News Disneyland Resort in California plans to begin phased reopening July 9

George Lucas on a Bench

Well-Known Member
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mickEblu

Well-Known Member
I buy a lot of groceries and other essentials at Target.

I agree there are gray areas on what is open and what is closed right now. Part of that was this was supposed to to be manageable by now. Some places slowly reopened and simply didn't close again when cases spiked. Another big issue is that there has been no national leadership or vision on how to proceed. There are contradictions in what is and isn't open.

This is going to come off as being judgmental, but it's really not my intention. If American's were really interested in containing the virus, there wouldn't be crowded beaches with no one wearing masks. If Americans want to contain the virus, they would lay low for a while. Everyone. Again it's not a judgement, it's just the way it is. We now must live with the consequences for not committing 100%.

It doesn't irritate me that people choose to make decisions to be in a high risk situations. What irritates me is that people make the decision to be in a high risk situations and then don't like the consequences of those actions. The blueprint to success against this virus is pretty simple. Practically every other country has done it. As a whole America has yet to commit to it. As a result there are consequences and unfortunately way too many have/will lose their life for the action they or others took.

I would have no problem going to a theme park in Japan or South Korea right now. Everyone knows how to behave in this environment over there. I can't say that for America. Your comments have shown that you agree that there isn't anywhere near a 100% buy in to what is needed to go out in public safely. People won't magically behave differently the moment they walk through the ticket gates. There maybe a mask mandate, but someone who doesn't believe they should have to wear a mask, will remove it the moment they feel they aren't being watched. It's happened a lot in Florida.

One of two things need to happen before I think Disneyland should open. Infection rates plummet from current levels or the nation commits to doing what is needed in public to protect each other from virus transmission. Of course part two is the only way we get part one short of a vaccine.


I think people just have to be practical and have common sense. It’s not practical to expect people to wear masks while they re laying out on the beach. That’s why even though their are signs at Zuma saying masks required and police officers driving up and down the beach nobody was wearing Masks or being fined because of it. At at theme park however, I would imagine the vast majority would comply because things would be more organized and it’s not like at the beach where you can kind of choose to stay with your group on the sand away from other people to an extent. I’m not sure how things are going at WDW but everyone is complying at the stores in DTLA, the valley, Hollywood etc.

I’m tired of hearing people hate on America. I keep seeing people compare how these tiny European countries Handled the virus compared to America and it’s just ridiculous. The U.S. is an enormous country with a lot of people and diversity. This is a huge disadvantage when it comes to something like containing a pandemic. With that said, I don’t even know for certain that more could have been done. Can we say for certain that if we quarantined for another few weeks/ months everything would be ok today? I also don’t watch the news much because I don’t like to be depressed so I may be out of the loop or maybe it makes it easier to think for myself. I dunno. Also, I’m probably the wrong person to have this convo with because I question just how dangerous the COVID is to people that are not elderly or with underlying conditions (basically the same people susceptible to all the other diseases/ viruses not just COVID) and what political chess moves might be in play.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
I didn’t ask a question in my comparison of Target and DL. That was a statement.

I think calling Target a grocery store is a bit disingenuous. There’s a billion supermarkets open. If we re really trying to stop the spread did all the Targets need to be open too? If so, they should shut down the electronics section (and everything except food) and only keep the grocery store section open and Limit the people going in like Traders Joes does. So as we can see, there’s all kinds of gray areas when it comes to “essential” and I think with a little creativity and common sense and we can see how a theme park can operate safely today. I understand it’s more people and more chance for spread but it can be done safely. If anything it’ll be “safer“ then the beach in Malibu I went to on Sunday that was packed with nobody wearing masks.
There were places that tried to limit sales of specific items in department stores. The whole point of using categories was to avoid having to make value judgements about every single business and then each aspect of those businesses.

Electronics were generally considered essential as business supplies.

Target did limit capacity but a larger store is going to have a larger capacity.

I’m tired of hearing people hate on America. I keep seeing people compare how these tiny European countries Handled the virus compared to America and it’s just ridiculous. The U.S. is an enormous country with a lot of people and diversity. This is a huge disadvantage when it comes to something like containing a pandemic. With that said, I don’t even know for certain that more could have been done. Can we say for certain that if we quarantined for another few weeks/ months everything would be ok today? I also don’t watch the news much because I don’t like to be depressed so I may be out of the loop or maybe it makes it easier to think for myself. I dunno. Also, I’m probably the wrong person to have this convo with because I question just how dangerous the COVID is to people that are not elderly or with underlying conditions (basically the same people susceptible to all the other diseases/ viruses not just COVID) and what political chess moves might be in play.
The comparisons to Europe are often to the European Union, a collection of countries with a larger population than the United States. More people, more diversity.

