I can confirm Alpie was open for ERT last night. Festa was open as well, but I didn't investigate what was still open at 10:30pm.
50th Anniversary Celebration
- Thread starter Zachary
- Start date
The 50th felt very lackluster compared to what the 40th anniversary was. I remember there being so much effort put into the 40th while yesterday’s 50th felt very rushed and uninspired. The old characters they had out like Northrup and the Rat catcher were cool but it also felt like the actors did not know who they were supposed to be portraying and were just wearing their costume. Hopefully Busch will have more 50th anniversary stuff but it kinda feels like it was mainly a one day thing besides the new festhaus show coming.
TheCoasterNerd
Previously known as @coasters_bgw
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
For those interested in the Starlight Orchestra show and the Lookback Presentation here's a full video from my tripod
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
And the fireworks, filmed with a view of the Wolf's Revenge lift hill
Last edited:
We stopped by BBW around 4pm and asked how early we could start lining up for the 9:30 ride time. The person at the front told us they were going to start early at 7 but I was wary of posting anything until confirmed, though I did mention it to some of the people around me in line for the presentation at the Globe. We made a bee line past Loch Ness through Land of the Dragons and saw all of the people in line for wristbands at the upgrade center, another clusterfudge (they only had one computer working in the morning). Had a short wait for BBW and having ridden Phoenix Rising it met my expectations though I did appreciate the theming.
On a side note, the kiosks inside the park were a disaster. The first one by the Battering Ram wasn’t printing any rewards after going through the checkout process, and the same for the one in New France. Eventually someone was working on the in Italy but ended up marking it out of order. She told me I could redeem them in the app, which would be great if cell service wasn’t an issue in the park. At this point I wouldn’t be mad if they put a 5G tower in the old Mach Tower spot
On a side note, the kiosks inside the park were a disaster. The first one by the Battering Ram wasn’t printing any rewards after going through the checkout process, and the same for the one in New France. Eventually someone was working on the in Italy but ended up marking it out of order. She told me I could redeem them in the app, which would be great if cell service wasn’t an issue in the park. At this point I wouldn’t be mad if they put a 5G tower in the old Mach Tower spot
Probably an unpopular opinion, but catering to all the special group money as a "necessity" nowadays probably doesn't help the limited staff make it an enjoyable event for all admissions. No one needs special groups to spread the word about coasters like they did 20 years ago, so that's not a good excuse anymore.
It was beyond just the ACE visit starting on the first day of BBW riding, they had Music in The Parks and ACE, the entire park was packed. The worst part of it is that every 5 seconds, I see some random kid in a shirt for his school stealing something or a pack of them blocking the line for a restaurant. I am not a hater of ACE or a huge fan of them, but I would rather have the ACE crowd that has an understanding of basic respect towards others than middle schoolers who will steal stuff in front of their chaperones and them saying nothing, or the chaperones actively being part of the issue and blocking paths with them.
I all fairness a little after 6 the line already went from the arch down pass the bumper cars an that was with team members saying they didn't know when it would open an that people shouldn't wait.
QUOTE="dmorris275, post: 327792, member: 4344"]
Yeah my thoughts on the combination of the Starlight Orchestra Tribute at 5:30pm, Kevin's session at 6pm, and the VIP thing are not printable in a user friendly forum like this - but relying on the guests to read show schedules and figure out things is NOT the best way to deal with this - it should have been made clearer that the 5:30 Starlight Orchestra Tribute was actually the lead in to Kevin's 6pm session and that you needed to aim for the 5:30 show not the 6pm time. I arrived around 5pmish because I did note the schedule and suspected as much - the combination of all of the events was somewhat chaotic at best. At least I got into the Globe however...
I suspect the combination of events at the park was to some degree just a combination of everything - the park probably doesn't have much control over the timing of the student groups for instance.... And the VIP thing (which I assume was part of the media for the coaster) was probably also unavoidable in the context of things. And from a publicity viewpoint having the ACE event also kinda makes sense, even if we wish it could have been timed differently. The sad result is that the 50th anniversary did seem to be an afterthought at best
[/QUOTE]
There Social Media post made no mention of the 5:30 Nor did the sign at the front of the theater advertising the 50th event which is why guests were lining up for it expecting the doors to open after the event apparently already started. An no staff member thought to go tell the line of people um hey sorry but you can't go into the venue.
Last edited:
TheCoasterNerd
Previously known as @coasters_bgw
Iirc that is what he said. Sounded like it irlAm I crazy or, right around the 28:53 time stamp, did Kevin say f*ckin 50 years?
I listened to it a few times, pretty sure he said "talkin 50 years". I doubt he'd say fuckin in a presentation lol. It's a combination of bad microphone, bad camera audio, and him talking fast I think. It's absolutely hilarious though loldid Kevin say f*ckin 50 years
If he did say fuckin, that might be the most non-chalant fuckin I've ever heard. Dude slipped it in his speech so casually
Last edited:
I was there in person and hearing it on YouTube definitely sounds different. Hilarious
TheCoasterNerd
Previously known as @coasters_bgw
What's so shocking about how they managed the 50th is that this was the weekend of the Busch Gardens Music Festival. Why! WHY would they decide to host a competition with dozens of high school marching bands and choirs on the same weekend as an ACE event, a media event, a member event, and a major anniversary? It seems like an odd choice. My school's choir was there competing and they did fantastic (best overall choir, 1st place in two AA categories, and Superior rating) but it just seems like they should have either done it at the end of April or the first or last weekend of May, not the same weekend as so many major events. Poor, poor planning on the park's part.
IIRC while the Music in the Park happens at BGW, the actual event for that is scheduled by someone else, so they have little control on that. And ACE was there because of the anniversary.
About the only thing you can 'blame' them for is having the media event and BBW2 opening on that day.
Definitely disagree. BGW could (and should) have blocked off the 16th of May from any group event bookings. The group events would have booked a different day and/or a different venue.
Okay, but those are pretty major things.
The Music in the Parks event has to go through Busch for planning it all out; they rent out RPT for an entire day, and we used to get a picnic in the black forest picnic area. I did the event 4 times when I was in Middle School/High School but it has been some time now. The tickets are also directly provided to the schools by BGW, and BGW representatives help out organizing them for entry into the park as well as setting up RPT and other areas. At the end of the day, Busch needed to decide what was more important, an enjoyable day for regular guests or money, and we all know what they chose.
Well I was looking it up and KD has it every weekend in May as well. So asking them to go to another park was highly unlikely. I had a really long response written out before but if you look at MitP website basically every major park hosts them in May.
_____________
I want to edit to add a question then:
What should they have done? Told MitP to kick rocks? Not invite ACE to the 50th? Waited to open BBW2? Skip the media and member event?
Last edited:
Has Busch made it possible to actually make more money when they are busy? Last time I was there, and the park was packed, too many places were understaffed/closed to allow people to spend money.
For the 16th of May this year, yes. "Due to existing events, we are not booking group events for May 16th."
Yes.
Schedule them for different days.
Despite pretty heavy crowds on the 16th, none of the culinary lines I saw looked unbearable. Some were long to be sure, but I didn't see anything that made me say "Oh hell no."
This was likely booked in 2023 TBH.
I disagree for reasons stated.
So 50th celebration without anything for Media and Members?
My opinion on the 50th this is it should have been an all summer celebration with just a special members only thing on the day.