Revisiting Theme Parks in the Age of Covid-19

 A while back, I made a post about what I thought would change at theme parks across the country when they reopened in the era of COVID. Some of those predictions included the requirement of face coverings, capacity management through the use of reservation systems, among other things. Let's go through each of my predictions to see how I did. 

Slinky Dog Dash at Disney's Hollywood Studios

1. Limited Capacities- This prediction was spot on. In most cases, capacities at parks were determined by state and local restrictions, but even in areas without capacity restrictions, in most cases parks limited their capacities. All parks operated by Cedar Fair, Six Flags and Disney Parks, Products and Experiences managed capacity through the use of reservation systems. Many parks have now done away with reservation systems as the availability of vaccines and treatments improves, but this is not the case for every park across the country. For parks that did not utilize reservation systems, the concept of dated tickets made a return. An example of this is with Herschend Family Entertainment. Good any day tickets were not available in the early phases of reopening, and only a certain number of tickets were available each day. Reservations were available to season pass holders. 

The Ugly- The necessity of capacity management due to state and local restrictions resulted in major headaches for season passholders at quite a few parks. With few exceptions, almost every park required passholders to make reservations, and with the exception of Hersheypark, inventory was not set aside for passholders. This notably impacted Disney AP holders, who early on experienced great difficulty securing reservations when the Walt Disney World Resort initially reopened. 

2. Phased Reopenings- This wasn't very relevant to some of the smaller parks out there but we did see phased reopenings at resort destinations. For example, just like at Shanghai Disney Resort, Walt Disney World's phased reopening started with Disney Springs. Universal CityWalk opened before the parks did, and out in California, Downtown Disney opened well before the Disneyland Resort parks did. At Knott's Berry Farm, California Marketplace opened prior to the park. For some parks that were able to reopen, due to staffing and timing constraints, aquatic attractions were often left behind. Such is the case for Wildwater Kingdom at Dorney Park, and Oceans of Fun at Worlds of Fun. Many aquatic attractions opened late in 2021 due to staffing shortages. 

3. Increased Sanitation of Ride Units- Every park that I visited in summer 2020 placed an emphasis on frequent cleaning of ride units. This led to longer wait times, though thanks to the accompanying capacity restrictions these wait times were not excessive. Many parks began to dial back on these protocols later on in the summer when new information about transmission of COVID-19 became known, such as how long it is able to survive on surfaces and how it spreads in outdoor environments. By late summer, all the parks I was visiting had stopped doing hourly sanitation and limited to doing so prior to park opening. These changes often came in conjunction with increased capacities. 

4. Increased Sanitation Stations- This is something we started to see before the initial lockdowns began. Days before announcing its closure, cast members at Disney were seen setting up portable handwashing units throughout the park. Upon reopening, many guests noticed a dramatic increase in the number of hand sanitizer dispensers placed throughout the parks. Over the past several months, I started noticing that some of these stations were disappearing. Upon talking to Cast Members at Disney during my August trip, I found out that they were gradually removing these portable stations as they continued moving back toward 'normal' operations. 

5. Masks- This became an almost universal policy across the country. With very few exceptions, every park required gusts to wear face coverings both indoors and outdoors early on in the pandemic. Later on this was relaxed to just indoors. Even in December 2021, there are still some parks that require face coverings for all guests while indoors. Few parks if any however still require face coverings to be worn outdoors. 

6. Virtual Queues- This is one of my few predictions that wasn't seen as widely as I expected. Universal Orlando Resort and Cedar Point are the only parks that I am aware of to have used virtual queues at any point during the pandemic. While Disney's Hollywood Studios did make use of boarding groups for Rise of the Resistance, this is not related to pandemic restrictions as this was in place prior to the pandemic, and actually ended recently. 

7. Temperature Checks- Like masks, this was a policy applied almost universally with the only exceptions being parks that didn't have the means to screen every guest, such as Knoebels. Six Flags made use of thermal technology to screen all guests entering the parks, Cedar Fair and Hershey Entertainment (along with Disney) made use of more traditional hand held thermometers, and any guest with a temperature greater than 100.4 degrees was denied entry. Most parks if not all have done away with temperature screenings at this point in time. 

8. Cashless Payments- This is one of those things that's a little more complicated than meets the eye. Cedar Fair has announced a transition to all cashless payments at all parks by the start of the 2022 season. Most orders at Disney Parks are completed through mobile ordering, and parks that are not cashless encourage cashless payments. This is one of those things where every park is doing something a bit different. 

9. Social Distancing- This is another one of those universally applied policies. Queue lines at every park I visited over the past two summers had social distancing markers in the queue lines. The problem was, that nobody paid any attention to them. Most parks did not have the staffing to have employees in the queue lines to enforce social distancing policies. At this point in time, most parks have removed social distancing markers from the ground, and all remaining markers that were painted onto the ground will likely be pressure washed at the conclusion of the 2021 operating season. For parks that do not host holiday events, this process has likely already begun. This will likely hold, at least in the United States regardless of new concerns surrounding Omicron. 

Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion

Overall, I would say I was pretty spot on for most of these pandemic changes. As we get further from 2020 most parks have returned to a more normal version of their operation, with few restrictions if any still in place. Globally, there could be some new restrictions as a result of Omicron, but I find it unlikely that parks, at least in North America will be forced to shut their doors again. 

Special Note- One question some experts have asked is weather parks would require proof of vaccination as a criteria for admission. As of writing this article, the answer is primarily no. Park management teams really do not have an interest in mandating vaccines to enter parks, as doing so would cause major headaches for arrival attendants and would likely result in a sizeable number of people refusing to visit. That being said, there are a couple of parks that do require proof of vaccine due to local restrictions. One such example is Six Flags Magic Mountain, and this is due to requirements by the County. A caveat to this is that Six Flags has been strategic in the way they've gone about doing this. The county's vaccine mandate is based on crowd size. As a result, Six Flags Magic Mountain only requires proof of vaccination on certain days where they expect crowd sizes to meet or exceed the county requirements. These days are noted on the park's operating calendar. Universal Studios Hollywood is in the same county, and indicates a vaccine or negative PCR test result as a condition for entry, but such policies are enforced based on park attendance. At this time to my knowledge there are no other parks that have such requirements in place. 

Singleness After College: Lessons learned so far

 At the time of writing this blog, I am 23 years old, unmarried, and have never had a girlfriend. Growing up, I always dreamt of one day getting married, settling down and having a family of my own (yes, guys have dreams too). When I was 19 years old, I enrolled at Lancaster Bible College. Being a small, conservative Christian school, there was certainly some pressures associated with dating. Some even went as far as to call it Lancaster Bridal College because apparently every female who attends is looking for their Mrs. degree. Four years later, I walked across the stage, received my diploma, and moved on to the next stage of my life, still single. I wasn't alone in this. My best friend graduated with the same status. I guess that should bring me some comfort. 

Going into my senior year, I had a sense of dread. This realization that I was in my final year of college, and if I didn't find "the one," I would be destined for singleness, a life that I did not want to live. This was not made any easier by the pressure that comes from attending such a small, christian college, where dating and marriage is essentially viewed as the end goal. I felt lonely, even though I was surrounded by people who mean the world to me. I felt scared, knowing that I would be taking my next steps in life... alone. I felt sad. I don't experience the same self doubt that I used to, but sometimes, singleness feels like a wound. That wound, can sometimes get infected, leading to depression and other complications. 

Going into my final semester of college, I began looking for full-time jobs. I've known since I was little that I wanted to work at an amusement park. Even at the time of my job search, I was working at Hersheypark for my eighth season. I was specifically looking for a job in the amusement industry. I applied for a variety of full-time jobs at Hersheypark, a few at Dorney Park, and one at Knoebels. All I got was rejection. I began to feel discouraged, fearing I may not get to stay in the amusement industry. That is until I was made aware of a job opening at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. For most of my adult life, I dreamed of moving back down south. I was after all, born and raised in Alabama. I did not expect this opportunity to come. I applied for the position, recognizing that I would likely be rejected. This rejection that I was expecting however, would not come. The day after my interview, I was offered the role of Location Supervisor of Ride Operations at Carowinds, which I accepted. This meant I would be moving my entire life to not just another state, but another region. 

While I still dream of meeting "the one" and getting married, that dream would have made the career dream an impossible one. Because I was on my own, I did not have to take anyone into consideration when deciding on my next move. Two months after accepting this new role, I packed all my stuff into a U-Haul and moved to Rock Hill, South Carolina. I have since fallen in love with the area. I did exactly what I was afraid of doing, taking that next step alone. While I experience the occasional loneliness of walking into an empty apartment after a long day at work, I take one step outside into the Carolina heat, take a sip of sweet tea, and remember that I am home. 

As I have adjusted to life in South Carolina, I have found myself effectively going out with myself. Without having to take anyone else into consideration, I've been able to do whatever I please, sometimes without any planning at all. For example, last Wednesday on a whim I traveled to Atlanta for two back to back Braves games. While traveling back to Pennsylvania for my graduation party, I made an impromptu stop at Kings Dominion for a couple of hours to take a break from driving. I was able to take the long drive slow, and do what I wanted to do along the way. I was able to eat where I wanted to eat, stay where I wanted to stay, and listen to the music that I wanted to listen to. 

The truth is, I still long for the day that I meet the woman who makes me go weak at the knees. The one who I am able to fall in love with every day, the one who challenges me like nobody else ever has, or would ever be able to. The one who will join me for spontaneous adventures, or take things the southern way, slowly. The one who will sit on the back porch with me sipping sweet tea and listening to country radio on a summer night. The one who no matter how frustrated I am with, I simply cannot stop loving. The one who despite how crazy I drive her, simply cannot stop loving me. I dream of that moment almost daily. 

The reality is, my time has not yet come. I remain in this season of singleness, but out of it, has come something that many people lose out on. My dream of working in the theme park business has been realized. I am exactly where I have dreamed of being for so many years. My desire of returning to the south has been realized. I no longer feel like a fish out of water. I'm able to continue focusing on improving myself, while also continuing to build my relationships with my friends.