Universal Orlando targets June 5 reopening, masks and temperature checks required

I'm kind of surprised that they didn't wait for "what would Disney do." I still don't think that we're ready for this. The US curve still doesn't have a decline. 🤷‍♂️

I wonder if behind the scenes it was decided that Universal would pull the trigger first since it's smaller and doesn't have nearly the same logistical complexity as WDW does with its bus system and resorts. The word on the WDW fanboy sites is that WDW will target a date of June 14 or 15 which gives them two additional weeks and also gives them a chance to observe how things go at Universal. I'd also say that Universal has more local appeal and day trip appeal than WDW and my guess is that's the audience that's being targeted for these early stage openings. Nobody is going to fly down for a week long vacation right now. But locals (myself included) will go to Universal after work to ride Hulk and Mummy on Day 2 or 3 of reopening after the Day 1 bugs have been worked out.

Whether or not it's too soon is largely irrelevant at this point. It's been decided that things are reopening. It would be silly for the parks to not follow suit.

I feel the big issue this issue is the data has a 2-3 week lag from when people get infected to when it finally gets reported. Mortality counts have even more lag.

In the next week or so we’ll probably have an idea what how the numbers fair for when people started going out to their Hair stylist or local patio. It might not give a huge bump, which could give a false sense of security. My fear is if you get one of these super spreaders to show up at a church, amusement park, or wedding. We're not going to know till several weeks out, and by then the case might have been made to open even more things because of 'flat' numbers.

Joe E. said:

My fear is if you get one of these super spreaders to show up at a church, amusement park, or wedding. We're not going to know till several weeks out, and by then the case might have been made to open even more things because of 'flat' numbers.

So then what's the answer? We could be on the tail end of things with everything back to relative normalcy in, say, 9-10 months, and one of these super spreaders could show up and infect a large gathering.

As I mentioned before, decisions have been made in the last month or so to use the "open back up" strategy and that will absolutely cause numbers to go up (as will additional testing). Given what else is opening up in Florida, it only makes sense for Universal (and I would imagine Disney and SeaWorld at the meeting next week) to go ahead and begin the plans to reopen.

I don't think it's if we see a second wave, it's when. I hope I'm wrong, but there has been little change in the US since the peek of infection rates, and we have one third of cases globally. Regionally, there are places that are better or worse, and frankly having them mix at theme parks will probably undo some of that, if people travel at all.

This will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I'd really like to get to an amusement park this summer, though no plans on a Florida trip. But, for some reason, I'm not sure that I really am looking forward to the rigmarole of "temp check" (check), metal detector (check) ticket scan (check) and then having a face mask on all day. I'm sure there are people for whom this will work, but I have to wonder if there really will be enough people to make it feasible to open the parks up.

I also agree with the travel portion. I really want to travel, but I'm not sure I gain anything if this is what is on the other end of the trip.

I'm really enjoying the comments on some of the news articles about them opening. My all time favorite has to be:

"Well I'm not going to wear a mask at the park" to which someone replied "Then you're not going to get in" and it all went downhill from there.

Whatever "checks" they perform for admittance seem a trivial inconvenience to me especially after dealing with TSA for the past 20 years. Wearing a mask all day at a park is not appealing at all and I am pro-mask.

Having worn a mask outdoors at work several days this week in the insane late spring Texas heat and humidity drives home my assertion that I will not be spending very much of my time outdoors in areas that require masks any time soon.

Jeff said:

since the peek of infection rates

Swipe typing from my phone makes me appear illiterate. And it still doesn't honor the F-word and replaces it with "duck."

You sound like Trump - always blaming someone/thing else for the problem at hand!

It's officially official. UO to reopen June 5.

My poor typing is the fault of the intelligence briefings I don't read.

Meanwhile the auto-complete/correct on my iOS device now recognizes "shpx" (and its common variants, "shpxvat" and "shpxrq") as words and will auto complete them. But you're right; I don't think it respects the decoded version at all.

(just waiting for those words to get added to the qnza profanity filter...)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

My phone always wants to autocorrect the F word, too. It's ducking annoying.

BrettV said:

Nobody is going to fly down for a week long vacation right now..

With last minute flights at historically low prices and people all over the country eager to do something this summer I disagree. I think within a few weeks after opening both Uni and Disney will be selling out of their reduced capacity daily. Young families especially feel they are all immune from negative effects and I think will be more than eager to hop on a plane to get into the least crowded summer at Disney in decades.

I agree with that to a point. I'd say you have a few different subsets of us darned millennials and young people right now.

• Would happily travel and take advantage of these great deals and empty theme parks. But because of layoffs and furloughs and financial insecurity right now, they'll hold off.
• Would happily travel and take advantage of these great deals and empty theme parks. But because they didn't get laid off or furloughed and just essentially got a 4-8 week paid vacation by their employer, they won't be able to take vacation/PTO right away as their workplace reopens. But hopefully later this summer! (note: this is where I fit)
• How dare these boomers and rightwingers think about any sort of recreation right now? There's a PANDEMIC. The only way to kill the virus is to STAY AT HOME. You went out to eat on Saturday night? You are responsible for all COVID deaths!
• I'm young, I'm healthy, the risk is relatively low for me. I'm going to Disney World for Opening Day!
• I'm young, I'm healthy, the risk is relatively low for me. I'm going to Disney World...once I see how impacted the experience is and how much this grinds efficient theme park operations to a halt. Maybe that's a week or two after they open. But if the Trip Reports coming in show theme parks are a cluster, I'll hold off a bit. (note: this is also where I fit for local trips and a long weekend up to Cedar Point & Kings Island once they reopen)

If things go relatively well with the reopenings of both theme parks and other attractions and venues, I agree that demand will pick up quickly. But as much as I miss my summer coaster season, even a $25 roundtrip flight to Cleveland isn't going to be worth 8 minute dispatches on a half loaded Millennium Force train.