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I'm considering starting a business of a one time charge for season long access to free chips when you exit the park. Almost like a membership reward. Busch should try that.
 
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Couple things that I saw while looking over and comparing the terms of all the Platinum Pass options:

  1. Christmas Town is specifically excluded in both SP and SWSA’s Platinum Passes; and possibly the Florida Platinum as well (Florida Plat simply states that “Select Special Events are excluded.”).
  2. BGW’s FAQ now states that Platinum Passes get parking and in-park discounts at all non-VA parks.
  3. Legacy Florida Platinum retains all of their old benefits & gains all the benefits of the new Florida Platinum. This one actually bothers me the most as BGW did not allow it’s Legacy Platniun holders to gain any new benefits with the switch, which is the only reason I switched in the first place.
I’ll keep looking further into this as I get time.
 
Frankly, they're not going to. Especially outside of Williamsburg. Anyone with a Grandfathered Premier is almost certainly going to be in for a nightmare when they try to use it elsewhere.
I have a grandfathered Premier. Oof, my next vacation will be fun.
 
The park got back to us with answers to our follow-up questions:

1. Will Old Premium and New Platinum Members also get re-ride privileges, reserved seating, and other “Platinum” benefits at non-Virginia parks, as we have in the past.

The ride again privilege is new for Busch Gardens Williamsburg Platinum Members for Griffon, Apollo’s Chariot, Alpengeist & The Loch Ness Monster, and is available at the home park where purchased. Ride again privileges and reserved seating at non-Virginia parks are honored where available.


2. How will staff at all of the parks be able to differentiate between old and new Memberships? We worry that parks outside of Virginia especially won’t know that grandfathered memberships have different perks. Additionally, we have heard about Premier Members being denied entry to other parks. Is there someone we can contact if we are in Florida/Texas/California/Pennsylvania and have a problem?

Old & New Memberships can be determined by the product name and barcode located on their Membership. Please proceed to the ticket window or guest service at each park visited should you have any questions.


3. We are hearing stories about people being denied their 50% ticket discounts at SWO (by Guest Services supervisors). Who can they contact to get a refund?

Guests should contact our guest correspondence team directly to determine appropriate next steps. BGW.GuestRelations@buschgardens.com


4. Understanding that at some point Old Premier Memberships will increase in price, we have a question: will the price increase mirror New Premier or will we all be moved to the Platinum price? Or will ours increase differently than both?

We do not have any plans at this time to increase prices of our old Premier Memberships.
It doesn’t say Whether old Premier gets the Ride again privevliges....
 
Im going to the member night tonight with some non "membership" people. They are going specifically to try and use the old Passholder passes just to see if they still let them in or they stick with what they have said about the old passes not being included. Im really interested to see what happens.
 
Im going tonight too. I wonder what the attendance will look like. Also where do we pick up the free "coke swag"? Is that something we have to print at self serve kiosk? or just go somewhere to pick up?
 
Im going tonight too. I wonder what the attendance will look like. Also where do we pick up the free "coke swag"? Is that something we have to print at self serve kiosk? or just go somewhere to pick up?
Its been over by Lorikeet a few times so possible there, but who really knows. Usually you just flash your pass and they hand you stuff, but since tonight is "membeship" night they may just be handing it out. Im sure they will run out of stuff failry fast. It hard to say about crowds, so far this HOS season crowds to me have been way down compared to past years.
 
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Im going to the member night tonight with some non "membership" people. They are going specifically to try and use the old Passholder passes just to see if they still let them in or they stick with what they have said about the old passes not being included. Im really interested to see what happens.
Were they able to get in?
 
But they did try?
Yes, they tried just to see if they would be questioned or just scanned through. They did in fact say that the old passes were no good tonight. Then again the girl also told them that the free today ticket from our membership was no good either until another team member told her to try and scan them.
 
If you use annual Photokey in Florida, this pricing is a significant value proposition. Annual Photokey at BGT is on the order of $90 and SWO is $169 (seems like a big difference, but animal tour/behind scenes photos were included on my SWO account). So for the price of Photokey alone, we'll be getting 4 parks, preferred parking and 15%. Only concern is the price lock. I have a grandfathered rate so low it makes me oblivious to in park spend for things like the preferred parking and other. Looks like the research in this thread (thanks Nicole) indicates we can keep current rate. Since this is presented as an "introductory price" , long term, it may be a more expensive proposal. In any case, still a better value than Uni or Disney (for Florida residents); zoos, shows, events and coasters
 
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A few minutes ago BGW posted this to facebook, this shows 10% discounts for everyone and free general parking for Premier but preferred for Platinum. So are they also taking preferred parking from Premier now too?
 

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