The Coronavirus Thread

[JoshC.]

There's no way around it - coronavirus is going to affect our daily lives in one way or another. And with open season just around the corner, it remains to be seen how parks around the UK and the rest of the western wordl will cope and what measures they'll put in place, as well as how long it will be before Chinese parks (which have been closed for weeks already) begin to reopen. I figured it would be interesting to have a thread to track what's going on, and people's reactions...

 

Merlin Parks

The current stance across Merlin's UK parks and attractions is pretty simple: if you feel unwell don't come. If you have coronavirus-like symptoms when at the park, let staff know. Otherwise, come, and wash your hands regularly, with extra hand washing points available, and promises of an enhanced cleaning regime too.

 

Until the parks are open fully, we won't know what other measures they have in place, or how it will affect the parks.

 

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris are currently open as normal, but have closed Single Rider Queues. The logic being that they believe less people would feel 100% comfortable sitting next to a stranger. It very much feels like a weak 'Look, we're doing something' rather than a bigger measure. A couple of maintenance have tested positive.

 

Efteling

Efteling have a FAQ about the virus. As of today, they have introduced a limit to the number of people that can be any ride's queue at any time - when that number is reached, they'll close the queue for a period of time until the number reduces. They're also encouraging people to keep space between each other in queues. On top of this, they have removed several tables and the like from busier areas to help keep distances between groups who are sitting down.

 

Efteling is open all year round, and they're currently in a quiet period, where some of their rides are closed for maintenance. All of the rides are scheduled to open at a similar time to when other parks open.

 

Toverland

Toverland are partially open at the moment, and introduced stronger cleaning regimes, including hourly disinfecting wipe-downs of all rides.

 

America

Most American parks are following American government advice, and have sent out emails of reassurance to passholders about them taking appropriate steps. Year-round parks like Disney and Universal remain open with little changes for now.

 

China

Disneyland Shanghai closed on 25th January. Whilst the park remains closed still now, some restaurants and entertainment offerings re-opened this week.

 

 

This is by no means a complete list, and I expect we'll see some updates from UK parks in the coming days after the government announces its Delay stage stance today. Feel free to add and discuss.

 

 

[Han30]

Since the coronavirus numbers have gone up in the country it is something that has concerned me - I have health anxiety on top of crippling anxiety and I should keep away from reading click bait scare mongering articles.

 

However, it is something none of us can ignore especially at the stage it’s at now.  I have tickets to preview day at Chessington and am possibly not going to go now.  I know it’s possible to catch it anywhere (had a woman sat next to me coughing away happily in the docs waiting room without covering her mouth).  My main point of concern is that at parks you have no choice but to touch restraints - even if you’re someone that doesn’t hold on on rides.  Maybe I’m being daft or over reacting - the problem is you could be excellent at hand washing but many people aren’t - especially the ones who use the toilet and walk straight out 🤢🤢.

 

 

[jessica2]

At DLP, they've cancelled the parades and outdoor shows and no 'face' character meet and greets. They've restricted numbers in shops and indoor shows. They also cancelled their passholder evening tomorrow night. People seem to be expecting a closure announcement from them any day now. I believe they are offering for people to move their trips to alternative dates.

[JoshC.]

Tayto Park have announced they're delaying opening until at least the 4th of April

[pluk]

6 hours ago, Han30 said:

 I have tickets to preview day at Chessington and am possibly not going to go now.  I know it’s possible to catch it anywhere (had a woman sat next to me coughing away happily in the docs waiting room without covering her mouth).  My main point of concern is that at parks you have no choice but to touch restraints - even if you’re someone that doesn’t hold on on rides.  Maybe I’m being daft or over reacting - the problem is you could be excellent at hand washing but many people aren’t - especially the ones who use the toilet and walk straight out 🤢🤢.

 

It doesn't matter how (un)clean everyone else is, if you touch things like restraints and wash your own hands after riding before touching your mouth or face you'll be fine. 

 

How long before Merlin start offering fastrack to the sinks? 😂😂

[Martin Doyle]

The state of Ohio has now banned gatherings of more than 100 people. Putting Kings Island and Cedar Point at risk of remaining closed.

 

So the build up to my trip there at the end of May should be interesting to say the least......

 

Not panicking at all 🙄🙄

[Matt 236]

Disneyland Resort will be closing from the 14th March due to the virus.

https://wdwnt.com/2020/03/breaking-disneyland-resort-temporarily-closing-on-friday-due-to-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/

 

Honestly don’t know when this is going to end as it’s really going out of hand.

[Han30]

1 hour ago, pluk said:

 

It doesn't matter how (un)clean everyone else is, if you touch things like restraints and wash your own hands after riding before touching your mouth or face you'll be fine. 

 

How long before Merlin start offering fastrack to the sinks? 😂😂

Absolutely agree with you (especially the bit about sink fast tracks - don’t give them ideas!).  Thing is I, and probably most people inadvertently touch their face without even realising it - also the bogs at Chessie are bloody disgusting at the best of times - there are certain ones I just won’t venture into because they are that bad.  Just thinking about queuing to get to the sinks kind of makes my stomach turn a little 

[planenut]

Hi All, thought I'd better pop in as it's been a while.

You are mostly in the age groups that will be fine, if you get it, it'll be like a lousy flu.

Think about those around you, especially your older friends and family, and help them prepare.

Standing in a queue to buy those extra loo rolls will be just as dangerous.

Just look forward to those shorter queues.

 

Stay safe, stay clean, and be aware of those around you, and that applies everywhere.

