mart, some lady who was parked on the curb, was sticking her head out and screaming at me. Why? I have no idea. My guess is, because I was wearing a mask? 

I've already been tailed by a lady and yelled for having my 11yo in my car when "she shouldn't even be in public". This was after I had picked her up from her dads and stopped at the gas station to refill. I went in by myself and got us sodas while having to prepay for gas. 

[bjcolglazier]

The posts above and general gut feeling have me convinced that as soon as the temperatures in the midwest are running +70-degrees on a daily basis, a VERY large number of people are going to say, "Awe, the hell with this." (staying home). That may or may not be a bad thing---time will tell. But I don't think governor's are going to have much choice for much longer but to tell the people the potential dangers, and let the chips fall. 

[disco2000]

1 minute ago, PatchesC said:

I've already been tailed by a lady and yelled for having my 11yo in my car when "she shouldn't even be in public". This was after I had picked her up from her dads and stopped at the gas station to refill. I went in by myself and got us sodas while having to prepay for gas. 

And these same Nosy Nancy's would be the ones reporting to the authorities the social distancing violations at an amusement park, shutting the whole place down....

They did that at the tennis court at the park.  Walking trail slammed with people but that is no problem, but two people playing tennis well beyond 6 feet apart got in trouble...I can think of a few people that would be watching KI very carefully...

[Thabto]

We live in an ass-backwards world when it's ok to cram 1000+ people into Walmart but not ok for a small family to go camping at a local campground, one of the most social distance friendly activities out there. 

[lifetimecoaster]

10 hours ago, disco2000 said:

And these same Nosy Nancy's would be the ones reporting to the authorities the social distancing violations at an amusement park, shutting the whole place down....

They did that at the tennis court at the park.  Walking trail slammed with people but that is no problem, but two people playing tennis well beyond 6 feet apart got in trouble...I can think of a few people that would be watching KI very carefully...

 Here in Indianapolis we've already experienced this. The mountain bike trail I regularly ride at almost got shut down... and it wasn't because of what you'd think. Part of what has been asked of people is to do your outdoor activities, socially distant. I have no issue with that. I'm cruising through on a bike at a fairly decent rate of speed. It's not often I'm close to much of anyone on my bike. Our own group (the mountain bikers) were calling into Indy parks and complaining, not because of people not being socially distant, but because the trail was too crowded with hikers. It is a multi use trail, hikers, runners, bikers, families, all can use it for their enjoyment. It's very close to a lot of populous here in Indy, when you're asked to not travel far for your outdoor activities, you're going to use the closest location. Our own group almost got the place shut down because they couldn't race through as fast as possible because people were out hiking with their kids. It's disgusting to me what this has done to society as a whole. People are mean, that's a fact, but it's gotten so far worse with all of this. I do not look forward to the general attitude of humans when things open back up and start looking more normal. 

 

[King Ding Dong]

 

Americans' Readiness to Return to Normal Activities

Once government restrictions on social contact are lifted and businesses and schools start to reopen, how quickly do you think you would return to your normal activities, including interacting with people in public?

	March 27-29	April 3-5
	%	%
Immediately	22	20
Wait to see what happens with the coronavirus before resuming	69	71
Continue to limit your contact with other people and daily activities indefinitely	9	10
GALLUP PANEL, 2020

https://news.gallup.com/poll/308264/americans-remain-risk-averse-getting-back-normal.aspx

[LuckyluvsKI]

I plan to go out and resume depending what opens. Why? Because l nothing in life is promised and if it isn’t a virus it’ll be something else as death is inevitable for all we just try to feel like we can control it.

 And only you can decide for yourself what you want to fear.  I also am a reasonable adult in that i have done the so far 5 week at home order and if i felt like i had anything I’d stay home. You never be able to fully escape from it unless you have a fully stocked bunker and never go out. Asymptomatic people can’t be blamed if you have no idea without adequate testing is not really in your control except to participating in the social distancing that we have done.  
 

like it’s been said before you have a higher chance dying in your way to the theme park than at the theme park do you stop driving? Life is unpredictable, live while you can. 
 

[King Ding Dong]

13 hours ago, Thabto said:

We live in an ass-backwards world when it's ok to cram 1000+ people into Walmart but not ok for a small family to go camping at a local campground, one of the most social distance friendly activities out there. 

