JR. Not sure what forum you've been reading... Most everyone here has been ripping this idea.
Banbury Cross Retheme Coming in 2014
- Thread starter Zachary
- Start date
I try to stay out of threads like this, but i'll weigh in this one time....
From a business(corporate) perspective, it makes sense. The park isn't doing so hot, so what's a possible fix? Retheme/rebrand. Little does corporate know (or care to acknowledge), is that the theme is far from the issue. It's just the easiest thing from them to point the blame at (besides the weather). They have to find a reason for the drop in attendance, but they are just looking in the wrong areas. How many people knew about the Food and Wine festival? They barely broke even on the event apparently, but image if they actually did some sort of marketing for it.... Crazy I know, but they may have made some money and boosted attendance some. Now we can't actually point the blame directly at marketing either, since it's fairly safe to say a lot of their directions come down from some genius at corporate.
Reality is, they are going to strip the park down until it's generic as possible to make it friendlier to your "average" guest. Because that's just what they think will fix the park.
From a business(corporate) perspective, it makes sense. The park isn't doing so hot, so what's a possible fix? Retheme/rebrand. Little does corporate know (or care to acknowledge), is that the theme is far from the issue. It's just the easiest thing from them to point the blame at (besides the weather). They have to find a reason for the drop in attendance, but they are just looking in the wrong areas. How many people knew about the Food and Wine festival? They barely broke even on the event apparently, but image if they actually did some sort of marketing for it.... Crazy I know, but they may have made some money and boosted attendance some. Now we can't actually point the blame directly at marketing either, since it's fairly safe to say a lot of their directions come down from some genius at corporate.
Reality is, they are going to strip the park down until it's generic as possible to make it friendlier to your "average" guest. Because that's just what they think will fix the park.
This! Banbury Cross sets the feel for the rest of the park. It sets the story. If somebody were to walk through this so-called London for their first visit to the park, they'd probably be like, "What the heck is going on here?" It will ruin the impression made on the rest of the park. Squire's Grill will undoubtedly need a retheme or rename. All that work on the Emporium and such would have been worthless. Those medieval-themed photo ops? Probably gone. The old-tyme jester Cotton Candy stand? That wouldn't make sense in the land of the Beatles! And suddenly--what's that?! You emerge into a quaint old Scottish village out of the blue. Look, I know each hamlet is supposedly taking place in different eras, but this is just stupid. By the way, let's at least hope we will emerge from "London" into Heatherdowns for a while longer. If Scott and the rest of the park dares turn Heatherdowns into something along the lines of this, I will be livid. Especially since Festa Italia is still standing not too far away.JuniorBGWfan28 said:
Warning! Negative thoughts ahead! Hide your positivity-loving eyes!
Now for a rant. Remember, I don't hate the park. I don't hate any individual working at the park. I do, however, hate the direction the park is going, the decisions they are making, and the constant lowering in quality and destruction of great memories that I will always have. I apologize in advance for being so negative. Keep that in mind when you read below:
I hope this fails. I hope this crashes and burns. I utterly hope this blows up in Scott's and the park's face. I hope the "World's Most Beautiful Theme Park" award isn't won. I hope they realize that nobody likes whatever insanity they're going through with. I've been going to the park since I was too young too remember completely, but I remember the basic stimuli of the park: the calm music, the mysteriously eerie and beautiful countries, the lore, the legends, the trees, the festivities. The quaint charm of an old European world. Memories I, well... I won't forget! Ever. But they are robbing people of today of these memories. Busch Gardens used to not be just an amusement park, let alone even a theme park.
Slowly, they've ripped out these memories one by one. This to me is crossing the line. A glittery fairy tale show where a traditional Bavarian song and dance festival should go? Ridiculous, but I can take it. A crappy pile of metal in front of the Abbey Stone playing pop music? Stupid, but it's not that big of a deal. An airline-themed ride in a mystical Irish village? Whatev's. But this monstrosity...no matter how carefully carried out and thought through, will not work for me. A cheesy rock-based stereotype London that's annoyingly and tiresomely close to modern day serving as the currently grand-yet-subtle entryway to what used to be something above and beyond anything else? Wow. Look, I get that it's just a theme park. Just a themed area in a theme park. Many people would laugh at these theme park nerds who make such a big deal out of this. But everybody I know would really just be confused and think of this whole thing as weird and stupid. And this place is where my memories are. I talked to my dad, who really doesn't care all that much about the whole theme park obsession, about this the other day when discussing Howl-O-Scream. His response: "Well, at least we got to see the park when it was in its prime." That discussion also had a debate about whether we would be renewing our passes for next year. The scary thing is that we're already in the process of renewing our Kings Dominion passes. Terrible.
Like I said, in the grand scheme of things in the world, it may seem like just a theme park. But it's more: it's memories. The chance to live these memories again. But this has gone to far. I hope the park will eventually realize their wrongdoings. To me, this is not Busch Gardens anymore.
pandorazboxx said:
Well there is a considerably large amount. But I was just so surprised to see that there were people who actually didn't mind this, but it's there opinion so I can't say anything to change their mind. I know what this thread is missing! A tear inducing, heartfelt, inspiring post from Nora.
Junior, I don't want to speak for Nora but from the conversations I've had with her about this, she seems to be, like a lot of other people I've talked to, just done with it.
We can't change anything. If we could, this wouldn't even be in the cards. Management doesn't care. It's over.
You all have to realize that some of us have been fighting this fight for a very long time now. It drains us. Eventually there's nothing left to defend anymore. We can cross our fingers that someone comes in later and picks up the pieces, but right now, I think a lot of us are just burned out. We're tired of disappointment. We're tired of getting screwed over.
I've made a remarkable number of lifelong friends through all of this that I wouldn't trade for the world, and, because of that alone, I regret nothing. That said, I, along with a pretty good chunk of those friends have decided to start spending our time together elsewhere.
We can't change anything. If we could, this wouldn't even be in the cards. Management doesn't care. It's over.
You all have to realize that some of us have been fighting this fight for a very long time now. It drains us. Eventually there's nothing left to defend anymore. We can cross our fingers that someone comes in later and picks up the pieces, but right now, I think a lot of us are just burned out. We're tired of disappointment. We're tired of getting screwed over.
I've made a remarkable number of lifelong friends through all of this that I wouldn't trade for the world, and, because of that alone, I regret nothing. That said, I, along with a pretty good chunk of those friends have decided to start spending our time together elsewhere.
I understand. I wish I could say something to cheer you guys up, but there is nothing big enough that can happen in the near future, to fix the damage that has already been done.:-/ Now I'm going to go change my signature to something that might make you all a little happy despite the bad news.
Zachary said:
So I can't help but wonder if you got the Banbury news around the same time you started this thread...
Haberdasher, I was thinking maybe it was more around this time that they knew - keep in mind Banbury Cross was in no way part of that discussion:
Zachary said:
Gasparich must have put his personal lines in Fiends.
"All of you. And you! Happy?!? This isn't about you. It's suppose to be about ME and my eeevil brilliance! It's suppose to be about me! Me, me, me, me. ME!"
"All of you. And you! Happy?!? This isn't about you. It's suppose to be about ME and my eeevil brilliance! It's suppose to be about me! Me, me, me, me. ME!"
If anyone is to be blamed for all of this...it is the Busch Family who built a great company, and let their ego take over there better business sense and not react to the changing market...and then they lost their company and the deep pockets that kept the BEC parks up to the standards that we all loved...of course they walked away with millions, but yet they lost what was truely an American Company. Such a shame.
I've tried not to get involved in threads like this but It's time to talk
for the last 10 years, I have been going to the park at least 5 times a year. I have always loved the park an I love talking about it when I have something to contribute. Now, the park has been basically my second home for the past 10 years and all summer I would try to get up there once a month, and If I didn't go I would want to go. This year however, I have gone once, and honestly, I have no insane desire to go back. I might go back to HOS but I wont be going as much and I might cancel my pass. I will probably go for Food and Wine and for HOS but thats it. The park has lost ALL charm it had :/
On the subject of This retheme, I am not optimistic at all, its gonna suck, and even the GP will hate it. with KD adding a bunch of cool looking stuff I might just skip BGW next year and get a pass at KD, even if its farther away I might actually head there more.
I'm sorry if I'm making any of you depressed, but I'm just dissapointed and I know all of you are too.
May the force be with you fellow theme park fans
for the last 10 years, I have been going to the park at least 5 times a year. I have always loved the park an I love talking about it when I have something to contribute. Now, the park has been basically my second home for the past 10 years and all summer I would try to get up there once a month, and If I didn't go I would want to go. This year however, I have gone once, and honestly, I have no insane desire to go back. I might go back to HOS but I wont be going as much and I might cancel my pass. I will probably go for Food and Wine and for HOS but thats it. The park has lost ALL charm it had :/
On the subject of This retheme, I am not optimistic at all, its gonna suck, and even the GP will hate it. with KD adding a bunch of cool looking stuff I might just skip BGW next year and get a pass at KD, even if its farther away I might actually head there more.
I'm sorry if I'm making any of you depressed, but I'm just dissapointed and I know all of you are too.
May the force be with you fellow theme park fans
It's just sad too sad. It's coming regardless BGT is also getting area rethemeing sucks, to mess up the focal point of an entrance area by rethemeing/rebrand all for this show, but I heard its to draw in certain age groups, hopefully all is not lost, and it's not too overly eye blazing. We need to keep the beauty of this area as is, just retheme inside where the show is. SG YOUR COLOR BY NUMBERS CONCEPT SUCKS.
Makes me wanna transfer back to BGT, but makes me sad and overwhelmed. I know we are beating a dead run with our say, let's hope the other ideas don't go thru.
I'm jaded and bitter along with team members, guests, pass holders, and you guys here.
Makes me wanna transfer back to BGT, but makes me sad and overwhelmed. I know we are beating a dead run with our say, let's hope the other ideas don't go thru.
I'm jaded and bitter along with team members, guests, pass holders, and you guys here.
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Yeah, this is a bummer. My only hope is the buffoon that is in charge of this shit is fired, that is a longshot though.
At least apollo's chariot and the pretzels are still here.
At least apollo's chariot and the pretzels are still here.
^Dude. Language. Lots of kids look at this site. Let's not be so harsh.
No worries, Ben! By the way, I was referring to your use of the word, "bummer." Some people are so negative here!
Someone posted on Busch Gardens Facebook about urging people to tell the park to not retheme Banbury Cross.
Probably so but outside of this forum I wonder how widespread this news is. Making people aware isn't a bad thing. I wonder if the poster is a forum member.