COVID-19 & Theme Park Closures

[Naazon]

2 hours ago, joz said:

Also someone poke them with a broom and remind them they own WnW.

I don't think they are opening it though, which makes sense. Its the low season anyway.

 

As much as those numbers are high, as discussed they won't get anywhere near it anyway since tourism in QLD is restricted currently to people within the state.

[Mc coaster]

WDW plans to begin reopening the rest of the resort on July 11 including the parks, resort's and transportation. 

[joz]

3 hours ago, Naazon said:

I don't think they are opening it though, which makes sense. Its the low season anyway.

Actually I made a mistake, I read it being about the September holidays for some reason. Yeah I think the water parks should be open everyday year round, but I'll give them a pass on staying closed for all of winter this year.

 

3 hours ago, themagician said:

I would imagine on a standard weekday they’d only get around 1000 people.

1000 would be a very quiet day. Like raining off and on kind of day.

[themagician]

@joz maybe 2000 then. What would you say an average crowd would be on a normal weekend?

[aussienetman]

19 minutes ago, joz said:

Actually I made a mistake, I read it being about the September holidays for some reason. Yeah I think the water parks should be open everyday year round, but I'll give them a pass on staying closed for all of winter this year.

 

1000 would be a very quiet day. Like raining off and on kind of day.

Albeit a long time ago but average on a weekday (no holdays) at movieworld was anywhere between 2000-2500 guests. The numbers they are throwing around have been a bit shocking to me as well. What is the point in overstating figures?

 

[joz]

There's no such thing as a normal weekend, but the park starts feelong 'Busy' from about 4000/5000

[colonelbmx]

The idea is probably tell the government we need 7000 and then maybe they’ll give us 3000

[Spotty]

From past experience working there, a "normal" weekday attendance for Movie World was about 2,000 - 2,500. On a weekend was about 3,000 - 4,000. Any more than about 5,000 predicted they would be making sure to have 2 trains on rides where possible. Any more than 7,000 you'd be adding a third HSD show. This is back in 2012 days though before Rivals, Doomsday etc. I think the busiest day capacity wise that they had whilst I was there was something insane like 12,000. I was working Batwing and that was an incredibly long shift (8:45am start... 7:15pm finish, and we closed the queue at 6pm).

Was certainly a strange day having Batwing run with 2 loaders and the supervisor. Not something that happens often except maybe on a very busy Fright Nights (which capacity I think was 8,000 a night - if i'm not mistaken).

So really, a reduced capacity of 1,500 - 2,000 is not going to break the park as many days of the week that's pretty much normal operations. 

[aussienetman]

Just now, Spotty said:

.This is back in 2012 days though before Rivals, Doomsday etc.

I was there from 2003ish i think and the numbers were very similar.. in the days of the special effects show and police academy. 

[Spotty]

Just now, aussienetman said:

I was there from 2003ish i think and the numbers were very similar.. in the days of the special effects show and police academy. 

I did have a stint back in 2006 working at Stars Cafe (before Ben and Jerrys, and the roof) and it was similar. I remember them actually doing 5x Police Academy shows in a day back then. I then went back from 2011 - 2013 and it certainly felt very different for many reasons (some good, some bad). I'd hate to be a visitor at the park with more than 12,000 people... I think that was around when Green Lemon*  I mean Lantern first opened and they were trying so hard to run that thing with 6 cars on the track at a time... needless to say, there's a reason it only runs with 4  Same capacity basically, and runs much more reliable now. The amount of times I heard the ride stop spiel playing from that ride from the Batwing booth in those days... good times. Until everyone left the queue and bee-lined to batwing!

[Levithian]

Simple. Park capacity is around 14-15000. So saying half capacity is just that. 7000. Doesnt mean they think they need 7000 now to open. Why? Because september holidays are traditionally busy, a few thousand probably wont cut it then. Dont forget the sale is based on some very specific operational requirements too...

As there is no plan after stage 3 and no mention of when you can return to major crowded events, makes sense to put a plan together and get concessions to allow 7000. Realistically, due to social distancing it could come the christmas holidays and we still havent allowed major events and gatherings of people in such great numbers. So youd probably be coming up with contingency plans now. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by Levithian

[gavinfulikes]

All Disney parks except for ECPOT in Florida are reopening on July 11, Sea World Florida are reopening on June 10, ECPOT is reopening on July 15 and Universal are reopening on June 5.

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

1 hour ago, gavinfulikes said:

All Disney parks except for ECPOT in Florida are reopening on July 11, Sea World Florida are reopening on June 10, ECPOT is reopening on July 15 and Universal are reopening on June 5.

Hollywood Studios is still closed till July 15th

[gavinfulikes]

The The Australian Financial Review stated two weeks ago that Dreamworld will likely open in August before the September holidays start.

[Flynn_Smith]

13 minutes ago, gavinfulikes said:

The The Australian Financial Review stated two weeks ago that Dreamworld will likely open in August before the September holidays start.

The Australian Financial Review are completely irrelevant and wouldn’t have a clue when Dreamworld plans to reopen. August is a guess at best.

Edited June 1, 2020 by Flynn_Smith
Grammatical error

[Brad2912]

Great to see the operators are working together to get plans in place - they may be competitors but inevitably people who visit one visit the other so it’s in both operators best interests to see them all re-open 

 

Coronavirus Gold Coast: Theme parks make case for reopening earlier

Pressure is mounting on the state government to allow theme parks reopen earlier, with a key meeting on the issue taking place this afternoon.

