More Park Reopenings, Delays and Details Announced for Parks in U.S.

© Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is not yet allowed to operate as a full amusement park, however local officials have allowed zoo attractions to reopen.  The park is taking advantage of this fact to reopen at the Marine World Experience, a throwback to when the park opened as a zoological experience in 1986.  The Marine World Experience will open to pass holders and member on July 2nd and 3rd, and then to all guests July 4th.

The park will offer their wide variety of animal exhibits and encounters but it is important to know that zero of their rides will be operating while the park is the Marine World Experience.  If the state allows the park to open as an amusement park this year they will proceed with that.

The park will be following all other Six Flags properties in terms of COVID-19 response, including increasing cleaning standards, the use of face masks, a reservation system, social distancing and more.  

© Six Flags America

Six Flags American has also announced that they will reopen soon.  The park will welcome back pass holders and members on July 1st and 2nd, with all guests welcome starting July 3rd.  The park's COVID-19 response is the same as all Six Flags parks, with full details of the plan available at this link.  Important to know before you go, the park requires reservations for your visit.

New for 2020 at the park was scheduled to be Harley Quinn Spinsanity, which I believe was constructed at the park but is no longer listed anywhere on the website.  The new for 2020 link gives a denied access warning, and the attraction is not listed among all the rides.  I wouldn't expect the ride to open in 2020.

© Knoebels

Pennsylvania's Knoebels has announced a July 1st reopening date.  The park has been working hard to get the park ready and have enough staff hired, so for the first few weeks the park's hours will be noon until 8pm.  Additionally, they will only use individual tickets for rides, they will not have all day wrist bands available.

Since the park has no gates they will manage capacity through the parking lot - if necessary as they put it.  They are also doing more employee training, putting up barriers between employees and guests, increasing cleaning efforts and more.  They just made the announcement, and promise more details on visiting the park will be posted next week.

© Disneyland

Disneyland and Disney California Adventure previously announced that they would reopen starting July 17th, but the parks have now announced that those dates will not happen.

The state of California will not issue full details on how and when parks can open until after July 4th, which means there is not enough time to prepare the parks to open for the 17th Disney says.  They have also had a lot of pressure from their unions to do better COVID-19 testing and prevention before opening as cases of the virus in California continue to spike.

They still plan to open Downtown Disney, which has shopping and dining, on July 8th.  But for now the parks do not have a clear reopening date.

© Cedar Point

Cedar Point is still planning on opening on July 9th and 10th for season pass holders, then also for resort guests on July 11th.  They have launched their full mini-site that gives details on visiting the park this year with regard to COVID-19.  You can read through the very thorough amount of information here.

They also published a new blog post that gives some more granular details.  The park will have no early entry this year - and also daily park hours of 11 am to 8 pm have been posted.  Forbidden Frontier on Adventure Island, Snoopy Bounce and Snake River Falls will not operate in 2020.  They have also decided not to open their water park, Cedar Point Shores, in 2020.  They will also not sell any new Fast Lane wrist bands this year, however if you already purchased one it will be valid.  Finally, smoking will be banned inside the park, can guests must exit the park to smoke - this is actually something we are hearing that will be true at all Cedar Fair parks in 2020.

© Six Flags

Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Splashtown, located in Texas, was supposed to open on June 29th but due to rising COVID-19 cases in Texas it no longer will.  The reopening has been postponed indefinitely.  The park is located in Harris County, which just recently put into place a brand new stay at home advisory to try to control the spread of the virus.  I believe this is the first time we've seen a park plan to reopen but have to stay closed due to orders of their local officials.