A Correspondence for the [k]Nights who say ‘Wheeee’

Dearest [k]Nights,

There were days when we thought this event might be impossible, but we’re so excited that the most fun weekend of the year will soon be upon us!

Since many of you are coming from around the country, we want to make sure everyone understands the guidelines that we have set forth in light of COVID-19. If you haven’t already, please check out our 2020 visit page for more information. We have some specific guidelines we’d like to ask of you as well:

• • RUN AWAY! If you’re not feeling well. Seriously, before you hop in your car, set foot on a plane, mount up on horseback (come along, Patsy!) take a second. Are you feeling off? Did someone just tell you that you’ve been exposed to COVID-19? Are you living in a COVID-19 hot spot and are unable to quarantine? Call us! We’ll move your tickets to next year or refund them. Our event is good, but it will still be here next year. Please don’t risk exposing other Guests and our Team Members by coming. (Also we have a Digital HoliWood Nights page from May if you’re not able to make it this year… it’s like Diet Pepsi… not really desirable, but it gets you by).
  • If ye weigh less than a duck… or less than a large yellow boat would require… we will not accuse you of being a witch, but we won’t be able to help you find a friend to join either. Assemble your [k]Nights of the round table before you enter the queue, and you shall pass. (Translation: we do not have a single rider line and if your group doesn’t hit the right weight, we will not mix parties together—if you’d like to ride, you’ll need to join together and work out your ideal riding arrangement. If you aren’t comfortable riding with another group, you may need to sit this year out, but just on the water coasters! Please make smart choices and stick to the same party as much as possible.)
  • You are not to leave this spot for any reason… from time to time. We’re going to do our best to help you get the seats you want, but we can’t have a ton of people clogging the queue waiting on the back seat. Trust that we’ll let you have your seat at some point, but please know that we’re grouping to try to maintain social distancing. So please go to the row we ask you to take. If you’re about to take a milestone ride, let the grouper know and they’ll allow you to wait for the seat you want. Otherwise, please be patient with us. 
  • Slot 1, Slot 2, Slot 5… Slot 3 Mylord… If  you haven’t heard, you’ll need to reserve a spot for our walkback this year. We’re trying to avoid the overwhelming crowd at Plymouth Rock Cafe this year.  There are still spots available, but if those fill up we’ll add more so please stay calm. Please wear your face covering during walkbacks because social distancing isn’t always possible at the perfect photo spot. 
  • None Shall Pass! One more thing about the walkback: we’re only doing The Voyage/Thunderbird walkback this year, and the additional part we’ve added recently in the Thunderbird enclosure will not be a part of the walkback. You’ll still be able to walk that full path along The Voyage and hang out under the last barrel roll, but you won’t be allowed in the section that takes you under the Zero-G Roll. We hope to bring that back next year, but we want to make sure the crowds keep moving during that time. 
  • Prefer to accelerate your check-in velocity? It’s easy! Make sure you have your valid Coaster Club Membership Card ready along with your voucher (we will accept cards that expired after May 29 & 30, because that’s when the event was supposed to be). Reminder: we only need one valid membership per reservation… everyone in your group doesn’t need to have a card out. If you really want to speed up your processing time and save on unnecessary contact, please print out your voucher before you arrive (if you have the voucher on your phone, our Team Members will need to borrow your phone for a second to get the information they need, and in light of COVID-19, we’d rather not have that happen if we can avoid it). Also, we’re not going to put wristbands on for you this year, but our Admissions team would like to remind you to leave about two finger-widths of space as you put the wristband on–we only have so many replacement bands this year. Due to the expected rainy weather, we have moved our traditional Bahari Beach hors d’oeuvres to Santa’s Merry Marketplace from 3PM- 5PM. Yes, you may check in starting at exactly 3PM CENTRAL TIME. If you come earlier we’ll be impressed, but we won’t be able to let you in. 

 A final reminder–we know our HoliWood Nights crew is full of theme park experts, so we hope you’ll model your expert COVID-19 behavior both during ERT and during regular park hours. We expect to see our HoliWood Nights crew wearing masks indoors and where distancing isn’t possible, and we expect to see exemplary social distancing from you. We also hope you’ll consider wearing masks on the coasters–while it’s not a requirement, we hope you’ll consider the people around you on the train, and the Team Members checking your restraints. They’ll have more contact with you than the average Guests, after all. 

We hope you’ll agree that this will still be a fantastic event if we all work together in an autonomous collective. 

If you think this all sounds really weird… watch the movie already. If you’re offended by all the mixed quotes and bits from the movie… so are we. We just had to make it fit the message. 

Good Morrow,

Leah Koch

Lord of the Messengers, Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari