UP87
Mega Poster
You have to pay per ride but they say it's heavily discounted fares on the rides. So... hard to say about which is the better value as long as we don't know the ticket prices from Düsselland.
Coronavirus: Impact on Theme Parks
- Thread starter JammyH
- Start date
Will
Strata Poster
Alton Towers gardens rumouredly open from 6th. Predictably brought the website down
https://fal.cn/38puS
https://fal.cn/38puS
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
Passholders extensions have been increased to cover July and August... Because they will be required to pay £1 booking fee when attractions reopen...
This is incredible generosity on the part of Merlin, effectively giving passholders 2 months free use of their passes (ok so it’s £1 a visit, not free, but still)
Edited: to correct inaccurate free period.
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
Merlin passes and membership...
membership fees frozen until October
prepaid passes will have the extra months added onto expiry date.
Think this is a good idea, especially as normally most people ignore the gardens at AT as they are focussing on the rides.
Can't help but think there are going to be a lot of moaners who turn up expecting the rides to be open only to find them shut, even though it states only the gardens are opening.?
Can't help but think there are going to be a lot of moaners who turn up expecting the rides to be open only to find them shut, even though it states only the gardens are opening.
?
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
I’ve got a feeling we may see rides open before July 4thThink this is a good idea, especially as normally most people ignore the gardens at AT as they are focussing on the rides.
Can't help but think there are going to be a lot of moaners who turn up expecting the rides to be open only to find them shut, even though it states only the gardens are opening.
I reckon so too, looks like the government seem to be fast-tracking getting the economy back open again.
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
They’re mostly fast tracking outdoor activities, reading the SAGE minute confirms this. It’s a good strategy, but only if people don’t all congregate in the same places, i.e beaches and public parks, as distancing is impossible then. I would say that opening up MORE outdoor spaces could actually have less of a negative effect on R0 than continuing as we are with packed beaches and other public spaces. But that’s just my 2 pence worth...
Agreed. At the moment some places are far too crowded and people would be better distributed over more places to avoid overcrowding on the beaches and in the parks. I guess that's what the government's plan is as things like Kew Gardens and obviously the towers gardens are reopening now this week.
Definitely think the rides won't be before 15th June at the earliest, and even then I would be sceptical, as they would probably only be permitted to have outdoor areas open and not the indoor areas.
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
I am not in any way confident we’ll see rides open before July, just a feeling that we ‘may’ do.
Off track a little bit, Boris is a massive advocate of staycations this summer. Would love to see some data on how much brits spend abroad vs how much tourism earns the UK... Because I’m almost certain we spend billions and billions more abroad than is spent here... Could forcing Brits to holiday in the UK be a sure fire way of rebounding our tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors? At the expense of the airline industry.
Edit: I went and found some figures...
inbound tourism is worth £28.4b to the UK
Research and insights
Find the latest consumer and industry data on domestic and inbound travel to the UK.
www.visitbritain.org
Brits spend £48b abroad in outbound tourism...
Where do Brits go on holiday?: Popular travel destinations
Where do UK residents go on holiday and how many overseas visits do we take? We look at the latest outbound tourism statistics.
www.finder.com
So keep the Brits at home for their vacations and the sector could earn twice what it earns from foreign tourists!!!
Airlines directly contribute just £5.2b to the UK economy...
Maybe there is more at play with this quarantine than has previously been considered
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Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
Yes I’m aware... And I am 99% certain that by July we’ll at least be able to travel inside Europe... But I was just suggesting that maybe there was more to the original thinking than just the epidemiology advice from SAGE
Who knows dude. At the moment the likes of Ikea can invite hundreds of people into a single building whilst zoos struggling for money and caring for precious animals with wide open spaces have to remain closed.
Last time I checked a chimp didn't qualify for furlough.
Nicola Sturgeon threatened to impose a 5 mile travel limit on Scots. So presumably Covid 19 knows how far you travel and there is no such thing as living in rural Scotland I guess.
