It's Official: Universal Orlando's Theme Parks Return June 5

I’m thrilled to see this! But, um... how exactly is the mask thing supposed to work at Volcano Bay? I guess you could theoretically wear one on the aqua-coaster, but they make no sense on the slides or in the wave pool or lazy river.

The water parks open both here and Legoland is the head-scratcher to me. I mean, it's one thing to keep a mask on a coaster or water ride but a place designed to keep you as soaked as possible sort of defeats the purpose.

I can also see some grousing on the longer wait times due to the rules although it's clearly going to be a while before attendance is how it once was so I suppose it balances out.

Also, I expect them to have a bit where if someone loses a mask on a coaster or such, they can get a replacement one offered rather than kicked out of the park.

Why would you post that?

Since 6:42 AM today (EDT), 1,170 people lost their lives because of COVID-19. That's about one person every 45 seconds. These theme parks are playing with fire.

Universal Guidelines: VB directive is no masks to be worn on the water rides. Only recommended for areas where distancing is difficult. The dry parks (IOA & USF) require masks to be worn except for eating and drinking.

I think its a huge mistake to not require reservations to get in the park, that place is going to be slammed. Did Universal forget that over 20 million people live in just Florida by itself? Add the fact that UO has a history of botching opening days, then add summer heat on top of that. Shanghai Disneyland sold its inventory for the entire week just a few hours after tickets went on sale.

Good luck!

I suspect that Universal's survey data has suggested to them that there's no need for advance reservations because they're not going to get anywhere near their limited-capacity number when they reopen.

I'm watching 'The Last Dance' ... And it seems odd and disheartening watching Michael Jordan high-fiving fans and players, and shaking hands and hugging strangers. Opening theme parks right now is such a risky endeavor. Handle with great care. If a cluster breaks out, the impact to that park and the entire industry could be powerful and indelible.

@TH: Half of those deaths are concentrated in the Northeast U.S. Florida has a relatively small number of 45 deaths today despite its large elderly population. While no one will officially say it, it appears summer temperatures will reduce the spread. As South America heads into their fall, the continent is becoming a hot spot (especially Brazil).

@Twobits, let me put it another way: If a cluster breaks out, the impact to that park and the entire industry could be powerful and indelible

Any word if they're doing shows yet?

@ TH

Sure theres risk, but how is not opening and not allowing businesses to survive a better solution?

They shouldn’t even open, We need to keep everything closed until a vaccine eradicates the virus in it’s entirety.

@typhoon2000: As much as that's the logical response, that could be another year and let's face it, no way can the economy (or nation mental health) survive that long. And even then,always a chance of recurrence.

@ Daniel Gavin: If a park opens, and suddenly 50 guests test positive and a dozen of those guests die from contracting the virus ... exactly how much longer after that does the "business survive"? Type in the name "Jeffrey Ghazarian" into a search engine and count the number of major media outlets that covered his story and put Disney in the headline or lead.

Fine print: Visiting Universal Orlando may result in exposure to COVID-19, a worldwide pandemic for which there is no known cure or treatment and where exposure may result in injury or death. Universal makes no guarantee of safety, regardless of the precautions taken.

It literally said as much in a tagline at the bottom of an Annual Passholder email sent yesterday.

Mirror- Spector (Lead): " A 34-year-old man has died in California after testing positive of coronavirus just days ago, and 2 weeks after visiting Walt Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida, TMZ has learned."

TMZ (Headline): "CA MAN DIES AT 34 Recently Visited Disney World In FL"

Fox News 7 (Headline): "‘He suffered a lot:’ California man who died from COVID-19 visited Disney World, Universal Studios."

People magazine (Headline): "34-Year-Old Calif. Man Dies of Coronavirus 2 Weeks After Visiting Orlando Theme Parks."

Miami Herald (Headline): "A California man who died from COVID-19 went to Disney World, Universal, reports say."

KUSI News (Headline): "L.A. County reports second death from coronavirus; person recently visited Disney World."

Fox 13 Tampa (Headline): "Glendora man, 34, dies from coronavirus; recently visited Disney World in Florida: Report."

New York Daily News (Lead): "Jeffrey Ghazarian, a 34-year old California man near LA has died, after a battle with COVID-19, just two weeks after he visited Walt Disney World."

El Sentinel (Headline): "Hombre que visitó parques de Disney y Universal en Florida muere por coronavirus en California, según reportes."

