Coronavirus: Impact on Theme Parks

[The Undead Creature]

You can’t really compare this situation to the 2008 financial crisis for the parks, it’s entirely different circumstances. In terms of the UK parks, they would have benefitted back then from the lack of people travelling abroad for expensive holidays and taking trip in the UK instead.

Even if they are able to open by May or June this season, the UK parks are almost certain to miss out on all of the school trips that they get at the end of the year. Attendance is going to be massively down on previous seasons.

I agree, back in 2008 I do not remember a single day where Thorpe Park had less than 5000 people through the gates. I am being completely serious here, we were given a capacity request for each ride every morning that allowed us to streamline morning maintenance checks. These requests were based on the attendance figures from the previous year for the same day. It was guaranteed that come an hour after opening, the call would come through for a second train on Stealth for example. This happened every single day without fail, to the point where after a month I said **** it, I'll open the bloody thing with both trains, call me if you want one taking off.......... I'm going for breakfast. Never got that call again.

The current situation is completely different in that not only are people prevented from travelling abroad, they can't even visit domestic parks. Personally I don't think it will have as big an impact as people are afraid of. You would be suprised how many parks don't rely on international tourism to survive and this shutdown happened at probably the best time for theme parks in the UK as they don't start to make any money at all until summer. If the government stays true to it's word and pays all our salaries then a theme park simply goes into hibernation with very limited outgoings.

Obviously there is a little more to it than that but just taking a parks 2 biggest expenses which are wages and electricity, with the government covering wages that just leaves the price of juice. Theme parks use a considerable ammount of electricity, to the point where a lot of them need more than one supplyer. A couple of examples I can think of off the top of my head are one ride with a 300Kw average and 350Kw peak, with another ride consuming around 800Kw continuous. Thats just 2 rides so you could probably imagine the power draw for the whole park.

A few of us have even speculated that the extended shutdown would actually benefit some of the smaller or independant parks that would otherwise be open 7 days a week from the end of March. These parks are always dead during the school week and yet everything is still operating, allbeit intermittently, resulting in the huge elctricity bill that still has to be paid wether people show up to the park or not.

The reason I say it's probably the best time for it is because all parks should have more or less completed their winter maintenance programmes. There is nothing extra to do beyond a day or so of setup and testing once everywhere can reopen, it would not take long to finish the recruitment and training that should have started by the beginning of March.

I don't for one moment think this won't have a bad impact on theme parks as a whole, I just think everyone needs to take a moment to calm down, breathe, stop panicking and have faith that the theme park industry, along with the airline and tourism industry as a whole will bounce back once things start to get back to normal. It's annoying that we have to rely on the government to keep us and our buisnesses going but for as long as they do, the only thing I am losing by being stuck inside is my sanity.....

 

[Themeparknewbie01]

There is quite a lot of sense in this post however... The 80% Govt are paying is in the assumption the staff are not working at all. Parks with animals will still be shelling out full wages for staffing and vet bills, animal feed etc. Somebody shared a post on Facebook from Twinlakes asking guests to purchase giftcards to help pay the wages. They were very honest on this.

 

[Matt N]

M&D's is now also asking for donations to help care for the animals in Amazonia, as well.

 

[Professor]

In The Netherlands they have today confirmed that parks will be closed until 28th of April at least but the government is also warning citizens not to make plans for the May holiday which lasts till the week after.

 

[TommyAlex]

Im surprised places are still setting dates to be closed until - surely it's just easier to say closed until a new date can be decided, like Disney are doing now?

 

[SilverArrow]

Legoland New York opening has been postponed until 2021. Think that's the longest term announcement we've seen so far but it makes sense.

 

[JoshC.]

Legoland New York opening has been postponed until 2021. Think that's the longest term announcement we've seen so far but it makes sense.

Definitely the longest delay we've had, though obviously the circumstances are very different (new opening compared to existing opening attractions).

Tayto Park have said they're working on the basis that they will reopen on August this year, but they're preparing for the real possibility that they may not open at all this year and instead open in 2021.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Looks like one of Norway's regional amusement parks (one of the two we have, I reckon) is going to be the first to take a hard hit due to the virus. Kongeparken outside Stavanger is a lovely little park whose income is rather dependent on a huge annual party for high school graduates. The party got cancelled, and now the graduates are asking for their money back. The park apparently has enough money in the coffers to stay afloat with a somewhat shortened operating season (normally only 110 days/year), but the loss of the party income is a major blow.

Source in Norwegian.

I'll be really upset if this park closes, as it's such a lovely one. It blows TusenFryd out of the water when it comes to atmosphere, maintenance and general level of ambition. True, its rides are smaller and there are no big thrill coasters, but they've made sure to continuously renew their lineup and keeping everything fresh and tidy. Then again, I suppose the park itself wouldn't go anywhere, but it could be snapped up by some less ambitious owners and that would spell disaster. Luckily, there's still hope that this crisis might break Parques Reunidos, so the worst case scenario can be averted.

 

[Sandman]

have faith that the theme park industry, along with the airline and tourism industry as a whole will bounce back once things start to get back to normal. It's annoying that we have to rely on the government to keep us and our buisnesses going but for as long as they do, the only thing I am losing by being stuck inside is my sanity.....

A few big airlines are already asking for government bailouts, the most notable being American Airlines. This doesn't look very promising, particularly for budget airlines that could very easily become insolvent. That is a very unfortunate yet very possible scenario at the moment. Easyjet have also grounded all flights, which is unheard of. Norweigan Air has also teetered on the edge. The tourism industry will bounce back of course, but some businesses (even the big boys) could take years to get back on track. This is an unprecedented world event, so I don't think it's going to be an easy transition to get these big industries back on their feet again, it's going to take a lot of time and effort.

