Would you go the park? (Covid-19)

[Porkchop23]

I’ll give an anecdotal experience to tell why I would go to the park this morning if it opened without restrictions. I was at Disney World with my son’s class trip in late February. That was the time when the virus was supposedly churning around the country and supposedly nothing was being done about it. 3 charter busses, full of kids and adults went down there. We spent 3 days there, along with 50,000 other people, from all over the world, each touching that thumb reader to get into each park. The parks were annoyingly packed due to Louisiana being on break for Mardi Gras and Disney Hollywood Studios having Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Rise of the Resistance open and running. Magic Kingdom was so crowded that the cast members were commenting on how odd it was to be that busy at that time of year. We went to all 4 parks and even ate dinner at the Chinese pavilion at Epcot. When we left, we crammed into 3 charter busses and drove home.

No one got sick. Not one person. The students and teachers that went down there were in the school for a month before the schools are closed. Nobody at the school got sick. Believe me, if the virus would have gotten anyone at the school, we would have known.

I’m not saying the virus is a hoax or that it doesn’t exist. I am saying that the reaction to it was overblown and inflicted more unneeded pain on everyone instead of the relatively few it was going to affect.

SFGA was my park for most of my life, and I do miss it. But there is no way I’m going to wear a mask and wait twice as long for half the enjoyment for the same price. Now that I’ve escaped Illinois and live in a free state, I have access to 3 theme parks within driving distance for day trips and Orlando being 9 hours away for overnight trips. I won’t go to any of them until the restrictions are lifted.

[onyxhotel08]

I’ll give an anecdotal experience to tell why I would go to the park this morning if it opened without restrictions. I was at Disney World with my son’s class trip in late February. That was the time when the virus was supposedly churning around the country and supposedly nothing was being done about it. 3 charter busses, full of kids and adults went down there. We spent 3 days there, along with 50,000 other people, from all over the world, each touching that thumb reader to get into each park. The parks were annoyingly packed due to Louisiana being on break for Mardi Gras and Disney Hollywood Studios having Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Rise of the Resistance open and running. Magic Kingdom was so crowded that the cast members were commenting on how odd it was to be that busy at that time of year. We went to all 4 parks and even ate dinner at the Chinese pavilion at Epcot. When we left, we crammed into 3 charter busses and drove home.

No one got sick. Not one person. The students and teachers that went down there were in the school for a month before the schools are closed. Nobody at the school got sick. Believe me, if the virus would have gotten anyone at the school, we would have known.

I’m not saying the virus is a hoax or that it doesn’t exist. I am saying that the reaction to it was overblown and inflicted more unneeded pain on everyone instead of the relatively few it was going to affect.

SFGA was my park for most of my life, and I do miss it. But there is no way I’m going to wear a mask and wait twice as long for half the enjoyment for the same price. Now that I’ve escaped Illinois and live in a free state, I have access to 3 theme parks within driving distance for day trips and Orlando being 9 hours away for overnight trips. I won’t go to any of them until the restrictions are lifted.

^^^ Bravo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

J. B. Priztker no better than Corona.

[UnclePennybags]

I spent 3 hours sitting in an air conditioned room talking to my lawyer. Every 20 minutes or so, I had to pull my mask down to expose my nose so I could breath cool air. It gets hot talking into a mask. I could imagine it getting very, very hot on an 85 to 95 degree day in the park. At these temps, the park is already hotter due to the abundance of black top. Wearing a mask in these conditions would not be a good time, so I don't think I'd go unless I was going to the water park.

To amend my earlier vote, I would likely not go on a hot day, but maybe on a warm day just to see if wearing a mask would be unbearable.

[Carlo]

They do sell masks that have a filter in them. These allow air to go inside the masks so it will not be that bad if you get one of these.

As far as if I would go. I would go only after about 2-3 weeks after they open.

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[anewman35]

This story about SFOG is why I wouldn't go to the park this year, even with their precautions. It's not the park so much, it's the people who attend, and if they don't enforce the rules (and I don't think they will), then it's useless.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/travel/th ... -pandemic/

[Porkchop23]

This story about SFOG is why I wouldn't go to the park this year, even with their precautions. It's not the park so much, it's the people who attend, and if they don't enforce the rules (and I don't think they will), then it's useless.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/travel/th ... -pandemic/

If you look for problems, you’ll find them. The author of that article wanted to be upset and was. Its Six Flags, the Dollar General of the theme park industry. If they don’t enforce line jumping rules when it happens right in front of them, they aren’t going to correct someone for not wearing their mouth diaper correctly.

You have two options, go and ignore everyone else and enjoy yourself, knowing the virus has a 99.5% survival rate or stay home. Going to look for something to complain about seems like a waste of effort and money.

[CoasterRiderSC]

We went to Six Flags St. Louis on 7/3. They had plenty of "mask free" break areas throughout the park. As for enforcement of wearing masks, my 10 yo was politely reminded a couple of times by operators to pull up her mask, when in line queues. They were nice about it. On some rides, such as the log flume and the ferris wheel, we were told we could remove our masks during the ride. It was low 90s during our visit so wearing a mask wasn't fun but we complied.

As for sanitization, they went a little overboard on some rides cleaning areas where your hands don't really touch. There were tons of free sanitizer stations all over the park and near most rides.

The entry process was fairly smooth. They had large white tents we walked through for temperature screening: it must have been some type of thermal imaging or ambient air temp measurement because they didn't use any device directly on our bodies. And they have scanners to check bags which was SO much faster than the manual search.

The crowd was very small and we managed to hit 20 total rides. Mr. Freeze and Superman drop tower were closed.

I agree with what Porkchop23 wrote about having 2 options.......

[UnclePennybags]

It was low 90s during our visit so wearing a mask wasn't fun but we complied.

Did you eat indoors at any location? How did they handle separating people at meal time?

[CoasterRiderSC]

It was low 90s during our visit so wearing a mask wasn't fun but we complied.

Did you eat indoors at any location? How did they handle separating people at meal time?

We only ate indoors, at Johnny Rockets, 2x! It was not crowded at all. I think the tables were spaced out.

The park overall wasn't crowded.

[UnclePennybags]

...The park overall wasn't crowded.

So then how does that work when trying to determine how long into 2021 you'll be able to use your pass or membership? I mean, I'd think if Great America opened on August 1, 2020, my pass would be good until July 31, 2021. But you've already started accruing benefits from your pass by going to St. Louis. Does that mean your pass is only good until July 5, 2021? By that logic, if I don't use my pass at all in 2020, will my pass expire December 31, 2021?

[anewman35]

...The park overall wasn't crowded.

So then how does that work when trying to determine how long into 2021 you'll be able to use your pass or membership? I mean, I'd think if Great America opened on August 1, 2020, my pass would be good until July 31, 2021. But you've already started accruing benefits from your pass by going to St. Louis. Does that mean your pass is only good until July 5, 2021? By that logic, if I don't use my pass at all in 2020, will my pass expire December 31, 2021?

The webpage makes it sound like it based on when SFGAm opens, not if you go to other parks. So I would think that if you have a SFGAm pass, other parks are kinda just 'free' right now...

For each operating day that the park is closed during the 2020 Season, we will give you one additional operating day during the 2021 season.

[Coaster Justin]

Going 7/21