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Zachary

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Sep 23, 2009
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With the 50th anniversary of Busch Gardens Williamsburg potentially starting in about 6 months, what would you like to see out of the festivities? Any nostalgic park elements you'd like to see return? Any specific limited time offerings you'd like to see?

Basically, if BGW came to you and asked you what they should do for the 50th, what would you say?
 
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Knowing that the Festhaus, the entire Italy section and the Smokehouse weren't there 50 years ago makes it difficult to answer this question. Overall, as has been stated ad nauseum, would have to be food quality. Not even going to address pricing but I will say a cheeseburger didn't cost $20. As I recall the food in 1975 was just hamburgers and fries and that sort of food. Re-opening Grogan's Grill with the large baked potatoes and chili or Irish Stew. I think the park has gone so far off of it's original design that it would be impossible to bring it back. Look at the attractions that no longer exist so they could put in more rollercoasters. The old car ride where Griffon is now comes to mind. The bird show the petting zoo and animals where Sesame Street is. Even when the Festhaus did open and the German band was raised up on the platform and the entire experience in the Festhaus. Not even speaking of the food like the "mile-high" cake and the stacked corned beef sandwich. The list of food choices would just go on and on. It's just not the same place and never will be.
 
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Any nostalgic park elements you'd like to see return? Any specific limited time offerings you'd like to see?
Rename all the Hamlets to their original names.

Bring back some shows or parts of shows. Call it a "best of BGW history" and put it in RPT.

Use the Castle O'Sullivan for a "retrospective" of the park with showing the various items they have still.

I would like the core of it to be cleaning the park, restoring theme elements, fixing broken items.
 
Not even speaking of the food like the "mile-high" cake and the stacked corned beef sandwich.

The mile high sandwich hasn't been around for a long time but was definitely a go-to. Perhaps between that or spaghetti and breadsticks were the most filling, tasty, and relatively cheap meals you could have.

I always found it funny that they sold a German chocolate cake when German chocolate was named from an American, Sam German, and not for the country.
 
I'd like to see them recreate some of Threadneedle Faire. I imagine many people would love to see the old walk-around characters, as well.

More importantly, however, they should increase the frequency and standards for maintenance and cleaning, and address culinary staffing and quality issues. They should also focus on planting trees and improving landscaping throughout the park.
 
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More importantly, however, they should increase the frequency and standards for maintenance and cleaning, and address culinary staffing and quality issues. They should also focus on planting trees and improving landscaping throughout the park.

THIS, JUST GET BACK TO YOUR SELF. Shall improvements come, the guests will follow.
 
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Rename all the Hamlets to their original names.
I love this suggestion. All they’d need to do is update a few signs around the park, like the clock that says “France” in Aquitaine and the shields that say “Germany” upon entering Rhinefeld from New France. They can still refer to the hamlets by their “country” names for navigation, but include both (“Heatherdowns, Scotland”) on the maps and navigational signs like in the 80s and 90s.

A few other (relatively inexpensive) things I’d love to see return for the 50th:
  • The New France sign
  • The Festa Italia sign. I know the Marco Polo theme of Festa is all but extinct, but it can’t make the theme any worse, and it’d be a nice throwback
  • The classical San Marco soundtrack. The current playlist with its mix of Italian pop and opera is awful
  • Get rid of the overhead flags and British Invasion music in Banbury Cross and let Banbury be Banbury again
  • The little German people cutouts in Oktoberfest
  • The circa-2013 entrance area soundtrack. While not one of the park’s original soundtrack, this music perfectly conveyed the sense of adventure and beauty of the park, much more so than the random smooth jazz music they play today
I’ll keep trying to brainstorm more. I was just trying to come up with cost-effective things that could be easily implemented and that used to make the park nice in some way.
 
The very least they could do is finish repainting the murals in Rhinefeld. Its weird seeing half of them freshly painted and the other half extremely faded. The clock tower definitely needs it. You can tell they started something because the clock at the top looks fresh while the rest of the mural looks awful.

Same with bringing the people cutouts on Big Ben. I haven't been to the park since Loch Ness reopened but it was strange not seeing that little touch and I hope it makes (or made) a return.
 
I'd start with the shows and food, both of which have been terrible lately (outside of the F&W Festival).

- As another poster mentioned, bring back the Das Alpine sandwich. Those were amazing with a cold beer.
- We recently went to the pretzel shop and were surprised to see the pretzels, all of them, were made out of pizza dough. Supposedly they ran out of pretzel dough so they improvised. They were absolutely awful.
- Why doesn't Italy have the F&W food year round? I assume they have all, or most, of the ingredients on hand already.
- The beignet recipe seems to keep changing. They were amazing when first introduced, awful at Mardi Gras this year, and good again at F&W festival. Perhaps its similar to the pretzel shop issues above?
- Lastly, some of the Festhaus shows lately have been awful, including Phantoms of the Festhaus, the New Orleans Jazz Band, and Up on the Haustop.
 
I think a re-release of some classic merch and theming related to The Old Country would be interesting. You could even reproduce certain items of various eras of the park to commemorate different attractions/events. For example, a rerelease of some Curse of DarKastle merchandise like they did when DarKoaster opened, some of the Big Bad Wolf stuffed wolves that have been released at different times over the years, and some of the glassware that said "The Old Country" with different countries as the backdrop would be cool items to see come back. It would be a nice tribute to the past without staying overly committed to certain eras of the park itself.
 
Considering the park will mostly see an increase in guests attendance like so many other parks who have had anniversary milestone dates . also the fact that kd down the street is also having their 50th at the same time. As well as CW having its 250th anniversary the next year. These parks will be extremely busy. The very first 2 things that come to our mind that bgw needs to prepared for longer lines. They will absolutely need to be able to handle the surplus of traffic both at the toll plaza and in the lines.
1 way we could see the park improve the lines at toll plaza is to reopen the toll plaza at the overflow parking g lot. This way if people want to just park in overflow instead of waiting in line to park they can park over there for a discounted price or free with their membership. To which we also say the park should add a new pedestrian pathway like the one from Italy parking lot. This way guests who do not want to wait for a tram can get into the park faster. This could prove to be very difficult to do but not impossible. Yes we understand there is the route 60 highway and railroad tracks. But with how many people are already willing to walk it without a pedestrian pathway. The park should try.
Also there is the issue of self kiosks. It would be nice to see the park add a few new kiosks to the England parking lot for guests parking in England. The 2 next to turnstiles will not be able to handle the increase of user's come next year.
Also, the security check area needs to be lager or updated to handle with the increase of guests. 3 metal detectors will ot be enough. Would be better if the park had them in the areas where the temperature check areas were in England and France parking lots. This would also help with traffic at the turnstiles preventing the lines from turns, backing up security's lines.
Also the exit line has the ability to scan guests into the park. We would like the exit line to become a platinum members only entrance. Or just to be a permanent entrance during busy times 9am-11am.
Back to the France parking lot area. The two abandoned customer service buildings need to be reopened for guests that need to speak to park ambassadors with ticket related issues. The 1 closest to stroller rentals to be guest relations and the one next to trams can become the general public security check area.
Another thing the park will need to do is reopened grogans grill and also the show grill and some of the f&w booths to help with food options. This would also help keep lines shorter on busier days during the 50th anniversary. We personally don't care what food options they serve. But as it is today the park's currently only operational food locations an not handle a 30% increase in service demand. Squire's Grille can and is the only restaurant that will survive the insane demand for food. We wouldn't even mind it if outside vendors were to rent out the unused food locations.
Also the park on its busiest of days will need every extended queue line open. This includes the ropes/poles on verbolten going down the bridge, as well as for other rides. And they need to have management prepared for crowd control for all of its rides.
Then there is also the need for additional shows could be extremely beneficial to getting guests off the pathways. A show in castle o'sulvins and pet shenanigans stage. As well as a day time show in the royal palace theater.
Lastly they need more employees! We don't care how they manage this obstacle, rather be through better pay or international employees. But the park will desperately need more employees.
 
Considering the park will mostly see an increase in guests attendance like so many other parks who have had anniversary milestone dates . also the fact that kd down the street is also having their 50th at the same time. As well as CW having its 250th anniversary the next year. These parks will be extremely busy. The very first 2 things that come to our mind that bgw needs to prepared for longer lines. They will absolutely need to be able to handle the surplus of traffic both at the toll plaza and in the lines.
1 way we could see the park improve the lines at toll plaza is to reopen the toll plaza at the overflow parking g lot. This way if people want to just park in overflow instead of waiting in line to park they can park over there for a discounted price or free with their membership. To which we also say the park should add a new pedestrian pathway like the one from Italy parking lot. This way guests who do not want to wait for a tram can get into the park faster. This could prove to be very difficult to do but not impossible. Yes we understand there is the route 60 highway and railroad tracks. But with how many people are already willing to walk it without a pedestrian pathway. The park should try.
Also there is the issue of self kiosks. It would be nice to see the park add a few new kiosks to the England parking lot for guests parking in England. The 2 next to turnstiles will not be able to handle the increase of user's come next year.
Also, the security check area needs to be lager or updated to handle with the increase of guests. 3 metal detectors will ot be enough. Would be better if the park had them in the areas where the temperature check areas were in England and France parking lots. This would also help with traffic at the turnstiles preventing the lines from turns, backing up security's lines.
Also the exit line has the ability to scan guests into the park. We would like the exit line to become a platinum members only entrance. Or just to be a permanent entrance during busy times 9am-11am.
Back to the France parking lot area. The two abandoned customer service buildings need to be reopened for guests that need to speak to park ambassadors with ticket related issues. The 1 closest to stroller rentals to be guest relations and the one next to trams can become the general public security check area.
Another thing the park will need to do is reopened grogans grill and also the show grill and some of the f&w booths to help with food options. This would also help keep lines shorter on busier days during the 50th anniversary. We personally don't care what food options they serve. But as it is today the park's currently only operational food locations an not handle a 30% increase in service demand. Squire's Grille can and is the only restaurant that will survive the insane demand for food. We wouldn't even mind it if outside vendors were to rent out the unused food locations.
Also the park on its busiest of days will need every extended queue line open. This includes the ropes/poles on verbolten going down the bridge, as well as for other rides. And they need to have management prepared for crowd control for all of its rides.
Then there is also the need for additional shows could be extremely beneficial to getting guests off the pathways. A show in castle o'sulvins and pet shenanigans stage. As well as a day time show in the royal palace theater.
Lastly they need more employees! We don't care how they manage this obstacle, rather be through better pay or international employees. But the park will desperately need more employees.

Let me handle a few of these.

1. You can already go directly to overflow and completely skipp the toll plaza on a busy day by simply driving down 60 and turning in at the light. No one will stop you and you won't even be made to pay. I have done dozens of times.

2. As for the crowds yes they will probably increase but the park also still already has days where they hit capacity and no one can enter. You don't see a ton of those extended Queue lines on those days so I doubt that will be as big of an issue as you think.

3. Increased staff. Sure it would be nice but where are you going to get them. Unless the tipping scam really catches on I would be shocked to see significant pay bump meaning local hires likely are not going to spike. International workers well here the problem where are you going to house them? BGW currently leases large blocks of hotel space at several local hotels to house their ever growing number of international workers. How likely are they going to be to expand that housing if the hotels are booking up with a sudden rush in visiting tourist?
 
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