PKIDelirium

BLOG: Annual care keeps The Racer in peak operating condition https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/march/annual-care-keeps-the-racer-in-peak-operating-condition

BLOG: Viking Fury gets new coat of paint https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/march/viking-fury-gets-new-coat-of-paint

Disney World and Disneyland closures are now indefinite: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/travel-information/ https://disneyland.disney.go.com/travel-information/

BLOG: 5 ways to have some Kings Island fun at home https://www.visitkingsisland.com/blog/2020/march/5-ways-to-have-some-kings-island-fun-at-home 5 WAYS TO HAVE SOME KINGS ISLAND FUN AT HOME March 25, 2020 Don Helbig Area Manager Digital Marketing - Kings Island Twitter: @DonHelbig Looking for something do at home with the kids? Here’s a list of five ways to have some Kings Island fun from the comforts of home. Be sure the share your fun with us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter using #KingsIsland. We’ll share and retweet some of our favorites. Enjoy a virtual roller coaster ride Take a virtual ride on one of Kings Island’s world-class roller coasters. We have several rollver coaster Point of View (POV) videos on our YouTube channel. Play them on YouTube’s TV app and add to the experience by sitting in a moveable chair in front of the TV with other props such as a broomstick for the lap bar. Enjoy a virtual water ride Here’s a fun one! Take a virtual ride on Race for Your Life Charlie Brown. We have a Point of View (POV) video on your YouTube channel that will make you feel as though you are experiencing this attraction. Add to the experience by having a non-virtual rider tossing small splashes of water on you at points during the ride where you might get wet. Watch a parade If you love a parade, you’ll love watching a replay of the electrifying vibe of the Spectacle of Color Parade from our Grand Carnivale event. You’ll feel like you’re watching it live from International Street! Make a sketch of your favorite rides Get out those No. 2 pencils and sketch drawings of your favorite Kings Island rides, present or past. Challenge yourself with these thought-provoking Kings Island trivia questions 1. A rider on Drop Tower will drop 264 feet. How many times would you have to ride this attraction to travel a mile? 2. The height from which a rider drops on Drop Tower is 264 feet. There is 5,280 feet in a mile. What is the length of the fall expressed in miles? 3. A ride on Invertigo lasts one minute, 30 seconds. If you and a friend rode this ride continuously across from each other, with no stops from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., how many times would you “Face Off” with your partner? 4. The Beast is the longest wooden roller coaster in the world at 7,359 feet. One sheet of toilet paper in the park is 4.5” x 4.5” and there are 500 sheets in a roll. The park will use 700 cases of toilet paper a year. Each case contains 96 rolls. How many times could you cover the Beast’s track with all of this toilet paper? 5. The park sells over 280,000 pounds of hamburger a year. How many quarter pound burgers would that make?

More at https://www.visitkingsisland.com/park-update

A Message from Richard Zimmerman, Chief Executive Officer, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company March 20, 2020 Update At Cedar Fair, the safety and well-being of our Guests and Associates are always our top priorities. We have been continuously monitoring and following regional and national health directives related to COVID-19 and we want to keep you informed on how these events will impact our park schedule. Currently, it is our hope to open Kings Island mid-May or as soon thereafter as possible. We believe this decision is in the best interest of our associates, our guests, and our community. We will work with Guests who have prepaid tickets during the time period of our park closure. You may contact us at www.visitkingsisland.com/help/contact-us. For 2020 Season Passholders, we will be adding days to the park’s operating calendar to accommodate for the days the park is temporarily closed (against original 2020 operating calendar). Additionally, 2020 Season Passholders will enjoy added-value benefits to be announced at time of park opening. We appreciate the support and cooperation of our Guests and Associates during this ever-evolving situation. Your loyalty to our park is invaluable. We look forward to seeing you soon.

https://www.holidayworld.com/covid-19/ Message to our Guests on COVID-19 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. I hate to say, but we may not be able to welcome Guests through our gates on our scheduled opening day this year. We’re around six weeks out from our scheduled opening—and our maintenance team is still on track for May 2. But this year we’re up against forces stronger than most years. We’re watching reports about COVID-19 from the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization carefully and consulting with our colleagues at other parks to find out when it will be safe for both our Guests and Team Members to open. At this time, we can’t share a date with any certainty. But our opening day is coming. We’re going to do our best to make sure the Platinum Season Passholder event goes on, and we’ll reschedule every other event we can if we’re not able to open in time. When we reopen, we’ll have changed our operations in ways you may or may not notice. We’ve had our kitchens professionally cleaned this year, and we’re working on getting hand sanitizer readily available all over the park. You may even have to deal with some temporary closures while we sanitize our rides throughout the day. The important thing that you should know is that we’re ready to rise to the occasion when opening day comes. 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. What’s important now is that we all follow the recommendations of the CDC and our state governments so we can beat this virus and have the best summer ever. -Leah Koch, Fourth-Generation Owner and Director of Communications on behalf of the Koch Family

Clear view of the site from this new video:

All Great Wolf Lodge locations are closing for the rest of the month: COVID-19 UPDATE: GREAT WOLF LODGE CLOSING FROM MARCH 16—APRIL 1, 2020 The health and safety of our guests and pack members is always our primary focus and it guides all decisions made at Great Wolf Lodge. In response to COVID-19 we implemented enhanced sanitation measures at our resorts and provided CDC updates stating there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread through the use of pools or hot tubs. We have had no reported positive COVID-19 cases within our guest or pack community. However, with the recent focus from federal and state government officials on restricting large gatherings, we believe it is in the best interest of our guests and pack members to temporarily close all of our resorts and plan to re-open on April 2. The closure will be effective starting at 2pm on Sunday, March 15, so that guests staying at the resort the evening of March 14 will have full use of the water park and recreational facilities before departing. For all guests with reservations from the evening of March 15 through April 1, we will automatically cancel your reservation and provide a full refund. Please be patient with us, as with the number of reservations that need to be cancelled it may take 7-10 days before we’re able to process all refunds. This is an unprecedented and challenging time, and we are very appreciative of the overwhelming support from families like yours who enjoy spending time together at our resort. We look forward to welcoming you back after we re-open and hope to help your family create more fun-filled moments. We will continue to stay connected with federal and state health officials to monitor the ongoing situation and provide our guests with additional updates as warranted. After the resort re-opens, we will continue following official health department recommendations and the enhanced sanitation measures we implemented for the well-being of our guests. These include: More frequent cleansing of public and pack member areas of the resort with hospital-grade disinfectant solutions. This includes high-touch areas in waterpark, lobby, food service areas, attractions, arcade, retail outlets, elevators, vending machines and other guest areas. We use the same hospital-grade disinfectant cleaners in all guest rooms, and room attendants are trained to pay special attention to high-touch areas such as door handles, light switches, in-room phone, power outlets and television remotes. We have placed hand-sanitation stations throughout the resort to provide our guests with a convenient method of maintaining good personal hygiene. Along with the hand sanitizers, we are encouraging all guests and pack members to wash hands frequently with soap and warm water. We believe family time together is invaluable and hope you will continue with your planned family getaway to Great Wolf Lodge. However, if you are feeling the least bit uncertain, we wanted to share some modifications to our booking policies: STAYS WITH ARRIVALS THROUGH MARCH 14TH, 2020 The closure will be effective starting at 2pm on Sunday, March 15, so that guests staying at the resort the evening of March 14 will have full use of the water park and recreational facilities before departing. We look forward to hosting you. However, we realize families may have concerns about traveling at this moment and we want to provide you the flexibility to modify your stay. For any bookings with arrivals through March 14th, you will be able to apply your deposit to any future stay at Great Wolf Lodge up through November 18th, 2020. STAYS WITH ARRIVALS FROM MARCH 15TH, 2020 THROUGH APRIL 1ST, 2020 The closure will be effective starting at 2pm on Sunday, March 15. For all guests with reservations from the evening of March 15 through April 1, we will automatically cancel your reservation and provide a full refund. Please be patient with us, as with the number of reservations that need to be cancelled, it may take 7-10 days before we’re able to process all refunds. This is an unprecedented and challenging time, and we are very appreciative of the overwhelming support from families like yours who enjoy spending time together at our resort. We look forward to welcoming you back after we re-open and hope to help your family create more fun-filled moments. STAYS WITH ARRIVALS FROM APRIL 2ND THROUGH APRIL 17TH, 2020 We are looking forward to re-opening and hosting you. However, we realize families may have concerns about traveling at this moment and we want to provide you the flexibility to modify your stay. For any bookings with arrivals through April 17th, you will be able to apply your deposit to any future stay at Great Wolf Lodge up through November 18th, 2020.

Cedar Fair's Schlitterbahn waterparks in New Braunfels and Galveston are also closing until the end of the month. https://www.schlitterbahn.com/home/corp/information

The above Cedar Fair statement is now obsolete. Knott's Berry Farm is closing through the end of the month, and Carowinds, Kings Dominion and California's Great America have all postponed their opening date to April 3/4. https://www.knotts.com/park-update https://www.carowinds.com/park-update https://www.kingsdominion.com/park-update https://www.cagreatamerica.com/park-update

(Topic edited to be general discussion of Coronavirus and all parks.) Cedar Fair has issued a statement regarding COVID-19. Cedar Fair plans to open all parks on schedule at this time. A Message from Richard Zimmerman, Chief Executive Officer, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company Dear Valued Guest, Cedar Fair's highest priority is always the safety of our guests and associates. We know you continue to hear and see news reports about the coronavirus, or COVID-19, and some of its effects around the world. The Cedar Fair team is closely monitoring this evolving situation and are in regular contact with health agencies for information and guidance. All Cedar Fair properties intend to welcome guests in accordance with our published schedules, and we continue to implement preventive measures as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as our own health and hygiene protocols. All our parks and resorts have high standards of cleanliness, which assists with illness prevention. We employ rigorous sanitation standards and robust cleaning procedures, including: Extensive and ongoing training for associates on maintaining a safe and hygienic workplace and environment for our guests; Specified intervals for frequent cleaning and disinfection of targeted areasthroughout the day; Numerous and accessible handwashing facilities and hand sanitizer locations; Quick response to spills, trash and other situations; Daily and frequent sanitation procedures for restrooms, kitchens, dining surfaces, benches and trash cans; Daily and frequent cleaning and "wash down" of outdoor locations, including walkways and queue lines The leadership team is communicating with our associates about illness prevention; this includes guidance issued by the CDC. The CDC recommends everyday preventive actions to help stop the spread of germs. The CDC provides more detailed coronavirus information on its website at www.cdc.gov. As always, we maintain close relationships with local, state, national and international public health authorities. We take their guidance when additional preventive measures are deemed necessary. Thank you for your continued support and trust in Cedar Fair's family of parks and resorts. Sincerely, Richard Zimmerman Chief Executive Officer Cedar Fair Entertainment Company

This video by Flyin High Dronez shows a full test cycle of Orion from the air: