Busch Gardens Williamsburg Membership Program

[WDWRLD]

I wish they would get a better hold on the reserved seats for concerts. a couple years ago they oversold the number of seats they reserved and ended us having people who paid for the dinner/reserved seats with out a place to sit. Then last year it appeared they way over estimated the number of seats needed. We went to at least one concert that they had numerous rows blocked off. We sat at the first row of seats they let us only to have people who walked in last minute to get better seats than us. Im not talking about people who paid either.

 

[luseendesi]

I was able to purchase my seats for a concert the second the email came out. My mother on the other hand ran into issues. Apparently her membership was never converted online (it was still showing she only had passholder status, even though she had switched over and already used her membership in the park) so she had to call and they said it could take up to a week or so for them to fix it online so I had to also purchase her ticket.

 

[DrachenFlyer]

I hate to ask this but my searches of the thread are doing no good. Have we determined when or if the guest passes expire?
Thanks!

Here are the date ranges for both the regular Pass Member free guest tickets and the additional monthly rewards.

Thank you!  I am not sure why that didn’t come up in my search of the thread. I appreciate your time!

I have to be honest, I really hate how this was sold to us when we bought the passes. Like...enough that I've had very real discussions in my house about canceling our new passes after this year. My issue is simply that when we bought the passes, the way it was sold to us on the website was that each level got either 2 or 3 passes for the year.

There was never any mention or statement that they would be only available during certain months. I know that was the case when this was considered a "perk that was never declared by BGW" when they gave these out for the old passes prior to this season but the fact is, it's not a free perk anymore....it's considered a selling point of of a good we paid for and it was sold to us under somewhat dubious pretenses, in my opinion. That's a bait/switch selling tactic.

I'm not trying to be a complainer. The fact is, I love BG. My family has been going since I was 4. I'm 33 now with kids of my own. My hope is that BGW will reconsider this little caveat to the bring a friend passes moving forward because honestly it really is ridiculous. Why does it matter to them when I use a pass that in their books is already free? Makes no sense.

From a realistic standpoint for me, financially, this membership only makes sense for me and my extended family if we can use these free bring a friends for a particular summer trip we take every year as a group. Otherwise, I could just get an $85 fun card and still take the trip without having to fork over $400+ a year on passes. My family has already started discussing whether or not to continue going to BG next year or to choose a different location. Mind you, they always have a good time and we've taken the trip 4 years in a row. That discussion just didn't happen out of nowhere.

Keep your Shopkins show...just give me what I paid for how you sold it to me.

 

[Nicole]

For what it is worth, we included the limitation on the free guest tickets in our February article, before the Memberships went on sale:

The free guest tickets (Unlimited and Premier Memberships) will work at both BGW and WCUSA, as well as Christmas Town. Tickets will be populated in a Member’s account twice a year for Unlimited and three times a year for Premier. According to Dan, “[These] tickets will be good for consecutive periods, meaning all operating days will be covered, including the events. When the park opens March 24, everyone in those plans will have one ticket available. Those tickets will be available and valid for a specified period, and then another one will populate. Free guest tickets may be used on any regular operating day, but would not be valid for Sneak Peak days.”

 

[DrachenFlyer]

For what it is worth, we included the limitation on the free guest tickets in our February article, before the Memberships went on sale:

The free guest tickets (Unlimited and Premier Memberships) will work at both BGW and WCUSA, as well as Christmas Town. Tickets will be populated in a Member’s account twice a year for Unlimited and three times a year for Premier. According to Dan, “[These] tickets will be good for consecutive periods, meaning all operating days will be covered, including the events. When the park opens March 24, everyone in those plans will have one ticket available. Those tickets will be available and valid for a specified period, and then another one will populate. Free guest tickets may be used on any regular operating day, but would not be valid for Sneak Peak days.”

I appreciate the work you put in here...but I dont go on a forum about tv's before i go to the store to buy one. I expect the remote to work because the store said it would...not just work for 60 days and then not work.

BGW needed to be more forthright to its early adopters...instead they obviously are winging it as they go.

 

[Nicole]

Since they told us in advance about the free guest tickets, they clearly aren't winging that part.

They have updated the site so many times that there is no record now, but I don't recall their ever saying anything different there either.

And for what it is worth, most people I know do go to third party sites to look at reviews of TVs before buying one. I, personally, would never believe the seller to tell me about all of the possible problems with his product. Essentially the primary purpose of our main page is to share what we know with our readers, so they can make better-informed decisions.

 

[DrachenFlyer]

Since they told us in advance about the free guest tickets, they clearly aren't winging that part.

They have updated the site so many times that there is no record now, but I don't recall their ever saying anything different there either.

And for what it is worth, most people I know do go to third party sites to look at reviews of TVs before buying one.  I, personally, would never believe the seller to tell me about all of the possible problems with his product.  Essentially the primary purpose of our main page is to share what we know with our readers, so they can make better-informed decisions.

