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

Burbs said:
I was discussing with @AstroDan a few days ago about the 2m rule and groups on park together. For families it won't be an issue, as you see it at shops now that couples will be stood together as 1 unit. But for groups of friends... what will happen?

There's clearly going to be 2m markers in the queue lines, but if you had every single person in the queue stood that far apart then it simply isn't going to work. My thoughts are that for groups of friends who don't live together, it would work on a common sense policy that no one in the group is showing any symptoms and must generally remain together throughout the day.
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This is all true and will need to be thought about but it's just the tip of the iceberg in the grand scheme of things. There's going to be so much they will need to have in place and for what? A limited capacity day out for at best a 2 month season.

Some parks will probably be better off not opening at all. Can only see them losing money.

Towers might be okay as it has much more space to spread people around. Blackpool sadly might struggle more than most.
 
The queues feel like of the least difficult aspects, especially at Alton. If you use the fully extended queue lines (Alton is pretty well positioned in that regard) you can get a lot of people in those lines with adequate spacing. If you combine that with some sort of forced pre-booking like Six Flags is opting for and perhaps other measures to spread guests across the park, that feels fairly workable.

What is difficult is getting 2 metres spacing between guests on the rides, if that's what is required.

Irrespective of what happens, with any limited opening or special measures, I don't see our family going to a park this season, it just sounds hard work and not worth the hassle.
 
Obviously it’s not going to be easy for smaller parks to open and Merlin will want there parks open asap. It’s just the way it goes I was looking forward to going this year but even if it opens It won’t feel the same. I like to go to escape reality put all your problems at the gate and let yourself go. But with all the measures that will be in place it won’t feel like a escape from reality in my eyes you will constantly reminded of what’s going on outside the gates. To other people obviously it wouldn’t matter but to me it ruins the experience. But as I always say each to there own hopefully 2021 will be a better season.
 
I agree queue lines are the easy part but how are you going to distance on the rides? However I’d rather be on one of the rides at AT than rammed into one of those London Underground carriages.
 
Alsty said:
Maybe wearing of masks and face coverings would be a possible mitigation.
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I think that might be one of the things that the government advised for "when a 2m distance cannot be feasibly kept".
 
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I don't see how they can afford to open. In my work we have hired loads of cleaners. some are employed to stand next to a door and wipe a handle after it's been used. Are Towers really going to pay out so much money on adapting the park hiring loads of extra cleaners just so that fewer people can come alongside cancelling some of their big money events?

Towers grumble at the cost of refilling a smoke machine.
 
Merlin will open the parks to try and recoup some of the money they are losing. Other parks cannot in my eyes do what they do if they lose the summer season many of the smaller parks won’t see the financial return. So if Merlin do open the parks I can see only them opening.
 
Mr Pearse said:
Merlin will open the parks to try and recoup some of the money they are losing. Other parks cannot in my eyes do what they do if they lose the summer season many of the smaller parks won’t see the financial return. So if Merlin do open the parks I can see only them opening.
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The other, frankly brutal, thing to consider is that if other smaller parks don't manage to open, it'll only boost attendance for the Merlin parks if they do.
 
Mr Pearse said:
Merlin will open the parks to try and recoup some of the money they are losing. Other parks cannot in my eyes do what they do if they lose the summer season many of the smaller parks won’t see the financial return. So if Merlin do open the parks I can see only them opening.
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But I can't see them making much money. I can sort of understand how the likes of Disney would do it. They have a pit of money to take losses. I'm not sure Merlin can afford to run at a loss for a long period of time (if they will be running at a loss)
 
Croftybaby said:
But I can't see them making much money. I can sort of understand how the likes of Disney would do it. They have a pit of money to take losses. I'm not sure Merlin can afford to run at a loss for a long period of time (if they will be running at a loss)
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This assumes that it takes a lot of guests for Merlin parks to break even - I suspect it doesn’t.


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I doubt it will boost any popularity most of the general public probably wouldn’t think of going to any other park apart from Alton towers. But it wouldn’t change things as they would still need to limit the numbers coming in so i don’t think it changes anything. If I was merlin I wouldn’t concentrate on opening the parks for 2/3 months I’d be pushing to reopen the midways quicker.
 
I have a feeling Thorpe won't open and Chessington will. It would make sense as this park can run for zoo days in the winter. Therefore the theme park season could be extended further into the winter and Merlin could put more resources into getting that park up and running safely? Then if (big if) we get a vaccine over winter Thorpe can run without much change. I'd also expect them to run AT for a longer season with the new systems in place as it's more of a resort. All the parks will have to switch to virtual qué and I think we shall see season tickets ramp up in price for 2021. The current model of stack them high sell them cheap won't work.
 
Obviously all those season passes for this year will roll over to next year so I can’t see pass sales next year being overly High.
 
SuperMuscleMan said:
I have a feeling Thorpe won't open and Chessington will. It would make sense as this park can run for zoo days in the winter. Therefore the theme park season could be extended further into the winter and Merlin could put more resources into getting that park up and running safely? Then if (big if) we get a vaccine over winter Thorpe can run without much change. I'd also expect them to run AT for a longer season with the new systems in place as it's more of a resort. All the parks will have to switch to virtual qué and I think we shall see season tickets ramp up in price for 2021. The current model of stack them high sell them cheap won't work.
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The teen market that Thorpe is designed to appeal to is the least profitable group in terms of money spent per head. Also lots of groups of friends rather than families. They also have the more coasters so will be far more expensive to run than Chessington. I can't see Thorpe reopening this year'
 
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