There are college football players with heart inflammation. That alone should tell you that your assessment of the severity of the virus is incorrect.
 

cmwade77

Well-Known Member
How many Theme/Amusement Parks are open in the USA?

How many known positive cases have been reported from visiting those parks?

I can think of 10 medium to large parks that are open, maybe more.
Here are the parks I know that are open:
  1. Magic Kingdom
  2. EPCOT
  3. Hollywood Studios
  4. Animal Kingdom
  5. SeaWorld Orlando
  6. SeaWorld San Antonio
  7. Busch Gardens Tampa
  8. Legoland Orlando
  9. Universal Studios Orlando
  10. Six Flags over Texas
  11. World's of Fun
  12. Dollywood
  13. Silver Dollar City
  14. Holiday World
  15. Silverwood
  16. Lagoon
  17. Busch Gardens Williamsburg
I am know that I am missing many, but You know what they ALL have in common? None of them have a single case of COVID attributed to being transmitted within the theme park.

You know why? Because they are safer than just about anywhere else.

And for mental health, theme park and other entertainment venues are absolutely essential, we need to fix the fact that there have been substantially more suicides than COVID deaths, we need to reduce suicides, not increase COVID of course.
 

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
I think people just have to be practical and have common sense. It’s not practical to expect people to wear masks while they re laying out on the beach. That’s why even though their are signs at Zuma saying masks required and police officers driving up and down the beach nobody was wearing Masks or being fined because of it. At at theme park however, I would imagine the vast majority would comply because things would be more organized and it’s not like at the beach where you can kind of choose to stay with your group on the sand away from other people to an extent. I’m not sure how things are going at WDW but everyone is complying at the stores in DTLA, the valley, Hollywood etc.

I've visited five parks or so and my local zoo since things have reopened.

I would say only one park (Kings Island) had most people complying with masks and distancing regulations. Simply put, some parks (and certainly not Brookfield Zoo) just didn't have the staff to really enforce the guidelines, and even parks with lots of staff can't always get people to do what they need them to do.

I was continually amazed at how many people were trying to slip the masks off, or were letting them hang off their ears, or had them not covering their noses, and so on. There were also a number of occasions where an employee would ask the guest to put the mask on, and the mask would come off again as soon as the employee turn away.

Social distancing was also mixed, particularly in queues. I truly don't think most people were intentionally being jerks or flauting the markers on purpose, but it's simply reality that people are still conditioned to behaving in a park as they would have in any other year.

Reportedly, Disney's doing a great job of enforcing this in Florida. Hopefully that's accurate, but it's also determined by individual perception. On what I saw as one of the worst park days in terms of following covid guidelines, there were people praising the park for how well they did on social media. Frankly, given Disney's track record for enforcing most other rules, I feel somewhat justified in being skeptical that it's as good at Disney World as many people are saying.

I accept that in visiting amusement parks and zoos I assumed risk. I did my best to do my part, follow the guidelines, and adapt to the modified experience. But if following the new guidelines is common sense, it's a lot less common than you would think or hope. At least, in my experience. While there are a lot of people in, say, Florida that are talking about how much mask compliance is better at WDW vs. their local grocery store, the opposite has been true in the Chicago area and the Midwest over the summer. It's definitely very frustrating to have so much of your risk being affected by other people who don't seem particularly concerned about anyone they didn't walk into the gate with, but that's where we are now, I suppose.

I question just how dangerous the COVID is to people that are not elderly or with underlying conditions (basically the same people susceptible to all the other diseases/ viruses not just COVID) and what political chess moves might be in play.

There have been many, many students that have tested positive for covid over the last few weeks as schools have reopened and the powers that be have pushed to have students return to school buildings regardless of whether or not that was actually practical for our current situation. It's looking more and more as though part of the reason there were fewer cases among students is less because they're better equipped to deal with the virus, and more because, by closing the schools, students were removed from their primary opportunity to become exposed to covid. Here's just one example:
 

Askimosita

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Sorry to interrupt the COVID discussion, but I went to DTD this evening and saw a lot of what looked like executives at the GC. Ton of cars. Also, few people rearranging furniture in the DL hotel. Could see them through the windows. Also, lots of DCA rides testing lights and fun things.

I love seeing these things because it renews my sense of “we are so close!” 😃

Also, Jazz Kitchen opened up today, including Express, and I got my very first piping hot bag of beignets on the way out. Wowza, they make them well.
 

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
And for mental health, theme park and other entertainment venues are absolutely essential, we need to fix the fact that there have been substantially more suicides than COVID deaths, we need to reduce suicides, not increase COVID of course.

