News Busch Gardens Tampa Cutting Weekday Tram Service

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Zachary

Zachary

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Sep 23, 2009
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Per @SWneedshelp on Twitter, Busch Gardens Tampa, will be ending all tram service Monday through Thursday.

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Just more awful, anti-consumer behavior from United Parks. Prices go up, guest experience goes down.
 
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How the hell are you gonna bring more guests in when you have a shitty guest experience?? This isn’t helping anything. Not sure what’s gonna change the company at this point. Do you not open everyday anymore like regular parks? Does the park not attract the Orlando crowds anymore? This is never gonna end isn’t it.
 
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Have you been to BGT on a weekday in the "off season"? There really aren't that many guests so the need for a tram is minimal most days.

At this point very few parks offer tram service at all.

This is not ideal, but it's also not the end of the world.

Of course, I have a Platinum Pass so I get preferred parking and don't have to worry about it.
 
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GAcoaster said:
At this point very few parks offer tram service at all.

This is not ideal, but it's also not the end of the world.
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Eh I would say here it matters. If you walk that path you are asking people to walk half a mile just to get to the front gate. BGW is in the 3/10th of a mile, KD is 1-2/10ths, heck Hershey has no problem running their team all the time and their furthest team point is close to the same distance as BGTs closest.

Yea it’s not the end of the world but it’s a huge mistake to have one of the longer minimal walks and the Florida heat/humidity. Especially with how much UnitP charges for parking this is just greed.
 
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GAcoaster said:
People walk further from Magic Kingdom Preferred Parking to the TTC
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I think holding up the Magic Kingdom entry experience as an example of a nice, comfortable way to welcome guests to a park isn't a winner, personally.


Hershey, Dolly, Silver Dollar—all reasonable, typically cheaper comps to the Busch parks—have no problem running their trams. Seems perfectly justified to demand the same from BGT.
 
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bfgfgd said:
How the hell are you gonna bring more guests in when you have a shitty guest experience?? This isn’t helping anything. Not sure what’s gonna change the company at this point. Do you not open everyday anymore like regular parks? Does the park not attract the Orlando crowds anymore? This is never gonna end isn’t it.
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Unfortunately it's no longer about the guest experience, it's all about the shareholder experience nowadays.
 
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Zachary said:
I think holding up the Magic Kingdom entry experience as an example of a nice, comfortable way to welcome guests to a park isn't a winner, personally.


Hershey, Dolly, Silver Dollar—all reasonable, typically cheaper comps to the Busch parks—have no problem running their trams. Seems perfectly justified to demand the same from BGT.
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Agreed on MK. I have to be there Monday due to a family trip, but normally I would avoid it because park entry is a terrible experience IMO.

I pointed out distances because I believe that’s a big part of it. You are about to have people in your park all day on their feet. Not having that tram is a disservice to people at the end of their day. And that’s not getting into the cost of $30-40-50 to park. Given the fact that there’s still incidents and plenty of time without traffic control what’s my money buying me?

I’m saddened they took it away, but it used to be a treat to go to Kennywood, park in the free lot at the top of the hill and ride the free skyride to the gate.
 
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I’ve been stuck in the regular parking lot when preferred was full and they either were running one tram or no trams, and the walk was not terrible. Maybe because my home park is Great Adventure where we haven’t had trams for decades now.

I don’t expect tram service anymore. I find most of the time it’s faster and easier just to walk instead of waiting for a tram at WDW. I get it’s one more cut/cost saving measure, but it also feels like a relic anymore with so many parks having done away with trams.
 
The parks that are doing away with tram service aren't anywhere near the price bracket of the Busch parks though. Looking at the reasonable up-market regional comps in the industry, it does look as though the Busch parks are blazing the trail.

There are ways BGT could make the removal of tram service stomachable. Obviously the best way would be to build garages and move all parking to the park side of the street—nullifying the ongoing costs of CDL drivers, tram maintenance, etc forever. That said, I understand that's expensive and United Parks and long-term investments aren't exactly compatible right now.

Some other mitigation ideas would include covering the walkway from the remote lots, halfing parking prices when trams aren't set to run, installing water fountains/water bottle refill stations along the path, and/or setting up a small, secondary park entrance/exit across from Cobra's Curse for these supposedly lightly-attended days (effectively cutting the walking time from inside the park to the parking lot in half).

They, of course, won't do any of this because they don't care about mitigating any of the issues their guest experience cuts introduce. They'll just take every dime as profit and then slowly cut tram service further and further until one day trams will be gone forever.
 
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I'm glad they reversed this, though it's also disconcerting that the leadership is in the mindset to even consider it. BGT's main parking lot is just way too far from the entrance to operate without trams, and I could definitely see elderly guests/anyone with less than optimal mobility choosing not to visit the park at all over this. And sure, it was ostensibly only going to be on weekdays, but we all know the plan was to ultimately eliminate tram service altogether. Now I'm afraid to see what other drastic cost-cutting measures the park will try next.
 
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Zachary said:
I think holding up the Magic Kingdom entry experience as an example of a nice, comfortable way to welcome guests to a park isn't a winner, personally.
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Circling to this (I know BGT is the topic here) but just did MK this week. Teams were running to take guests from Villains and Hero’s lots to ticketing center. Monorail, boat, and bus to go from there to the park. Lyft and Uber (regular) pickup was at the transportation center. Then Minnie Vans were at the park.

The more confusing. After the spa appointment at Grand Floridian we had to take one boat from there to the Polynesian, then to MK, then the ferry to ticketing, then Monorail down towards Epcot, bus to Art of Amination, then skyliner to Boat Club.

So yea. Even the “bad” of that is better than no tram at BGt.
 
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warfelg said:
The more confusing. After the spa appointment at Grand Floridian we had to take one boat from there to the Polynesian, then to MK, then the ferry to ticketing, then Monorail down towards Epcot, bus to Art of Amination, then skyliner to Boat Club.
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This gives me a headache. There are a lot of unnecessary transfers. Why didn't you take the monorail from GF to MK, then hop on the bus straight to Yacht/Beach Club?

WDW transportation is really good, however the parking methods, tram service and ferry at MK is slow and cumbersome.

It makes logical sense that BGT is cutting tram service as BGW has basically done the same. The walkway is good, but not great, especially when a large group plods along slowing everybody.
 
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