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I had one more thought, after reading several posts suggesting Premier Members be allowed to use the Ireland entrance. Right now the employee entrance privilege is an unofficial agreement. I assume there are operational reasons why the park can't commit to making it permanent.

Regardless, I would love to see the Premier Member use of the employee entrance to be formally codified as an official benefit.

I can even see setting a time frame on it as they did last year. I just want a level of certainty that I won't be turned around at the guard booth.
 
Zachary said:
Alf33 said:
How about reducing the price of a bottle of water for members to $2.  This was done for one season about five or six years ago but that was it.  I'd like this as I primarily drink water when I'm there.

This, in my opinion, is about a million times better than any of the "free stuff" perks that I've seen suggested.

Honestly, at the end of the day, I just really don't want to pay full price for drinks but I also really never want to carry a bottle.

I would be fine paying up front for a "Cupless Drink Plan" where I essentially pay for the bottle without getting the bottle and can just use normal cups at the standard refill price instead. Assuming the existing refill cup program is a viable, profitable offering, the park would still easily make a profit off of me and I'd honestly probably be buying a lot more drinks too.

I like it too more than the 'free stuff' thinking about it. Part of it would make me admit that it's why I spent more time at KD than BGW this year. That and SC being in KD.

So I want to take those two reasons and come up with a proposal that ties in both of these:
A free shuttle, at the top and bottom of every hour, that runs from BGW to WCUSA and back. Then as a BGW member you can start your day at BGW (or park there); catch the shuttle to WCUSA, spend a few hours, shuttle back, spend some time in the park. I'm not sure how many other members spend less than a full day at BGW, but my visits were usually 4 hours or less. Something like that turns it into all day (meaning more drinks, more snacks, more money spent on things I don't need haha).

And the cupless drink plan is brilliant, and I would suggest though:
Basic Members - (just throwing out a number here) $35 extra to get the plan
Unlimited - $20 extra to get the plan
Premier - included

I would be ok with it being tiered in that the better a plan you get the better of a 'perk' it becomes to add it in.
 
Zimmy said:
 
I REALLY like the idea of a dedicated lounge (perhaps in Ireland to go with the exclusive entrance?).
The Castle O'Sullivan building is right there to theoretically serve as a member's lounge, as noted earlier... so why not setup some Tensabarriers at a new Ireland "members' entrance" to direct guests immediately into the building's side door? Then members' days can start right off with the exclusive guest experience.

Or if that door is a bad option, then just funnel entering members to the shady alcove in front of the building. Close enough. Lounge on the left, restrooms straight ahead, in a somewhat sleepier section of the park, accessible from the employee gate, and immediately adjacent to the best parking lot ... it's a great place to start a park visit.

My favorite part of using the employee gate is just driving the same winding roadway every vehicle used back in the 80s and 90s, which did a terrific job of immersing visitors in a more attractive transition from the New World to the Olde Country. The "new" entrance has far greater capacity and makes a lot of logistical sense -- I can't imagine how the park would operate without it at this point -- but it doesn't take you away from the outside world the way the old gate did (and still does).
 
So I'm just going to quote all the ideas I really like. There are so many really great ideas that I can't even think of my own original ideas. You guys are coming up with some really fantastic perks!

Ideas I Really Like... said:
Zachary said:
First off, this is an incredible opportunity for every member of the ParkFans Forum. I hope people realize the gravity of the situation at hand and act accordingly. This community has been given a chance to prove its worth in a way in which few of us ever imagined it would be. With that said...

I’m cheating a bit here. Since I knew this thread was coming, I drafted a response to it before the thread went live—both because I wanted to model adherence to the park’s proposed guidelines and, well, because I’m pretty damn passionate about my first recommendation…




By far the best season pass perk I’ve ever encountered is SeaWorld Orlando’s pass member lounge. Just having a relatively exclusive, climate-controlled place to go and hang out with some free drinks is, honestly, one of the most substantial guest experience improvements I’ve ever encountered. Though I do really enjoy the limited menu that SWO’s pass member lounge serves, I don’t think it’s essential to the overall experience.