Inside the Magic (Headline): "34-Year-Old Passes Away from Covid-19 After Recent Visit to Disney World & Universal Studios."

---------

Now imagine if a dozen guests lose their lives. How many headlines and leads do you think that will generate? And how will that impact the theme park business?

>> Sure theres risk, but how is not opening and not allowing businesses to survive a better solution?

Do businesses exist to serve people, or do people exist to serve businesses?

Yes, there needs to be a balance, but businesses can be rebuilt, protections can be put in law against creditors, there’s a lot of levers here.

@davedisney could you send me a link where in Europe people are sprayed with disinfectant as I never heard that here and it is stupid.
Also you are aware that a virus does very well at 37 degrees Celsius or 33.8 degrees Fahrenheit. To fight it the body makes it's temperature higher (fever) and that kills the virus. As long as the outside temperature isn't at fever height it will have a ton of fun infecting people.

Also great to hear people are okay to have more people die in favor of capitalism, that is the American spirit.

I think it is premature. Universal is taking a risk and it could backfire to all in the industry. Why don’t wait a couple more weeks to see what happens in Shanghai Disneyland and other parks in China?

Please note how AndrewL ignores the point of my post. If one death that is remotely associated with theme parks gets this much attention, what will the impact be if an dozen guests become fatalities? How many headlines and leads do you think that will generate? And how will that impact the theme park business?

AndrewL will come skipping back with a pithy rationalization in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

Shocked that Universal is not using a online reservation system. Shanghai Disneyland was fully booked as soon as it opened its reservation system. Efteling restricted its reservation system to only passholders (who could only book for one date in a 2.5 week period), and the dates were booked in only a matter of hours after the online system opened. I guess we'll see what happens...

@Th

You didnt answer my question either which was how is the risk of reopening worse than staying closed and letting businesses fail. The unemployment is already at the highest since the great depression. Businesses are going bankrupt. The federal governemnt is taking on trillions of additional debt. Should we allow the economy to collapse because theres risk of reopening? Theres great risk with driving a car on a freeway but nobody suggests banning car travel until there are 0 deaths associated with it. We temper the risk with common sense laws and safety features in cars.

I see your concerns, THC, but what's the solution?

Maybe it's time for the system to find out just how bad (or not bad) things can get.

Actually Daniel, I did. I said the impact to the business will be greater if a cluster of fatalities is linked to a theme park. Note I said "a theme park" -- meaning if one park is linked to deaths, it could frighten consumers regarding the entire industry.

@TimmyH: I was talking to a pal about this, regarding the Disney parks. If the company could keep guests and cast members safe, maybe get some cash flow going with a hard ticket event like "An Evening on Main Street USA" limit guests to MSUSA with special entertainment and food, beverage and retail. Or actually make "Drinking Around the World" a sanctioned event at EPCOT. It gets the blood flowing while we wait for a vaccine or better testing or treatment.

America has become such a horrible place. The rest of the world is doing what any sane, rational people would do: follow the most scientifically reasonable method for re-opening.

Unfortunately, a third of Americas are under the spell of a vicious propaganda machine that causes them to do the bidding of the one percent and rush to reopen NOT on the basis of science, but on the one percent's desire to increase their wealth. The saddest part is that this deluded minority has been convinced they are risking their lives in the name of "freedom." They're so deluded they can't see that they've been conned into a death cult. These are the same people, of course, who protest for the wealthy gun manufacturers' right to keep selling the guns that murder our kids. It's unbearable.

Too much for an amusement park site? Absolutely. But when you see those people spouting the lies they've been told to repeat, and arrogantly insist upon their god given right to become infected by a killer disease? Ugh, does anyone in Europe or Australia have a spare guest room? I want out of this madhouse.

The colonel writes: "America has become such a horrible place."

I Respond: No it hasn't.

Tell ya what @thecolonel, my wife has an aunt and uncle who are big into conspiracy theories. Maybe I could connect you up to them, and they can give you some conspiracy theory websites where your time could be better spent than making stupid posts on TPI.

Or if that doesn't work for ya, maybe we can start a Go Fund Me page to pay for a one-way ticket to get you out of this madhouse. Iran? North Korea? Maybe the PRC? You might get a better idea of what a horrible place is then.

