When the Boston bombs happened I went to the park and saw an unattended backpack. I pointed it out to an employee and she was all "oh yeah cool thanks *walks away uninterested*".
Bomb Threat at BGW
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I highly doubt the park would have stayed opened if the police told them to shut down. As mentioned before, the last thing you want are lots of panicked people in a possible bomb situation.
I am almost positive that all of these complaints about park protocol should instead be directed at police protocol. Again, living very close to DC, bomb threats are extremely common. I have been in several buildings and schools which have been locked down due to bomb threats and never once have they given a reason for what is going on. I believe part of this may be to figure out if the threat is credible before causing panic or to prevent injuries due to people panicking to leave. I think the biggest concern is that if said bomber finds out that police are involved or that management is aware of the threat, they will panick and detonate the bomb. Honestly, most bomb threats are solely to cause panick, if you're really planning on blowing up a building, why would you warn the police first? The more unnecessary panick that these threats are allowed to cause, the more popular they will become. Furthermore, the park was not simply trying to make money by not evacuating, they handed out free tickets to every guest who left.
Atlantis said:
Great...a certain someone's image has been making the rounds all afternoon via a bomb threat at my favorite theme park.
Hint: the security guard appears to be looking right at him (by the fence).
*Thanks Luke!!
Okay so I've been kind of keeping my distance from this topic a bit but here is the deal; a security officer just happened to go into the women's restroom adjacent to the ticket booths. After noticing the threat written in a stall, the bathroom was immediately cleared and a notice was posted saying the bathroom was closed due to a maintenance issue until further notice. The threat did not mention a specific location; however, it did mention a specific time of detonation.
The Main Gate Plaza and Banbury Cross were immediately cleared of guests first, then followed by team members evacuating even the back service areas. A while later, Heatherdowns and Forest of Fun were also evacuated. The hamlet music was turned off after the evacuations were complete. A small group of James City County Police along with the Fire Marshall and a few of the park's own security officers searched Banbury Cross. All of the lockers were opened and inspected. Moments after Banbury Cross was closed, about 10 minutes, Gate 6 and 9 were opened as entry and exit points for guests. Gate 6 is the gate in Ireland that leads to the England Parking lot that you go by to get into line for 13: Your Numbers Up. Gate 9 is the gate by the France Parking lot picnic areas very close to Apollo's Chariot's maintenance building. To access Gate 9, guests were directed through the gates by Apollo's Chariot's exit and by the Forest of Fun entrance.
Guests who stopped to ask team members at the gate about the situation or complained were handed complimentary tickets to return. You did have to ask for them, they weren't just advertising it. Close to 5:45pm, team members were allowed to re-enter the evacuated villages and prepare for the returning back to normal operations.
Now, as for what was done right or wrong. Personally, part of the reason for not searching the entire park is because the search started very close to or around the time that was left in the threat. So since nothing happened and they searched the immediate area, there is no real concern to continue a search unless the threat was a lie a the time was much later.
Another reason for not evacuating the entire park is because it does no good. Sure you can get everyone to the parking lots in an hour, but then what? There are only two exits from the parking lots and I'm not sure about you, but when I have gotten stuck in the traffic from the Italy parking lot to the toll plaza and it was almost dead stand still traffic. No one would get anywhere any time soon.
The best thing they could have done, if they had to clear the entire park, is to simply let people exit on their own accord at the alternate exits and stop people from entering. Then, as needed evacuate each village individually and alerting guests of an emergency. This would allow for traffic to not be extremely congested, and the park could be cleared in a timely manner without panic.
Also, the park gets sweeped every night at closing. They let guests walk out on their own accord, but once an area is cleared they can't go back. This takes about 30 minutes when everyone is headed for the exit anyway. It can take up to an hour or longer, but does not take more than two hours. So evacuating the park would not take many, many hours. It could be done within two hours or less if urgent.
As far as telling people what was going on, well in an emergency situation like this, everything is on a need to know basis. Guests do not need to know. Team members do not need to know. The only people who need to know the details are the local authorities, security team, and executives and high up managers. All other team members should be instructed to help with certain tasks as necessary but they don't need to know the details. Why keep people out of the loop? Ignorance is bliss, also it really can cause serious panic. That said, some people may not see a bomb threat as an issue because they assume things are being taken care of appropriately. Some people just find it to be whatever. Others may think it happens frequently or often enough to not be concerned.
That last point is important. People need to take a walk outside of the matrix. Bomb threats are given to the park frequently, they really are. Agencies like the FBI warn the park about tips about threats all the time. The only reason why this threat is more of a major concern is because it was done on property instead of via a phone, email, etc. That means the person was in the park that day and it is a more urgent concern.