SeaWorld Orlando’s lounge IS great, but we want to top theirs, right? So how do I picture the perfect BGW Membership Lounge?

First off, a big problem I have with SWO’s lounge is that it is just a pass member perk. I believe the perfect membership lounge can and should do a lot more than that. In fact, I think a membership lounge can make money.

Let's look at Disney for a second. Each and every Walt Disney World park has multiple Disney Vacation Club sales counters inside its gates. The only purpose of these booths is to push DVC sales. Universal Studios has something similar in their park’s as well.

Why can’t the welcome counter at a theoretical membership lounge double as a guest services counter? When guests without memberships inevitably walk up and ask what the lounge is, the guest services employee behind the counter can reply not only with “This is a lounge exclusive to park membership holders” but continue with “would you be interested in seeing how much it would cost to upgrade to one of our Membership programs today?”

For such a welcome counter to be an effective sales counter though, the lounge would need to go somewhere with a prominent entrance. I believe this is one of the shortcomings of the limited-run Pass Member Lounge BGW tested inside Das Festhaus a while back—few people walked by the entrance to the Festhaus Cafe/Brauhaus by mistake. To be a real success, I think visibility is key.

So, in light of the prominent location and climate control requirements, location ideas?

I believe Wilkommenhaus is a solid choice. Over the last few years it has been a building without much direction—during the main season it has been everything from a snack shop (right across the street from another low-trafficked snack shop) to a gift shop (within view of two of the best gift shops in the park) to an empty sitting area (right next to an existing sitting area). Another huge plus to Wilkommenhaus that the park already has experience running a guest services location out front (for the escape rooms). Theoretically they should be able to pull those temporary booths out again, give them a coat of paint, and be up and running without too much trouble.

The big drawback to Wikommenhaus? It’s seasonal. The space would be needed for escape rooms in the fall and a cookie shop in the winter.

Since I would really prefer a year-round option, Annie’s seems like an obvious choice—especially since it has only been open seasonally over the last couple years. Unfortunately, Annies lacks the bold, obvious entry that I’m imagining and I think it is probably way too small anyway. With that in mind, I think I have a better year-round option: Rhinefeld’s candy shop.

Last year the candy store in Rhinefeld was closed almost the entire season due to it simply not being profitable. Given its incredibly prominent location, it’s painfully obvious when this store sits dark. Aside from its small size, it seems like this could be a really good “tiny, first year” membership lounge option—super visible, currently vacant location that isn’t used for special events and is fully climate controlled.

If the park wanted to start off in a larger venue though and they are looking for a year-round location (as I would be), SOCO (Castle O’Sullivan) is probably the best solution. Aside from the occasional dine, the place is typically vacant. It has a fairly prominent entry area, an existing booth which can be used as a guest services counter, and even already features soda fountains. SOCO does have its drawbacks though. The fact that the stage-centric layout doesn’t ooze “lounge” being a rather major one in my opinion.

So, what would this perfect membership lounge offer to park members?

First off, let Coke sponsor the hell out of it. Don’t let them paint the building red or anything like that, but feel free to make it as Coke-branded as possible inside. Why? Free fountain drinks are a staple of the SeaWorld Orlando lounge and all of the Disney lounges. Hell, lets copy Epcot’s Club Cool—sell domestic Coca-Cola products at normal park prices and have Coke products exclusive to the countries represented by the park’s hamlets on tap for free. Ultimately, how this goes at Club Cool is that everyone realizes that good ol’ American Coca-Cola is the best and, after sampling the international flavors, just goes and buys a bottle of Coke anyway.

Other ways for the lounge to turn a profit?

Going back to SeaWorld Orlando for a moment, something their welcome desk offers are special plastic membership cards. Right now at BGW, in order to get a plastic membership card, you have to be “in the know.” The average AP holder has no idea that you can go out to the guest services building up the hill from the turnstiles, pay $5, and get a hard plastic card. I know that, right now, the profits from the plastic cards go to the Conservation Fund, but, maybe, it’s time to shake that up some.

