The Coronavirus Thread

[Han30]

On 3/25/2020 at 7:55 AM, JoshC. said:

Not sure how appropriate it is to post this, but feel it deserves a mention..

 

Any stock that Thorpe Park had bought that they expected to use during the time they're closed has been donated to the NHS. No doubt plenty of other parks and companies are doing similar if possible, but it's great to see all the same.

As much as most of us are critical of Merlin, this is really nice to read - nice one Thorpe 👌

[Ringo]

On the continuation of rare Merlin praise, the car park at Chessington has been turned into a drive thru testing facility 

 

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/drive-through-coronavirus-testing-facility-17996541

[Stuntman707]

If you're feeling bored or looking for something to do, there's always Ride Sims!

https://ridesims.com/

 

If anyone wants to follow me my name is: BurgerKing707

[Mer]

Seeing as there won’t be any meets for a while, I think TPM should have social distancing parties/virtual get-togethers on something like Skype or Zoom 😄

Or even just a big group chat? ☺️

[JoshC.]

In the longest delay yet, Legoland New York are now planning to open in 2021, rather than July 4th 2020:

 

 

[Matt 236]

April Fools has been cancelled this year due to the Corona virus.

[JoshC.]

All Merlin parks are now letting anyone with a visit planned before June 1st to change. Originally this was set as April 25th.

 

The date set is likely just to help them deal with enquires in a phased manner. But at the very least, it indicates that the parks aren't planning on reopening until June at the earliest.

[JoshC.]

Fantawild parks in China are reopening, with social distancing guidelines in place. As seen here, one person per row in alternating seats for 2 per row trains:

 

 

Shanghai Disneyland is preparing to fully reopen too, again with social distancing. Here we can see some of their - frankly confusing - measures:

 

 

[Matt 236]

I think if/when the parks reopen this year we will see similar measures to these, like the ones Legoland implemented by keeping those gaps or filling every other row on ride vehicles.

[Glitch]

First casualty M&D's have gone into administration. 

 

[pluk]

23 hours ago, JoshC. said:

Fantawild parks in China are reopening, with social distancing guidelines in place. As seen here, one person per row in alternating seats for 2 per row trains:

 

 

Shanghai Disneyland is preparing to fully reopen too, again with social distancing. Here we can see some of their - frankly confusing - measures:

 

 

Those measures are an utter utter nonsense.

 

They are taking the physical spacing aspect of the advice without thinking about the reason for it or why it is effective. A 2m physical gap does not create some magical barrier the virus can not cross, it is just a workable compromise to total isolation which makes infection from one person to another less likely in every day situations like passing or talking in the street. Once you start moving at speed through each others space a small distance like that becomes meaningless; anything containing the virus expelled by someone in front will be showered over someone sitting two or four or six rows behind, they may as well be sitting in each others lap.

 

It's so ineffective they may as well just fully open and accept the risk, or remain closed and properly mitigate the risk. Giving a false sense of safety is the worst possible thing to do.

[MattyMoo]

Our Towers visit has been pushed back to mid June but I think that's extremely optimistic.... plus we combine it with staying in Uttoxeter and having a beer or 5, and can't see that being an option then! 

Our backup plan is September!

[CharlieN]

14 hours ago, pluk said:

Those measures are an utter utter nonsense.

 

They are taking the physical spacing aspect of the advice without thinking about the reason for it or why it is effective. A 2m physical gap does not create some magical barrier the virus can not cross, it is just a workable compromise to total isolation which makes infection from one person to another less likely in every day situations like passing or talking in the street. Once you start moving at speed through each others space a small distance like that becomes meaningless; anything containing the virus expelled by someone in front will be showered over someone sitting two or four or six rows behind, they may as well be sitting in each others lap.

 

It's so ineffective they may as well just fully open and accept the risk, or remain closed and properly mitigate the risk. Giving a false sense of safety is the worst possible thing to do.

And that’s aside from the fact hundreds of people will be touching the same restraints as each other. You’re right, it’s utter nonsense.

[Mark9]

Europa Park reopening on the 29th May. Heide Park remains unsure although they've posted a date on when they would be allowed to reopen as the 25th.

[JoshC.]

Expect plenty of German parks to reopen this month. All regional governments are in charge of relaxing restrictions and have laid out their plans; North Rhine-Westphalia (the region with Phantasialand and Movie Park Germany) have said that theme parks can open again from Monday. Both parks said they'll await further details as to what measures exactly they should follow - as that still isn't clear - before announcing a date to open.

 

Lower Saxony (Heide Park and Hansa Park) have said the 25th. Hansa Park haven't commented yet.

 

Baden Württemberg (Europa, Tripsdrill, etc) have said the 29th, which includes hotels as well. Europa have also said they'll be reopening their hotel restaurants in phases from the 18th, with outdoor seating only. Rulantica remains closed till further notice. No other parks in the region have confirmed their opening plans yet.

 

 

Obviously the challenges now are having plans in place to make sure parks are following their local restrictions, as well as getting staff trained up (as many European parks weren't meant to open till April, they may not have started their pre-season training schedules before lockdown). 

 

Scandinavian parks are also in a position to be opening in early June.

[JoshC.]