Honestly, the only way to battle these threats is through TSA-like measures right before the turnstiles. Do I seriously think we will see metal detectors pop up tomorrow or any time soon for that matter? No, not really. We live in a time where people are reactive instead of proactive. Metal detectors won't return until a life has been taken or until another critical attack has been made against out country. It is sad that security measures make people feel unsafe rather than safe, but that is just the way it is.
Is a long line more important than the lives of say 15K people? How about 10K? 5K? The park had less than 20K, but more than 5K people in the park today. All of those lives were at risk. A long line sounds pretty reasonable when you look at it like that right? You'd feel safer if they just happened to use metal detectors now right?
Also as a side note,
Basically, if you say anything, even if your joking, about explosives, you can be charged and arrested with a Class 5 Felony or if your under 15, Class 1 Misdemeanor. The sad part is, this law is no enforced like it should be. I have heard people joking around waiting in line at the park's bag check and nothing happens to them. No one seems to care unless it's at an airport or until something does happen.
My only hope for the future is that bomb threats and jokes are taken much more seriously, and that hopefully the park may establish some more stronger security so that they shouldn't even have to worry about evacuating any space other than before the inspection area.
I seriously hope people learn from this. It's not funny, especially this close to a major holiday. Whoever created the threat today couldn't have done it on the fly. It had to have been preconceived prior to today. My reasoning is because if it was a teen, they wouldn't put a specific time, teens would have just written something like general or probably just bomb. Also, it is extremely close to 4th of July. A lot of people were more than likely visiting before the main crowds. The timing just seems too odd for it to be a joke made up on the spot.
The Main Gate Plaza and Banbury Cross were immediately cleared of guests first, then followed by team members evacuating even the back service areas. A while later, Heatherdowns and Forest of Fun were also evacuated. The hamlet music was turned off after the evacuations were complete. A small group of James City County Police along with the Fire Marshall and a few of the park's own security officers searched Banbury Cross. All of the lockers were opened and inspected. Moments after Banbury Cross was closed, about 10 minutes, Gate 6 and 9 were opened as entry and exit points for guests. Gate 6 is the gate in Ireland that leads to the England Parking lot that you go by to get into line for 13: Your Numbers Up. Gate 9 is the gate by the France Parking lot picnic areas very close to Apollo's Chariot's maintenance building. To access Gate 9, guests were directed through the gates by Apollo's Chariot's exit and by the Forest of Fun entrance.
Guests who stopped to ask team members at the gate about the situation or complained were handed complimentary tickets to return. You did have to ask for them, they weren't just advertising it. Close to 5:45pm, team members were allowed to re-enter the evacuated villages and prepare for the returning back to normal operations.
Now, as for what was done right or wrong. Personally, part of the reason for not searching the entire park is because the search started very close to or around the time that was left in the threat. So since nothing happened and they searched the immediate area, there is no real concern to continue a search unless the threat was a lie a the time was much later.
Another reason for not evacuating the entire park is because it does no good. Sure you can get everyone to the parking lots in an hour, but then what? There are only two exits from the parking lots and I'm not sure about you, but when I have gotten stuck in the traffic from the Italy parking lot to the toll plaza and it was almost dead stand still traffic. No one would get anywhere any time soon.
The best thing they could have done, if they had to clear the entire park, is to simply let people exit on their own accord at the alternate exits and stop people from entering. Then, as needed evacuate each village individually and alerting guests of an emergency. This would allow for traffic to not be extremely congested, and the park could be cleared in a timely manner without panic.
Also, the park gets sweeped every night at closing. They let guests walk out on their own accord, but once an area is cleared they can't go back. This takes about 30 minutes when everyone is headed for the exit anyway. It can take up to an hour or longer, but does not take more than two hours. So evacuating the park would not take many, many hours. It could be done within two hours or less if urgent.
As far as telling people what was going on, well in an emergency situation like this, everything is on a need to know basis. Guests do not need to know. Team members do not need to know. The only people who need to know the details are the local authorities, security team, and executives and high up managers. All other team members should be instructed to help with certain tasks as necessary but they don't need to know the details. Why keep people out of the loop? Ignorance is bliss, also it really can cause serious panic. That said, some people may not see a bomb threat as an issue because they assume things are being taken care of appropriately. Some people just find it to be whatever. Others may think it happens frequently or often enough to not be concerned.
That last point is important. People need to take a walk outside of the matrix. Bomb threats are given to the park frequently, they really are. Agencies like the FBI warn the park about tips about threats all the time. The only reason why this threat is more of a major concern is because it was done on property instead of via a phone, email, etc. That means the person was in the park that day and it is a more urgent concern.