PRESSURE is mounting on the State Government to consider allowing the Gold Coast’s theme parks to reopen ahead of Stage 3 of the easing of coronavirus restrictions, with Tourism Minister Kate Jones meeting with the bleeding operators this afternoon.

The Bulletin has previously reported that Village Roadshow is burning through $10 to $15 million in monthly costs net of government subsidies during the shutdown.

Ms Jones said Village Roadshow and Ardent Leisure had submitted COVID safe plans to the government detailing how they will safely reopen and the plans were currently being assessed by the Chief Health Officer.

She said the two big players had worked “collaboratively together” to come up with the “very detailed plans” and that she was meeting with the theme parks’ CEOs this afternoon to discuss them.

“They are being assessed, at this stage they are in Stage 3 of the road map but we’re working with them to see if we can open them up in a safe way,” Ms Jones said while visiting a Main Beach cafe this afternoon.

“They want to do it quickly but the road map says theme parks are clearly part of Stage 3.”

Destination Gold Coast chair Paul Donovan said the biggest market was the drive market and “we need the theme parks open”.

He said that the Gold Coast Convention Centre had also put forward a COVID safe reopening plan to the government and “we’re waiting for those to be approved”.

“I’m a strong advocate for Queensland’s borders to be reopened when safe and for the theme parks to come online as soon as possible,” he said.

Ardent Leisure’s Dreamworld and Village Roadshow’s Gold Coast theme parks, Warner Bros Movie World, Sea World, Wet’n’Wild and Paradise Country, have been shut down since March 23.

https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/coronavirus-gold-coast-theme-parks-make-case-for-reopening-earlier/news-story/c57eb2cce108d2993fb0aa66f2d3030b

 

[RossL]

1 minute ago, Brad2912 said:

Great to see the operators are working together to get plans in place - they may be competitors but inevitably people who visit one visit the other so it’s in both operators best interests to see them all re-open 

 

Finally it seems they are putting together a plan rather than just whingeing at the government.

Also outdoor amusement parks are pretty clearly in stage 2 of the roadmap.  Given the 20 people per area from Friday there is a good chance that parks could comply with that and they're a long way away from needing capacity to start with anyway.

[Brad2912]

1 hour ago, RossL said:

Also outdoor amusement parks are pretty clearly in stage 2 of the roadmap.  Given the 20 people per area from Friday there is a good chance that parks could comply with that and they're a long way away from needing capacity to start with anyway.

Stage 2 was brought forward to today. 
20 per area is only for pubs, clubs and entertainment venues such as cinemas. 

It isn’t extended to amusement parks. 

[Park Addict 93]

3 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

Stage 2 was brought forward to today. 
20 per area is only for pubs, clubs and entertainment venues such as cinemas. 

It isn’t extended to amusement parks. 

Outdoor Amusement Parks are clearly listed as stage 2, but considering neither the Stage 2 or 3 limits are viable for reopening we are basically now just waiting on the Government to approve the COVID Safe Plan.

[Brad2912]

16 minutes ago, Jordan M. said:

Outdoor Amusement Parks are clearly listed as stage 2, but considering neither the Stage 2 or 3 limits are viable for reopening we are basically now just waiting on the Government to approve the COVID Safe Plan.

I am referring of the “per area of a venue” - not just total venue which was the initial plan for stage 2. So a pub or a cinema that has separate rooms, can have 20 per room now which was an amendment to the original plan. 

[RossL]

4 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

Stage 2 was brought forward to today. 
20 per area is only for pubs, clubs and entertainment venues such as cinemas. 

It isn’t extended to amusement parks. 

Interesting-missed that it only applies to certain venues.  Still can see the CHO approving a Covid Safe plan for 20 per area in a park easily.  For example I doubt an entire cinema complex is capped at 20, more so max 20 per cinema screen in any reasonable world which we are now in.

If Queensland keeps on getting no cases which seems pretty likely (>75% chance) for the next two weeks then I expect some of these limits will be upped significantly by June 15.

[Levithian]

The sticking point might also be social distancing rules and how to operate queue lines and load platforms with a 1 person per 4 sqm rule, and how you can distance guests in ride cars too.

Could you imagine the wait times on something like scooby doo if you had to split people up by household? All those 1s and 2s turn into their own dispatches. 

Even a big space like the inside queue line wouldnt be able to hold 100 people under the 1 per 4sq m rule. 

Edited June 2, 2020 by Levithian

[themagician]

 

[joz]

So the plan is to make people so bored watching the ad that they're going to go the theme parks?

Also if you don't know who Clark is, what's the point of him being front and center of the ad? Was the audio recorded in his bedroom via zoom? Are people really going to the parks to pat a Guinea Pig? Really? Who enjoys the slow drawn out speech with slow motion footage? Can we stop pushing Village Roadshow Theme Parks as a brand when the individual park brands are a million times more compelling than the name of the company? Why are they showing ads for something which is meant to be fun and exciting in an ad that's bland and boring?

 

Wow I think I really hate that ad.

[themagician]

I don’t like they’ve gone with the VRTP name promotion either, but they’ve been doing it for a few year’s now, so it seems like it’s going to stay. It’s the same with the staff uniform. I much preferred when each park had their own uniform, it looked better and was a much better fit for the style/theme of the park. The polos aren’t appealing at it for me