If it was on the BGW site when i bought the tickets...I would not have bought the tickets. The fact that someone asked on here should tell you they did a poor job of conveying the caveat.

You do good work here. They did not. This isn't about this site. My hope is since people from BGW management obviously visit this page they see a frustrated buyer of their top tier ticket and fix it.

 

[cbl1]

I had a couple of questions as I never did the platinum pass before and looking to possibly do the new premier one this year.

- For the 3 free passes. I have 5 members in my family. Will that mean I will get populated 5 passes in each the 3 time periods?

- If I go purchase the passes at the park - do all my family members need to be present to pickup their passes. I saw a post that indicated something about they took your picture. Then I see there is option to have your order shipped to you (what would they actually ship)?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Nicole]

- For the 3 free passes. I have 5 members in my family. Will that mean I will get populated 5 passes in each the 3 time periods?
Yes. You will get free passes for each Premier Membership you buy. That means at least three per Membership. There are additional free passes for specific months, currently list on the rewards page, as well. Zachary summarized those bonus benefits here.

- If I go purchase the passes at the park - do all my family members need to be present to pickup their passes. I saw a post that indicated something about they took your picture. Then I see there is option to have your order shipped to you (what would they actually ship)?
No, only the people who are paying for the Memberships need to be there. They take your picture at the park gate the first time each Membership is used.

 

[whanna]

They take your picture at the park gate the first time each Membership is used.

We used our new passes twice this year (same weekend), and I noticed that they did not take our pictures or even look at the device to view a photo. We assumed they went away from photo identification. My wife’s pass now has a new last name on it, and is on a different account than it was previously was, so no photo could have been linked (accurately, reliably) from last year.

 

[Nicole]

BGW knows that consistency is the hobglobin of small minds.

 

[horsesboy]

 They take your picture at the park gate the first time each Membership is used.

We used our new passes twice this year (same weekend), and I noticed that they did not take our pictures or even look at the device to view a photo. We assumed they went away from photo identification. My wife’s pass now has a new last name on it, and is on a different account than it was previously was, so no photo could have been linked (accurately, reliably) from last year.

They are still using the photo system but don't add new pictures at busy times as the system starts to backup and it can lead to further delays.

 

[warfelg]

I grew a beard since the last time I was there and they wanted to take my picture again in cast they didn't recognize me....

 

[CastleOSullivan]

Has anyone been to another SeaWorld park yet with the Premier membership? I wonder how Premier members are treated as far as reride benefits.

 

[VonDerrick]

Has anyone been to another SeaWorld park yet with the Premier membership? I wonder how Premier members are treated as far as reride benefits.

not sure about reride benefits but when they scan your premier membership at the parking lot, their register automatically prints out a receipt for preferred parking

 

[SukaUniFl]

Has anyone been to another SeaWorld park yet with the Premier membership? I wonder how Premier members are treated as far as reride benefits.

I had no problem with the reride perk. Only one I believe some people ran into was with Kraken, and I guess maybe because of the VR. I have been to SWO 3 times and everytime they have been really nice. Also I have had no problem yet with the free parking. I will be going to BGT this week so I will let you all know how they are with the rerides, parking, etc. for the perks.

 

[BGW Family]

To flame the fires of this thread, Orlando just seems to have this down SO much better.

FREE ONE-TIME QUICK QUEUE®
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FREE RESERVED SEATING
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12$ RESCUE SHIRT
Beginning June 8, you can get your Pass exclusive shirt for only $12 at the SeaWorld Rescue store and show that you play a part in protecting our planet.

AND it is actually a nice shirt. Not that crappy white thing we had access to.

 

[horsesboy]

I will update after talking to customers service but heads I noticed today that the cost of my membership seems to have doubled randomly so if you are on the monthly plans you might want to check your statements.


Update according to customer service my old pass was never canceled and I was billed for both they can't explain why it tlook two months to stary billing for both but are issuing a refund for the double billing.

 

[warfelg]

I will update after talking to customers service but heads I noticed today that the cost of my membership seems to have doubled randomly so if you are on the monthly plans you might want to check your statements.


Update according to customer service my old pass was never canceled and I was billed for both they can't explain why it tlook two months to stary billing for both but are issuing a refund for the double billing.

Yikes. Every now and then:

Sigh. This is why these places need to learn that either, each location gets its own CS team if you are going to have different programs like this, or you need to have the same levels with same packages across the board and the pricing per location is different. When you do both that's when you get massive issues with CS and getting things like this right.

 

[Rothbury]

Here we go again. It seems like BG does everything they can to knock the people who bought memberships this year. Now they are offering $40 admission for the month of June. They had so many offers for free tickets in May that the park was more crowded than it has been in the past.
I still don't know how they can offer the "benefits" of membership and then turn right around and offer discounted tickets to everyone. First it was Fun Cards and now it's discounted tickets. I'm not doing the math but between free tickets in May and less than half price tickets for the month of June....was membership really worth it?