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Zachary

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Sep 23, 2009
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From what I can tell, it went down yesterday and is still down today. Just something to keep in mind if you plan to go. Source

UPDATE: It is now open. Source
 
I'm hearing that it's due to the replacement of the lift motor. Apparently the vibrations from the current motor were so strong they could be felt through the station floor.
 
Chris said:
I'm hearing that it's due to the replacement of the lift motor. Apparently the vibrations from the current motor were so strong they could be felt through the station floor.

Uh oh :(
I've got the whole gang coming up for a trip this Friday.
It should be fixed by then don't ya think?
 
Ah, lift motor. I was wondering what was going on with all the tweets/fb entries. That's not so bad. Just going to annoy the normal folk who have no patience for such things. Since they are doing it early in the week, I'd say the weekend should be okay. It'll have to be replaced and then tested a good amount of hours before they can open the gates back up.
 
For what it is worth, I was at BG yesterday and they have a crane up and some purple metal sheets on the ground (not track in other words) right next to the bottom of the lift.

The park is a little small with only three roller coasters running. I still had fun though :)

Oh and this is my first post! I never knew this forum existed but I love Busch Gardens...been going for years!
 
Purple metal sheets next to the bottom of the lift. Sounds like maybe more safety stuff is being implemented, too. I can't stand the people that b**** about this, other than the fact that Busch isn't saying what they're doing. I just wish they would go ahead and say what the maintenance is. Just say "improving safety on the ride" or something.
 
Steeeeve, welcome to the forum. You are right at home amongst serious BGW fans here. :)

And yes, LoveDoc is right. BGW has a very tight policy about what is being said "officially" from the park. For good reason.

Sometimes the wording in announcements may be left up to interpretation. Just like the "BBW has met the end of its service life due to the high cost of maintenance." That sounded fishy from the get-go. I felt the real story was not being said. Buuuuut... if I were in the BGW PR department I would look at it this way.

If I quoted in the newspapers: "Because replacements parts are no longer being made from the original subcontractor and due to the cost of custom made parts that do not meet our safety standards; after 25 years of service, the Big Bad Wolf will be ending it service life on September 7th, 2009." The majority would read this statement and say "Oh no - that ride is not safe! Don't get on it - the parts are going to fall off!" I however, being a coaster nerd, would have felt less angry and less deceived over why they were removing my favorite ride.

The same thing about the Lift Motor. Imagine the park saying.. "BGW is replacing parts in order to repair the Lift Motor and we hope to have the coaster operational sometime this week". For us coaster folks, we know what a lift motor is and we know this happens and is no big deal to repair and move on. For the average Joe.. "Lift Motor?? Oh man.. will the coaster fall off the hill or roll backwards! That sounds bad!"
 
:(We were at BG this past weekend. Apollo's Chariot went down and ruined the day. Since there is no longer a Big Bad Wolf and Corkscrew Hill is gone, the park was basically down 3 rides from last year. I recommend people write the park with their complaints. This sight is great, but if word doesn't make it to the front office, we will have another 6 Flags before long. When I went to take a few things to the car at around 2:00 on Sunday, there was a line about 400 yards long at the Guest Relations booth. There was a lot of bad language from people complaining and they even had a few extra police on hand. We also noticed the awful paint in Ireland. Looks like kids went crazy with pastel colored sidewalk chalk on the walls. You can't escape Sesame Street. It's in the main theatre when you enter. It's in the Sesame Street part of the park, and you hear the theme song on the train. I traveled Europe when I was in the Navy and never saw kermit and the gang. The gardens are no longer planted in a well manicured manner. My vegetable garden at home looks better. The big clock no longer works. Oh yeah, don't even bother with the Europe in the Air. Your better off looking out the window of your car on the trip to the park. They should have brought back Questar! We also found out that the animal handlers are now "contract". They show the animals when they want and are not obligated to a schedule. One of the older gentlemen that work in the park told us that when Imbev bought the brewery, the park was not included in the deal. Kingsmill resort the was owned by Anhueser Busch is now also up for sale. I wrote a 3 page letter to the main address and sent it registered mail today. I really hate to see this place go, but I think the writing is on the wall. I think everyone that is a BGW fan needs to encourage friends and family to write the park. We just might be able to save it.
Steeeeve said:
For what it is worth, I was at BG yesterday and they have a crane up and some purple metal sheets on the ground (not track in other words) right next to the bottom of the lift.

The park is a little small with only three roller coasters running. I still had fun though :)

Oh and this is my first post! I never knew this forum existed but I love Busch Gardens...been going for years!
 
I can assure you writing to the park about complaints wouldn't get you as far as you'd think. You'll feel better and you'll get a blanket response, but BGW is quite aware of people's displeasure in certain aspects of daily activities. Though I do question some of your observations. If I may...

A line 400 yards long at Guest Relations. Four football fields? That'll never happen for a myriad of reasons. C'mon ... :-/
Extra police? Every hour BGW is open (and hours before and after), JCC's finest are in the parks performing the duties they're requested of. Standing at the GR line is not one of them.
The gardens are no longer nicely manicured? I'll chalk this one up to personal opinion, but I've yet to see a poorly landscaped area in the park this year.
The big clock doesn't work? I know for a fact that it works perfectly fine - every hour and fraction thereof.
BGWs Zoological team is on a contract and not obligated to a schedule? Where did you hear this from ... it's certainly not factual at all.

When Inbev purchased A-B, the parks WERE included in the deal, but Inbev didn't want the parks (or resorts). They're a beer-making company. They wanted to sell the parks and resorts to focus on their main line. The parks were sold to Inbev while the resort (I'll stick with Kingsmill for now) was just recently acquired.

Again, I'm not wanting to start a back-and-forth here, everybody is of course entitled to their opinion, I just wish the opinion to be clouded with facts, rather then fiction. Hopefully this helps a little bit. :cool:
 
LoveDoc, quit your worry'n about your posts. I like what you have to say for one; as I think you have your thumb on the pulse of the park (no pun intended..;) ) Still, I am glad you are no longer lurking in the shadows and have come out to speak on the park's behalf.

JK8404, I am sorry you had such a bad experience at the park and I think many of us are upset over the paint. (Which my theory is that it is only temporary for Illuminights- hopefully). The landscaping is stunning in my opinion and the amount of conservation in their irrigation and general landscaping practices - like using natural means for pesticide... they use ladybugs and other insects to control the pest population in their gardens.. yay for BGW!

The animals, being that this is my field of expertise, cannot perform on a time table. Animals are well, animals... they do what they want. If an Eagle says to me by use of body language..."I do not feel like sitting on your arm today and if you try anything I will snap your finger off"... well, I have learned that do not push your luck when messing with predatory animals. Try again later is the rule for all animal handlers.

What is the quote from Hollywood..."The only thing harder than working with animals or children is working with animals and children together." TRUE TRUE TRUE! Personally, if I am going to bring a raptor out (say a red tailed hawk) to sit mere inches from guests faces (including squeeling, crying children).. that hawk better be in the best of moods. And no, I have never worked for BGW or as an animal handler within the park. I do have however, experience in the field elsewhere.

Lastly, the contracted animal handlers are because in order to have certain animals on property, a non-profit organization must care for them. Endangered and threatened animals cannot be held captive by private owners. Did you know that you are not even allowed to have any feathers or nests of such animals??? Non-profits must collect shed feathers and other items and report them to the federal government. Obtaining a permit and license from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is no easy task either. There are very strict limitations on captive birds of prey. I could go into detail.. but I will spare everyone the lecture.

I can imagine that people were restless in the park for not having "Pablo's Chariot" open and there will no doubt be plenty of complaints. However, if the ride is down, it is because of your and other guests safety. Personally, I would hope a ride would be closed for repairs and the park follows strict protocols. I have been to other parks and have heard some mighty suspect sounds coming from rides... Brrrrrrrrr... I try not to think about it. :-/

It is your right to write the park, but remember that the people you are writing to have no control over many of your complaints. If you were the person to pick up the phone and hear a nasty message, would you feel good after hearing someone chew you out? My advice, relax.. wait a day or so.. and when your anger subsides and you have a clearer mind about what was the most disappointing aspects, try to write them down in a way that is not so argumentative.
 
:angel: Thanks, Nora. If only it were only my thumb, my days would be less hectic! You're right, though. I am pretty over-critical of what I say in my posts - it's kinda of a "habit", if you will. I just want to make sure what I'm saying is getting across in a positive way as opposed to be overly "mean" or "obtrusive". I know I have a tendency to be like that from time to time, so making sure my first foot is clean here - if you catch my drift. ;)

Besides, I'd like to contribute some "help" here and there as I'm able to and would love to do so without insulting somebody's feelings. Well, sometimes I'd like to - but that's a whole other thread topic, I'd think. :p

On that note, the bed calls. Tomorrow's another fun day. G'night everybody. :)
 
You make good points. I guess after working in quality assurance for 30+ years, I've learned to live by the rules "stick with what works" and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Both in my opinion are things that made BGW great in years past. I hope they return to those principles.
Nora said:
LoveDoc, quit your worry'n about your posts. I like what you have to say for one; as I think you have your thumb on the pulse of the park (no pun intended..;) ) Still, I am glad you are no longer lurking in the shadows and have come out to speak on the park's behalf.

JK8404, I am sorry you had such a bad experience at the park and I think many of us are upset over the paint. (Which my theory is that it is only temporary for Illuminights- hopefully). The landscaping is stunning in my opinion and the amount of conservation in their irrigation and general landscaping practices - like using natural means for pesticide... they use ladybugs and other insects to control the pest population in their gardens.. yay for BGW!

The animals, being that this is my field of expertise, cannot perform on a time table. Animals are well, animals... they do what they want. If an Eagle says to me by use of body language..."I do not feel like sitting on your arm today and if you try anything I will snap your finger off"... well, I have learned that do not push your luck when messing with predatory animals. Try again later is the rule for all animal handlers.

What is the quote from Hollywood..."The only thing harder than working with animals or children is working with animals and children together." TRUE TRUE TRUE! Personally, if I am going to bring a raptor out (say a red tailed hawk) to sit mere inches from guests faces (including squeeling, crying children).. that hawk better be in the best of moods. And no, I have never worked for BGW or as an animal handler within the park. I do have however, experience in the field elsewhere.

Lastly, the contracted animal handlers are because in order to have certain animals on property, a non-profit organization must care for them. Endangered and threatened animals cannot be held captive by private owners. Did you know that you are not even allowed to have any feathers or nests of such animals??? Non-profits must collect shed feathers and other items and report them to the federal government. Obtaining a permit and license from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is no easy task either. There are very strict limitations on captive birds of prey. I could go into detail.. but I will spare everyone the lecture.

I can imagine that people were restless in the park for not having "Pablo's Chariot" open and there will no doubt be plenty of complaints. However, if the ride is down, it is because of your and other guests safety. Personally, I would hope a ride would be closed for repairs and the park follows strict protocols. I have been to other parks and have heard some mighty suspect sounds coming from rides... Brrrrrrrrr... I try not to think about it. :-/

It is your right to write the park, but remember that the people you are writing to have no control over many of your complaints. If you were the person to pick up the phone and hear a nasty message, would you feel good after hearing someone chew you out? My advice, relax.. wait a day or so.. and when your anger subsides and you have a clearer mind about what was the most disappointing aspects, try to write them down in a way that is not so argumentative.
 
kcracken said:
Ah, lift motor. I was wondering what was going on with all the tweets/fb entries. That's not so bad. Just going to annoy the normal folk who have no patience for such things. Since they are doing it early in the week, I'd say the weekend should be okay. It'll have to be replaced and then tested a good amount of hours before they can open the gates back up.
I agree everytime that's happened everything was alright. it doesn't normally happen but who cares, BG never let's down and if a ride breaks down it always gets fixed.

+ it's early in the season and some of the rides might not be fully operated and might not work correctly.
 
Here's a pic of the crane still up at the end of the day on Fri. the 18th.

 

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We were there last night and one of the girls who works at Apollo (working at Roman Rapids last night) told us she was scheduled on Apollo today (Sat), so it was expected to be open. Let hope so ;)
 
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