Several Cedar Fair theme parks — including Cedar Point and Knott's Berry Farm — just posted announcements to their social media accounts that they "hope to open in Mid-May or as soon thereafter as possible."
"We believe this decision is in the best interest of our associates, our guests, and our communities," the statements said.
All major theme parks around the United States (and pretty much the world) have closed in an effort to slow the spread of Covid-19. Theme park companies' stock prices have dived during this shutdown, although Cedar Fair has recovered a bit since hitting a low of $13 on Wednesday. It is currently trading above $18, although that's far down from the $37.58 it traded at just two weeks ago.
State and local government orders are giving parks little option but to extend their closures. The State of California yesterday ordered residents to stay at home unless they worked in an essential public safety industry or needed to go out for food or medicine. That order is in place until future notice and would prevent the state's theme parks from reopening until it is lifted.
That order would apply to Cedar Fair's Knott's Berry Farm and California's Great America parks, as well as to Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood, Six Flags Magic Mountain and Discovery Kingdom, Legoland California and SeaWorld San Diego. Disneyland has posted operating hours starting April 1, but no one at this point actually expects those parks to reopen by then.
Knott's has said that it will extend season passes by the number of days that the park is closed, while Cedar Point and other parks have said that they will extend their operating calendar to make up days missed due to the closure as well as provide as-yet to-be-announced "added-value benefits" to their passholders.
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I think disney is announcing an extension this weekend and then others will follow. Mid to late may is what I've been thinking all along.
I've been anticipating a closure of approximately two months (it lasting only a few weeks was incredibly optimistic) and mid-May lines up with that pretty well. My guess is we'll see a push by most parks to be open by Memorial Day, with either daily operation extending to make up for missed days or everyone getting a couple extra months added to their passes. Based on the trajectory of the virus elsewhere, I do think May is when we'll start to transition back toward normalcy and by June it will be mostly business as usual with some added safety precautions where necessary.
Another point, All Cedar Fair parks (Excluding Knott’s) are open seasonally so that means they would need more time prepare the parks for opening. Though I do applaud Cedar Fair for this wise and cautious decision.
Herschend's Dollywood and Silver Dollar City announced Monday that they too will push back their openings and now anticipate opening in May.
DOLLYWOOD COMPANY UPDATE pic.twitter.com/hc11wU8XXm
— Dollywood Parks & Resorts (@Dollywood) March 23, 2020
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There is NO way any park is going to open by April 1st. I can't take my little girl to eat a happy meal at McDonalds much less take her to a theme park with thousands of people in less than two weeks. Mid-May as this article says is more realistic, although still a long shot, but it definitely wont be April unfortunately.
Anyway there is one major park open in the world... Universal Studios Singapore. Who knows how long that will last but somewhere in the world people are getting their theme park on.