Honestly, the only way to battle these threats is through TSA-like measures right before the turnstiles. Do I seriously think we will see metal detectors pop up tomorrow or any time soon for that matter? No, not really. We live in a time where people are reactive instead of proactive. Metal detectors won't return until a life has been taken or until another critical attack has been made against out country. It is sad that security measures make people feel unsafe rather than safe, but that is just the way it is.
Is a long line more important than the lives of say 15K people? How about 10K? 5K? The park had less than 20K, but more than 5K people in the park today. All of those lives were at risk. A long line sounds pretty reasonable when you look at it like that right? You'd feel safer if they just happened to use metal detectors now right?
Also as a side note,
VA State Code 18.2-83 said:
Basically, if you say anything, even if your joking, about explosives, you can be charged and arrested with a Class 5 Felony or if your under 15, Class 1 Misdemeanor. The sad part is, this law is no enforced like it should be. I have heard people joking around waiting in line at the park's bag check and nothing happens to them. No one seems to care unless it's at an airport or until something does happen.
My only hope for the future is that bomb threats and jokes are taken much more seriously, and that hopefully the park may establish some more stronger security so that they shouldn't even have to worry about evacuating any space other than before the inspection area.
I seriously hope people learn from this. It's not funny, especially this close to a major holiday. Whoever created the threat today couldn't have done it on the fly. It had to have been preconceived prior to today. My reasoning is because if it was a teen, they wouldn't put a specific time, teens would have just written something like general or probably just bomb. Also, it is extremely close to 4th of July. A lot of people were more than likely visiting before the main crowds. The timing just seems too odd for it to be a joke made up on the spot.
Sorry to double post, but I did want to add that to be specific about my thoughts, I do feel the situation was handled the best way it can be especially since something like this doesn't just happen frequently. No team members are really trained for this. So it is definitely good to see everyone was safe. However, I definitely would still like to see increased security measures. I've preached it before and I will again.
Also as far as this being handled by whoever, it was more of a joint effort. Both the park and the police worked together to determine the best route of action. It was not just simply one controlling group. That said, upper management in the security department are mostly retired military or police and have dealt with these situations many times previously already in their previous careers.
Also as far as this being handled by whoever, it was more of a joint effort. Both the park and the police worked together to determine the best route of action. It was not just simply one controlling group. That said, upper management in the security department are mostly retired military or police and have dealt with these situations many times previously already in their previous careers.
I will write up more on this later, but almost no amount of increased security will prevent this type of thing from happening, it just won't.
Increased security may not prevent threats, but it definitely can prevent actual harm which is more important anyway. It also shows seriousness and reduces the amount of jokes.
I think their should be metal detectors at BG as pointed out earlier. It hasn't happened yet, but someone could easily bring a weapon into the park and harm a bunch of innocent families. People are crazy.
I don't think there were actual bombs, just a threat. But if there were, you see how easy that was? Time for metal detectors and not that half-ass bag checking.
I don't think there were actual bombs, just a threat. But if there were, you see how easy that was? Time for metal detectors and not that half-ass bag checking.
What if the person was not meaning it to be a threat but were just joking around about a show they did not like. Say they did not like (Insert Show). (Insert Show) next showing is at 4:30. This person writes that the next bomb is set to start at 4:30. Maybe they did not mean Bomb like a bomb threat but instead like how a show bombs when it is bad. Could it have been someone being graphic about what they did in a bathroom stall. Like, I just dropped a bomb in England. It very well could have been a real bomb threat. You want to treat it as real either way. I would be interested in reading was was actually discovered.
I have no doubt in my mind that these forums are under investigation.
redsoxfan787 said:
You realize you can go to your local mall and have the same thing happen right? Or literally any other place... Hell, someone could be waiting for you when you walk out your door. There's no pointing in living your life scared of everything. We all die eventually
Metal detectors do nothing, absolutely nothing. *MOD EDIT* The only thing that might stop people is TSA security, with full body scanners and bag scanners. Really, the only thing the park can do, or any other place can do is hope they catch the person before anything happens. Because why this might seem frightening, there's nothing we can do, if the person wants to do legit harm to some one, no amount of security measures is going to stop them. What's going to happen is going to happen.
If someone was really going to do it, they wouldn't have left a note. Sounds like an attention seeker or they were hoping for chaos to happen. Just hoping we won't have to deal with copycats in the future.
Metal detectors I could deal with if we didn't have the awful delay with the biometrics system. Both would make the front unbearable.
Metal detectors I could deal with if we didn't have the awful delay with the biometrics system. Both would make the front unbearable.
