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

Matt N said:
My apologies, I should probably clarify; by “regional”, I meant a park that mainly caters to Germans and other people in the vicinity of the park (I think Europa is very near the French border, correct me if I’m wrong?) Towers, in that regard, caters mainly for British people. I admit that Europa’s visitor figures are considerably higher than Alton Towers’, but proportionally, I think Alton Towers could have similar success!

I must admit I didn’t think Europa had too much of an international clientele outside of enthusiast circles, but I’ve obviously been proven wrong; I thought they mainly had German visitors and got very successful from the national market!
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So national park not international park?

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imanautie said:
So national park not international park?

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In hindsight, yes; I think a better phrase for describing Europa would be “national-scale park”. I think I was a little harsh in calling it regional, but I also wouldn’t call it an international tourist destination, either.
 
Matt N said:
In hindsight, yes; I think a better phrase for describing Europa would be “national-scale park”. I think I was a little harsh in calling it regional, but I also wouldn’t call it an international tourist destination
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They literally opened a London office and ran ads on the city’s buses not long ago to drive up UK visitor numbers.

Funny actions for a park that’s not international.
 
Matt N said:
In hindsight, yes; I think a better phrase for describing Europa would be “national-scale park”. I think I was a little harsh in calling it regional, but I also wouldn’t call it an international tourist destination, either.
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By your definition, is there a single "international" theme park desination not dominated by Disney / Universal?

Of course parks abroad are mainly going to be frequented by enthusiasts/ people who love theme parks. There are very very few exceptions to this.

Europa Park very much has European appeal. I'd argue that it has worldwide appeal.
 
I cant see cattle queue and indoor queues working as how is every household group gonna keep 2m away from other groups. If you turn up with friends will you be forced to use the single queue lines if available. Think the biggest different will be in CBeebies land with no meet and greet, Charlie and Lola play area closed and Justin's playhouse, Tree fu Tom also closed off and the shows like the furchester hotel and mr bloom unavailable.
 
Matt N said:
In hindsight, yes; I think a better phrase for describing Europa would be “national-scale park”. I think I was a little harsh in calling it regional, but I also wouldn’t call it an international tourist destination, either.
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Europa-Park is the second most visited park in Europe, and is near to the borders with France and Switzerland. I'm sure a fair proportion of their visitors are from these countries.
Themeparksandy1981 said:
I cant see cattle queue and indoor queues working as how is every household group gonna keep 2m away from other groups
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Yes they are a problem, but that poses a question. What outdoor queue lines could they open which aren't cattle-penned?

The obvious example of a cattle-pen to me is The Smiler. I think the others are all fairly sprawling for the most part, although there are some parts in Wicker Man and Thirteen that couldn't be used. At least we can get Nemesis open ;)
 
KolonelKlink said:
They literally opened a London office and ran ads on the city’s buses not long ago to drive up UK visitor numbers.

Funny actions for a park that’s not international.
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D4n said:
By your definition, is there a single "international" theme park desination not dominated by Disney / Universal?

Of course parks abroad are mainly going to be frequented by enthusiasts/ people who love theme parks. There are very very few exceptions to this.

Europa Park very much has European appeal. I'd argue that it has worldwide appeal.
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Alsty said:
Europa-Park is the second most visited park in Europe, and is near to the borders with France and Switzerland. I'm sure a fair proportion of their visitors are from these countries.
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I must admit, I never knew that Europa advertised so heavily in Britain or other European countries. So I suppose in that regard, they’re no less international than Disneyland Paris.

Anyway, on an on-topic note; couldn’t the park open up some of the old extension queues for the rides? Look at Nemesis, for example; that ride has tons of extension queue that hasn’t been used in years! If they opened those, then I imagine they could easily fit groups in and separate them by 2m.
 
I stick to my personal opinion that it would never be financially viable to reopen independent parks this year. To open for just 2/4 months and most of that time is when everyone is back at school and work. Merlin parks are different they will try and claw back what ever money they can. But the smaller parks will struggle a lot if they tried opening this year.
 
Same, all the videos I've seen have had a few people in the parks. They can open, although they look like brightly coloured hospital wards :p But i can't see them making any money.

If they can afford to take a loss for a while then that's the only way I can see them opening.
 
My point is and it’s took me so long to actually get my head round it. Most of these parks if they can open won’t open till August time so after August how many guests could a park like lightwater or Oakwood get during September/October without events. This is the problem for the uk park industry we are not year round attractions we run 8/9 months a year that’s it. The merlin parks have the financial backing to reopen the smaller independent parks dont. Once you factor in all the costs and bills to reopen for a smaller park it will run at loss every day they are open. It’s a shame to see it for this year but 2021 will be a better year.
 
If the parks are told by the government that they can reopen on 4th July as Boris’ plan says (I’d assume they’ll be told a few weeks in advance if this is the case), then they will try to reopen in July. The government will tell the parks in advance when they can reopen so they can prepare, and I’m sure they wouldn’t want to miss out on a nice bit of summer holiday revenue!
 
Some parks rely not just on summer revenue but the whole season revenue. So they will open to limited guests for 2 months of the season. How much do you expect a smaller park to make in that short period of time. No one knows when they could reopen they have been given a rough date but no proper date.
 
Matt N said:
If the parks are told by the government that they can reopen on 4th July as Boris’ plan says (I’d assume they’ll be told a few weeks in advance if this is the case), then they will try to reopen in July. The government will tell the parks in advance when they can reopen so they can prepare, and I’m sure they wouldn’t want to miss out on a nice bit of summer holiday revenue!
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Boris won't tell anyone anything. He doesn't wake up each morning and wonder if he should call up nick varney. The only notice he's given in advance has been for schools and that's not set in stone. They'll probably get a week or 2 notice at most.
 
Croftybaby said:
Boris won't tell anyone anything. He doesn't wake up each morning and wonder if he should call up nick varney. The only notice he's given in advance has been for schools and that's not set in stone. They'll probably get a week or 2 notice at most.
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But a week’s notice should surely still allow them to prepare for an opening in time for the summer holidays at the end of July?
 
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