Theme Parks & Shopping Districts Reopening General Thread

[AlexanderMBush]

PHOTOS, VIDEO: Universal Studios Japan Releases Enhanced Safety Guidelines for Visitors Ahead of June 8th Soft Opening - WDW News Today

Universal Studios Japan has released details of its enhanced safety guidelines ahead of their June 8th soft reopening.

wdwnt.com

USJ has sent out information (in Japanese, translated with the guys at UPNT) on how they will handle the park for reopening.

 

[Mad Dog]

KDKA TV (Pittsburgh) just interviewed a representative of Western Pa. AAA Travel. She said they're (AAA) getting a lot of interest from members wanting to travel to Disney & Universal Orlando this summer. She said some of the people are 'ready to go right now'. Just a small sample, but I thought that would be a satisfying tidbit to those of you in Orlando who's jobs are dependent on tourism.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

 

[Teebin]

As long as I could take the elevator alone to the top, this is where you would find me. Above the fray...

 

[Magic Feather]

I have a few friends on site at the moment, so here are some first hand, edited for clarity tidbits.

• The worst crowds are entering the park in the morning after Early Park Admission is done. By mid-day, people start clearing out.
• Virtual Line is really spotty. The only place that used it consistently was Hagrid (and they didn’t repopulate past ~8:50 AM contrary to some reports).
• Mummy and Fallon seemed to be the only other main attractions that went Virtual Line only for a long period of time.
• Bill Davis has been out and around the park a bit, mostly for PR stuff. A friend of mine inside Universal (no pun intended) has said that this is the partial result of an attempt to make him a more public face of UOR ala Josh D. for Disney.
• As has been previously reported, the only real spot in the parks with issues keeping people spaced out was the stretch from Hogsmeade to Jurassic.
• Hagrid’s ops are a bit of a mess at the moment. Very reminiscent of the old days when the line started in Lost Continent (because that is where the Virtual Line return line usually starts). Using the full queue beyond the arch, but spaced, is about a 40-50 min wait.
• The three months of downtime did Forbidden Journey no favors, as it has been having crazy technical difficulties since the parks first began to ramp up, culminating in an almost all day closure today.
• The Jurassic construction is gargantuan. Photos supposedly don’t do its scale in the 3B and PoE areas justice. (This statement made me worried).
• A lot of rides (ET, MIB, and more) are only running one load station, which alongside limited RV capacity, makes lines move very slow.
• Mask Compliance is great. Between three friends and their families, only two instances could be recalled where people needed to be wearing masks.
• The only pre-shows on property running are Fallon, Simpson’s, and both at Furious.
• Buses and Boats are struggling during peak hours. Boats chose to let lines build (especially for Sapphire) and maintain distancing, while buses filled guests to a point where the scene was the same pre-closure during peak hours (just with masks).
• Finally, mostly for @Wonders_Of_Life , I had a friend of mine go through Poseidon’s for a report, and he couldn’t stop laughing the entire time while describing it. For starters, capacity was absolutely slashed, which is the main cause of its long waits. I believe they can only run 1 or 2 groups through the temple at a time now, as opposed to the usual 3. Merge is the cutoff as the “holding area” for the next show, so if your line is held up before merge, expect for a long wait. Once inside, every party has it’s own spaced section in each room. Even as guests enter “rooms of the temple where nobody has been for 1,000 years,” there is an extra handful of team members to guide you to the markings. Most interestingly, the water tunnel is running, but only allowing one party to walk through at a time, leaving a long pause between the tomb and the finale as parties make their way from one spot to another.

 

[Teebin]

The three months of downtime did Forbidden Journey no favors, as it has been having crazy technical difficulties since the parks first began to ramp up, culminating in an almost all day closure today.

I have wondered about stuff like this happening but more so the coasters. What ARE the wheels on the kuka bases made of? Perhaps that's not the issue at all but it does give me pause.

 

[Magic-Man]

Will be going to Busch Gardens on the 14th. I'll provide a full report when I do. The main thing I'm worried about is that masks aren't required for whatever reason, which is kinda surprising tbh.

 

[Alicia]

Will be going to Busch Gardens on the 14th. I'll provide a full report when I do. The main thing I'm worried about is that masks aren't required for whatever reason, which is kinda surprising tbh.

Masks are required.

 

[Magic-Man]

Masks are required.

View attachment 12367

Oop, that's my bad. I heard that they would not be required.

 

[HalfGlass]

Tomorrow (and more so Saturday and Sunday) are going to determine if I make the trek there next weekend. Really interested to see how general crowds are handled and if they hit capacity.

 

[GadgetGuru]

The lawsuIt is a no-brainer. I'm surprised the lawsuit is coming from the park. I would expect Cedar Fair would sue on behalf of Cedar Park too.

Unless they want two lawsuits?

 

[fryoj]

The lawsuIt is a no-brainer. I'm surprised the lawsuit is coming from the park. I would expect Cedar Fair would sue on behalf of Cedar Park too.

Unless they want two lawsuits?

Might come down to a more favorable court that KI can file in. Judge shopping is big in cases like this. If filing in a Fed court or state court in Cincy gives them a judge with better odds, they just leave it there. Whatever the ruling is will apply to CP too.

 

[HandsomePete]

The worst crowds are entering the park in the morning after Early Park Admission is done. By mid-day, people start clearing out.

They were running Early Admission this week? Dang.