Getting off the back and forth political rants for a moment, should the reopening go relatively okay without any mass pop-ups of infections, how long would it take for other theme parks to follow suit? Disney is clearly waiting to see the effects of Universal opening but will want to get back on track. Issue being that they're so much larger so harder to control the guests and other problems.

There's also the obvious factor in how Florida is being...a bit more lax on reopening than California which means that Disneyland, Universal and Six Flags, Knott's, Magic Mountain, etc are still closed for a while. It's astonishing to see just how fragile the theme park industry is and this is a shake-up that's going to affect it for a long time.

Florida is for sure being the guinea pig for COVID-19. Hopefully the heat and sun are able to bring the virus down through the summer there.

Just drove across WDW -- from 535 along Buena Vista. Disney Springs has very little traffic. Passed the Riviera (ghost town), DHS parking (abandoned), Coronado Tower (nothing). By the time we reached Osceola Parkway we'd seen maybe a dozen cars. DAK parking (empty).

And it's Memorial Day weekend.

AndrewL you are still ignoring the question. If Jeffery Ghazaria's death garnered that much media attention, how much attention would a dozen deaths attract?

It boils down to this. The world has been locked down for two months now. Covid is a terrible disease, and it is shocking how many people have died, but most of the cases have been concentrated in certain areas, for example, most of the cases in the U.S. are in New York. Also, in general, the curve has been flattened, which was the main purpose of the lockdown.

The reason for the lockdown was never 'until we get a vaccine', or until it's 'safe', it was to prevent the overwhelming of the health care system. So I think that after two months experience, it's reasonable that areas that haven't seen huge numbers of cases reopen with caution and guidelines.

Is there a risk? Yes, of course. Should people still follow social distancing guidelines? Yes, of course. But I think it's reasonable for some areas to reopen, and see how it goes. If there's a huge spike, you can always pull back. But if the new cases are low, they can consider reopening further.

That said, I think it's simplistic and naive to think that people want to reopen just to 'get rich' or are 'selfish'. The world is not black and white, it's lot of grays. A lot of people are suffering because of the lockdown, and it's not the rich, it's the people who live paycheck to paycheck, people who are losing their businesses, and people who are stuck at home with abusive members of the family, just to name a few examples.

As for the media coverage, I don't think it's a stretch to say that the media tends to sensationalize because they want clicks or subscriptions. Are they right to report it? Yes, of course, but let's try to have a balanced view of what's going on.

@davedisney - the daily mail is basically a comic not a reliable source of news. There is absolutely no way kids are going to be sprayed with disinfectant and teachers are NOT asking for that!

If the Magic Kingdom opens to 25% capacity that means every 10 days more than 100,000 people are in the park. Add in CMs (let's assume 1,500) and it's definitely over 100k.

Throw in the other three WDW parks that's half a million people every ten days.

Half a million ... All interacting with each other ... During a pandemic ... What could possibly go wrong?

I think you should think about how many people are interacting during a single day, not over the course of 10 days. Other things to consider, I'm sure a lot of people will not go at first because of fear, and most of the people who do go will still be somewhat paranoid about getting close to others. Also, I'm sure the theme parks are not going to open all at once, it's wise to take a stepped approach and see the effect before loosening more restrictions. Reopening does involve risk, but keeping everything closed until it's completely safe is not realistic and not taking into account the whole picture.

@TH

"I said the impact to the business will be greater if a cluster of fatalities is linked to a theme park"

Yes I know you said it and I understand the risk, but you didnt demonstrate that this risk is greater than not opening and allowing businesses to suffer and fail further. If people get the virus at a theme park it will be bad for business, but how is that worse than staying closed and not getting any business? Thats what I dont agree with because both are really bad for business but at least if they open they have a chance to make money. Staying closed is a guarantee to not make money.

@Disfan re: both your comments --yes, yes, YES! Thank you!

I am adopting the way Daniel and Davewhatever are dancing around the question I am asking:

If the Orlando theme parks open and off a dozen people who visit DIE from COVID-19 what will be the impact on the business?

I guess they think, "Twelve people dead? No biggie."

@davedisney: No one wants to "suspend the Constitution." In fact, courts have been ruling governors have the right to do these shelter orders. Pandemics are nothing new in history, they just are for this time in the U.S. And come on, a significant difference between being asked to wear a mask in public for the health of others and having numbers tattooed on your arm. Anyone ranting on "we are literally a police state" has no idea what such a place actually is.

