A popular amusement park in Pasay City announced its soft reopening amid the alarming surge in COVID-19 infections.
In a Facebook post, Star City said that it will reopen on January 14 after more than two years since it was nearly burned down.
“The long wait is finally over! Star City will be reopening this January 14, 2022!” its post read.
It also advised patrons that tickets may be purchased at their gates.
Guidelines on purchasing the tickets online will also be released soon.
“Malapit na! Kita kits muli sa Star City! Masaya dito!” it said with the hashtags #StarCity2022 and #StarCityComeback2022.
The announcement made waves on social media.
As of writing, the Facebook post garnered 141,000 reactions and 124,000 shares.
Of these reactions, 94,000 were heart emojis, 27,000 were surprise emojis and 18,000 were likes.
The keyword “Star City” also reached the trending topics on Twitter Philippines.
Star City, which was first opened in 1991, was nearly destroyed in October 2019 after a tragic fire incident that gutted most of its structure.
According to the reports, the blaze erupted at 12:22 am on Oct. 3, 2019. The fire was declared under control at 4:30 a.m. of that day.
No casualties were reported but 80% of the park was affected by the fire.
READ: Nostalgia over Star City after massive fire
Cheers and doubts over Star City’s comeback
Some social media users were stoked over the old amusement park’s reopening. The announcement post was filled with tags, inviting fellow Filipinos to visit the amusement park once it reopens.
Others also praised the old amusement park for managing to recover after the massive fire incident.
Some online users, however, perceived that the reopening of Star City is untimely as the country’s COVID-19 cases are rising, fueled by the threat of Omicron variant.
STAR CITY COMEBACK ERA 😩⭐🌟✨💫 (ps may COVID surge pa pls) pic.twitter.com/NukYXH7R1G
— 𝙇𝙐𝙆𝙀 (@halam4n) January 5, 2022
soft opening ng star city sa 14…..
10k cases today pic.twitter.com/1A7CeSbX8G
— 𝖗𝖎𝖈𝖍 🎀 (@rrrich_) January 5, 2022
Others shared how disappointed they were over the timing of the amusement park’s comeback.
“Star City soft opening tapos 10k ang cases sa metro. 2022 first disappointment unlocked!” one Twitter user said.
“Malas naman. Yung target date nila for soft opening eh nagsurge naman ang cases. Huhu,” another online user tweeted.
“We miss you Star City pero ung Omicron kasi,” another Facebook user said.
In the case bulletin on January 5, the Department of Health recorded 10,775 new COVID-19 cases and 31.7% positivity rate.
This brings the total COVID-19 cases of the Philippines to 2,871,745.
There were also 605 recoveries, which add up to the total of 2,780,109.
Moreover, there were 58 new deaths, bringing the total COVID fatalities to 51,662.
Due to the worsening health crisis, Enchanted Kingdom decided to temporarily halt its operations for the safety of its guests and personnel.
“Although Alert Level 2 and/or 3 allows #EnchantedKingdom to operate on a limited capacity, Management has decided to voluntarily suspend its operations for the safety and health of both our guests and staff/cast members given the current increasing trend in #COVID19 infections in the country,” its post read.