Virtual Line is really spotty. The only place that used it consistently was Hagrid (and they didn’t repopulate past ~8:50 AM contrary to some reports).

Spotty is being polite. It looked like they were holding back on afternoon reservations today because they knew weather was going to be an issue at some point. I did manage to see some times pop up around 11:30-12ish but generally they didn't last long.

The Jurassic construction is gargantuan. Photos supposedly don’t do its scale in the 3B and PoE areas justice. (This statement made me worried).

So..... I know the thing is going to be a great coaster, and there's a lot of theming to go inside JP, but I had the same thought as I was walking through PoE. It completely jacks up the scale of the Discovery Center from across the lake and manages to make the lagoon look smaller. The 3B back patio is now just like wham, coaster track. It's definitely beefier track than Hagrids. I get that Hulk is also in-your-face, but half of that is hidden from view.

 

[Wonders_Of_Life]

I have a few friends on site at the moment, so here are some first hand, edited for clarity tidbits.

• The worst crowds are entering the park in the morning after Early Park Admission is done. By mid-day, people start clearing out.
• Virtual Line is really spotty. The only place that used it consistently was Hagrid (and they didn’t repopulate past ~8:50 AM contrary to some reports).
• Mummy and Fallon seemed to be the only other main attractions that went Virtual Line only for a long period of time.
• Bill Davis has been out and around the park a bit, mostly for PR stuff. A friend of mine inside Universal (no pun intended) has said that this is the partial result of an attempt to make him a more public face of UOR ala Josh D. for Disney.
• As has been previously reported, the only real spot in the parks with issues keeping people spaced out was the stretch from Hogsmeade to Jurassic.
• Hagrid’s ops are a bit of a mess at the moment. Very reminiscent of the old days when the line started in Lost Continent (because that is where the Virtual Line return line usually starts). Using the full queue beyond the arch, but spaced, is about a 40-50 min wait.
• The three months of downtime did Forbidden Journey no favors, as it has been having crazy technical difficulties since the parks first began to ramp up, culminating in an almost all day closure today.
• The Jurassic construction is gargantuan. Photos supposedly don’t do its scale in the 3B and PoE areas justice. (This statement made me worried).
• A lot of rides (ET, MIB, and more) are only running one load station, which alongside limited RV capacity, makes lines move very slow.
• Mask Compliance is great. Between three friends and their families, only two instances could be recalled where people needed to be wearing masks.
• The only pre-shows on property running are Fallon, Simpson’s, and both at Furious.
• Buses and Boats are struggling during peak hours. Boats chose to let lines build (especially for Sapphire) and maintain distancing, while buses filled guests to a point where the scene was the same pre-closure during peak hours (just with masks).
• Finally, mostly for @Wonders_Of_Life , I had a friend of mine go through Poseidon’s for a report, and he couldn’t stop laughing the entire time while describing it. For starters, capacity was absolutely slashed, which is the main cause of its long waits. I believe they can only run 1 or 2 groups through the temple at a time now, as opposed to the usual 3. Merge is the cutoff as the “holding area” for the next show, so if your line is held up before merge, expect for a long wait. Once inside, every party has it’s own spaced section in each room. Even as guests enter “rooms of the temple where nobody has been for 1,000 years,” there is an extra handful of team members to guide you to the markings. Most interestingly, the water tunnel is running, but only allowing one party to walk through at a time, leaving a long pause between the tomb and the finale as parties make their way from one spot to another.

Thanks for the report! I’m actually excited to have my own space in PF.. we’ll be hitting it up at 10:00 am on Saturday! (-:

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Kalahari and Cedar Point has filed a similar lawsuit to Kings Island (the difference being that this also goes at the county of Lake Erie).

 

[anihilnation]

Went yesterday for the AP review, entry time of 11.

Temperature check had no line, then, I take a Lynx (city bus), so I enter through the the bus parking stairs.
No real line to go through security.
We were a bit too early, so had to wait at the front of IOA until 10 minutes before our time, then it started pouring down, so they let us in early.

People without a mask were thankfully an anomaly.
Don't think I ever really saw hand sanitizer stations, then, i did not really look for them as you get sanitized before ever ride and I had some with me anyway.
Social distancing in the lines was done very well, they really space people apart very far.

Did not stay long and only did 4 rides. Wait times were inflated, so that was a plus.
The VQ never worked, tried it several times, for different rides, always said it was not available, so that was a let down!

The constant rain made it quite the adventure lol, and we decided to do Dudley on top of that. I had been smart enough to bring a spare mask, so when we left the park I had a completely dry mask to change into.

 

[agentj]

Since Florida is now in Phase 2, For those there today, does it look like Universal will open the bars in the Parks today?

 

[HandsomePete]

Don't think I ever really saw hand sanitizer stations, then, i did not really look for them as you get sanitized before ever ride and I had some with me anyway.

I’ve discovered that they all seem to be hidden on a wall at the exit of an attraction. Part of me thinks they might have been there all along, just never paid much attention pre-2020.

And when I say hidden, the one at Dr. Doom is at the top of the steps inside the arcade all the way to the right by the elevator and matches the wall color. The one at Hagrids is as you exit back outside the building on the left, again the same color as the wall.

 

[Andysol]

Booked a bunch of Hurricane Harbor visits on Six Flags website this morning. It was actually pretty easy to do. Shocked their IT could knock it out without issue. They, unlike UOR, have staggered entrance times that you have to reserve.

 

[GAcoaster]

WESH helicopter is up over Universal right now: