40th Anniversary Celebration & Park Revitalization

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I have both, actually. (And a Legoland pass, too).

I am excited to see what KD has done for their 40th. That said, the animals still will keep me going back to Williamsburg (and Tampa). The focus on animal conservation and the opportunity for the animal interactions are things that KD currently can't replicate.

I really don't see it as an either/or, zero-sum game.
 
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Zachary, the writing is pretty much on the wall.

Disclaimer: I don't contribute a lot to the kvetching over BGW. I find a lot of the discussion comes from a nostalgic/purist place and a lot of the arguments I just don't have an opinion on. I don't think things are better because they're old which is a trap enthusiasts of anything invariably fall into. Some people are going to protest change no matter what and the very nature of a theme park is to broadcast to as big of an audience as possible year after year. Therefore, change is inherent. So from my perspective, I understand things are going to change and I'm willing to go along especially when said change is either necessary, or an improvement.

However, the shakedown to BGW over the last decade (big emphasis on the last few years) seems to be less about keeping up with, or ahead of, the competition and more about cutting corners while fooling the public (and maybe themselves) into thinking it's business as usual.

Meanwhile, the guy down the road is obviously invested in keeping my attention and earning the money I spend.

All I can say is, good job, Kings Dominion. You made me a fan.
 
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I, too, have a season pass to KD this year. I grew up with Busch Gardens, and the one time I went to KD as a kid my family had a less-than-positive experience so we never went back. In the fall, I went to Halloween Haunt with a friend, and I thought it was miles above Howl-O-Scream. I also just saw a lot of potential, so I bought a pass. I am happy to say that I was thoroughly, thoroughly impressed with KD. As someone said, it had soul--that old-timey amusement park nostalgia--that was super appealing; the clown band, I think, typifies it. I still have pass to BG, but time will tell whether I renew it. My friends, who both had BG passes this year, I have pretty much convinced to switch. I really look forward to going back!
 
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Joe, yes I only frequent BGW; however, people keep saying they "made the switch" or something along those lines and they make it seem like it is a life of death choice of either or when simply you could get passes to both parks. Since I haven't had the opportunity or funds to go to KD yet, I can't just throw my money at a pass right away; however, once I do visit and if I think I might visit at least 3 or 4 times out of the year I would probably end up buying a pass and holding not one, but two passes.
 
Party Rocker said:
Since I haven't had the opportunity or funds to go to KD yet, I can't just throw my money at a pass right away; however, once I do visit and if I think I might visit at least 3 or 4 times out of the year I would probably end up buying a pass and holding not one, but two passes.
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That's the thing. Plenty of people (such as myself) do hold passes to both parks, but as we all know- times are not good economically. Everyone wants to go to a place to have fun, but it's hard for many people to afford a single day's admission for their family to just one park. For those individuals who can't afford to shell out the money to two parks, a choice has to be made. Especially if one park offers a superior product for a lesser price, the choice is going to be simple for a lot of families.
 
There are many cases where someone can only afford to go to one or the other. I know many people who are like this, I was once like this. People are making the decision to either buy a KD pass or a BGW pass because they can't afford both. So they decide where they want to put their money. And as a few people have stated right now, they want to give KD their money as opposed to BGW for the changes that they're doing.

That's the biggest question right now. Where would someone rather put their money. In KD's hands or BGW's.
 
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I hold a season pass to KD for the first time ever. While I'm geologically unable to go to KD more than a couple times a year, I'm going to try to go as many times as I can.

I will probably always go to BGW, I mean I have to get my money's worth for my platinum pass. I try to go every other weekend to BGW, at least.

But for the first time in my entire life, KD has made me really, really want to go there.

I'm sorry, but BGW hasn't been drawing me to the park with much lately.
 
Zachary said:
I don't think anyone said it had to be either, or...
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I has been heavily implied. Also, from posts right after yours it seems many people believe that many people can only afford one or the other, making it simply put that it has to be one or the other.

While I do agree times are not as great as they could be, I do not believe it is still economically as tough as it has been either. In fact, I believe the economy is going up, while it is still not doing too great, it is still pressing upward. With that said, I still do not think that it always has to be a choice of one or the other and for me at least, I get the vibe that many people view it as that, even if they can afford both. I look at myself as an example, honestly I can not buy both passes. I should be saving as much as I can; however, I still buy useless things everyday that I do not need and can live without. It is my belief many people buy useless things every day that they do not need and can live without happily, like going to a fast food restaurant for example. When it comes down to it, each park offers pass that, would equal up to $46 per month (a Platinum Pass at each). I can think of $50 I have spent that I could have put towards those passes instead.

Keep in mind, I am only referring to single adults/couples. Not families, I do believe for a family it can be rough. Essentially looking at prices with it being about $50 per person, a family of four could end up paying $200 for Platinum Passes at both parks.

That said, there is also the fact that many people purchase things inside the park they do not need. I don't want to go off and say that yes everything you guys buy are or are not necessary to living; however, I remember some people saying they buy over $100 per visit easily. Well, that $100 can be put towards a pass to both parks. Honestly, it wouldn't be that much of a trouble because that can mean just reduce one visit, or spend less each visit overall.

What I am really trying to get at is that there are people who can afford passes to both parks and I'd bet there are more of them than most of you realize; however, I do realize times aren't easy for everyone and some people do have to make that choice of one or the other. I just thought I'd ask about it because every keeps implying (maybe not intentionally) that it is an ultimatum that it must be one or the other.
 
Party Rocker said:
Zachary said:
I don't think anyone said it had to be either, or...
Click to expand...

I has been heavily implied. Also, from posts right after yours it seems many people believe that many people can only afford one or the other, making it simply put that it has to be one or the other.

While I do agree times are not as great as they could be, I do not believe it is still economically as tough as it has been either. In fact, I believe the economy is going up, while it is still not doing too great, it is still pressing upward. With that said, I still do not think that it always has to be a choice of one or the other and for me at least, I get the vibe that many people view it as that, even if they can afford both. I look at myself as an example, honestly I can not buy both passes. I should be saving as much as I can; however, I still buy useless things everyday that I do not need and can live without. It is my belief many people buy useless things every day that they do not need and can live without happily, like going to a fast food restaurant for example. When it comes down to it, each park offers pass that, would equal up to $46 per month (a Platinum Pass at each). I can think of $50 I have spent that I could have put towards those passes instead.

Keep in mind, I am only referring to single adults/couples. Not families, I do believe for a family it can be rough. Essentially looking at prices with it being about $50 per person, a family of four could end up paying $200 for Platinum Passes at both parks.

That said, there is also the fact that many people purchase things inside the park they do not need. I don't want to go off and say that yes everything you guys buy are or are not necessary to living; however, I remember some people saying they buy over $100 per visit easily. Well, that $100 can be put towards a pass to both parks. Honestly, it wouldn't be that much of a trouble because that can mean just reduce one visit, or spend less each visit overall.

What I am really trying to get at is that there are people who can afford passes to both parks and I'd bet there are more of them than most of you realize; however, I do realize times aren't easy for everyone and some people do have to make that choice of one or the other. I just thought I'd ask about it because every keeps implying (maybe not intentionally) that it is an ultimatum that it must be one or the other.
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Sounds simple in theory but in reality allocating the extra disposable money (on the rare cases it is possessed) is not that easy. Many are opting to just tuck it away.
 
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Zachary said:
For the record, for the first time ever, I now hold a Kings Dominion season pass. It's happening. The BGW loyalists are actually going elsewhere.

For the record, I'll let them come forward, but I'm far from the only one...
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Yea I picked to spend more time in the Central Florida Parks. Last year I was 1 BGW visit per 10 or 11 Florida park visits.
 
Good job! Though did anybody ride FOF? They changed the que and added more lights to the Sphagetti bowl. They also fixed the pre-show and radio! I'm surprised they didn't say anything about it.
 
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