Previously SEAS parks offered a wide variety of different cards (each for $5). I ADORED my Verbolten hard pass for years and was gutted when the park’s stock finally ran out. Not long ago guest services accidently allowed the sale of old plastic cards that were supposed to be discontinued that featured Killarney and Emerald Beat. I have a friend who was ecstatic to have scored one and, needless to say, I’m incredibly jealous of it to this day (please hook me up BGW!)

Anyway, last time I was at SeaWorld Orlando, they were selling a plastic pass featuring art from Guy Harvey (shark for the debut of Mako of course). I know BGW used to sell pink ribbon plastic cards with all the profits going to breast cancer research. Aquatica had a selection of custom ones back in the day too—featuring their various animal mascots. Maybe the solution is to have a handful of (rotating?) options—some, like the Conservation Fund card, with money going to a charity and others, like a theoretical Battle for Eire card, with money going to the park.

Something else SeaWorld’s lounge does well? AP-exclusive merchandise. Last time I was down at SWO’s lounge, I believe they had an exclusive pass member shirt, two exclusive lanyards, a few exclusive pins, and the previously mentioned exclusive hard card design from Guy Harvey. I don’t think BGW’s merch lineup needs to be quite that extensive (especially at first), but even just an exclusive shirt that only membership holders are able to buy would be a pretty big plus.

PS: As Disney shows constantly, limited run merch is the way to go for dedicated park fans. A lanyard or similar that is “1 of 2,000” is vastly more appealing than the same lanyard that’s part of a much larger batch. Limited-run merch like this would also make the Member Lounge a place pass members want to regularly check in on. It would also give the park a chance to make merchandise for some less-merchandised attractions or even reprint old, since discontinued merch (DarKastle, Ludwig and all, even now, still deserves a shirt!).

Lastly, lets talk about what I would fill the lounge with: old stuff. Retired merchandise and the thousands of old props and signs the park typically throws away—put that stuff in the member lounge. Then, keeping with the theme I’ve set forth throughout this whole post, put a price tag on it.

In effect, the decorations inside the membership lounge would always be changing as items are sold and replaced. And before someone says there isn’t enough of a market for this stuff, I have to disagree. I know a ton of people who would buy anything the park put out with a Celtic Fyre logo. I know entire clubs dedicated to people who would get into a fist fight over any piece of metal they were told came off of a coaster. Old banners? There’s a market. Howl-O-Scream decorations? Sign me up. Plus, this is stuff that is damn near 100% profit for the park. The park already got their use out of this stuff and it was heading for a dumpster.

And I get that this just sound like an enthusiast's pipe dream, but this formula is already in use at Universal Studios Orlando with Williams of Hollywood where it seems to work brilliantly.

Anyway, I think that is about it. Give people free drinks (especially unique ones they can’t get anywhere else!), some comfortable chairs, and climate control and I’ll be thrilled. That said, I think the park could really take a membership lounge the extra mile and maybe even turn an actual profit from it through exclusive plastic card and merch sales, retired prop and sign sales, drink and snack sales, and on-site ticket upgrades out front.

Frankly, even ignoring the Membership program for a second, a guest services counter somewhere inside the park would be a huge plus to me and, I have to imagine, others as well. There are times I’m in the park and want to book a dining experience or tour and, honestly, having to go all the way back up to Banbury to do so is a pretty big downer. I could see a location like this really helping sales of more spur-of-the-moment-type experiences like the long-struggling Wine on the Rhine during Food & Wine. Put out a chalkboard sign advertising it and allow people to book right there.

Hell, the park could even place one of those new, manned, map stations nearby and they will have basically created a full-service guest information center—something that seems like a pretty substantial guest experience addition by itself.



Zachary said:
Pretzel Kaiser said:
3) Give members their own line to enter the park.  The current system is kind of a mess between poorly defined queues and people encountering problems they can't fix at the gate.  This would let pass members get in quickly and remain with their group.  This benefit is kind of like the employee entrance parking where it makes people who pay the most feel special.

While I do love this perk at Six Flags and Disney parks, I worry that the ratio of Membership holders to non-Membership holders is going to be too large at BGW to justify the existence of such a line. If the park's numbers do work out to make this feasible though, by all means, I'd love it.

