To Fight COVID, Japanese Theme Parks Forbid Screaming on Roller Coasters

"Please scream inside your heart."

Screaming Internally

In an incredible — and, unintentionally or otherwise, hilarious — video message released by Japan's Fuji-Q Highland amusement park, two executives could be seen riding a roller coaster in complete silence while wearing masks. 2020 is just no fun.

The park is no longer allowing attendees to scream and howl as they're riding the park's numerous rides, as The Wall Street Journal reports, to curb the spread of the coronavirus. At the end of the video, a message can be seen that reads: "Please scream inside your heart."

 

Rather than shutting theme parks down completely, Japan is trying to adjust its visitors' behavior to minimize the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. Screaming, alongside coughing and singing, have been shown to release small droplets and aerosols that can spread the disease. Even talking could be enough.

Never Stop Screaming

But the new rule may be a fool's errand, since it's not as if those who ride roller coasters scream voluntarily. It'd take nerves of steel to refrain from hollering while riding a death-defying and adrenaline-pumping theme park ride.

"There’s just no way not to scream," college student Rika Matsuura, who was visiting Tokyo Disneyland last week, told the WSJ. "It’s kind of torture to be back at your favorite place in the world and to not be able to scream and enjoy everything 100 percent."

“You don’t see Disneylands in other countries asking people not to scream," said Yuuki Suzuki, visitor at Tokyo Disneyland, told the Journal. "If a scream comes out, it comes out."

READ MORE: Reopened Theme Parks Ban Screaming on Roller Coasters. Riders Are Howling. [The Wall Street Journal]

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