Beyond The Parks

Published on
Updated April 9, 2020
Below we will try to keep you up to date on the latest closures of Theme Parks due to the ongoing Coronavirus. Please take care of yourselves during this time, social distance yourselves as much as you can, wash your hands, listen to the CDC. 

We'll all get through this together. 
Universal Parks and Resorts
We are extending the closure of Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood at least through May 31 as we continue to respond to current conditions and make the health and safety of team members and guests our top priority.  This includes our theme parks and Universal CityWalk at both destinations.  The Universal Orlando Resort hotels have also temporarily suspended operations through this time period. 

​We will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments as needed, based on guidance from health agencies and government officials.  

 In addition, we have communicated with our team members today and have this to share:
​Taking care of our team members during this difficult and challenging time remains one of our most important priorities.  We are working hard to find solutions that also allow us to sustain our business.  Our team members will be paid at 100 percent through April 19, but as we enter a more prolonged closure period, we need to take additional measures.  Beginning April 20, nearly all our team members will be paid at 80 percent of their pay – and we will ask them to adjust their work accordingly.  A small group of team members will be asked to continue working at 100 percent and will continue to be paid at that level.   We have also made the difficult decision that we will furlough our part-time hourly workers beginning May 3.  During this time, we will fully cover the cost of benefit plans for those team members who have them.  All of these team members remain in our thoughts – and, while we don’t yet know when, we look forward to returning them to work one day.
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Disney Parks
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Disneyland and Walt Disney World
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Cedar Fair Parks

Below is the latest update from Knott's Berry Farm, all other Cedar Fair Parks are following the same guidelines. 
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Six Flags
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SeaWorld Parks
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Dollywood
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DOLLYWOOD COMPANY UPDATE
Dollywood anticipates re-opening in May
 
PIGEON FORGE, TN (Monday, March 23, 2020) --- Based on daily changes in the status of the coronavirus pandemic and guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control, we are delaying the opening of Dollywood and suspending the operations of Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa as of March 24. Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Cabins remains open at this time.
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“The coronavirus crisis is unprecedented, and based on the ever-changing developments, we are constantly re-evaluating our options and hoping to open in May,” Craig Ross, Dollywood President said.
Ross continued, “We are looking daily at all of our options to present an exciting and entertaining 2020 season that is a great experience for our guests, but our first priority is the safety of our hosts and guests.” 

Dollywood will continue to watch the conditions within our region, consult with our medical experts and follow CDC guidelines to determine the re-opening date for the parks and resort. We will continue to communicate any additional changes as they occur.

For guests with resort reservations or tickets for this period of temporary closure, please contact 1-800-DOLLYWOOD for rescheduling information.

Legoland
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LEGOLAND® California theme park, LEGOLAND® Water Park and SEA LIFE®  aquarium will be closed from Saturday, March 14th 2020 through Tuesday, March 31st 2020. Sign up to get updates about opening.
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To prevent the spread of Novel Coronavirus, LEGOLAND® Florida theme park & water park will be closed from Monday, March 16th 2020 through Tuesday, March 31st 2020.
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Lagoon Park
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LAGOON PARK OPENING – UPDATE MONDAY, MARCH 30th

Like all Utahns, Lagoon’s management and staff continue to monitor the situation in our community with regard to COVID-19.  We are taking precautions to keep Lagoon’s guests, partners, and employees safe as we proceed through this challenging time.  Our beautiful Park is ready to welcome Lagoon’s guests, and we look forward to doing so at the proper time.
 
Following official guidance provided by authorities, the Park will not open this upcoming weekend.  As we have said previously, the health and safety of our guests, team members, and community is of the utmost importance.  
 
We will update this announcement at the beginning of each week to share our thoughts going forward.  Thank you again for your care and thoughtfulness toward Lagoon.  To our season passholders, we certainly appreciate your willingness to endure this inconvenience.
 
Our thoughts are with those that have been afflicted with COVID-19, and we commiserate with those that face adversity during this time.  We are looking forward to better days ahead.
 
TOGETHER WE WILL RIDE THIS OUT.
Holiday World
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Message to our Guests on COVID-19Last Updated: 4/8/2020

During his twenty-some years serving Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari as park president, my dad—Will Koch Jr.—never missed an opening day. Especially not when a new attraction was on the line. We do everything in our power to uphold his same standard—though circumstances beyond our control may intervene.

It is with a little sadness, but much hope that I can share that we are now planning to open in early June.
You may have a lot of questions, and we’re going to do our best to answer them below, but just know that if this alters your plans, we’re going to take care of you.

We’re still watching reports about COVID-19 from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization carefully and consulting with our colleagues at other parks to figure out how to keep our Team Members and Guests safe when we do reopen.

We’re also changing our operations in ways you may or may not notice. We’ve had our kitchens professionally cleaned this year, and we’re going to have hand sanitizer readily available all over the park. We may even have some temporary closures while we sanitize our rides throughout the day.

We’re still planning to hold the Platinum Season Passholder event–even if we don’t have a finalized date just yet, and we’ll reschedule every other event we possibly can if we’re not able to open in time (please see our question below on HoliWood Nights).

In the meantime, we’re continuing to hire seasonal employees and we’re doing our best to train people online.

The important thing that you should know is that our small-but-mighty team is working hard from home right now. As a family-owned park, we’re feeling the pressure, but we’re also proving how mighty we are when we work together. We may not have the resources of other parks, but we’re ready to fire on all cylinders once we’re back.

And opening day is coming.

What can we say? We’ve been the cleanest park in the world for two decades. You’ve developed high standards, and we plan to continue to exceed them.

We can’t emphasize the importance of following CDC recommendations enough right now. If we’re going to have the best summer ever, we all have to do our part. So please, stay home, continue social distancing, and wash your hands. Help us save summer 2020.

See you in June, friends.
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-Leah Koch,
Fourth-Generation Owner and Director of Communications on behalf of the Koch Family
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