 

Do you have a source that claims a Walmart is violating corporate policy (as previously posted in this thread)and allowing more than 5 customers per 1000 feet?

Nice promotional photo of a RV campground. Sure doesn’t look like any I have seen, they pack those pads in tight.

https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2020/04/03/changes-to-our-shopping-process-to-encourage-social-distancing

[Thabto]

My sister works for a Walmart in the Canton area and she said they haven't made their aisles one way. Maybe that has changed since last week. But I don't want to enter the store and see for myself. And even with 5 people per 1000 square feet as big as the stores are, that still allows up to 1,000+ people and likely a good percentage of them are going to the grocery department. I know in some states, they blocked off the non-essential departments. The only store I feel is doing crowd control right is Home Depot. 100 per store regardless of store size. 

[Kenban]

14 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

Do you have a source that claims a Walmart is violating corporate policy (as previously posted in this thread)and allowing more than 5 customers per 1000 feet?

No need to violate policy to get more than a thousand people in a Walmart, the average size for one of their super stores is 180k square feet, they even come larger the biggest is in New York and is 250-260k square feet.  Which means 1250 customers, even the average store is 900 people.

[King Ding Dong]

And that is considered a “cram”?

[Rivertown Rider]

One of the things I have been wondering is if theme parks reconsider queue design and also the amount of restroom facilities. 

While KI is in relatively good shape on the restroom component, it probably wouldn't hurt to have another restroom between The Beast and the train station, another one closer to the Eiffel Tower, and of course one in Area 72 (since we haven't had that officially confirmed).  Obviously there are costs associated with that, but it makes sense to have more.

[Joshua]

The Wal-Mart near Bridgewater doesn't appear to have converted to "one way aisles" and there were very few signs of social distancing when I visited today. Clusters of families and teenagers were shopping, very few customers and employees were wearing masks, and large masses were clogging the beverage aisle and the grocery side U-Scan. No preventable measures seem to have been taken to protect their employees or their customers. 

 

[jimlaheyscar]

32 minutes ago, Joshua said:

The Wal-Mart near Bridgewater doesn't appear to have converted to "one way aisles" and there were very few signs of social distancing when I visited today. Clusters of families and teenagers were shopping, very few customers and employees were wearing masks, and large masses were clogging the beverage aisle and the grocery side U-Scan. No preventable measures seem to have been taken to protect their employees or their customers. 

 

That's really strange.  Walmart I visit here in East TN is also right next to a "Bridgewater" road.  

No one way isles here.  More and more people with masks each day I visit.  Plenty of customers don't seem to care, plenty do.  They are counting people entering and leaving, but I haven't seen a line form at any point.  I end up at Walmart every day or two picking up groceries for me or family/neighbors.  They close the non-grocery doors an hour earlier than the other doors but no sections are closed.

Lowes continues to be busy every time I visit.  We've been redoing our kitchen and staining our deck.  Like normal, I keep needing something else and run back down there.  Best Buy next door is pickup only.

 

 

 

[Joshua]

Just now, jimlaheyscar said:

That's really strange.  Walmart I visit here in East TN is also right next to a "Bridgewater" road.  

The Wal-Mart I speak of is in Ohio, by an outdoor shopping center called Bridgewater Falls. 

[medford]

I think Dewine just all but officially put the death sentence on an early-mid summer opening for KI or Cedar Pointe.

Question came up about fairs, concerts, etc...  Not specifically KI, but w/n the same vain as a fair and his comment was that those type of places would be the last to be open.

