He knew that was when to fold 'em.

Be thankful for what we’re getting. Disney just cut hours beginning Sept 8. 
 

• Magic Kingdom will reduce hours from 9am - 7pm to 9am - 6pm.
• EPCOT will reduce hours from 11am  - 9pm to 11am - 7pm.
• Disney's Animal Kingdom will reduce hours from 8am - 6pm to 9am - 5pm.
• Disney's Hollywood Studios will reduce hours from 10am - 8pm to 10am - 7pm.

the mighty are falling. Our 11-10Pm doesn’t look too shabby. 

Keep in mind though that September, had historically been a slower season for Disney.  I know that recently Disney typically hasn`t had much of a slow season, given their dynamic pricing, etc.  

9 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

Keep in mind though that September, had historically been a slower season for Disney.  I know that recently Disney typically hasn`t had much of a slow season, given their dynamic pricing, etc.  

Slow yes, but these are 30 years ago slow hours. With the loss of international tourists, and a lot of fall breaks from schools, coupled with dramatically lower than expected attendance post reopening, I’m Actually surprised we didn’t see alternating closed days for all the parks NOT Magic Kingdom. 

13 hours ago, brenthodge said:

Slow yes, but these are 30 years ago slow hours. With the loss of international tourists, and a lot of fall breaks from schools, coupled with dramatically lower than expected attendance post reopening, I’m Actually surprised we didn’t see alternating closed days for all the parks NOT Magic Kingdom. 

Isn't Hollywood studios busier and more popular than Magic Kingdom?

46 minutes ago, SnakePlissken said:

Isn't Hollywood studios busier and more popular than Magic Kingdom?

Just because of Galaxys Edge. Pics once seem rest of the park is pretty dead. EPCOT is really struggling. 

They couldn't get people into galaxy's edge before corona...

On 8/7/2020 at 4:29 PM, robintodd said:

He died March 20, 2020 of natural causes at the age of 81.

That sad.  I'm glad it wasn't the virsu.i remember Dolly pardon talked about him and song they did and she cried.  Dolly pardon is a great lady and I want to go see her Dollywood park and maybe mett her because she is old but she has energy and I hope is here a long long time with us!

Just found out that someone that has a lot of connections to my Dad's side of the family and is also the brother of one of my 5th grade teachers got really sick and was hospitalized with Covid. Luckily he survived. However, him and multiple people in his family got it after going on a trip to Florida despite being told not to. 

I want to see how Cedar Fair handles its smaller parks going into the 2020s post Covid. Dorney, Valleyfair, Worlds of Fun, and Michigan's Adventure deserve some larger attractions to hold their guests over but I wonder if Covid will change the company's priorities. 

I really hope Dorney gets that Gravity Group shuttle

What is wrong with people.  It is simple really - if you do not like the policy of a business, then don't visit it - speak with not spending your hard earned money at the place, not by beating up a teenager doing their job.

Let's make one wrong an even worse wrong...

"It's a shame you have a 17-year-old working hard and he's doing the right thing and reminding people about the mask policy and the governor's orders, and they did not receive it well,” Lt. Steve Forman, told NBC News. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has mandated that people in the state wear masks in public to slow the spread of COVID-19.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/couple-assaults-teen-sesame-place-235750890.html

The masks / social distancing situation is pretty abysmal at the park today.

47 minutes ago, MoreFogPlease said:

The masks / social distancing situation is pretty abysmal at the park today.

How so? Just curious what "abysmal" is for you. I wasn't at the park today, just wondering. I gotta believe absolutely most folks were wearing masks, and most were trying to distance. 

17 minutes ago, bjcolglazier said:

How so? Just curious what "abysmal" is for you. I wasn't at the park today, just wondering. I gotta believe absolutely most folks were wearing masks, and most were trying to distance. 

Well, if you believe that then you are wrong. In the Banshee line, about 60% were wearing masks. The Orion line was quite a bit better as they actually had a worker walking around telling people to wear their masks, which is something I hadn’t seen before. However, I saw a good 10 or 15 people put it on just until he walked away, then take it back off.

Some people were standing on the markers. A lot weren’t. A couple that was behind us in line wasn’t wearing masks, and stood right behind us, and they were laughing and speaking loudly the whole time. I should have said something to them. I’m way too polite...

One of the problems is where people cut under the rails in queues (which I hate anyway -cmon you can squeeze your fat ass under a bar but can’t walk 15 feet?) so when a herd cuts under (like in Diamondback) they all clump up because they aren’t going “Down the line” then of course they NEVER back up to spread out because, us know, they WORKED to get that close! 

11 minutes ago, MoreFogPlease said:

I should have said something to them. I’m way too polite...

Yeah, I won't be saying squat to anyone about masks or distancing. Everyone should do both of course, but not worth getting beat up at an amusement park about it. That's too bad. We went August 2nd, and some reports here said it was "too busy", and people weren't behaving appropriate, but we felt almost all were doing the right thing. It's disappointing if folks are getting lax on the rules. In general-life it feels like more and more people are "getting it". So it just surprises me to hear your report. Bummer.

