Theme Parks & Shopping Districts Reopening General Thread

[TommyJK]

Probably the two key differences
* Different political parties with differing political/economic philosophies control the two states
*California has a more diversified and much stronger economy (5th largest GNP in the world), while Florida is basically a one trick pony relying on tourism for their big money in the most affected areas. Farming too, but that's not the cities.

Well, I surmised the first point but I didn't want my response to be viewed as too political.......

 

[HandsomePete]

Now that there are four parks open, it looks like crowds are really low at MK and AK - wouldn’t be surprised to see some adjustments to the reservation mix to let more APs in. Looks like that’s the market for the next few months.

 

[TommyJK]

Now that there are four parks open, it looks like crowds are really low at MK and AK - wouldn’t be surprised to see some adjustments to the reservation mix to let more APs in. Looks like that’s the market for the next few months.

I read something on another board this morning that appears to be happening i.e. they are going to unblock APs in some added but still limited capacity.

 

[Mad Dog]

I read something on another board this morning that appears to be happening i.e. they are going to unblock APs in some added but still limited capacity.

Yes. Magic has a story on that. AP' slots opened up. ......and yes, I realized that you knew that was one of the factors :thumbsup: . Just wanted to double down on it, in relation to the second point. California could block the theme parks from opening for the rest of the year and it would just be a minor blip on their economy.

 

[TommyJK]

Yes. Magic has a story on that. AP' slots opened up. ......and yes, I realized that you knew that was one of the factors :thumbsup: . Just wanted to double down on it, in relation to the second point. California could block the theme parks from opening for the rest of the year and it would just be a minor blip on their economy.

On the second point, Florida has painted itself into a corner IMO. They are indeed heavily reliant on the tourism industry. But if they don't get their house in order on the pandemic front, no one (well, very few) are going to come.

So do you keep the economy open almost fully i.e. things are 90% open, but only 10% utilized but the virus continues to grow/spread unfettered and tourists for the most part stay away (or physically aren't even allowed to come), or do you bite the bullet and shut things down in the short term (1-2 months) to 10% (only essential business/services open) and take the pain up front again, to be able to re-open to where tourists actually come back because they feel it's safe to do so.

 

[Mad Dog]

On the second point, Florida has painted itself into a corner IMO. They are indeed heavily reliant on the tourism industry. But if they don't get their house in order on the pandemic front, no one (well, very few) are going to come.

So do you keep the economy open almost fully i.e. things are 90% open, but only 10% utilized but the virus continues to grow/spread unfettered and tourists for the most part stay away (or physically aren't even allowed to come), or do you bite the bullet and shut things down in the short term (1-2 months) to 10% (only essential business/services open) and take the pain up front again, to be able to re-open to where tourists actually come back because they feel it's safe to do so.

Southern Florida is in the worst position, they're screwed. Probably only a hard lock down would work. I'd guess the rest of the state could stay the course if they would go to a mandatory mask policy that's enforced & shut down the indoor bars and prohibit private parties/get togethers over 15 people. .

 

[TommyJK]

Southern Florida is in the worst position, they're screwed. Probably only a hard lock down would work. I'd guess the rest of the state could stay the course if they would go to a mandatory mask policy that's enforced & shut down the indoor bars and prohibit private parties/get togethers over 15 people. .

It would work if the majority of the populace followed "soft" directives and do their part on wearing masks, social distancing, limiting business capacity etc. etc. But from what I've seen (and not just in Florida) when you give people an inch (and not just consumers but many businesses as well) they take a mile.

I don't see how they could do hard lock downs in the worst counties and soft ones in others. People will move around, migrate, and/or just not follow ordinances because you'll have the "County XYZ doesn't need to do this, why do we????" (even though it should be very easy to understand why).

But take away the places people can go where they will break the soft rules and it would probably be effective to kill the spread again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ What's currently going on exemplifies the whole "this is why we can't have nice things" saying.

 

[TheGentTrent]

From what I gather so far, the pre-shows are indeed running for Rise of the Resistance and Runaway Railway. It looks like Smuggler's Run is doing their's as well, but allowing people to skip it.

 

[Bobharlem]

Also the spaceship earth redo, Marry Poppins, and multilevel festival center are GONE from the displays at the odyssey Epcot experience preview center.

 

[Mad Dog]

It would work if the majority of the populace followed "soft" directives and do their part on wearing masks, social distancing, limiting business capacity etc. etc. But from what I've seen (and not just in Florida) when you give people an inch (and not just consumers but many businesses as well) they take a mile.

I don't see how they could do hard lock downs in the worst counties and soft ones in others. People will move around, migrate, and/or just not follow ordinances because you'll have the "County XYZ doesn't need to do this, why do we????" (even though it should be very easy to understand why).

But take away the places people can go where they will break the soft rules and it would probably be effective to kill the spread again. :shrug: What's currently going on exemplifies the whole "this is why we can't have nice things" saying.