Annnnd for a separate, non-German post, Walibi Holland has said they will open on May 25th:

 

https://m.facebook.com/walibiholland/photos/a.204047486303716/3815438515164577/?type=3

[Benin]

Meanwhile the UK will only start testing arrivals to the country at the end of this month.

 

So don't hold your breath on our lot opening anytime soon. Because we're run by idiots.

[Marc]

1 hour ago, Benin said:

Meanwhile the UK will only start testing arrivals to the country at the end of this month.

 

So don't hold your breath on our lot opening anytime soon. Because we're run by idiots.

I see a lot of comments on us not testing arrivals and genuinely don’t see why it’s important at the moment?

 

Firstly - I don’t see why anyone arriving is anymore likely to have the virus than someone already here.

 

Secondly, with the restrictions / social distancing in place which people arriving have to follow - if someone does have it then following the rules in place make it unlikely to spread anyway.

 

Of course when the infection rates are low and it’s more under control in the U.K. testing / quarantining arrivals is much more important.

[JoshuaA]

I wouldn't even say testing arrivals, testing in general is something the government failed horribly at doing. 

Testing, tracking, and tracing is something Germany did a lot of. Arrivals would be a start, but ideally we need as many people being tested as humanly possible. But the government probably won't, because we don't have a smart leader and government like Germany. I think its no surprise that the UK and US are the worst affected..

[Marc]

11 minutes ago, JoshuaA said:

I wouldn't even say testing arrivals, testing in general is something the government failed horribly at doing. 

Testing, tracking, and tracing is something Germany did a lot of. Arrivals would be a start, but ideally we need as many people being tested as humanly possible. But the government probably won't, because we don't have a smart leader and government like Germany. I think its no surprise that the UK and US are the worst affected..

Oh yeah definitely testing is something we missed the boat on and we have been playing catch up since - and we will need to expand further when more restrictions are relaxed as time goes on and that will have include arrivals when things are more “under control” but not sure what testing arrivals really adds at the moment.

[Benin]

It adds very little because of how far into the situation we are. What's the point in testing now when travel is limited? Why weren't we testing those who came over from Madrid for the Liverpool match when Spain were beginning their lockdown?

 

Simply put we're closing the stable doors but the horses bolted 2 months ago.

 

Look at how other European countries dealt with this and it's no wonder we've got the highest death rate. 

[Martin Doyle]

Spain - near instant lockdown

Italy - near instant lockdown

Germany - near instant lockdown

 

UK - WASH YOUR HANDS AND SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY LADS!! 

 

No wonder it's as bad as it is on these shores.

[Marc]

48 minutes ago, Benin said:

It adds very little because of how far into the situation we are. What's the point in testing now when travel is limited? Why weren't we testing those who came over from Madrid for the Liverpool match when Spain were beginning their lockdown?

 

Simply put we're closing the stable doors but the horses bolted 2 months ago.

 

Look at how other European countries dealt with this and it's no wonder we've got the highest death rate. 

Oh I agree early on we should have done more I was more meaning now it’s probably pretty pointless till it’s more under control.

 

5 minutes ago, Martin Doyle said:

Spain - near instant lockdown

Italy - near instant lockdown

Germany - near instant lockdown

 

UK - WASH YOUR HANDS AND SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY LADS!! 

 

No wonder it's as bad as it is on these shores.

I wouldn’t say Italy or Spain are any better or worse than we are - Germany on the other hand have really taken control and shown how it can be effectively managed.

[JoshC.]

On 5/8/2020 at 12:04 PM, JoshC. said:

Annnnd for a separate, non-German post, Walibi Holland has said they will open on May 25th:

 

https://m.facebook.com/walibiholland/photos/a.204047486303716/3815438515164577/?type=3

On the Dutch theme, Efteling plan to be reopen by May 20th: https://www.efteling.com/nl/blog/nieuws/20200508-efteling-gaat-weer-open

 

They will be open before then, with very small crowds (relatives of staff, maybe passholders, etc), and slowly building up so staff can adjust to new routines. The plan come May 20th is that the park will be at most at 1/3 capacity. Their Bosrijk Holiday Village is already open, since people stay in their own self-contained cabins. 

 

Also, a few images that have been circulated by the Dutch Theme Parks and Attractions Association, who have put plans in place for how Dutch parks should go about when opening. These measures have been approved by European safety board TUV:

(Image of Joris en de Draak at Efteling)

Some form pole can be used to check restraints. I've also heard (but not seen a link) that staff are allowed to use feet. 

 

An example of how Python (a 28 seater / 14 row / 7 car train) could be loaded. The idea is that a maximum of 14 guests from a maximum of 5 families can board any given train, with certain rows blocked off.

 

Other things in place are standard 1.5m distances between groups, encouraging paying by card/apps wherever possible (Netherlands, similarly to Germany, use cash a lot more than we do in the UK), blocking of every other urinal and sink in toilets, etc. Efteling have also been redesigning and rebuilding some of their cattlepen queues.

[Glitch]

I believe testing is very possible right now if you are in the key worker category or believe to have symptoms, I know of multiple sites in the Surrey / Greater London area anyway for tomorrow if you wanted it!