June 25, 2020 — Six Flags Discovery Kingdom today announced plans to reopen the theme park on July 2, 2020, one of the first to do so in the state. The opening date for Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Concord will be announced at a later time. In accordance with CDC, state, and local reopening guidelines, the park will reopen initially offering exclusively animal experiences, with no rides. During this reduced capacity period, the park is implementing extensive new safety measures and hygiene protocols, including several new advanced technology systems to protect guests and employees. These procedures will be adjusted on an as-needed basis to ensure compliance with state and local recommendations.
For a limited time, the clock is being rolled back to 1986, when the park first opened its gates in Vallejo as a premier zoological park and aquarium. Nostalgia makes its return as The Marine World Experience, a celebration of the park’s 34-year legacy of both educational and thrilling wildlife adventures. This is ahead of the eventual return of the world-class rides at a later date.
Guests can explore their wild side by visiting the park’s current famous resident, Cain and the rest of the lion cub pride with daily educational sessions. Other unique offerings will include new scheduled talks with the animal care specialists throughout the day along with various animal demonstrations in outdoor venues that are sanitized and marked for social distancing.
“We are very excited to be able to open and welcome our guests back to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom as The Marine World Experience,” said Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Park President Don McCoy. “The health and safety of our guests and team members remains our number one priority. All of these new safety measures are designed to create an environment where our guests can have fun with family and friends and feel safe while doing so. We appreciate the state and local officials, including the county health department, for their support of our efforts to reopen. We also thank our valued Members and Season Pass Holders for their loyalty. We are ready to get the summer started.”
The park will employ an online reservation system to manage attendance, schedule guests for entry by day, and to stagger arrival times to minimize proximity exposure. Other new technologies include:
• State-of-the-art thermal imaging for temperature checks;
• Advanced security screening technology for touchless bag checks; and
• Expanded mobile food ordering.
The park’s reopening plan, which the company developed in consultation with epidemiologists, meets or exceeds federal, state, and local guidelines for sanitization, hygiene, and social distancing protocols.
“We have developed a comprehensive reopening safety plan that includes protocols designed by theme park and waterpark industry experts, along with best practices from top destination parks from around the world, which will allow guests to experience our parks in the safest way possible. This ’new normal’ will be different in some ways, but we believe these additional measures are appropriate in the current environment,” said Six Flags President and CEO Mike Spanos.
Advanced reservations are required to visit the park. For more information, visit https://www.sixflags.com/discoverykingdom
