With the relaxation of COVID rules comes the reopening of public attractions. In Taipei, parents will be delighted that the Children''s Amusement Park and Taipei Zoo are once again flinging their doors open. The park has limited tickets on offer, so visitors can social distance on rides. The zoo, on the other hand, has more space, and zoo keepers ask families to prepare to be gentle and soft-spoken. You don''t want to shock the animals. Let''s take a peek inside the preparations at both venues.
Without the shouts of terrified passengers, this rollercoaster sits lonely in lockdown.
Yang Yu-ching
FTV reporter
Taipei Children''s Amusement Park is preparing to welcome visitors back. You can see the whole park is empty right now, but next week you''ll be able to take a ride on the carousel just like me.
The park reopens on Aug. 1, but only 1,600 visitors will be accepted each day, and all tickets must be prebooked. Within 48 hours, 70% of the first day''s tickets were sold.
Parent
We came just to see if they''re open or not. We''ll wait for a weekday, when there''ll be fewer people, to avoid the crowds.
Excited kids come to the entrance of the park to scope out the situation. Park employees are hard at work preparing to reopen hygienically. Seats on all 15 rides have to be booked. Those seats will be thoroughly disinfected after every usage.
Chu Chao-yang
Taipei Children''s Amusement Park
The next group of visitors will only be allowed on the ride after it has been fully disinfected. Visitors will also be guided into a safe, socially-distanced seating plan. A single group or family will sit together. We''ll prevent people sitting in the same cart with visitors from other groups.
To maintain social distancing, thrill-seekers who go to the park alone will get an entire rollercoaster cart to themselves. The park is carrying out continuous safety checks, to make sure all the equipment is good to go. Meanwhile, at Taipei Zoo, similar work is underway.
After months out of the limelight, these animals are about to be face to face with visitors again. Panda babies Yuan Zaii and Yuan Bao are public darlings. The alpaca have dashing new haircuts. Many pandemic babies were born in the last two months, including this little zebra…
As well as black-capped squirrel monkeys, meerkats, palawan peacock-pheasants, lanyu pigs, and kookaburra.
Opening on Sunday, the zoo will welcome 3,600 people a day, for either morning or afternoon slots. Remember to book your ticket, and keep your voice down in the grounds. The animals aren''t used to noisy humans anymore. The racket of visitors running around might take some getting used to.