Themeparks reopening

Not clear yet on ALG but Village Roadshow are reopening with specified dates so I suspect it won't be long.

http://www.mygc.com.au/thme-parks-set-to-reopen-with-major-announcement-coming/

Village Roadshow has confirmed it will be reopening Gold Coast themeparks from next Friday, with new Covid safe measures in place.

Village Roadshow and Dreamworld operator Ardent Leisure have been eagerly awaiting news from the Chief Health Officer after submitting their reopening plans last month.

They were forced to shut in March at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, in what was a massive blow for the Gold Coast.

Seaworld will be open first, welcoming back visitors from next Friday (June 26),.

Australian Outback Spectacular will reopen to audiences on July 3, while Movie World and Wet ‘n’ Wild will wait until July 15.

Village Roadshow COO Bikash Randhawa told 1029 Hot Tomato’s Galey Emily Jade and Christo that there are still a few tweaks to make at Movie World and Wet n Wild.

“The reason why Movie World and Wet ‘n’ Wild are opening late is because there’s so much work that needs to be done.

“And this was one of the reasons why we were chasing a date and asking for some guidance… you know with rides etc, there’s so much compliance and technical aspects,” he said.

Under stage three of the State’s recovery roadmap, theme parks would have only been allowed to have 100 people from July 10.

However theme park operators say that’s not viable and have been pushing for larger numbers.

The parks are tipped to operate at 50 percent capacity and bring in a range of COVID-19 safety measures, including booking rides via an app and general cleaning.

Mr Randhawa says the app was already being developed before the coronavirus crisis.

“This app, we’ve been working on for quite some time, and it just so happened that it works very well under the Covid-19 plan.

“It’s a contactless experience, you can book your rides, your map’s on there, you just show your phone, your photos are on there, your passes, your tickets, everything.

“And you can make really good use of your time at the park.

“This is something that happens in the US at Disney, Universal and the major theme parks around the world,” he said.

It’s understood the State Government will this week scrap the 100-person limit for venues for stage three, including for theme parks, and replace it with the four-square metre rule.