117,000 visited High Chaparral this summer
On Sunday, the Småland theme park High Chaparral ended the 2020 summer season. The Wild West park had a total of 117,000 visitors, which corresponds to 73 percent of last year's visitor numbers and 80 percent compared to the previous year.
- The opportunity to open the park at all this summer came with a great responsibility. Our ambition has been to be able to offer a real Wild West experience in a vibrant yet safe park for both staff and visitors. Given the enormous challenge we faced, we are enormously proud that we were able to open and quickly adjust, welcomed so many satisfied visitors and not least to have been able to provide jobs for 350 seasonal employees," says Mathias Bergendahl, CEO of High Chaparral.
Due to the restriction that a maximum of 50 spectators could see each performance, in mid-June High Chaparral made a major shift in line with the brand's "Be part of the adventure", replacing performances with interactive activities featuring characters such as Zorro, Lucky Luke and the Dalton family Annie and Billy the Kid, the settlers and not least cowboys and cowgirls on show horses throughout the park.
"We have received a fantastic response to this new concept and will take our new experiences into the planning work for next year," says Mathias Bergendahl.
Earlier in August, High Chaparral announced that the Halloween and Christmas Table events are canceled this year and are planned to resume in 2021.
Measures related to covid-19
- Ongoing advice from a consultant, PhD in molecular cell biology, regarding covid-19 and the course and effects of a pandemic
- Ongoing advice from a security consultant to ensure compliance with Police permits, laws and applicable restrictions
- Pre-purchase and limited number of entrance tickets per day
- Signs, street talkers and stickers on the ground and floor with messages to keep distance, wash hands regularly, staying at home in case of illness and coughing/sneezing in the arm fold
- Hand sanitizer everywhere in the park
- Disinfection in the carriages between each train journey
- Purchase of fences to delimit staff and visitors and to better work with queuing
- Installation of planks as privacy protection to ensure a maximum of 50 spectators in each arena
- Fever test of staff before each work shift and quarantine accommodation for staff with symptoms of illness
- Compliance with the Public Health Agency of Sweden's guidelines for restaurants, accommodation and cleaning
- Increased number of cleaning sessions in all areas, incl. toilets, accommodation and the campsite service building
- Disinfected cabins and rooms before each new check-in
- Information on measures and offers on the website
- Close cooperation with local and regional authorities
- Entrance hosts at several locations in the park
- Relocation of Wild West scenery
- Realignment in line with the brand's "Be part of the adventure", where performances have been replaced by interactive activities with the park's characters.