5 minutes ago, bjcolglazier said:

Yeah, I won't be saying squat to anyone about masks or distancing. Everyone should do both of course, but not worth getting beat up at an amusement park about it. That's too bad. We went August 2nd, and some reports here said it was "too busy", and people weren't behaving appropriate, but we felt almost all were doing the right thing. It's disappointing if folks are getting lax on the rules. In general-life it feels like more and more people are "getting it". So it just surprises me to hear your report. Bummer.

Honestly, the last few times I was at the park before tonight, I also thought people were doing a fairly good job, so it was kind of disappointing to see the situation tonight. Probably on any given night, if you’re in the wrong line at the wrong time, you’ll see a lot of people not following the rules. Other lines can seem ok though.

2 hours ago, MoreFogPlease said:

The masks / social distancing situation is pretty abysmal at the park today.

I was at the park today. I would agree that social distancing etiquette varied significantly. On the pathways, visitors mostly walked around without regard for distancing. Depending upon the ride, attendants were either very vigilant or hardly at all. Proper usage of face coverings also varied. Ride attendants seemed to do a good job of (repeatedly) reminding visitors to adjust their face coverings.

Was a little disappointed on Friday.  My wife was not feeling well, so she was sitting by the fountains and waiting on me and my daughter to ride a couple rides.  She stated she watched several people walk by and security walking up and down the path and telling some to fix there masks.  She did notice that as she watched, she noticed security would tell some to wear their masks properly, however there was a group of about 12 with only 1 with a mask on and nothing was said to them.  The difference with this, was it was a different race.  Either speak or don't.

Kennywood and Lake Compounce have cancelled their fall/Halloween events and will be closing for the season on Labor Day, September 7th.

https://www.kennywood.com/calendar

https://www.lakecompounce.com/hours-and-directions/calendar

Ohio looking to Cedar Point for advice.

https://fox8.com/news/coronavirus/ohio-officials-turn-to-cedar-point-for-advice-on-safely-handling-long-lines-for-election-day/

"Universal and Disney, saw their Orlando theme parks hit capacity on Saturday....", Meanwhile SeaWorld permanently cut staff: https://www.yahoo.com/news/seaworld-permanently-laying-off-employees-190917446.html

54 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

"Universal and Disney, saw their Orlando theme parks hit capacity on Saturday....", Meanwhile SeaWorld permanently cut staff: https://www.yahoo.com/news/seaworld-permanently-laying-off-employees-190917446.html

I expect the parks that stay open past labor day will see an increase in attendance because of so many closing. Indiana Beach will be slammed since they are about the only park really doing a Halloween event and Dollywood will be packed for Christmas in the Smokies due to Winterfest and many others canceling.

So what are everyone’s thoughts on what the 2021 season at the parks may look like at this point? If a vaccine and/or effective treatment becomes available in the next several months or so, maybe there’s a chance we could have something resembling a normal summer at the parks next year. If that doesn’t happen within that timeframe, I’m afraid that next summer may look fairly similar to this one.

I've seen even the most optimistic projections be that it'll be until 2022 at the earliest when we can start ceasing all the virus related practices like mask wearing and 6 ft spacing. 

I'm thinking at the moment that they may still have the masks and stuff to start the season and they'll open in April as normal, then maybe later in the season they'll drop the requirements depending on vaccines and stuff.

37 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

I've seen even the most optimistic projections be that it'll be until 2022 at the earliest when we can start ceasing all the virus related practices like mask wearing and 6 ft spacing. 

Idk what projections you're seeing, but the most optimistic I've seen is being back to normal by sometime 2021. 2022 at the moment imo is the worst case scenario, but could change. 

I think that if many of the parks are not able to open next year that some parks won't survive.  I think the bigger chains will have to make some hard decisions if that is the case.

^^With what I've seen from the entirety of the response from the US, the 2021 might be for countries not named the USA.  I am expecting 2022 for the US. 

The parks that were unable to open this year better be able to open next year or they are risking going out of business. Even CF I don't think can afford keeping parks closed for 2 years in a row and it would be bad on the rides and attractions at those parks to not be running for 2 years. I am also saying that Soak City needs to be able to open next year because staying closed for 2 years straight would be bad on the waterslides and stuff. That's just my opinion and am not an engineer or maintenance person. 

I agree on the 2 year point. Even Disney and Universal are in trouble. Six Flags and Cedar Fair won't survive in their current state if they lose 2 years of operations for large parks in their chain. It's awful. It's crazy to think about how many lost operating days happened this year. And with Carowinds and Wonderland, Cedar Fair hired, trained and tested rides. Significant cost and ended up never opening either park. Wonderland was days away from announcing when Ontario removed them from phase 3. It's all relative and minor from a societal perspective, but speaking about the industry itself, this could be fatal to more than a few parks.