Saturday, June 20, 2020

Several More Parks Reopen, Announce Reopening Dates + One Closes Again


© Canobie Lake Park
Canobie Lake park will be able to start its 2020 season on July 16th, it has announced.  The park is still planning all the changes they will have in place with regard to COVID-19, but they do list on their update page that their 'new normal' will include a reservation system, plenty of new health and safety protocols and social distancing throughout the property.

They had previously announced that all 2020 ticket products, including season passes, will be valid for all of the 2021 season as well.

© Camden Park
West Virginia's Camden Park has been doing togo orders of their famous amusement park food for quite some time now, and just recently was able to reopen their mini golf course to guests as well.  The classic amusement park is now slated to open fully on July 1st, and have updated their scheduled hours accordingly.

The park's website does not cover any COVID-19 specific changes, but this news story points out that the West Virginia Governor's plan for reopening mandates that the park limits attendance, creates upgraded cleaning standards and employs social distancing. 

© Lake Winnepesaukah
Lake Winnepesaukah just opened today for the first time in 2020, however right now the park's Phase 1 opening includes only the SoakYa water park.  As of today, the park does not have an estimate as to when they will be able to reopen their amusement park side of things.

In order to limit daily attendance, the park is now selling tickets for specific dates only.  They are strongly encouraging, though not requiring, face masks for guests.  The park has set up a full page of change and policies that will be in place now that they are open, available here.

© Wonderland Amusement Park

Texas' Wonderland Amusement Park planned to open yesterday, but got rained out, so today was the official opening day of the 2020 season.

The park is taking safety as seriously as you'd expect, and has implemented temperature screenings for all employees, created "clean teams" to rove the park, put social distancing into place throughout the grounds and will have plenty of sanitizing stations around the park.  They are strongly encouraging visitors to wear face masks at all times, but it not technically required. 

© Arnold's Park
Iowa's Arnold's Park just reopened for 2020 on June 3rd, and decided to close once again on June 13th due to rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in their area.  The park explains that they are one that is built for the community and as such it bears a responsibility to its guests, and in light of that they are temporarily closing for a while.  No date for reopening as been set, as I would assume that will be determined by the trend of COVID-19 cases in the area.

This is the first parks in the U.S. that we've seen do this, and the way things appear to be going it certainly may not be the last.  Time will tell... and probably soon!


0 comments: