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Emerald Isle has higher end imported goods than I have seen at any theme park outside of Disney. And the bathrooms are better than at most parks, as well.

I can think of 50 things off the top of my head than need to be upgraded more urgently than either.
 
The Abbey Stone Theatre was built to facilitate shows that were standard scale for Broadway at the time. Secrets of Castle O’Sullivan was built only for housing shows with very small casts. As others have said, the building is locked in by everything around it. I wonder if the AST would be able to receive an upgrade to bring it somewhere between the level of The Globe Theatre or The Moroccan Palace Theatre at Busch Gardens Tampa. It’s hard to say what could be done with the AST, because when you look at the tops of the towers at the front, you get the approximate height of the theater from basement level to above the stage.

I know it’s probably not feasible, and I don’t know if it’s even possible, but I would love to see the AST become a grand new theater, and COS brought to the current scale of the AST. I think the park made a huge mistake by designating their “flagship“ theater back to The Globe. That is very inconvenient location being at the entrance/exit area of the park. Still, in spite of the great amount of space above and below the actual stage, the AST is way too small to hold any modern Broadway-sized productions.
 
Looking at Google Maps, it looks like it would be certainly possible to square out AST, or even widen the stage end of the theater beyond that, without disturbing any other structures.

However, I doubt such extensive renovations would be worth the cost. Not to mention, they would lose AST for the duration of the project.
 
After London Rocks completely flopped, I cannot fathom (and really hope we don't see) additional massive theater renovations. Fix the leaks in the AST, keep a tap show running inside, and find a better use for SOCO (COS).

We tried to be Broadway. It didn't work. Time to move on.

The park is currently going through a very obvious refocusing period. They're scaling back show investment and their animal collection and investing more heavily in new attractions. Considering that is the only route through which they've been able to find attendance increases lately, it seems justified.
 
I agree with Zachary and BGW Family, the Abbey Stone Theater just needs to fix up a few things here and there and the park needs to find a good use for Castle O'Sullivan again. Plus while the "Broadway-style" shows were well liked in the 80's-90's, in my opinion they wouldn't work anymore with the direction the shows took since Irish Thunder came out where the shows fit the theme of the country of Europe (England with Britmania, France with All For One etc). It gives the park a unique identity when it comes to it's live shows, and I would rather leave "Broadway" to other regional parks to handle.

If you'd ask me which era of that theater I prefer, between the Magic Lantern Theater era of "Broadway-style" shows or the current Abbey Stone Theater era; it's obvious that I would rather have the magnificence of the Irish shows in the AST any day of the week. :)
 
If they ever do fix up AST I hope they put in new seats as I can't stand the design of those seats. The back is at a weird angle and it hits me wrong. At least half way through a show I have lean forward to give my back a break as the top edge of those seats dig into my middle back.
 
Alf33 said:
If they ever do fix up AST I hope they put in new seats as I can't stand the design of those seats.  The back is at a weird angle and it hits me wrong.  At least half way through a show I have lean forward to give my back a break as the top edge of those seats dig into my middle back.

I agree 100%, but I wonder how much seats like the ones in The Globe Theatre would cut back on capacity. At one point Castle O'Sullivan had seats with no back rests, and I thought that even those were more comfortable than the AST seats, because they were cushioned. The AST seats also make me claustrophobic, whereas I usually don't even mind sitting next to a stranger in The Globe.

For what it's worth, COS could facilitate an Irish dance show if they open or remove the hearth. Irish Thunder and Emerald beat performed with even less space in the Fall at BGT. COS just couldn't hold as many people as the AST. It has been a dream of mine for a while for the AST to have an Irish "Katonga". That show was huge, and not a typical Broadway musical revue. It was an original show with a typical Broadway value. That's what I want, because most smaller parks can now afford generic revues akin to the old shows in The Magic Lantern.
 
tursiops said:
Personally my biggest hope is whatever they do they continue to keep the old country theme. Invadr and Battle for Eire seem to follow that tend. I'm tired of the modern day influence.

It's a good thing that trend of them trying to be like Kings Dominion (especially when one remembers what Illuminights tried to do) seems to be over for good. Hopefully.
 
I agree with CastleOSullivan in which he say that he would want a Irish Katonga, which I haven't seen personally, but looks interesting. And with SeaWorld closing it that could open up some new possibilities for new shows here in BGW.
 
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Here's some exciting news...

The talking tree shop/Kids ShamRock has been gutted. Expect a heavy, long-overdue renovation here for 2018.

Even more interesting though? This shop is being connected to Pot of Gold via a new doorway and staircase.

Looking forward to seeing some Battle for Eire merch take up residence here!
 
Zachary said:
Here's some exciting news...

The talking tree shop/Kids ShamRock has been gutted. Expect a heavy, long-overdue renovation here for 2018.

Even more interesting though? This shop is being connected to Pot of Gold via a new doorway and staircase.

Looking forward to seeing some Battle for Eire merch take up residence here!

This is great news.

Now if they could uncover that old Shadow Wall room that used to reside somewhere on this side of Killarney (When it was Hastings) that would be something.

Edit: after some digging , apparently the Shadow Wall room was in the space where the Restrooms currently are after Pot Of Gold. I remember going in there but the exact former location was forgotten on my part.
 
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