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What changes to operations should we expect post Covid-19?

Islander said:
Theatres and theme parks are very different places - one is an enclosed area with hundreds of people, the other a much more expansive and predominantly outdoor area
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... Where people go with the express intention of being physically restrained in mechanical devices next strangers. And that's before we mention queues.

It's cute that so many people are clinging to hope. Cute, but pointless. Ain't gonna happen. Parks are gone. Move along.
 
I stick to my opinion it seems a lot of work for 2/3 months. But if a park wants to reopen with the right social distancing in place then fair enough but I see too many factors that could turn this into pointless idea. It would be amazing to have the parks open this year we will just have to wait and see.
 
Islander said:
Theatres and theme parks are very different places - one is an enclosed area with hundreds of people, the other a much more expansive and predominantly outdoor area
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Think about the fried chicken outlet at Towers, the Smiler queue, Wickerman pre-show and station, a lot of CBeebies land, the monorail, the hotel bar. All of these places are enclosed areas with groups of people. The number of people is less important compared to how spread out they are doesn't make so much difference if it is a theatre of hundreds of 50 in the Nemesis station. There are several places where people gather in numbers and pubs are probably one of the worst, but I don't think theme parks and theatres are hugely different in the way they cause large numbers of people to come to one place.
The key difference is probably how you get to the park, generally in a car with your own household, whereas theatre is more likely to be public transport which has a lot more issues.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Please don't tell me you're believeing news that's come out of China?

Not that I'd put much more faith in any other "news" source, mind.
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To be fair, I have in the past seen photos of busy Chinese landmarks and tourist attractions to back this up.
 
Whatever happens in China I can guarantee we will possibly do things a lot different. I don’t think we will rush for tourism to open unfortunately. So just because it’s happening in China don’t mean it will happen here.
 
Mr Pearse said:
Whatever happens in China I can guarantee we will possibly do things a lot different. I don’t think we will rush for tourism to open unfortunately. So just because it’s happening in China don’t mean it will happen here.
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In terms of crowd appetite, I'd argue that the Chinese would perhaps be more hesitant than us, because their lockdown was far stricter, which might make them more scared to go out.
 
As I mentioned before by the time tourism finally opens with social distancing in place. It will be going into September by which time children will be in school and people will be back at work and the ones out of work won’t have the money for fun trips out. So people may like a good ole day out but it won’t be like you’ll see in China you’ll still have large pockets of people who will be too worried to go to place with a large number of people. It’s a lot of factors that go into it.
 
I can see the Merlin attractions opening as soon as they are allowed to. Theme parks in China have applied measures such as social distancing and temperature checks so it's possible to implement.

I guess the big question is, will anyone visit? Personally I wouldn't bother with loads of restrictions. Theme parks are for escapism, not to remind me every 2 seconds of this nightmare we're living in.
 
I would visit, because while it is about escapism for me I don't think I can escape what's going on anywhere really. So we'd go and make the best of a bad situation.
And this is partly because we've got no idea what's going to happen with season passes and I want to get as much use out of it as possible in case we don't get a partial refund or transfer to 2021. £70 isn't pocket change to me so I'd want to get something out of it!
 
James said:
I guess the big question is, will anyone visit? Personally I wouldn't bother with loads of restrictions. Theme parks are for escapism, not to remind me every 2 seconds of this nightmare we're living in.
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I read an article that suggested that Alton Towers and Blackpool Pleasure Beach were two of the places that Brits wanted to visit most (according to a poll) upon lockdown being eased, so I'd suggest that the appetite is there!
 
rob666 said:
Couldn't agree more Matt.
But...Metroland (Newcastle...ok...Gateshead) went tits up, mainly because it didnt get the punters it needed to cover costs.
Claimed to be the biggest indoor park in Europe, it simply couldn't make the money needed to keep it going, despite a revamp.
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I think MetroLand was a lot smaller scale than quite a few indoor parks across the world, from what I know about it.

I personally feel that if a larger scale venture, like Nickelodeon Universe at the American Dream Mall, for example, was to open in Britain, with some larger attractions and a bigger company behind it, potentially in a more central location, then I feel it could do very well.
EDIT: Sorry for double posting and off-topic post!
 
Of course Merlin will open soon as they can I wouldn’t expect not too. But it’s going to be interesting how they manage crowd control and how they limit the numbers going into the park. Of course people are going to be put off going for awhile but as my post points out if they can’t open till September then majority of the crowd can’t just go to the parks. I can’t see how they would make a profit in the short term with social distancing in place and a limited line up but each to there own. If they do have to postpone events which is looking more likely then obviously that’s going to dent the number of people attending. There’s a lot of factors to think about including weather could put a number of people off with no indoor areas to keep dry. But with social distancing measures in place you can’t escape from the real world like you normally could with all the things that has to be put in place to open it will just feel the same and in my eyes won’t feel like your escaping from the real world.
 
Matt N said:
I read an article that suggested that Alton Towers and Blackpool Pleasure Beach were two of the places that Brits wanted to visit most (according to a poll) upon lockdown being eased, so I'd suggest that the appetite is there!
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The appetite may be there, however UK legislation ..
2020 season not happening, will the 2021 season be any better with all the social distancing still needed.
 
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