Not official, and he left room for things to change (ie a vaccine, my words not his) but not looking good.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Here's some good news, DeWine will try and restart the economy on May 1st. Keep in mind that it's a process and that won't be the "day everything reopens." In fact, the process will likely be a reverse of the process to shut down the state. Which does in fact mean, parks and large gatherings will be the last to resume/reopen. Also, remember when things do open, it won't be like before where you can just go, they'll have measures in place and you'll likely have to wear a mask. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a wear mask order is on its way based on what some states are doing. 

https://www.wkyc.com/mobile/article/news/health/coronavirus/gov-mike-dewine-ohio-looking-to-restart-economy-on-may-1/95-c933626b-da9e-4588-9dd4-50eec2cb9814

[Benjamin22]

48 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Here's some good news, DeWine will try and restart the economy on May 1st. Keep in mind that it's a process and that won't be the "day everything reopens." In fact, the process will likely be a reverse of the process to shut down the state. Which does in fact mean, parks and large gatherings will be the last to resume/reopen. Also, remember when things do open, it won't be like before where you can just go, they'll have measures in place and you'll likely have to wear a mask. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if a wear mask order is on its way based on what some states are doing. 

https://www.wkyc.com/mobile/article/news/health/coronavirus/gov-mike-dewine-ohio-looking-to-restart-economy-on-may-1/95-c933626b-da9e-4588-9dd4-50eec2cb9814

I’m not even sure that’s really good news, it seems a bit premature considering we still lack testing to the scale needed to start reopening.

[homestar92]

44 minutes ago, Benjamin22 said:

I’m not even sure that’s really good news, it seems a bit premature considering we still lack testing to the scale needed to start reopening.

Much like Thanos, it was inevitable. John Husted said yesterday that unemployment would become insolvent at the current pace by June 1st. And under Ohio law, we have to balance the budget, which rules out borrowing money. Getting tax money coming in and reducing the amount of unemployment going out is the only way we can really fix that, so to an extent, the restrictions had to be let up somewhat by that point in order to not have people starving to death due to running out of food and money. If people are not working AND unemployment has no money to give out, people WILL starve. And while gambling with the virus isn't a great solution, it is a scientifically verifiable fact that people won't be able to survive if they can't eat.

It sounds as if it will be a slow process with select sectors of the economy opening with a few weeks in between to evaluate numbers. The first to reopen would likely be places where social distancing guidelines can be readily accommodated. Since restaurants, theme parks, etc are high risk. I don't expect them to open until close to the end. Since manufacturing jobs are "essential" and are thus still working, and office jobs are mostly working from home (meaning allowing them to work in person would go nowhere in solving this problem), my GUESS is that the jobs that will start back up would be non-essential retail. Arguably specialty stores like electronics stores, craft stores, book stores, etc are much better suited for social distancing than grocery stores are, so this seems like the logical first step.

 

He also made a comment about meeting with superintendents that seems to imply that the plan is to not have students go back to in-person classes this academic year.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Cedar Fair Outlines Measures Taken in Response to COVID-19

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cedar-fair-outlines-measures-taken-200500921.html

[disco2000]

23 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

Cedar Fair Outlines Measures Taken in Response to COVID-19

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cedar-fair-outlines-measures-taken-200500921.html

A couple of nuggets from the FUN press release:

• Reduce its capital spending for calendar year 2020, including the suspension of at least $75-100 million of non-essential capital projects planned for the 2020 and 2021 operating seasons. The Company now anticipates spending $85-100 million on capital improvements in calendar year 2020.  So all new for 2021 may become all new for 2022...
• Should the park closures extend later into the year, the Company is prepared to activate additional cost-cutting and cash-savings measures. The Company is also taking steps to secure additional liquidity and address any potential debt covenant issues, in the event that the COVID-19 crisis continues.

In contrast, SIX said they were:

• Eliminating at least $30-40 million of additional non-labor operating costs in 2020, including the increased investments the company announced in its fourth quarter 2019 earnings release to improve the guest experiences.  Some 2020 anticipated attractions may get moved to 2021 (they were silent on what these expenditures were for).  But like FUN, probably all new for 2021 may become all new for 2022 as they have to slide capital projects back a year...
• At this time, the company believes it has sufficient liquidity to meet its cash obligations until the opening of the 2021 operating season

A lot of what they announced are comparable...reducing costs, reductions in salaries, etc.

What is interesting is based on the statements, it appears SIX is in better position financially to make it until the 2021 operating season if they stay closed all year; whereas FUN has alluded to they are taking steps to secure additional liquidity if the closures extend later into the year.  Now a lot can be interpreted from that statement.  It could be that SIX has more cash on hand or access to it, OR it could be FUN has their cash tied up in investments that they will look to sell off or will look to take on more debt, OR it could be SIX statement includes anticipated sell off of assets...