While mental health is essential and too often misunderstood and minimized within our society, I don't believe being unable to go to a park is a significant driver to suicides. It would seem more likely that any increase would be as a result of job loss, illness of self or a family member, increased anxiety, etc. There are cheaper and more viable places for most people to get out for a little while than a place that requires a season pass or 70 plus dollars/ticket on the low end and parking to get into. Theme parks cannot remotely be considered essential businesses. No one will live or die based on their ability to go to a theme park.

Most Americans aren't ready to go back:

I say all of this as a person who routinely visits 20+ parks a year. Perhaps the ultra-involved, I've-gone-to-Disneyland-every-day-for-five-years crowd might be more affected by all of this, but that's a minute percentage of their visitors.
 
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cmwade77

Well-Known Member
While mental health is essential and too often misunderstood and minimized within our society, I don't believe being unable to go to a park is a significant driver to suicides. It would seem more likely that any increase would be as a result of job loss, illness of self or a family member, increased anxiety, etc. There are cheaper and more viable places for most people to get out for a little while than a place that requires a season pass or 70 plus dollars/ticket on the low end and parking to get into. Theme parks cannot remotely be considered essential businesses. No one will live or die based on their ability to go to a theme park.

Most Americans aren't ready to go back:

I say all of this as a person who routinely visits 20+ parks a year. Perhaps the ultra-involved, I've-gone-to-Disneyland-every-day-for-five-years crowd might be more affected by all of this, but that's a minute percentage of their visitors.
And what drives job loss, especially in California? Theme park and other entertainment venues being closed, there is a major knock on effect that we ignore. I am not saying only theme parks, buy theaters of all types, heck even having gyms closed is for some entertainment that is closed, etc.

As for no one will live or die because theme parks are closed, tell that to all of the businesses that are dependent on theme parks operating and are in very real danger of having to close their doors forever, including several local farms that also provide us with food. The problem with the farms is they don't have enough demand outside the parks to stay open, but yet also provide enough food to all of us that we will have a serious lack of food if they shut down permanently. No one really comprehends how interconnected southern California is with theme parks

These all contribute and are issues, as everyone is more stressed than ever with no way to relive said stress. It is a recipe for disaster.
 

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
And what drives job loss, especially in California? Theme park and other entertainment venues being closed, there is a major knock on effect that we ignore. I am not saying only theme parks, buy theaters of all types, heck even having gyms closed is for some entertainment that is closed, etc.

These all contribute and are issues, as everyone is more stressed than ever with no way to relive said stress. It is a recipe for disaster.

Reportedly other countries paid their citizens to stay home. That would probably dramatically lower stress, particularly about finances, in addition to reducing covid exposure/outcomes.

Are we not the richest country in the world? Could we not do/have done the same thing?

Just reopening theme parks/businesses/things is not a magical cure all. Not saying we need to keep things closed for as long as possible either, just saying the situation requires a bit more nuance.
 

Askimosita

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
While mental health is essential and too often misunderstood and minimized within our society, I don't believe being unable to go to a park is a significant driver to suicides. It would seem more likely that any increase would be as a result of job loss, illness of self or a family member, increased anxiety, etc. There are cheaper and more viable places for most people to get out for a little while than a place that requires a season pass or $70/ticket plus parking to get into. Theme parks cannot remotely be considered essential businesses. No one will live or die based on their ability to go to a theme park.

Most Americans aren't ready to go back:

I say all of this as a person who routinely visits 20+ parks a year. Perhaps the ultra-involved, I've-gone-to-Disneyland-every-day-for-five-years crowd might be more affected by all of this, but that's a minute percentage of their visitors.


If you look at the study Itself, it wasn’t exactly a fair representation of the normal theme park going group. A majority of those interviewed had below the national average income—I believe it was something like 58% below 50k and the national income is around 62k—and significantly less than the average income of those that visited theme parks—which was 86k in 2017....

Also—and my calculations may be off because it’s been a while since I was in my stats program— but in order to properly have 95% confidence in this study with the claimed 2% margin or error, the study needs about 200 more people to be an accurate sample representation of US adults. If they wanted a 99% confidence, they would have tested a little less than 5000 people.

My point is, a study is a study, but the data can be twisted in any which way, and presented even more differently, especially in a secondary or tertiary source. I bet a majority of the people that continue to share the article didn’t look at the numbers and demographics themselves. Which I probably wouldn’t either if I wasn’t a researcher for a living 😂 but that number doesn’t distinguish those not visiting theme parks because of COVID vs because of job loss and evidently an already low income. Because 46% want to go next year rather than this year, it doesn’t mean it’s because COVID is so bad right now—though obviously that’s a great assumption. It could be because the finances aren’t there. 🤷🏻‍♀️
 

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