Six Flags Magic Mountain, Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland may need to add new warning signs at the entrances to their roller coasters and thrill rides when the California theme parks finally reopen: No screaming.
You read that right. A roller coaster tradition as old as thrill rides themselves could go silent in California with the introduction of proposed statewide COVID-19 theme park guidelines that would bring an end to one of the most iconic midway sounds: Screaming.
Ride enthusiasts could be asked to refrain from screaming on the Scream coaster at Magic Mountain, abstain from yelling on the Supreme Scream drop tower at Knott’s and avoid hootin’ and hollerin’ on Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland under proposed COVID-19 health and safety protocols prepared by a theme park industry association.
SEE ALSO: Top 21 for 2021: Best new attractions coming to U.S. theme parks
California theme parks can reopen on April 1 provided the counties they reside in reach the red/substantial tier 2 risk status of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s updated Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
The Blueprint for a Safer Economy calls for California businesses to limit activities like shouting and raised voices that are known to cause increased spread of COVID-19.
The California Attractions and Parks Association Responsible Reopening Plan addresses the need to limit shouting, screaming and hollering on roller coasters, thrill rides and other theme park attractions.
The Sacramento-based CAPA represents Disneyland, Universal Studios, Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, SeaWorld San Diego, Legoland California, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and California’s Great America.
CAPA proposes that California theme parks can “mitigate the effects of shouting” through the use of mandatory face coverings and modified seat loading patterns on amusement park rides.
“California’s amusement parks are excited to responsibly reopen under the recently released state guidance,” CAPA executive director Erin Guerrero said in a statement. “These guidelines do not require parks to prohibit screaming.”
SEE ALSO: How California theme parks will enforce out-of-state visitors ban
The idea of discouraging screaming on theme park rides isn’t new.
A Japanese theme park industry group proposed a ban on screaming, shouting and yelling on the country’s roller coasters in the organization’s Guidelines to Prevent the Spread of Infection of the Novel Coronavirus.
The East Japan and West Japan Theme Park Associations represent major theme parks such as Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan along with coaster-centric amusement parks like Fuji-Q Highland and Nagashima Spa Land.
Fuji-Q Highland near Tokyo instructed coaster riders to “scream inside your heart” with an online video of stern-faced amusement park executives on the 80-mph Fujiyama coaster that went viral. The Greenland amusement park in Japan offers screaming stickers that visitors can adhere to their masks in lieu of yelling.
SEE ALSO: How the pandemic will change Disneyland forever
Roller coasters and screaming go together like theme parks and funnel cakes. So much so that the shrieks of summer are often incorporated into the very names of the coasters: Rebel Yell at Virginia’s Kings Dominion, Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags Over Georgia, Hoot N’ Holler at Six Flags Darien Lake in New York and Howler at Indiana’s Holiday World.
The concern in the “new normal” world of COVID-19 are the microscopic droplets of saliva released from riders’ mouths when they let loose a heart-stopping scream just as the coaster crests over the top of the lift hill. All those airborne particles could fly onto riders in the rear seats.
The shouting mitigation guidelines proposed by the California theme park association also apply to indoor attractions and shows. Individual parks are not required to adopt the recommendations.
SEE ALSO: 7 reasons California officials say theme parks are now safe to reopen
California is home to a stellar collection of coasters designed to elicit yelps, whoops, howls, squeals and caterwauls.
Classic coasters like Space Mountain and Matterhorn Bobsleds can be found at Disneyland.
Knott’s has the Silver Bullet inverted coaster, GhostRider wooden coaster and HangTime dive coaster.
SEE ALSO: There’s a record-setting 150 mph roller coaster coming to Saudi Arabia
Northern California is home to the Railblazer single-rail coaster at California’s Great America, Batman fourth-dimension wing coaster at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and the 1924 Giant Dipper wooden coaster at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
Six Flags Magic Mountain boasts a record-setting 19 coasters — including X2, Tatsu and Goliath.
Good luck containing your screams on those thrill machines.