 

[The Undead Creature]

I agree, I don't think it will be easy at all for anyone. But that doens't mean planes won't be flying this time next year, the demand for tourism and leisure will not go away. It is up to the government to make sure all businesses big and small can survive long enough to start trading when the restrictions are lifted.

The future will probably look very different for the airline industry but wether thats for the better or the worse is anyones guess.

It is the fuel companies who I would be keeping an eye on because the demand for fuel has took a nose dive over the last month, this means less revenue for them. When things start to pick up again I'm betting fuel prices will go through the roof to make up for it.

 

[Professor]

Article on Loopings.nl about the Plopsa parks having to fire 225 new employees. The parks' directors tried to get the new governmental 70% "employed but not working" benefit for them but because they hadn't worked a single day yet they did not qualify and hence had to be made redundant. I'm guessing the same will apply for many theme park employees who have recently been employed. Plopsa director states it would take at least 7-9 days to get the parks ready even if restrictions were lifted in addition to rehiring new people again.

The governmental packages all sound good but in practice I reckon many will miss the boat. It will be more important to keep large companies going rather than governments worrying about theme parks and their employees.

Interestingly yesterday the leader of Dubai promised to support Emirates Airlines. Considering UAE relies so much on air travel for many reasons that support will be vital.

 

[KristofWB]

Walibi Belgium just announced that some of their phases in their 100 million investment plan are postponed, but not cancelled.

They also confirmed that the Intamin megacoaster will open in 2021 and the project will not be cancelled or deleted!

 

[Professor]

They also confirmed that the Intamin megacoaster will open in 2021 and the project will not be deleted.

That's good to hear. Was worried about that coaster. It will be such a great addition going by Goliath in Walibi Holland.

 

[Pokemaniac]

The governmental packages all sound good but in practice I reckon many will miss the boat. It will be more important to keep large companies going rather than governments worrying about theme parks and their employees.

The good news is that most parks are shown to be quite profitable during normal operations. Even if the companies go under, there will still be a market niche for the parks to operate in, so it would be lucrative to operate them. I expect we'll see a lot of parks changing hands after this, but not necessarily shutting down.

 

[Matt N]

The good news is that most parks are shown to be quite profitable during normal operations. Even if the companies go under, there will still be a market niche for the parks to operate in, so it would be lucrative to operate them. I expect we'll see a lot of parks changing hands after this, but not necessarily shutting down.

I had a thought; could we potentially see large companies from other industries dip their feet into the theme park industry? For example, could we see some big companies that do really well out of this try and buy some parks and make a name for themselves in the park industry?

 

[spicy]

I had a thought; could we potentially see large companies from other industries dip their feet into the theme park industry? For example, could we see some big companies that do really well out of this try and buy some parks and make a name for themselves in the park industry?

Maybe?

Look forward to The Andrex Adventure Park or Carex Hand Sanitiser Land.

 

[Matt N]

Maybe?

Look forward to The Andrex Adventure Park or Carex Hand Sanitiser Land.

Those are valid suggestions, and a toilet roll theme park is an interesting idea, to say the least, but I was more thinking along the lines of; maybe some of the big media companies might dip their toes into the industry? People like Netflix and Amazon have probably seen subscriptions skyrocket during this period; both of their streaming platforms have a wealth of IPs that could be very popular in a theme park context!

 

[Matthew Fair]

COP26 UN climate conference that was due to take place in Glasgow this NOVEMBER has now been postponed till next year. Maybe we are being too optimistic with summer openings?

 

[SeanC]

Those are valid suggestions, and a toilet roll theme park is an interesting idea, to say the least, but I was more thinking along the lines of; maybe some of the big media companies might dip their toes into the industry? People like Netflix and Amazon have probably seen subscriptions skyrocket during this period; both of their streaming platforms have a wealth of IPs that could be very popular in a theme park context!

Amazon for sure. I wonder what their LOTR deal included other than just TV rights; if they have the ability to exploit theme park rights, then buying a company like Six Flags might make a lot of sense. I also wonder if AT&T could buy since the DC Comics licensing deal is already in place and not much would change.

I wouldn't be surprised if Netflix sold but maybe Apple, etc. could buy. Netflix doesn't really have any programming assets to integrate into parks except stranger things.

 

[Professor]

COP26 UN climate conference that was due to take place in Glasgow this NOVEMBER has now been postponed till next year. Maybe we are being too optimistic with summer openings?

Noticed also that Blackpool Pleasure Beach has cancelled the entire season of Hot Ice that runs from July to September. I am guessing a lot of the dancers/skaters would have to start rehearsing soon and there is probably no point if July is out of the window by the looks of things. Still, it is a pretty big decision I think that indicates where we probably are at at this stage. I know the show means a lot to Amanda Thompson.

Regarding Hot Ice....
It's a pretty stellar show I have to say, great costumes, beautiful looking people, music and also completely flawless performance from what I saw (that latter point unlike the smaller Phantasialand show - which still is quite entertaining but simply nowhere near the scale and spectacle of Hot Ice).
Wish they'd advertised the free matinee a bit more at BPB, maybe a bit like how Phantasialand does it with waiting times screens around the park that could play videos of Hot Ice and show the matinee time. On a busy hot August day there were only a few dozen in the arena when I saw it. The performers didn't seem to mind though.