Theme park operators across the globe have been planning and preparing for their reopening for weeks now and it is Efteling, the theme park situated in Kaatsheuvel in the Netherlands that is opening it’s gates May 20. Their official website clearly states that The Dutch RIVM guideliness will be maintained in the theme park as well as the accomodation located at the resort. It also outlines the measures that will be put into place to ensure that this happens. Here is an overview of these measures:
Special Guidelines to Keep Everyone Safe
- 1.5 metres distance between households – they outline that this will be done by only allowing a limited number of guests to be in the theme park at a time. All tickets have to be book online. They will also limit numbers of people in locations to make sure numbers are always at a safe level throughout the park.
- Providing extra hygiene measures – it states that employees will wear personal protective equipment where necessary. Important contact points will be cleaned more frequently and central hand sanitation points will be provided.
- Sufficient and clear information will be given – trained staff will be on hand to give guidance and there will be clear information, instructions and signposting throughout the park.
Anybody who has been reading about proposed measures for the reopening of Disney and Universal parks in the UK will quickly see that there doesn’t appear to be temperature testing and face masks for guests at Efteling. It is unsure exactly what personal protective equipment employees will be using, it simply states “employees will wear personal protective equipment where necessary”. It confirms on their website that Face Mask use is permitted, but not required and face masks are not permitted while riding the park’s roller coasters.
The US will have different guidelines in place compared to The Netherlands as each Country has been affected on different levels by the COVID-19 pandemic and the guidelines that are now in place are based on that. It is up to the park operators to plan accordingly to meet these guidelines and ensure employee and guest safety.
Interestingly, when trying to book a ticket online, it states very clearly that all slots for Annual Passholders are fully booked until June 2. You must check back in as new slots will become available. They appear to be allocating a set number of slots to be used by annual passholders. Is this something that Disney will look to do, or would it simply not work due to the sheer volume of Annual Passholders Walt Disney World have?
Safety Guidelines
It has been written on their official website that guests will be spoken to if regulations are not observed. There is a list of safety guidelines to be followed which are:
- Wash your hands on a regular basis.
- Maintain social distancing (1.5 meters from other visitors).
- Please go home if you have any health complaints or symptoms (cold, runny nose, sneezing, sore throat, mild cough or fever). Please go home if someone in your household has a fever (from 38 ° C) and/or when someone in your household is short of breath.
- Pay with pin or contactless.
- Follow our instructions.
These guidelines, we are sure will be relayed to the guests when entering the park and as already said, signposting and information from boards and trained members of staff is promised from their official site to be put into place.
The guidelines when queuing and on attractions
These are the guidelines for guests to follow when in attraction queues and on rides, many are inevitably the same as the general safety guidelines, with some additions :
- Maintain social distancing (1.5 meters from other visitors).
- Wait with your household within the indicated areas. When the indicated area in front of you is empty, step into the next section with the entire household.
- It is not possible to choose your seat. All seats are allocated.
- Please leave the attraction as soon as possible when your ride has finished. Maintain all safety measures!
- Because of the safety measures, you have to get in and out by yourselves. Employees cannot help physically.
- The Single Rider queue and Babyswitch are not available at the moment. You are not able to leave the queue and attraction in the meantime.
- Follow any safety instructions.
Guidelines for restaurants, shops, disabled, first aid
We know that all areas of the theme park experience will be affected by the guidelines that are needed. Efteling’s official site gives a full break down of all information needs regarding restaurants, soveneir shops, disabled guests and first aid. There is also a detailed FAQs section on Efteling’s official website.
Due to the fact majority of our readers live in the US or the UK, it is extremely unlikely that you are going to be able to vist Efteling in the near future. Therefore, for some of you this article will be irrelevant and I hope you can ignore it and choose an article from our News page or Features Page that you will find interesting to read. However, for some, I hope it will be interesting for you to see what type of measures are being put into place and being done in a theme park, albeit not anywhere on the same scale as Walt Disney World, but a theme park all the same in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Be sure to check out our News Page and Facebook page daily to keep up to date with all the latest annoucements as well as news regarding reopening plans from Disney, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld as well as other theme parks across the world.
We are continuing to do our best to bring you new informative and entertaining features at a time when the news is understandably saturated by COVID-19 pandemic coverage. If you fancy a chilled few minutes then be sure to check out one or more of our latest features below:
- Here’s How Theme Parks Will Protect You This Summer
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To see all of our latest features visit our Features Page.
