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Statement on behalf of myself and the rest of Attraction Central:

Another Jack Silkstone video detailing what's happening in the park: All the highlights... Admissions Cars will be parked as every other car Self service ticket machines have been introduced The temperature check will be after bag search You can only use every other turnstile As we knew, ANPR car park barriers are in place, which has also meant there's another lane No paper maps at all this year (not sure if that was the plan pre-Covid, but it is said to be to reduce contact) Lots more new signage which looks pretty nice Hotel Improved system for checking in and out Social Distancing Majority of outdoor places have yellow painted dots for social distancing. I wonder how long they'll last before fading.. 'No dwelling' signs at key areas where people usually wait around (The Bridge, outside Dome) The waterski company have agreed to not pass the bridge at peak times to stop people watching The park are encouraging 'walk on the left' in most places, with 'walk on the right' in some places where operationally necessary Rides Face coverings to be worn on 14 rides which will open tomorrow (side note not in video: 15 rides are due to open tomorrow; the exception to the face covering rule is Tidal Wave) Social distancing in place on rides; each ride has own rules There are 3 hand sanitising points available for all rides: at queue entrance, just before boarding, and after the ride No Fastrack at open. Implied that it won't be in operation for the whole season. With reduced capacity, it's hoped there won't be a need for Fastrack anyway Ride Access Pass is still a thing Stealth, Swarm and Saw will still have photos Food and Shops All food places will be operating as 'grab n go', with the exception of Infinity and KFC, which will have limited seating The self serve Coke Freestyle machines will still be in use, though maybe not from start of season. They won't have ice though, for hygiene reasons.. 'Most' places will be cashless. The park obviously have tried this for a couple of years now, with limited success. But Covid has made many places cashless now of course Shops to have one way systems The refurbished Megastore will force everyone to have a basket whilst they look around. The baskets act as counters for the maximum number of people allowed in the shop The Colossus shop, which is the only shop open where guests are forced through the shop after the ride, has been changed so that people walk through. The shop remains open though, and people can ask the staff member for whatever they want to buy, with all stuff on display behind a barrier Events The park are still planning to hold some form of Fright Nights, though do accept it will be very different Oktoberfest will be a day and evening event Nothing particular striking or surprising really. I'm surprised the Merlin parks are mostly going for painted distancing markers - they either fade reasonably quickly or are rather permanent (and I expect they'll have gone for the fading paint). Means they'll regularly have to repaint them. Hopefully the walking / one way rules are all very clear. Operating food places entirely as grab n go is odd. Indoor restaurants are allowed to open tomorrow too, so why not at least have that option there, with reduced table numbers. Will be very interesting to see how it all works out tomorrow. I've decided to wait a little while before going back, to at least judge what I think of the rules and whether I think it's worth it...

It hasn't been explicitly said either way whether the ride is actually going to reopen on Saturday or not. From the details here, we have: As I understand it, the list of rides which require you to wear a face mask is more or less the whole list of rides reopening from Saturday: Samurai is listed twice, presumably a typo. The water rides are not listed as the park have said they don't recommend wearing them on rides where you get wet, but I believe Depth Charge and Tidal Wave at the very least are planned to open. No indoor attraction is listed, so presumably they will be closed at first. Rush is also missing from the list, and as I understand it, will be closed for a while due to non-coronavirus reasons. I believe they're hoping to reopen more rides in a phased basis, depending on how the restrictions go and how the park feel. Walking Dead is a difficult one. Being indoors is one challenge. The long dark corridors don't lend themselves to social distancing. The 'there must be 2 people per row' alienates odd numbered groups completely now. So it'll be interesting to see their decision.