• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

2020: General Discussion

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Is it possible we could see an extended fireworks event (eg more days) but with lower capacity to maintain distancing?

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
As I’ve always said it just comes down to social distancing and if it’s still in place and how they enforce it. Obviously if large gatherings are still banned then it wouldn’t go ahead but wouldn’t know until lockdown is relaxed.
 
Could we potentially see the park defer at least some of its 40th birthday celebrations to 2021, as it would seem like at least a number of the events won't be able to happen now?

It would certainly provide people with an incentive to return!
 
The UK will have to live with some disruptive social measures for at least the rest of the year, the government's chief medical adviser has said.

Need drugs or vaccine to get out.

No chance of them this year.

Towers not gonna be open This year.
 
The UK will have to live with some disruptive social measures for at least the rest of the year, the government's chief medical adviser has said.

Need drugs or vaccine to get out.

No chance of them this year.

Towers not gonna be open This year.
Let's try to avoid speaking in absolutes as easy as it is, biological matters are never absolute.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
The UK will have to live with some disruptive social measures for at least the rest of the year, the government's chief medical adviser has said.

Need drugs or vaccine to get out.

No chance of them this year.

Towers not gonna be open This year.
Note the word "some". If Towers is able to apply social distancing measures effectively (which they insisted they could pre-lockdown, and some Chinese parks have been able to do), then I don't see why they couldn't open whenever lockdown begins to be eased. We can't guarantee anything until we see how things play out over the next few weeks & months. Things have developed incredibly quickly; if you'd have told someone at the beginning of 2020 (probably even sooner than that) that we'd be locked down by April, they'd have laughed in your face. And that was only 3 months ago.

Also, it might be worth noting that the government could just be laying out the worst case scenario. When you're in this position, it's always better to tell people to prepare for the worst than hope for the best. Remember when the peak was originally not going to be until June/July and it eventually turned out to be April, for example? Or how people were originally saying that schools definitely wouldn't be opening until September, but there's now talk of them reopening in May/June?
 
Last edited:
Is it possible we could see an extended fireworks event (eg more days) but with lower capacity to maintain distancing?

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Not possible as it stands. Towers are limited to 3 firework events per year under the Noise Abatement Order that was issued following the legal tussle with local residents Mr & Mrs Roper. The noise limit of fireworks used is limited too.

Prior to this case concluding, Towers used to have 5 fireworks nights per year & some of the fireworks used were very loud / powerful. Believe me, some made the Nemesis station shake & the fireworks were being launched from in front of the Towers ruins & the prevailing wind generally took them away from the main lawns to explode over X-Sector / the back-area where Studios North are & Coaster Corner was.
 
Note the word "some". If Towers is able to apply social distancing measures effectively (which they insisted they could pre-lockdown, and some Chinese parks have been able to do), then I don't see why they couldn't open whenever lockdown begins to be eased. We can't guarantee anything until we see how things play out over the next few weeks & months. Things have developed incredibly quickly; if you'd have told someone at the beginning of 2020 (probably even sooner than that) that we'd be locked down by April, they'd have laughed in your face. And that was only 3 months ago.

Also, it might be worth noting that the government could just be laying out the worst case scenario. When you're in this position, it's always better to tell people to prepare for the worst than hope for the best. Remember when the peak was originally not going to be until June/July and it eventually turned out to be April, for example? Or how people were originally saying that schools definitely wouldn't be opening until September, but there's now talk of them reopening in May/June?

I think we need to be realistic here, a lot will be down to government guide lines, and at the moment I don't think they have a clue how this is all going to pan out.

There was a business on the news today that said that they would be better off closed than half open as they would lose less money if they stayed closed as oppose to having full staff and catering for half the customers

I've already written this year off and possible the best part of next year a good month ago. This years plans might be on hold/postponed, but my life keeps going, I've plenty to do here and I've made new goals which will keep me busy right up until the next few years, even if I don't come out of lock down, my life continues and I still have a lot to look forward to.

Hopefully Alton will still be up and running by the time we come out of this crisis. We all just need to be patience and take one day at a time. What will be, will be, it's not worth spreading the virus and ending up dead, just because we can't wait a year or two for all this to blow over.
 
I think we need to be realistic here, a lot will be down to government guide lines, and at the moment I don't think they have a clue how this is all going to pan out.

There was a business on the news today that said that they would be better off closed than half open as they would lose less money if they stayed closed as oppose to having full staff and catering for half the customers

I've already written this year off and possible the best part of next year a good month ago. This years plans might be on hold/postponed, but my life keeps going, I've plenty to do here and I've made new goals which will keep me busy right up until the next few years, even if I don't come out of lock down, my life continues and I still have a lot to look forward to.

