40th Anniversary Celebration?

[ce23693]

Do you think that SeaWorld Entertainment/BGW will put together a 40th Anniversary book about the history of BGW? I think this would be a great product for families that have "grown up" with BGW. I've been going to BGW every year since they opened (I was 6 y/o when they opened) and today, I bring my 4 kids (22, 20, 9 & 9) to BG several times a year.

Growing up with the park, I've seen it go through its changes, some of it good, some of it for the not so good. The satisfaction and enjoyment I received when going to the park when I was younger may not be the same as it is today; however, I do enjoy seeing that satisfaction and enjoyment in the eyes of my kids, and that's what is most important to me. This is their time to enjoy the park.

And because BGW has been a small part of my family every year (and I'm sure it has been part of other families as well), I would love to see them publish a historical book for their 40th Anniversary.

I'm curious to hear what others think.

Thanks,
Chuck

 

[BBW]

RE: Do you think...

That's a great question and I'm interested in everyone's thoughts.

I can only speculate, and I certainly wish they would -- but I kind of doubt they will. Would love to be proven wrong, though! I don't have a sense the company has done much by way of archiving the park's history -- but I would bet that anything that was done was done under Anheuser-Busch. Now that the park has zip to do with AB, and since AB doesn't exist as an independent company any more either ...

But this is all speculation from an outsider -- maybe some folks much more in the know can correct me with the happy news that the park cares a lot about its history and has a wonderful, comprehensively-catalogued archive of park information.

For me, even a retrospective of common public information (or at least, common at the time of its release) would be a lot of fun to see -- things like spreads of old park maps, ad campaigns, former mascots, etc. would be of interest.

Of course it would be far better to have a retrospective of shows and rides and so forth, a detailed history of the park's development, etc. -- but I get the sense that anything remotely celebrating or even honoring the past would be seen as near treason because it would be seen as looking back rather than forward. And I say that not at all in reference to the current changes and the park's current direction -- I think that would be true of most businesses. Unless a company is looking to use their history as a marketing tactic, they won't want to look back.


But then that's what sites like Nora's BGW Memories do so well, so it could be argued there wouldn't be much demand for a commemorative book. It's a nice idea for the hardcore enthusiast, but I'm not sure what the actual or perceived demand would be.