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| Visitors wearing face masks ride a roller coaster at the Tochinoki Family Land amusement |
Thrill
seekers in Japan will soon enjoy their favorite roller coasters again now that
amusement parks around the country are reopening.
But there's
one request: No screaming.
Japan is
beginning to lift the state of emergency this week and a group of major theme
park operators has a set of guidelines on how to ensure the safety of both
guests and staff in the face of Covid-19.
Many of the
items are expected: increased sanitizing
measures, regular body temperature checks, face mask use and social distancing.
But some
items will likely take visitors by surprise. Namely, theme parks will encourage
visitors to avoid shouting or cheering.
The
guidelines also say that if it's difficult for some employees to wear masks due
to the nature of their work -- for example entertainers, such as haunted house
staff -- they should keep at least one meter away from visitors.
Customer
service will change because conversations will be as short as possible. "As a
new style of customer service, even when you're wearing a mask, you can use a
combination of smiley eyes, hand gestures, etc., to communicate with
visitors," says one of the suggestions.
The
guidelines were issued by the East and West Japan Theme Park Associations,
which are made up of more than 30 major amusement park operators in Japan,
including Oriental Land Company (operator of Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea)
and Universal Studios Japan.
Though some
Japanese theme parks are beginning to welcome guests again, Tokyo Disneyland
and Universal Japan have not announced yet when they will reopen.
Photo credit: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images AsiaPac/Getty Images
From CNN (edited)
