Updated June 13th 2020
Silverwood Theme Park has become the first park in the Pacific Northwest (and possibly even the entire western US?) to announce their official opening date. They will be opening on May 30th, 2020 with a slew of new safety and health measures, including reduced capacity, and social distancing guidelines. In this post, we’ll cover the announcement, highlights, and offer some of our thoughts.
As we reported last month, Silverwood announced a delay to their 2020 season, along with several special ticket and season pass deals for 2020 and 2021. At the time, they did not commit to a new opening date, but they have now announced they will be starting their schedule back up as of May 30th. From what we can tell, it appears that their calendar will continue from that date as originally planned. The park has also announced that, due to favorable weather conditions, Boulder Beach water park will re-open on May 30th. This is 1 week ahead of the original plan to re-open the water park on June 6th. For those of you into theme park trivia, this will mark the first time that both Silverwood and Boulder Beach have had their opening day on the same day.
In addition to the announcement (which we’ve included below), we reached out to Jordan Carter, marketing director for the park. He confirmed that for the time being, live entertainment will not be offered. This means Nick Norton’s magic show, along with live entertainment usually offered in the High Moon Saloon, will not be available. “We are looking at different options to allow guests to experience our different shows”, he said, “But it looks like they will not be available until phase 4 of the Governors plan.”
Update: As of June 13th, Nick and Amanda Norton’s Magic show, Phantasm, has officially returned for the season. This is a good sign for not only Silverwood, but other parks as they potentially seek ways to re-integrate entertainment into their lineups.
Carter also confirmed that Light up the Night – the previously announced new nighttime drone show – will not be debuting this year. Very disappointing and unfortunate news, but completely understandable given the current situation.
You can view the rest of the official announcement here: https://www.silverwoodthemepark.com/coronavirus-update/ It is very lengthy, and as such, we won’t post it in its entirety. Here are the major points:
“Capacity, Tickets, and Season Passes
Rides and Queue Lines
Food and Retail
As you can see from the above list, we have taken many steps to try to mitigate the spread of infection between our guests and employees. The complete list of changed practices is much longer and will be constantly improved as we learn more information.
Determining whether or not to open the park during these unprecedented times was a difficult task. Like many organizations, we’re continually monitoring the balance between public safety with the desire to keep our economy alive. This balance needs to be re-evaluated on an ongoing basis. We have based our plan on the information and guidelines from state and health experts, however, we cannot guarantee there is no risk associated with engaging in a social activity at this time; we can only say we have done our best to minimize the risk with the procedures we have taken. If you feel you are in one of the vulnerable categories due to age or health considerations, we would advise you to postpone your visit to the park this season and wait for more secure times.
We believe it is your right to assess the risks involved, take your own precautions, and come to your own conclusion as to whether to participate in social activities during these trying times.”
Whew! A lot to take in and discuss, so let’s get to it! First and foremost, this announcement comes much sooner than even we had predicted. We were almost certain the park would be closed through the end of May, possibly even through the end of June. As such, it’s great news to see that Silverwood has been given the OK to open so soon. And it makes good sense – Athol, Idaho is not facing the same challenges as New York, or Los Angeles. It’s not a densely populated area, and therefore the situation, market demographics, and consumer demands are all different. Do we wish this would mean Disneyland could open on May 30th too?? Sure, but it’s a totally different set of variables 1200 miles south of Silverwood. Still, with the majority of the major theme park chains remaining shuttered in the US for the time being, this is welcome news.
Next, some thoughts on all the health and safety measures. Most of these should not be a surprise to anyone who has followed the theme park industry for the past few months. The recent opening of Shanghai Disneyland has seen most if not all of these same measures implemented, and we’ve seen plenty of hints to suggest that the rest of the major parks will follow suit here in the states. As noted in the announcement, these measures will be updated and changed as the park adjusts to the ever-changing situation we are in.
There are a few key points we’d like to highlight. Not surprisingly, the park will require advanced reservations for any tickets purchased from May 23rd and onward. For the time being, season passes can still be used any day, without making a reservation, and we’d assume that any tickets purchased prior to the 23rd would be the same. This perhaps creates the potential for busier days later in the summer if ‘too many’ passholders show up on a given day. No doubt the park has taken all of that into consideration through attendance modeling and predictions, and it will very likely not end up being a problem.
Of particular note to us is that it seems masks will not be a hard requirement. Rather, they’ll be available for anyone who wants to wear one, and will be recommended. This is a bit surprising, with Disney making them mandatory in Shanghai, and most other major theme parks suggesting that they’ll do the same when re-opening stateside. This may very well change as the park adjusts and adapts over the coming weeks, but for now, guests are able to make their own choice in this regard.
Another interesting point is that the park will not be implementing temperature screenings. We think this makes sense, as carriers of COVID-19 can be completely asymptomatic. Also, fevers can be caused by a variety of non-viral things, and nothing prevents one from popping a few ibuprofen to knock the fever down temporarily anyways. Suffice it to say, in our humble opinion, we have no problem with the park nixing this particular measure.
Other changes are essentially what we’ve seen elsewhere – social distancing markers in queues, sanitizing ride vehicles after each cycle, spaced out seating arrangements at food venues, and so forth. Ultimately, Gary Norton says it best in the announcement: “We believe it is your right to assess the risks involved, take your own precautions, and come to your own conclusion as to whether to participate in social activities during these trying times.” Well said.
One final comment – the park is continuing to offer the “rollover” ticket and season pass sales until May 22nd, so if you haven’t taken advantage of this, you only have a small amount of time left to do so.
So that about covers it! If you decide to head out to the park when it opens, take care, stay safe, and be mindful and courteous to those around you. Especially the park staff who will no doubt be adjusting to the new operating rhythms that the park is striving to implement for everyone’s safety and well-being. We’ve all collectively been through a lot over the past few months, so we think it’s fair to say that a healthy dose of kindness and a dash of humility would be appreciated by all.
If you’re planning a trip to Silverwood this year, check out our 2020 Silverwood Trip Planning Guide. Also, our 2020 Silverwood Rides and Attractions Guide and 2020 Boulder Beach Attractions Guide will help give you a full run down of what rides and slides to check out while you’re there.
What do you think of the parks plans to reopen? Do you think it’s too soon, or are you excited to get out and hit up some rides? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of Silverwood’s health and safety measures? Let us know in the comments below!
The official Silverwood Theme Park website can be found at: www.silverwoodthemepark.com. All business-related questions should be directed to this site.