We actually did that in Pa. throughout the entire covid. Most of the state's land are rural counties, and initially the hard early lock down was just the large urban areas. Finally they added every county after a few weeks. On reopening they've had three stages. Most of the rural counties went from red status to yellow status first, then they added the west and central state urban areas to yellow next. The eastern area around Philly was the last opened since they had suffered mostly due to their early proximity to New York City/New Jersey. Finally, they went to the green stage, again by individual county level. The initial red stage was one of the strictest in the country with only a few very essential businesses open. The numbers were coming down fine until tourist season imported it back into the state. And then those that brought it back hit the nightclub bars, and super spread. It's leveled off now though. Keep the nightclub type bars shut down and it can work. Just being announced later this afternoon, the governor has ordered all nightclubs and music clubs to close. Now, that's the way to do it, just shut down the areas where the tracing data shows is a problem, instead of penalizing all businesses. The data showed them what places and types of customers were causing a rise in cases, so they surgically remove them from being open. ....and right now they're mostly dealing with the really 'big' problem of test results coming back so late (some more than four weeks old) that they don't really give a true picture of actual present day numbers, or even present infection rate. Numbers are all skewed with the date batch mix ups, and it hurts the contact tracing program immensely. ......The Miami area has their own unique challenges. That would take pages to enumerate. But, bottom line, they are paying the price for being the playground of the nation's rich and famous, plus all the legitimate money and drug money that runs the society. I don't think anyone can tell those people what to do, mayor or governor.

 

[TommyJK]

We actually did that in Pa. throughout the entire covid. Most of the state's land are rural counties, and initially the hard early lock down was just the large urban areas. Finally they added every county after a few weeks. On reopening they've had three stages. Most of the rural counties went from red status to yellow status first, then they added the west and central state urban areas to yellow next. The eastern area around Philly was the last opened since they had suffered mostly due to their early proximity to New York City/New Jersey. Finally, they went to the green stage, again by individual county level. The initial red stage was one of the strictest in the country with only a few very essential businesses open. The numbers were coming down fine until tourist season imported it back into the state. And then those that brought it back hit the nightclub bars, and super spread. It's leveled off now though. Keep the nightclub type bars shut down and it can work. Mostly dealing with the really 'big' problem of results coming back so late (some more than four weeks old) that they don't really give a true picture of actual present day numbers, or even present infection rate. Numbers are all skewed with the date batch mix ups, and it hurts the contact tracing program immensely. ......The Miami area has their own unique challenges. That would take pages to enumerate. But, bottom line, they are paying the price for being the playground of the nation's rich and famous, plus all the legitimate money and drug money that runs the society. I don't think anyone can tell those people what to do, mayor or governor.

That's literally the same way we did things up here too. Very slow and deliberate stages, at a regional level, with many spread improvement indicators requiring to be met in order to progress to the next stage. But key to its success is because the businesses and people followed the rules for the most part.

What it seems like down in Florida (and some other states as well) as soon as they opened up with restrictions (maybe not as stringent restrictions as some other states), the people and many businesses didn't just tiptoe/flirt a bit past those re-opening restrictions, they trampled right through them.

 

[Mad Dog]

That's literally the same way we did things up here too. Very slow and deliberate stages, and at a regional level. But key to its success is because the businesses and people followed the rules for the most part.

What it seems like down in Florida (and some other states as well) as soon as they opened up with restrictions (maybe not as stringent restrictions as some other states), the people and many businesses didn't just tiptoe/flirt a bit past those re-opening restrictions, they trampled right through them.

Yes, Florida's restrictions weren't as strong as most northern states and their lockdown started fairly late and really wasn't very long.... And here in Pa. they're tweaking again. In addition to shutting down the nightclubs and music clubs completely, they're making some small adjustments to restaurant indoor seating.

 

[Evan]

So when Universal finally announces Horror Nights do we think they’ll get skewered on social like Disney was?

 

[HalfGlass]

So when Universal finally announces Horror Nights do we think they’ll get skewered on social like Disney was?

I think it will happen, but not be as bad. IMO it all depends on the reported cases when the formal announcement happens, but Disney gets so much heat solely because of its brand and name.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

So when Universal finally announces Horror Nights do we think they’ll get skewered on social like Disney was?

Yes.

 

[JungleSkip]

So when Universal finally announces Horror Nights do we think they’ll get skewered on social like Disney was?

They certainly should

 

[Bort]

So when Universal finally announces Horror Nights do we think they’ll get skewered on social like Disney was?

Yes, but nowhere even close to what Disney has gotten.

I've come across general public posts against Disney on Twitter with almost 500,000 likes. Universal's reopening never even cracked my timeline outside of accounts dedicated to covering the resort (IU, OI, and so on). Hell, half of the general population could see a picture of a USF/IOA and probably say that it is part of Disney World.

 

[Casper Gutman]

So when Universal finally announces Horror Nights do we think they’ll get skewered on social like Disney was?

If they announce HHN, their PR team is incompetent. Numbers are going to get worse and worse. And HHN is an event typically associated in the press with teens and young adults (the primary vector), reckless drinking (one of the most dangerous activities at the moment), and an anarchic spirit that doesn't mesh well with rigorous compliance with safety rules. Plus, the event is entirely centered around ideas of suffering and horror, which will give the press so many angles of attack. "The real horror is covid," "the scariest thing at this event will be the person taking off his mask next to you," that sort of great PR.

(I know alcohol is likely out at this year's event. That still won't do much to counter a perception built up over 29 years).

P.S.: Making things even worse, HHN is right in the middle of flu season, when hospitals are typically close to overwhelmed in normal years. I really hope and believe the pandemic can be controlled by then - by doing things like shutting down theme parks - because combining uncontrolled corona with normal flu levels could result in a situation worse then any we've seen in the US up to this point.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I know it's in the Knotts thread...but think other parks will copy the mini food event in park?

Disney for sure could charge and arm and a leg just for DCA and get it out of the bloggers and super fans and think Universal couldddddddd maybe do a normal event first and then in October use some of the set pieces and have a HHN theme event and charge more for you to come in for food and treats and photo opts.

 

[Red Carpet]

If theme parks are open, it is likely that some people will get covid from them. However, if the parks are closed, it is likely that a lot of of these same people will get the virus eventually anyway from somewhere else.