Matthew points out the sad truth^. I feel safer at BG than KD, even without metal detectors. At least they look through the bags at BG. KD relies on the detectors a bit too much, kind of like a crutch. I've been through many times this year and they have NOT looked through my large day bag in the bottom of the stroller. A stick of dy-no-mite wont be detected by a machine anyway. This makes Matthew's point quite valid. People will cause chaos at whatever level they choose to, metal detectors or not.
And we all know even after KD installed those metal detectors they still had constant problems and issues with weapons in the park. Now that was a different time when KD attracted people with not such a good demeanor. However, now that KD is trying to change it's image, every year I continually feel less threatened, because the quality of people around me is constantly improving from what it had been.
Fact is, the park isn't going to consider any more of an amount of security. They know just as well that it was simply an idiot who was drunk or mad. And we don't even know the content of this message. See it could've said something totally generic, maybe not even saying directly about bombing the park, maybe the person who wrote it meant something totally different, but the park wanted to take necessary precautions, just in case it was a real bomb threat. I've never felt un-safe at BGW, not even yesterday, I'm not going to worry and panic over something I don't even know half the details of, and can't control.
Fact is, the park isn't going to consider any more of an amount of security. They know just as well that it was simply an idiot who was drunk or mad. And we don't even know the content of this message. See it could've said something totally generic, maybe not even saying directly about bombing the park, maybe the person who wrote it meant something totally different, but the park wanted to take necessary precautions, just in case it was a real bomb threat. I've never felt un-safe at BGW, not even yesterday, I'm not going to worry and panic over something I don't even know half the details of, and can't control.
I never feel in danger at KD or BGW; if someone is going to bomb a theme park, it's going to be a Disney park.
When I say add metal detectors, I don't mean give up searching bags. Add metal detectors to the current procedure.
Increased security measures can and will stop harm from being done, saying a metal detector can't stop a weapon is just plain nonsense. They can't stop non metallic weapons with a metal detector so you inspect their bags as well. It's easy to sit there and say that there is nothing we can do. it's easy just to sit back and allow bad things to happen without even trying, but once you give up is when you really loose. I for one would try my best to protect the 10K or even 5K lives that enter the park no matter what.
Also, wake up call, weapons have already made it in and caused issues. Not most, but there have been some cases. For example, a man brought a taser and went to attack team members. He was arrested. Another person brought large knives, mostly military grade. People have admitted on open and public forums that they have brought guns into the park. You guys seriously think the park doesn't attract a bad crowd.
Busch Gardens attracts all sorts of bad people every day, all the time. Why don't you see anything one the news more frequently or why haven't you heard about this yet? Because the park is really good about keeping things like this under wraps. The park is not some innocent family play land that you think it is. There have been legitimate bad people going to the park to do nothing but cause trouble.
I do know the exact details of the threat, I don't plan on posting it because that is sensitive information. All I will say is, it was very generic, yet it did include a specific time. My immediate thought was that this could really be serious given that the person included a time; which is not that typical amongst jokes.
Furthermore, I have spoken to people about the horrors you don't notice on a day to day basis. They have been mortified at what happens that they don't typically realize.
All that I can say is there is a need, but people have become far to okay with risking lives for shorter lines and appearances. The guest is not always right and treating them like they are is absurd especially when lives are at stake.
Increased security measures can and will stop harm from being done, saying a metal detector can't stop a weapon is just plain nonsense. They can't stop non metallic weapons with a metal detector so you inspect their bags as well. It's easy to sit there and say that there is nothing we can do. it's easy just to sit back and allow bad things to happen without even trying, but once you give up is when you really loose. I for one would try my best to protect the 10K or even 5K lives that enter the park no matter what.
Also, wake up call, weapons have already made it in and caused issues. Not most, but there have been some cases. For example, a man brought a taser and went to attack team members. He was arrested. Another person brought large knives, mostly military grade. People have admitted on open and public forums that they have brought guns into the park. You guys seriously think the park doesn't attract a bad crowd.
Busch Gardens attracts all sorts of bad people every day, all the time. Why don't you see anything one the news more frequently or why haven't you heard about this yet? Because the park is really good about keeping things like this under wraps. The park is not some innocent family play land that you think it is. There have been legitimate bad people going to the park to do nothing but cause trouble.
I do know the exact details of the threat, I don't plan on posting it because that is sensitive information. All I will say is, it was very generic, yet it did include a specific time. My immediate thought was that this could really be serious given that the person included a time; which is not that typical amongst jokes.
Furthermore, I have spoken to people about the horrors you don't notice on a day to day basis. They have been mortified at what happens that they don't typically realize.
All that I can say is there is a need, but people have become far to okay with risking lives for shorter lines and appearances. The guest is not always right and treating them like they are is absurd especially when lives are at stake.
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