The Universal Orlando Resort today postponed its reopening until April 19, following closely by the same announcement from Universal Studios Hollywood.
Here's the latest news.
— Universal Woahlando Resort (@UniversalORL) March 24, 2020
Updates are also available at https://t.co/CuwZdFJTBx. pic.twitter.com/PvYCYG4Odj
Update from Universal Studios Hollywood
— Universal Studios Hollywoah (@UniStudios) March 24, 2020
For the latest information, visit https://t.co/OVgEFiR4Pq. pic.twitter.com/u8rXKwzktz
Update (March 25): Now Universal Studios Japan has extended its closure until April 12.
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— ??????·????·?????? (@USJ_Official) March 26, 2020
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You can find details on refunds on the Universal Studios Japan website. (Google Translate it, if needed. End update.)
The move in Orlando follows the establishment of a stay-at-home mandate in Orange County, Florida, which includes the city of Orlando and the Universal Orlando Resort. In Hollywood, the city of Los Angeles last week implements a "Safer at Home" shelter-in-place policy that later was applied across the state of California. However, the restrictions in California were placed "until further notice," so there was no planned date when the policies would lift.
Earlier this month, the Universal theme parks announced that it would close through the end of March, joining attractions around the world in an effort to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus that has sparked the Covid-19 pandemic. Today's schedule change means that the Grad Bash event at Universal Orlando on April 3 is now canceled. The April 17, 18, 24 and 25 grad night events remain on the calendar for now.
A Universal spokesperson also said that the company remains committed to paying team members throughout the closure. Universal previously had announced that it would park employees for remaining scheduled shifts in March. According to the resort's team member webpage, hourly employees will be paid in April based on their average weekly hours for the four weeks prior to closure.
Last week, the Cedar Fair theme parks announced that it would delay its parks' reopenings and season openings until mid-May. Still awaiting word on Disney.
If you are planning ahead... our travel partner offers discounted tickets to both the Universal Orlando theme parks and to Universal Studios Hollywood.
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The CDC recommended no public gatherings more than 50 people for eight weeks. That means all parks and theaters closed until mid-May optimistically. I think Disney and Universal are just trying to figure out how to pay their employees month to month.
Probably June 1st assuming we can get this under control... We were suppose to go on May 1st but I will be canceling and maybe going in Sept or October.
Disclaimer - (Jim do not read this) Hahahahahaa..
The toddler in charge somehow thinks April 12th is some magical number and all will be clear. Heck most can't find toilet paper in stores but in just a few days all will be good to go... Yikes this is getting more scary daily.
Maybe Robert can make a new food video that I have been enjoying..
Thx Bobby...
For entertainment purposes I bought some Bird seed... Now just sit back and watch the birds eat....
Until Trump gets his act in order I think this virus will be around a lot longer than that.
Trump has been taking about the country opening back up next month this virus knows no boundaries.
Boris Johnson in England also thought the same and was trying to go the route of "Herd Immunity". He is back tracking now and has closed the country down for three weeks but unfortunately the London Tubes (Trains) are still packed full of people going to work instead of working from home.
The only thing that slows this virus is social distancing of at least two meters between people.
All non essential businesses need to close including pubs and restaurants even playgrounds in public parks.
I am from Ireland and things are still on the increase here but it takes at least two to three weeks until the curve of increasing cases levels out with the above measures in place. That is provided everyone is playing there part.
Stay safe everyone and remember to wash your hands properly and use hand sanitizer regularly.
>>He is back tracking now and has closed the country down for three weeks but unfortunately the London Tubes (Trains) are still packed full of people going to work instead of working from home
To be fair, thats partly because TFL is not able to run anymore at the moment. They simply do not have the staff available.
Regardless of who’s fault it is with a lack of extra trains. His current measures in London will be ineffective due to lack of social distancing on the trains.
His current policy is a uturn on the herd immunity route the UK were adopting last week.
Sorry to break anyone's spirits here, but park openings are a long way off and honestly should be the last thing on people's minds. The US is heading for a world of pain in the near future. Nationally you have not been doing nearly enough to prepare for this and the priorities are completely wrong. I'm a critical care doctor in Australia and we are ourselves getting ready for this. Our government is not great, but at least they have a consistent understanding of the problem (even if they are a little slow in shutting things down).
The economy is screwed. Everywhere. Get used to this. There will be a worldwide depression. The idea of reopening things to kick-start the economy is delusional. If this happens the surge in numbers will cause the healthcare infrastructure to fail miserably. People will be scared to go out and businesses will shut. The best way to minimise the damage is to shut things down completely. This will need to happen for at least 6-8 weeks to allow the health systems to cope with the overflow. Once the peak is past, things can slowly start reopening, with ongoing restrictions for likely more than 6 months.
The main concern in the US is massive job losses causing social disorder (which will happen if things are reopened too soon as well). Only way to avoid this is government or private donations to those in need. Rent assistance, food, essentials. Unimaginable for some in America, but these are unprecedented times. We need to stick together and help each other out. We made it through 2 World Wars and the 1918 flu pandemic, we can make it through this.
As Del69 said, best thing is to distance yourselves. Stay home as much as possible. Help those that you can. There is no quick fix here, there is a long road ahead.
Keep safe everyone. Best wishes.
PS - love the recipes and updates Robert. Keep up the good work.
Totally agree with you Grant. We are from Canada and pretty much everything has or is shutting down.
We are being told not to travel between provinces and to stay at home. There are no gatherings of 50 or more people, etc. Many people if they can are now working from home. Unfortunately with it also is massive layoffs for which the government is trying to provide funds to people in need.
They are starting to enforce fines for those who are not following the social distancing requirements, though this will be interesting to see how it is policed.
In our province this weekend we saw our first spike. They are saying this is as a result of the backlog from testing and now they are starting to think it will increase as a result of community transfer (originally mainly travel related). We are lucky though because our province and health care system have been preparing for this event.
As you and Del69 said, stay at home and keep your distance if you can't. If you can help someone in need please do so.
The more people who follow the guidelines the sooner we can hopefully get back to normal.
By the way Robert, love your articles, as Grant said keep up the great work!
Honestly, The parks ain’t gonna even open this year, I’m sorry but that’s the truth
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I think we were all expecting this, just as we are with every other park. I have a question though, that I hope somebody will be able to answer. With regards to Universal ticket extensions, I have 3 multi day tickets which were due to be used, next month. Obviously they won’t be, now. Universal is saying that any park tickets can be used within 365 days from ticket purchase. Mine were bought in February, but our holiday has been rebooked for next April (I’m in the UK, and we can’t get back there before next Easter), which puts them outside of the 365 days. Does anybody know what the deal is, with that? Thanks in advance.