Park closure

[Joanna71985]

Company just announced that all parks (SW, BG, AQ, and DC) will be closing Sunday evening, and will be through March 31st

 

[macraven]

I was waiting for when they would officially announce their closing

 

[FLOIR]

I updated the 7 Seas posting (with obviously no concerts during the closure) but the park is also cancelling this concerts this weekend (March 14 and 15) even though the park itself is open.

 

[Joanna71985]

I updated the 7 Seas posting (with obviously no concerts during the closure) but the park is also cancelling this concerts this weekend (March 14 and 15) even though the park itself is open.

the artist for tomorrow dropped out (don't know which side canceled for tonight)

 

[NorthshoreTigerFan]

Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this. I think the parks are making the right decision by temporarily closing, and I fear the virus will continue to affect us all well beyond the end of March.

 

[FLOIR]

Universal just announced they will be closed through April 19. Just a matter of time before SeaWorld makes that same call. Orange County has also announced a Stay At Home order through April 9.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Interestingly, Discovery Cove is blocked out for reservations until May 18th. We rather suspected that the theme parks would remain closed for the 8 weeks recommended by the CDC, and this seems to fall in line with that timeline (since they originally closed mid March).

There have been no official announcements from SeaWorld, of course, but the inability to book DC until mid May suggests a lengthy closure (even beyond the April 19th date announced this week by Universal) is very likely.

 

[FLOIR]

SeaWorld is now closed until further notice. They just furloughed 90% of their staff (the number came from a newspaper article) with the only remaining being mostly Zoo people to take care of the animals, Security, and a few others from random areas to perform specific functions. I would not expect them to open again until mid May at the earliest, no way would they open mid April like the other parks have announced. If they had any possibility of opening by April they would not have cut the staff by that much.

 

[macraven]

Thank you for that update

 

[lyshia04]

thank you! I have discovery cove booked for June 1st. Still waiting to see what they do. They haven’t sent me anything yet about it.

 

[Joanna71985]

I honestly don't expect the other 2 parks to open mid April, unfortunately (I'm hoping for early May, but I don't know)

 

[FLOIR]

The President just extended the federal social distance guidelines through April 30. While this is technically a voluntary guideline there is no way any of the parks would dare to open in April and risk a large outbreak. Even once restrictions get lifted it is going to take a while to get the parks ready to open again. Bring the staff back, get the closed park cleaned, reorder and receive all food, get everyone trained or retrained (especially for safety sensitive rides but also for show rehearsals). Thinking this will take more than a week.

 

[Joanna71985]

SW is currently closed through May 3rd (according to the calendar)

 

[FLOIR]

Universal is now closed through May 31. There is no way that SW would open significantly earlier than that, although they are famous (infamous?) for not updating park hours so probably we will see it on the website calendar prior to them actually making an announcement. I would not plan on any trip there in May, and possibly not even part of June.

 

[Joanna71985]

I find that the 3 companies pretty much mirror each other in decisions like these (so I would be shocked if SW and WDW didn't follow suit). Of course- right now both SW and WDW are "closed indefinitely", so there probably wouldn't be any sort of announcement, like Universal did

 

[Belle & Ariel]

SW is currently closed through May 3rd (according to the calendar)

Today they changed the opening date to May 9. Yesterday it was still the 3rd.
It tells me they're eager to open but being realistic.
I check very often because we have a trip planned end of May.

 

[Joanna71985]

Today they changed the opening date to May 9. Yesterday it was still the 3rd.
It tells me they're eager to open but being realistic.
I check very often because we have a trip planned end of May.

I honestly don't see the parks opening until at least June, unfortunately. Right now Universal has the park closed the latest (they are through May 31), while the calendar for SW is the 9th and WDW is closed "until further notice"

 

[Belle & Ariel]

Today the opening day has been pushed back to Saturday, May 16.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Today the opening day has been pushed back to Saturday, May 16.

I wouldn't think of that as an "opening date". I would be shocked if SeaWorld chose to open before Universal (which as Joanna noted had already announced a full closure at least to May 31st) and Disney (which is taking no new bookings until at least June 1st). I think an early opening would be viewed quite unfavorably by most folks.....especially when their major competitors don't feel it is safe to be open for some time yet.

SeaWorld has struggled with processing refunds in a timely manner due to the sheer number of cancellations, so I would suspect their gradual erasing of the calendar is more to mitigate the processing of refunds versus their plan to reopen on a certain day.

I know what it's like to be in your position (and it stinks). We had a mid-April trip planned, and ended up moving it out to May 24th when the original closure was extended. A couple of weeks ago, we ended up pulling the plug on that May trip as well (even before Universal announced it would be closed to May 31.....we saw the writing on the wall), and deferring until October & December. While I can't say for certain that the SW parks will not open before the end of May, I think the odds are definitely NOT in your favor. I'm pretty sure that the calendar will be cleared week by week so that they can pace their ability to process refunds until a hopeful reopening sometime in June

 

[Belle & Ariel]

I wouldn't think of that as an "opening date". I would be shocked if SeaWorld chose to open before Universal (which as Joanna noted had already announced a full closure at least to May 31st) and Disney (which is taking no new bookings until at least June 1st). I think an early opening would be viewed quite unfavorably by most folks.....especially when their major competitors don't feel it is safe to be open for some time yet.

SeaWorld has struggled with processing refunds in a timely manner due to the sheer number of cancellations, so I would suspect their gradual erasing of the calendar is more to mitigate the processing of refunds versus their plan to reopen on a certain day.

I know what it's like to be in your position (and it stinks). We had a mid-April trip planned, and ended up moving it out to May 24th when the original closure was extended. A couple of weeks ago, we ended up pulling the plug on that May trip as well (even before Universal announced it would be closed to May 31.....we saw the writing on the wall), and deferring until October & December. While I can't say for certain that the SW parks will not open before the end of May, I think the odds are definitely NOT in your favor. I'm pretty sure that the calendar will be cleared week by week so that they can pace their ability to process refunds until a hopeful reopening sometime in June

I agree it probably won't be open. But oh I wish we could have been there together and finally meet.
We had originally booked this then found a great deal on a cruise and cancelled this back in February. Now cruise is cancelled and this rebooked. We should be camping at the beach this week but it too was cancelled.
This girl is ready to go!!!!