Parks will probably open in a month but maybe there will be another arbitrary rule that states you can go on a roller coaster from July 4th but when you get home you have to self isolate x days where x is the maximum speed at which the roller coaster travelled in MPH divided by 2.5 rounded up to the nearest whole day. If you are Dominic Cummings you can subtract 5 days but only if you were having an eye test whilst riding the coaster. If you are Scottish, like myself, you have to add 6 1/2 days or ask if they can run the coaster slower.
----
On a serious note:
The non existent government in Belgium suggested theme parks can only open from 1st of August. Owners of the parks are furious according to loopings.nl. Final decision is tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be as late as that and maybe they will have a similar date as the UK.
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Bert2theSpark
Mega Poster
Chester Zoo, one of the biggest zoo's in Europe, have now setup a webpage to save the zoo.
If this threatening for a non-profit, who has lower taxes, then this is majorly concerning as well for the other UK/European tourist attractions. For example Chester Zoo has had similar attendance figures (aprox. 2 million/year) to Alton Towers for the past 5 years or so.
Personally I'd hate to see Chester Zoo go as I have childhood memories at the zoo and honestly the recent Islands area of the Zoo is one of the best themed areas in the UK by miles. I felt heartbroken when I heard they closed the monorail.
If this threatening for a non-profit, who has lower taxes, then this is majorly concerning as well for the other UK/European tourist attractions. For example Chester Zoo has had similar attendance figures (aprox. 2 million/year) to Alton Towers for the past 5 years or so.
Personally I'd hate to see Chester Zoo go as I have childhood memories at the zoo and honestly the recent Islands area of the Zoo is one of the best themed areas in the UK by miles. I felt heartbroken when I heard they closed the monorail.
Nicky Borrill
Strata Poster
I feel awful for them, and have and will continue to support my local zoo with donations... But seem odd language to use when other zoos are still preparing to open on July 4th.
From what I’ve read on other zoo pages, they were technically allowed to open any time they pleased until they were added to the official ‘closed businesses’ list this week with the updates documented recently in this thread. They will still be allowed to open at some point from July, and if they expected to open any earlier than that, it was probably wishful thinking.
I can see a storm brewing.
Whilst the government was busy confirming ridiculous quarantine fines, rambling about nonsense in the commons and zoos remain closed, Hyde Park is now filled with an estimated 15,000 people.
news.sky.com
Even though I am sympathetic towards defeating institutional racism I do not accept this double standard of lockdown enforcement at all. Doubt I am the only one. "Hard won progress" Priti Patel mentioned. But we can overlook it if we demonstrate against racism? Now the estimated 50,000 Covid 19 deaths in the UK do not matter?
In The Netherlands the demonstration on Monday already caused a lot of commotion with the Amsterdam mayor landing in hot water, whilst a protest last week where people were actually demonstrating against the 1,5metre rule AND keeping a safe distance there saw large police numbers show up and people arrested.
The world has gone completely mad in 2020.
Given how slow the government in the UK is reacting to things, maybe they will discuss re-opening zoos by December.
Simply put:
It's a disgrace Drayton Manor can't open its zoo.
Whilst the government was busy confirming ridiculous quarantine fines, rambling about nonsense in the commons and zoos remain closed, Hyde Park is now filled with an estimated 15,000 people.
Coronavirus: UK quarantine plans and £1,000 penalties confirmed
The 14-day isolation for arrivals is needed to protect "hard-won progress", the home secretary says.
www.bbc.co.uk
George Floyd death: Thousands protest in London in solidarity with Black Lives Matter
UK protests began as British police said they hope justice will be done in the US.
Even though I am sympathetic towards defeating institutional racism I do not accept this double standard of lockdown enforcement at all. Doubt I am the only one. "Hard won progress" Priti Patel mentioned. But we can overlook it if we demonstrate against racism? Now the estimated 50,000 Covid 19 deaths in the UK do not matter?
In The Netherlands the demonstration on Monday already caused a lot of commotion with the Amsterdam mayor landing in hot water, whilst a protest last week where people were actually demonstrating against the 1,5metre rule AND keeping a safe distance there saw large police numbers show up and people arrested.
The world has gone completely mad in 2020.
Given how slow the government in the UK is reacting to things, maybe they will discuss re-opening zoos by December.
Simply put:
It's a disgrace Drayton Manor can't open its zoo.