Hopefully Alton will still be up and running by the time we come out of this crisis. We all just need to be patience and take one day at a time. What will be, will be, it's not worth spreading the virus and ending up dead, just because we can't wait a year or two for all this to blow over.
If the hospitality industry has to stay shut for the entirety of 2020, then I'd imagine that some form of greater government support will likely come. The last thing that the government wants is for an entire industry to go under in that way.

I'm sure that Alton will still be up and running; even if Merlin goes under (which I still think to be very, very unlikely at this point in time), there's a chance that a different company may end up taking the parks over.

My current prediction is that theme parks in the UK will operate in some capacity this year, even if we are all standing 2m apart, wearing face masks and there are no large events. I'm thinking that if things progress as they currently are and we follow the same sort of trend as what China did, parks could reopen with measures in place at some point during the summer. China locked down 3 months ago, and some of its parks are now back open with additional measures in place, so I wouldn't rule it out just yet.

If the last few months have proven anything, though, it's that you can never predict the future. Neither can the government, so I'd imagine that's why they're saying what they are. If they don't know, it always leaves them in a better position to prepare Britons for the worst than get them to hope for the best.
 
My current prediction is that theme parks in the UK will operate in some capacity this year, even if we are all standing 2m apart, wearing face masks and there are no large events.

Ah, the misplaced confidence of a teenage schoolboy, who says in the very same post:

If the last few months have proven anything, though, it's that you can never predict the future

You keep citing China as a model for parks reopening, but it really doesn’t sound like much fun: temperature checks, small numbers of people on park making the business case questionable and, most importantly, staggered seating where you can’t sit next to anyone. Can you see teenagers wanting to go to Thorpe Park, say, to ride Colossus when they’re sat on their own, having stood apart from their friends in the queue for half an hour beforehand? It’s a deeply unappealing prospect, so most people likely just won’t bother, and when gate numbers will have to be capped anyway, it may not be cost-effective to open.

In any case, nobody has a scooby what will happen in the coming months - so much depends on the progress of testing, the possible return of contact tracing and an eventual vaccine, and frankly, trips to theme parks should be well down anybody’s priority list, if indeed they have any disposable income left to visit them. Besides, other bits of the economy are far more important to get up and running first.
 
Ah, the misplaced confidence of a teenage schoolboy, who says in the very same post:



You keep citing China as a model for parks reopening, but it really doesn’t sound like much fun: temperature checks, small numbers of people on park making the business case questionable and, most importantly, staggered seating where you can’t sit next to anyone. Can you see teenagers wanting to go to Thorpe Park, say, to ride Colossus when they’re sat on their own, having stood apart from their friends in the queue for half an hour beforehand? It’s a deeply unappealing prospect for a lot of people, and when gate numbers will have to be capped anyway, it may not be cost-effective to open.

In any case, nobody has a scooby what will happen in the coming months - so much depends on the progress of testing, the possible return of contact tracing and an eventual vaccine, and frankly, trips to theme parks should be well down anybody’s priority list - other bits of the economy are far more important to get up and running first.
Whilst i agrees with most of your post some aspect of leisure could help reduce deaths and injuries from mental health issues, that is something I would hope SAGE and co are taking into account.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
Whilst i agrees with most of your post some aspect of leisure could help reduce deaths and injuries from mental health issues, that is something I would hope SAGE and co are taking into account.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

It'll most likely be restaurants, pubs and cafes which will be relaxed first. Then theatres and cinemas, and museums. Leisure activities that are most likely more manageable when it comes to social distancing will probably be prioritised, theme parks will probably be at the bottom of the list.
 
It'll most likely be restaurants, pubs and cafes which will be relaxed first. Then theatres and cinemas, and museums. Leisure activities that are most likely more manageable when it comes to social distancing will probably be prioritised, theme parks will probably be at the bottom of the list.
That order whilst being what I fear seems to be the only viable option when the time comes.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
Whilst i agrees with most of your post some aspect of leisure could help reduce deaths and injuries from mental health issues

Of course, and that is an important consideration - but as Stevie has said, you can achieve this in other ways - which don’t involve many thousands of people travelling from a wide area to congregate in one place. Unfortunately for theme parks, they’re probably up there with festivals and large-scale sporting events for being the worst breeding grounds for Covid.
 
Of course, and that is an important consideration - but as Stevie has said, you can achieve this in other ways - which don’t involve many thousands of people travelling from a wide area to congregate in one place. Unfortunately for theme parks, they’re probably up there with festivals and large-scale sporting events for being the worst breeding grounds for Covid.
I'm curious if the science matches our guesses in which is worse.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top