@Andrewl: One thing to keep in mind on Japan is how it's an island with a population crammed into major centers (Tokyo has more street traffic in one day than NYC in a week) and a different mindset than Western culture on work being a priority. That's not a good combination for a pandemic situation.

@davedisney: I apologize if I sounded too much on Nazi remarks but then you were the one acting like trying to keep infections low in a pandemic is "suspending Constitution." The Founding Fathers never meant for the Bill of Rights to be a suicide pact.

Also, I have sadly seen people at forums, in other seriousness, say "the Nazis treated the Jews better than this." I know, insane but that's the mentality taking hold, that trying to keep a pandemic down translates to tyranny.

@davedisney: Even if herd immunity works (and the jury is out on that), it requires a very long time and allowing at least 70 percent of the population infected and no guarantee the virus won't mutate somehow. Also, using a method from the 18th century (when they didn't even know what blood types were) seems foolish in modern society and medical advances.

And I think most hospital workers would agree it's best to not wait until 85 percent of beds are filled, they're overwhelmed as it is. As for the talk on "Freedom of religion," no one is being barred from praying via online services. The Pope has openly told Catholics to just stay home and do mass online. As one pastor nicely put it on the news: "A church is important but the people who belong to a church are indispensable."

The front page of the New York Times is a list of the 100,000 Americans who have died of this in the last two months. That is not "hysteria," that is an absolute fact. Given Florida just passed 50,000 cases and rises, the danger is very real and the rise of cases in places reopening shows there is a major risk in too many people thinking "the worst is past, we can get back to some normalcy" when it can spike too easily again.

Over the last 30 hours, 23,104 cases of COVID-19 were identified in the United States and 1,051 people died as a result of the virus. That comes to about 43 lives lost every hour.

But yea, let's open Disney World because, otherwise, the world's largest, multi-national communications company may be less profitable.

@davedisney: On the religious aspect, we Catholics don't really go for "star" leaders but our local priests via online. And we still support our churches with online donations. It's different for other parts of the faith but Catholic and Evangelical pastors are much different in other regards.

And I guess I'd be more insulted by "Pony faced horse soldier" if I knew what that actually meant.....

@davedisney: Actually, I live in the Chicago area and my Catholic church is emphasizing that even when they reopen, it's better at-risk people stay home rather than live services.

DaveDisney -- are you trying to be intentionally misleading? Just 3 days ago on Thurs May 21, Georgia tied its second-highest ever daily death toll at 78. A low number 1 day doesn't make a new trend. Plus, weekend numbers are ALWAYS low, there's a lag. If you looked at a chart you'd see this. BTW Sunday's Georgia toll is currently at 5 and may still go up for the day. Tomorrow will likely be a spike, as is usual for Monday (due to that lag in reporting I mentioned).

Much of what else you say is tinged with misinformation. I don't even know where to begin, so I won't.

That said --- I support efforts to reopen Universal. I'm actually strongly considering planning a trip for late June. I'll be wearing a mask, sanitizing my hands, and keeping my distance from everyone else. They are taking every precaution possible. If it doesn't work, they'll close again.

But its very dangerous to let your guard down. stay vigilante, this is NOT even remotely over. Strong chance we see a spike from Memorial Day festivities.

@atiblaze: Sadly, I highly doubt even with spikes there will be another close down as there was already places up in air over the first ones. It'll now be "well, clearly the sheltering didn't work so just have to live with it" and let the toll rise.

The assumption made is that the models were untrue. Perhaps the models were correct (or somewhat close to correct) and the actions taken prevented the worst from occurring.

There is generally a stark contrast in how many are viewing this. Those that work closely with the disease or who have otherwise been impacted speak of its ruthless devastation. I rarely see someone impacted say "nothing to see here, move along."

We absolutely need to have a strategy to balance the risks of COVID-19 so that we can return to something resembling a healthy society. But hope is not a strategy. Phased re-openings? Out the window shortly after they were announced. What's the alternative plan? There is none. We decided that it would be a good idea to let the dog drive for a while.

@TH: I will answer your question. If a dozen park goers die, it will grab headlines. It will grab huge, sensationalistic headlines. It will be a headline more eye catching than the equally true headline “99,988 Vacationers Still Alive a Month After Returning from Disneyworld”. Since the media wants to broadcast doom and gloom (a practice that has been going on for YEARS, not just the last few months), we will get the bad news headline and not the good.