Busch Gardens Williamsburg Membership Program

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$360 a year and no perks at non-home parks. Atrocious.

Six Flags gets away with having a pile of perks for the home park only because their "Platinum" is over $200 cheaper. Not sure the discounts for the higher memberships work at non-home parks. Cedar Fair Platinum gives the discounts at non-home parks - and is still cheaper.
 
I converted an old pass holder to the unlimited membership for $15 per month. The revised plans now offer the Unlimited for $15 per month with the option of Water County for an additional $2 per month. This is something many in the public have been asking. They want the option to add Water County and not be forced into paying for a service they won't use. Will the park now give the options of keeping WC at the my current price, or allow me to drop WC and lower my rate $2 per month or will I have to add WC for the additional $2? I would say they have some details to resolve. Personally I would like to save the $2 per month.
 
I mean it's cheaper if you're just trying to get the pass to BGW with free general. 15$ vs the former price of 17$.
I'm happy, saves me some money.
 
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What the Hell?!?! This is RIDICULOUS! I canceled my platinum at $11 for a premier and now they pull this shit? I honestly don't know if we will keep our passes after this year.
 
This is total CRAP! In less than a year they change the passes again and they expect the upgrade to 15% is going to make it better. I'm really disappointed at the lack of non-home park features. We went from free tickets at Sea World to half price, then half price with the member only being there to no basically nothing. Sad, annoying, and shitty.
 
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What I hate is both local parks are screwing with pass/membership holders.

KD is cheaper, but nickel and dime you at every turn in the park.

BGW is robbing you blind going in, but it’s cheaper once you are in.

Absurd.

Where’s the fair benefits that get me in, but doesn’t make me pay for crap I don’t want or at least lets me take advantage of them elsewhere.

For $29 a month I better get like a free meal a month, free snack a visit, and a member lounge.

A $0.02 from the business side:
They were so cheap for so long and had a really high pass holder a day visit ratio; that this feels like a piss poor attempt at “market correction” and getting people to give up memberships for single visit passes.
 
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This screams of a bait and switch deal. They did this to get people to willingly give up their cheap platinum passes, switch to the same level just at a higher cost and now downgrade their passes to a lower tier unless they pony up considerably more money? WTF?? Talk about shady business practices. No wonder SEAS is always in trouble with the law and getting fines.
 
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We always had platinum passes for our family but let them expire in May since we were expecting our 5th child this month and not going anywhere for the next year anyway and planned to convert to the new passes. Now the cost of our six passes just went up OVER $500 for the year with no discounts!!! I live nearly 6 hours away from BGW and only 3 from Carrowinds. Looks like our yearly weeklong vacations to Williamsburg and Florida are going to be replaced with day or 2 day trips to Charlotte, Cincinnati and Richmond (all closer than Williamsburg). Sad because our family really loves SEAS parks but hard to justify the price difference.
 
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Here is the basic information. We have also created a spreadsheet comparing old and new Memberships, which should be out soon. Apparently we are grandfathered for 12 months (from purchase) under the old plan. That said, I have trouble believing that we will actually be able to use Old Premier in Florida...

Memberships Oct 2018.PNG Memberships fine print Oct 2018.PNG
 
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So, one of our readers just sent me information he received from BGW customer service, which seems to contradict what they told others previously:

"If you purchased your Premier Membership before Oct 1st you get to keep your benefits that you signed up on for as long as you keep the pass in good standing, even after the initial 12 months of having the membership."

That person also asked whether Old Premium Members still get discounts and benefits at parks outside of Williamsburg. They claim we do. Here is the ambiguous language from the FAQ:

I purchased a Premier Membership prior to October 1, 2018. Do I still get the benefits that I received when I purchased my Membership?

Yes, Members with a Premier Membership who joined prior October 1, 2018 will have access to the following benefits:
• Our sister parks around the country: Aquatica (FL, TX and CA), Adventure Island (FL), Busch Gardens (VA and FL)*, SeaWorld (FL, TX and CA), Sesame Place (PA) and Water Country USA (VA)
• Free Preferred Parking at the Williamsburg parks (as available)
• 15% off at select dining and shopping locations
• Three (3) Free Guest Tickets available during select windows
PLUS Premier monthly rewards associated with the new Premier Plan. All additional benefits are valid at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA.
 
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Pretzel Kaiser said:
They're trying to make the new premier look like it's worth it with photo key. If you don't want pics, you're getting charged more money to have fewer benefits if you want access to all the parks.

This is frustrating.
Click to expand...

On an individual levels if you buy photos it may be worth it but with a family only one of us needs to have the photokey so in our case we are paying 5 times for something only 1 of us need. Kind of like free parking.
 
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I have so many issues with this I could write a whole page but let me start with one. They got the message that some people felt they were paying extra for a benefit they didn’t want/use — WC. So instead of taking it away and lowering the price, they give us Photokey, a lesser value? Which I, and I’m sure many others, have little-to-no use or desire for. And now we really do have to pay extra for WC. ?

Edited to add: I’m looking at the new pass page and just... shaking my head. So basically they heard that some people like the highest tier benefits, but don’t use WC or the other parks, so for the Premier level they took those out, but the price is staying the same. ? and if you *do* want WC and/or the other parks (plus Photokey and ride again—which I, for one, have no use for) you can pay up to $130 more for the privilege of having what you already had. ?

This tells me to keep quiet about stuff I don’t feel is valuable because they will take it off your pass and you’ll still pay the same, and the people who do use it will have to pay out the...
 
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Wow, with all of these changes I wonder if they're bringing the Preschool Pass back. I'm hoping to milk it one more year for my 5yo, then cancel my Premier, and the other 2 unlimited memberships in the family at the end of next summer.
 
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