[Han30]

Just read that Disneyland Paris will be closing 15th March until the end of the month.  

[Mark9]

From Monday all six Disney resorts will be closed. Universal Florida has also announced it will close from the end of this Sunday till the end of March. 

 

Every country needs to do this to stop this spread frankly. There's no point Europe closing every border and we just carry on saying 'some of you may die'. It's completely irresponsible and risks the spread carrying on for far longer.

[Matt 236]

Honestly baffled how far and extreme everything is going now because of the virus, however if it drastically reduces the chances of it spreading, that can only be a good thing. 
 

Wake me up when this is all over!

[Whatever]

Don’t know whether this has been posted elsewhere, as I haven’t been on the forum for months, but heard from a friend of mine that while Legoland is staying open for the time being, no face painting, temporary tattoos or hair wraps will be available. 

[Marc]

Looks like all Premier League and EFL games are suspended till 3rd April at least - be surprised if the start of the theme park season isn’t affected.

[JoshC.]

At this point it's less about what the government will force companies and organising bodies to do, and more about what those companies and bodies feel they should do to get a good public reaction.

 

Football has been affected following players and coaches getting the virus. That's forced their hand somewhat, but there had been plenty of people who were saying it should happen before then.

 

I feel like Merlin will sooner rather than later decide to close of their own accord, simply because it'll look good to the masses and avoid "why aren't your staff disinfecting seats Street every cycle" type comments

[JoshC.]

And Efteling have now announced that, as of tomorrow, the park will be closed, and the entire resort will be closed from Monday:

 

 

The resort is usually open 365 days a year.

 

Legoland opened fully today and have encouraged guests to keep their distance between groups in queue lines, similar to Efteling's previous advice. 

[TPJames]

Toverland closed now too.

[Marc]

 

Portaventura have delayed opening now.

[MattyMoo]

I see Legoland have painted markers in the queues to leave a gap from the group in front.

[Benin]

Legoland gonna be getting all those kids with underdeveloped immune systems right under the bus then.

 

UK response has been dreadful. Evidenced by our glorious leader stating that we should be prepare to see people die. I mean sure but what methods are being taken to reduce that possibility? Oh yeah we wash our hands (which why aren't you doing that anyway?)

 

Football only stopped when players and managers got sick. No consideration to the fans here. My work have said if we decide to self isolate we don't get paid (only get SSP if we have been recommended to do so).

 

Rate things are going even if the parks opened they'd lose money hand over fist. So once that happens they'll close. 

[Whatever]

I should probably add this because of the message above: children aren’t really being affected by the virus as a whole. yeah, they can catch it, but it rarely kills them. the real threat is to the elderly and those with preexisting conditions.

[Stuntman707]

Measures are starting to become more serious. Even if you are at low risk of being badly affected, there is the possiblity of passing it onto others that are at higher risk. Also it's really not pleasant having the flu. In F1, McLaren pulled out of the Australian GP after one of the team tested positive and now the race is cancelled. Rumour has it they were part of the setup crew so they had touched everything in the garage if anyone thinks that it may have been an over-reaction by the team. At work, everyone who can has been ordered to work from home to limit the risk with production. Had a very strange day today.

[JoshC.]

Thorpe Park are saying that, since government advice hasn't changed, they plan to open as usual:

 

 

Drayton Manor are also saying it's business as usual for now:

 

 

[pluk]

2 hours ago, Benin said:

UK response has been dreadful. Evidenced by our glorious leader stating that we should be prepare to see people die. I mean sure but what methods are being taken to reduce that possibility? Oh yeah we wash our hands (which why aren't you doing that anyway?)

Refreshingly honest if you ask me. And I'm no big fan of Boris!

 

Regardless of what they do people will die who may not have done if they didn't have a the virus.  Just like many things, people pick up all sorts which finish them off that ultimately could be prevented if people didn't come into contact with each other or extreme measures were out in place to stop them. You could ban alcohol, processed foods, tobacco, cars etc etc and wipe out incredible amounts of 'untimely' death, but it's generally accepted the loss of enjoyment, freedom and economic activity would be too bigger cost for the result. The same thing is happening here but within a shorter timeframe.

 

Playing state activity off against risk to life might be an unsavoury thought but it is happening constantly, and has to. Even in my lowly position in it all in my training, for terrorist response especially but a lot of major incident response, you have to make some dreadful decisions that will ultimately condemn people where you use your resources in the most effective way. Not everyone can be saved from everything, you have to do what's best with a much wider outlook.

 

The decisions that are being made are made on the advice of medical experts, and with a hell of a lot more information than will be available to the rest of us, they're not just pulling the decisions out of their arses. Even if in some aspects with hindsight we get it wrong I think they are making the right decisions for the right reasons.

[JoshuaA]

3 hours ago, Benin said:

Legoland gonna be getting all those kids with underdeveloped immune systems right under the bus then.

Children have been said to be at the absolute lowest risk though.. Not many young folks have died from the virus, actually the current number for the age range 0-9 is 0. And 10-19 is a very low death rate. Young people are not the worry here.

 

Honestly I like the UK approach, I find the current media coverage to be somewhat drastic and melodramatic. People mass buying crap and self isolating themselves are just perhaps a little too easily influenced by the current media brainwashing them. It is a nasty virus and some people are going to die, but there is many other things such as cancer, heart problems, or even the Flu itself which kills tons of people a year but I don't see anyone locking themselves in a room crying over it? There is more chance of crashing your car on the way to the parks that catching the corona virus.. But you still drive cars don't you?