Socially distanced theme park days may soon be the new normal but at the end of the day it’s still your responsibility to enforce the measures for your own safety.
As parks across the UK are days away from opening we’re seeing all the safety measures being introduced from all the UK parks and attractions.
Temperature checks, face masks being mandatory on rides, and more, but there are still a few gaps that the theme parks can’t accommodate. Common sense and personal hygiene.
As has been shown over the last few weeks as thousands of absent-minded individuals flocked to the beaches, social distancing is going to be difficult.
Various vlogs from zoos and small enclosure attractions have already highlighted the ignorance of people when it comes to the social distancing markers.
People clambering over one another to see inside an enclosure, the two-meter chevron gaps or standing markers are also being completed ignored.
Kids running wild from parents who have no plans or intentions to keep them behaved.
Hand sanitization stations empty or running out fast.
The list goes on and on and on.
It’s going to be mayhem.
Theme Parks Can Only Do So Much
The parks and attractions can only do so much but sadly this country is absolutely full of those who will happily ignore the rules.
This is where you must all take responsibility for your own safety.
In a recent article by The Sun they went to explore the on-ride measures that Alton Towers are taking to enforce social distancing.
There will be gaps between seats, ride operators will be wearing face shields and guests will be wearing masks but the seat restraints will only be cleaned every 30 minutes.
Think about that for a second.
Someone is gripping onto the handles for dear life, they come off and for the next 30-minutes, this process repeats.
Gloves have not been made mandatory on rides so it’s now down to you to wash those hands as you come on and off the ride.
Personally I can’t see many people doing this and if they did the parks would have to have gallons of hand sanitizer on standby to accommodate the flood of guests.
Social distancing will also be impossible as guests may have to queue up just to squeeze some hand sanitizer onto their hands and will be crowding around to do so.
The notices around the park (even for zoo/garden opening days) are mostly being ignored and it’ll be interesting to see just how opening weekend will go.
I hate queues, I hate groups of people huddled together and I just hate waiting full stop so for that reason I won’t be going on opening weekend.
The temperature check for just two people took around 20-40 seconds per person, some people were too far away to get a measurement, some people needed bags checked, the temperature reader was playing up. Now imagine that wait time times the number of guests waiting to just get inside the park gates.
I’ve been a bit of a spoiled brat and have fast-tracked every theme park I’ve ever been to as I want to enjoy my day rather than enjoy it watching others having fun in a queue.
I’ll be leaving it until things are a bit quieter but my point still remains.
It’s your responsibility to look after your own hygiene and wash those hands.
No matter how many people post about it, talk about it, tell people to stay inside, or to stay safe there will always be those who don’t listen.
Personally, if people are seen as not socially distancing or keeping to the rules park ejection should be an outcome.
But who would enforce it?
It’s all a bit of a minefield at the moment.
Final Thoughts
The silver lining is for big parks such as Alton Towers with a capped number of guests per day the park will certainly seem quieter which is always nice.
The downside is absolutely everything else including increased wait times as trains run with empty rows, longer queues as the gaps between people will stretch the queues out and last but not least the handwashing fiasco above.
Take out the people who will have ‘lost their masks’ when boarding a ride or those who haven’t fastened them properly and it falls off mid-ride (it will happen).
I personally think it’s going to be a nightmare for the first few days at least. Just until the park gets into the swing of things and manages it properly.
The garden event at Alton Towers was to trial these new methods but attendances were very low, the staff hasn’t had to have a fully open park and much higher guest numbers to compete with just yet.
If there’s something we’ve learned over the last few weeks is that quite a large number of the population (a good 500,000 minimum after the recent Bournemouth shambles) lack basic common sense and hygiene.
For those who have your head screwed on, stay alert, wash those hands and have a good time!
