Reopening Colorado: Safety Top Priority For Amusement Parks
LAKESIDE, Colo. (CBS4)- The safety of guests and employees is the top priority for amusement parks in the Denver metro area. Water World made the decision to cancel its season, but Elitch Gardens and Lakeside Amusement Park are still hopeful they can open safely sometime this summer.
"I think controlling social distancing is going to be an extreme challenge in an amusement park. People come to touch and interact and run around together. They're not expecting to be 6 feet away from their best friend," said Brenda Fishman of Lakeside Amusement Park.
The Wild Chipmunk rollercoaster sits empty on a hot summer day, and there's no telling how much longer it will.
Colorado's safer-at-home order still restricts gatherings to a maximum of 10 people. While Lakeside Amusement Park hopes to reopen this summer, they'll only welcome guests if they feel it's safe.
"Whatever decision we make has to be right for our patrons and our staff. It has to be morally and ethically the right thing to do," said Fishman.
While the rides remain frozen, park operations is on the ride to reopen. Lakeside plans to put several hand sanitizer and hand washing stations throughout the property.
Lakeside isn't entirely sure of its future reopening plan yet, but they expect any mandatory mask requirement for guests to be dictated by the state. However, the park plans to require face covering for employees.
"We have a lot of acreage and the majority of people are working all alone in their own little corners," said Fishman. "We don't have the serpentine lines like larger parks would have."
Crowding in lines can be resolved by floor markers and employee monitoring, but Lakeside says controlling distance in areas like its Kiddieland will be difficult. It's possible these areas will remain closed if the park reopens.
In the meantime, Lakeside is refurbishing equipment in hopes guests can hop on before summer ends.
In a statement to CBS4, Elitch Gardens says their guests will have to wait through its temporary closure a bit longer: "In preparation for Opening Day, we are developing significantly increased sanitation protocols and standards as well as communications and procedures for managing appropriate social distancing"
Neither Lakeside Amusement Park nor Elitch Gardens have provided a date on when they plan to reopen.