Virus Impact on CP

I would say that probably varies quite a bit. A midsummer Friday or Saturday is probably a low percentage of passholders - many of them know better. But a May weekday or Halloweekend Friday or "special" day like Closing Day or Opening Day is probably a ton of passholders. The average day guest isn't thinking "I have to go get my merch discounts and last train of the season on closing day" or "gotta get those short waits on the Monday after Opening Day". They think about the park once a year when they go and then when they tell the stories about how they waited 4 hours for all the rides that jumped the tracks.

And to follow up on that thought. It's us passholders itching to get back and we will be the demand. Once in a while single day ticket guests won't really mind taking a year off.

Shanghai Disneyland has reopened. There was a stream coming from there that showed everyone wearing masks, looking good.

In Asia, especially China, when they say wear a mask, the people wear a mask. In America when they say wear a mask, too may people say "make me!"

jimmyburke said:

I have been pondering how many attendees on any given day are passholders as opposed to daily tickets. I would imagine they have those numbers on a spreadsheet somewhere.

They absolutely have those numbers and those are the numbers they use to forecast the daily attendance ahead of time. When I worked at the park they had formulas for just about every type of ticket, attendance type, etc and were almost spot on at the end of each day. Even with the Gold Passes for this upcoming season (had it been a normal season) they likely already had an idea of how many of those Gold Passes would show up each day based off of formulas, which were probably also used in the decision to offer the passes at such a great deal. The people who come up with those likely used the same data to make the argument to extend those passes to 2021 without hurting anything. Everything regarding tickets/attendance is all based off of the previous 30, 40, or 50+ years of data from sales and turnstile clicks. It's not just a couple guys in a room talking each other into how/why they should or shouldn't.

If and when Fuji Q re-opens in Japan I want to see if people are wearing masks on Do-Dodonpa. That's gotta be interesting.

Here's the story from Shanghai:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/business/shanghai-disneyland-reopens.html

Doesn't sound like much fun.

No it doesn't, but it's better than nothing.

Hard pass on an experience like that; especially at a place like Disney. But i get it. If a neutered experience is worth it to someone, it is what it is.

The lesser of the two Bobs was interviewed on CNBC today IRT the Disney Parks re-opening strategy. He stated that when the American Disney parks open up, masks will also likely be required for all guests as they are at Shanghai. He also mentioned the anticipated guest apprehension/hot weather concerns. I have to imagine that guest compliance will be a big issue. I feel bad for the cast members and park security who will have a lot of confrontations on their hands.

https://www.facebook.com/620860234613694/posts/3334099479956409/

Orion was testing today

This virus has been here since January, as we have found out so far by antibody testing. I would be willing to bet as they do more antibody testing, that will go further back. And that was long before everything shut down.

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/dr-amy-acton-a..._qtn-2HVpQ

Thabto said:

This virus has been here since January, as we have found out so far by antibody testing. I would be willing to bet as they do more antibody testing, that will go further back. And that was long before everything shut down.

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/dr-amy-acton-a..._qtn-2HVpQ

Yep, my husband works in health care and is almost positive him and several coworkers had it in January and we had something going around my workplace in February that was horrible and that was probably it too.

James Parker jr said:

He also mentioned the anticipated guest apprehension/hot weather concerns.

Reminds me of this...

Nah, Pyro...he's MaverickLaunch! Ha!

Heard on the Ohio governor's news conference today that the ride inspectors have been laid off.

If that is true nobody is going to be riding rides or playing games until they are brought back.

Even though I’m in no way advocating immediate reopening of amusement parks, I must point out that someone who is laid off is often called back. There’s no sense in paying someone when there’s no work whatsoever. When parks, fairs, and carnivals resume operations then having the inspectors will be necessary again.

Thabto said:

This virus has been here since January, as we have found out so far by antibody testing.

Putting aside for a moment that antibody testing had been incredibly inaccurate, this is not what the report says. It's identified five cases from late January, less than two weeks sooner than what they had before. That does not mean that there was widespread infection. If there was, there would have been more hospitalization. The two things go hand in hand.

This news does not mean, "Oh cool, it was here 10 days sooner than we thought and we were all exposed but didn't get sick."

Although, we originally thought our first case in Ohio was March 8. That had since been revised to February, and now to January. Sure, it's 10 days earlier than previously thought...but that was already a month earlier than we originally thought. It is more impressive if you forget the incremental changes and look at the total revision.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.