Post Pandemic Riding

Pretty much. But he saved us with a travel ban after the virus was already here, so whew, really dodged a bullet there.

We have a trip planned for the end of June / early July. It was to include Kings Dominion, Busch Virginia, Six Flags America, Six Flags Great Adventure, Knoebels and HersheyPark. Really doubtful for that one. Unfortunately, I already have tickets to KD. I also bought tickets to Kentucky Kingdom. Our first Dollywood trip of the year has already bitten the dust. Since SFOG is our home park, that will probably be the first foray back to the parks. It is only around 3 hours one way. The others are further away. Luckily, we got to Disney, Sea World Orlando and Busch Tampa in early February.

If we are serious about contact tracing as part of plans to re-open the economy (and given the 3 Stooges, Keystone Cops and Bill and Ted appear to be in charge of testing, contact tracing may just be a talking point), I am not sure having amusement parks open (prior to some type of herd immunity/vaccine) makes sense. If someone tests positive and went to an amusement park the day before, contact tracing gets exponentially more challenging. If you look to have effective contact tracing, seems to me limiting large gatherings of people makes sense. At least for some period of time post "house arrest" easing.

This article makes it seem like June will see Ohio parks reopen. https://www.cleveland.com/business/2020/04/cedar-point-other-parks-...demic.html

That's one man's opinion, he's the go to person for any amusement and theme park interviews when the the parks decline to be interviewed. Started in the business in the PR dept at Kings Island. June opening, I don't think so. If they attempt it, I wouldn't be surprised if they have to shutter prematurely.

Spiegel will talk to anyone, mostly about parks that are not his clients. He's a smart, in-the-loop guy, but not really connected on the ground to a wide variety of parks.

I've been watching our August cruise prices and the same class of rooms have dropped in price, in the range of $850. Thankfully I was able to contact them and they credited my account for the difference in price, which I took to book flights for the family to get there.

I'm about 50/50 at this point that the cruise will go as planned, that's out of my control. The nice part is that airlines have now been dropping their change fees in case things change through the end of the year. It really is a nice time to book a cheap vacation if you think you're less risk averse.

I mean, if I died, it would suck. But at least I had fun doing it.

Death aside, it's really a win win. For the first time ever, if nothing goes according to plan, you don't have to worry.

I booked our room for November in Orlando. We are staying at Animal Kingdom in a Savannah view room for 2 nights from the credit back from our April trip that didn't work out. We are going to all the parks not Disney.

The rest of the week we are staying on site at Universal Studios at the Royal Pacific resort. This will be our first time staying on site at Universal. We are going to do Sea World, Busch Gardens Tampa, Fun Spots, and Universal. Is Lego Land worth the time for two adults?

We only booked the room at this point. Waiting to book the airfare, park tickets, and rental car later.

Legoland for two adults? No, not worth your time at all. It caters to kids more than any of the other parks IMO.

We visited during the week of Christmas, and to be fair, all the parks are full at that time. It was ok. I'm glad we went, and the kids had fun, but I have no desire to return. It's poorly run and there was no sense of urgency to manage the crowds. Compare that to Sea World during that same week, which isn't known for their operations, was light years ahead of Legoland in that regard.

Coasterfantom2 said:

The rest of the week we are staying on site at Universal Studios at the Royal Pacific resort. This will be our first time staying on site at Universal. We are going to do Sea World, Busch Gardens Tampa, Fun Spots, and Universal. Is Lego Land worth the time for two adults?

Royal Pacific is still my favorite resort despite also loving Sapphire Falls and Aventura. The walk to the parks is so short and they have been running water taxis at full capacity for a couple of years now so you barely have to wait. Hope you get to make the trip!

RPR is the only hotel I've stayed at, and also had a conference there. I've been the other two original hotels, but not stayed there, and the new ones I've only seen from the outside. I'd probably go back to RPR if given the chance. Location and decor is pretty solid.

And no, Legoland isn't worth the trip without kids, not even for the banyan tree (though it's close!).

Coasterfantom2 said:

Is Lego Land worth the time for two adults?

Something you might want to look into (unless someone here has the answer) is to see if they allow you in for free to shop. When I was out in Carlsbad my buddy and I stopped at Legoland California and at the time you could check-in at Guest Relations and they would give you an hour to "shop" at the stores just inside the gate. It was slow so we used that hour to ride the couple coasters they had. Never knew that was a thing until my buddy told me about it.

Jeff said:

I'd probably go back to RPR if given the chance. Location and decor is pretty solid.

I haven't stayed there in a minute because it got pricey — the wife and I used to get rooms for like $150 with free park tickets back in the day — but they recently remodeled the entire lobby. There's a nice bar where there used to just be casual seating and a weird breakfast counter. There's a nice quick service café now as well. It's a huge improvement.

I think I'd go to Legoland Florida without the kids. I agree it is a toss up but I do enjoy the "gardens", the lakefront location and there are a couple of coaster there that pack a little punch. I wouldn't pay full price to go in and I wouldn't spend the entire day...but it would be a nice half-day visit.

eightdotthree said:

I haven't stayed there in a minute because it got pricey — the wife and I used to get rooms for like $150 with free park tickets back in the day

Now you have me nostalgic for pre-Potter Universal. Great deals, Dueling Dragons marathons with the reride shortcut open, Jaws, and IoA without all the faded paint.

Ha ha. We used to go for like three nights and get nice and bored. Now there's so much to do that we barely ever get a chance to relax anymore. I love the resort more than ever though.

HeyIsntThatRob? said:

I'm about 50/50 at this point that the cruise will go as planned, that's out of my control. The nice part is that airlines have now been dropping their change fees in case things change through the end of the year. It really is a nice time to book a cheap vacation if you think you're less risk averse.

Found out that our cruise has now been cancelled, but this is where things get weird...

They are resuming cruises August 1st (ours was the 15th) at specific ports, unfortunately Jacksonville is not included. For the time being, I've been able to move our reservation to one of those ports (Miami) and I've been able to arrange for new flights to coincide with our new itinerary.

In the end, I'll be getting $600 in credits from the cruise and $300 in credits from the airline. If this trip does happen, it'll be the highest value of any trip I've ever taken... ever. So far I've knocked off $1700 in flights and cruise.

Not bad. That $600 credit could be put towards some good excursions, the drink package (if you partake), and a nice restaurant. Or hell, that's at least the cost of another cruise depending where you go.

Supposed to be in (Munich) Germany at the moment, but of course that was cancelled. We have until the end of 2021 to use our flight credit with Delta. Debating on rebooking it for fall-time and taking advantage of no change/cancellation fees, but hard to say what things will look like even by then. Probably just postpone that until next Spring.

Instead, we likely will book some flights in August/September to various places (Cali, Texas and Mass). Hoping things are somewhat back to normal... Good thing, with a ton of Southwest points I have, those can be cancelled/changed/modified anyway with no risk. Got to take advantage of the nice low fares at the moment though to maximize those points!

Interesting times... But I really can't wait to get myself back on a plane somewhere... Mask and all, or whatever.