Pretzel Kaiser said:
4) Lights on HoS maze tours during preview days.  This is something I've always wanted and this would be a unique way for members to experience the mazes.

This actually leads straight into another big idea I have. I think the park could take Pass Member Park Membership Ride Nights to the next level by focusing them around something unique. Previously I've never been super dedicated to attending pass member nights because it never felt like there was anything tremendously special.

If a ride night offered lights-on rides on Verbolten or Escape from Pompeii, enthusiasts would be beside themselves. Same with a lights-on house walk-through. Over at Kings Dominion during their Fall ACE events, they do group walk-throughs of their newest house(s) led by people who worked on the house throughout its development. Adjustments would have to be made to enable something like this to work on a ride night scale, but it is honestly one of the neatest things I've ever experienced.

Furthermore these offerings could be used as promotions for the HOS/Roller Coaster Behind the Scenes tours. "If you enjoyed this lights-on Verbolten ride, get a look behind the scenes at ground level on our Verbolten tour!" or "If you'd like to see behind the scenes at other houses featured at the event, meet our makeup team, etc. you can book a Howl-O-Scream Insider tour for 25% off tonight-only."

Joe said:
Early Ride Time

One of the best perks of my Kings Dominion pass is Early Ride Time (ERT). The way it works is pass members, after entering the park, show their passes to a security guard stationed at a rope barricade before the park opens to the public. They are then admitted to one area of the park where usually two major rides are open for 30 minutes of exclusive ride time before official opening time. This has been done on daily and weekend-only operation over the years.

From a guest’s perspective, this is a fantastic perk because it provides a exclusive, personal access to the park and allows us to get a few rides in with minimal waiting. For the park, I imagine this is beneficial because it gives me incentive to arrive early, and I normally end up buying extra snacks and drinks because I am spending more time in the park.

I could certainly see the system working fairly smoothly at BGW, although the staggered village opening times which vary from day to day would complicate things a bit. A solution could be that one designated village, say Festa Italia, always opens at a certain time for ERT. So, if Banbury Cross opens at 9:30 am one day, Festa Italia would also open at 9:30 before it and the remaining villages open to the general public at 10. Guests would enter the park as normal, proceed to the rope barricade near Escape from Pompeii, present their membership cards to security, and continue to Festa Italia for 30 minutes of ride time on, say, Apollo’s Chariot and Tempesto. Certainly this would be an amazing perk and would encourage me and my family to arrive at the park early.





Early Entry

Now, perhaps Early Ride Time isn’t cost-effective for BGW. Perhaps the cost-benefit ratio of ERT at BGW would not be the same as it is at KD.

However, a solution that would be significantly less costly and easier to execute, while still being a valuable perk, is Early Entry. At Kings Dominion’s Soak City, and up to 15 minutes before opening time, pass members can present their passes to a security officer stationed just past the entrance, and are then admitted into the water park.

The key difference from ERT is that no rides are open. Early Entry simply allows guests to enter the park a few minutes early. However, this is still a lovely perk because it allows time to, say, purchase a locker, stow loose items, migrate to various areas of the water park, and queue up outside an attraction without being caught in the hordes of guests. Then, when the attractions do open as regularly scheduled, pass members get to be the first ones in line.

I think this would be especially valuable at BGW. One rope barricade, such as the one at the Killarney Crossing, could be designated as the Early Entry point. If Ireland, France, and New France officially open at 10 am, starting at 9:45 members could be admitted into this portion of the park. This would allow plenty of time to reach a specific destination, purchase and fill up a locker, and line up outside the entrance to an attraction.

The entire experience would be infinitely more relaxing than racing with the crowds as the general public floods the park and dashes to their first attractions of the day. Plus, since Early Entry simply gives early access to the park without providing any actual service, it seemingly would not be expensive on the park’s end.




Quick Queue

Another small perk of Kings Dominion’s pass program is that each guest is given one unlimited, one-day Fast Lane pass when they renew their pass. As another use has suggested, providing one Quick Queue pass to members would cost virtually nothing to the park but would really give guests the, “Wow, they really do care!” impression.

Now, I think the biggest flaw with Kings Dominion’s system is that their Fast Lane passes are given when a member renews their pass. Naturally, this means the use of Fast Lane backs up dramatically in the Fall when most members renew their passes. At BGW, a solution is that the single Quick Queue pass could be redeemed at any point in the year; it would be a perk for already owning a pass rather than a perk for renewing it. Naturally, blackout dates could be included so there isn’t an overload of member-issued Quick Queue use on, say, July 4th.

Overall, I feel Quick Queue would be an incredibly inexpensive choice for the park while making a positive impact on the member’s attitude toward the membership program.




Meetings with Park Executives

I absolutely love running into park executives randomly throughout the park and chatting with them. This intimate, one-on-one time with management adds a genuinely personal touch to the park and offers a great attempt to express shared passions and communicate ideas and concerns. There is just something really special, magical, even empowering about the chance to meet the men and women at the top who bring the park to life.

Unfortunately, nearly all of my encounters with park executives have been by chance as I happen across them somewhere in the park. I would absolutely relish a designated time for members to meet with executives such as the Park President, the Executive Chef, the Vice President of Engineering, the Vice President of Marketing (wink-wink), and so forth.

I certainly think there is demand for a such a “meet and greet.” Even my chance encounters with executives have often ended because another guest has come by wanting to talk with the executive too, and on at least one occasion I have seen an impromptu line form to meet the Park President! Designated time to meet management would add such a personal touch to the park and its perks for members.




I have dozens more ideas, but these are the ones I feel are most valuable to guests and most cost-effective for the park. If there is demand, I would love to share more!

Also, I would like to give my sincerest gratitude toward Zachary, Nicole, and Gavin for landing this fantastic opportunity, and to the Busch Gardens Marketing team for their incredible interest and proactivity and having the voices of their guests heard. It really makes me feel as though my opinion as a guest truly has value, and this is a level of caring that I have never seen a park in the industry extend before. Thank you, BGW!










 
Zachary said:
I would be fine paying up front for a "Cupless Drink Plan" where I essentially pay for the bottle without getting the bottle and can just use normal cups at the standard refill price instead. Assuming the existing refill cup program is a viable, profitable offering, the park would still easily make a profit off of me and I'd honestly probably be buying a lot more drinks too.

As much as I love my souvenir bottles (I have a huge Rubbermaid tub full of them from almost every park I've been to) I don't want to have to remember to bring it with me. That includes the bottles even so, I forget to bring it with me most of the time. It's also hard to keep up with it at the park, especially since you aren't supposed to bring loose articles into the ride stations. Depending on the ride, sometimes the ride ops will let you leave your bottle on the side of the station but that's not always a guarantee I've had my bottle stolen before. I'm sure it was a mistake, but it happens. I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to bring a backpack or carry anything with me when I'd at a theme park. If it doesn't fit in my fanny-pack, I don't want to bring it into the park. I have my car key, my ID, my pass, and my debit card. If I buy anything I'll use package pickup. A Bottle-less Drink Plan would be ideal, even though I'll probably buy the bottle anyway to add to my collection.
 
So many great ideas! This really is such a cool concept on the Parks end.

My requests would be simple.

1. Some sort of benefit during events, like an even bigger discount on samplers during F&W. We are big food people in my house so food would go a looong way.
2. Cheaper lockers at WCUSA
3. Can I get like one free ride photo on my bday? Invader opened on my birthday and I bought a souvenir photo and it's a keepsake to me! Lol
4. I really want a stuffed narwhal prize. I couldn't win one if my life depended on it. I'm not expecting the park to do anything, I just wanted to express that
 
I want to echo one other thing. The idea of sell old stuff to members. As has been pointed out Universal has stores dedicated to this, but knowing our insane group as I do I think we could actually take it further. I am, and I know you all are going to find this shocking, a bit obsessed with Nessie. She has to replace wheels and other reasonably sized parts on a semi regular basis. I for one would give my eye teeth to have old Nessie parts. I do not collect much of anything, I don't go in for bottles, maps, or pins. But if I could have a wheel, or something that was uniquely Nessie, bought, given, won, or otherwise, that would be huge. I know lots of B&M guys who would feel the same about Alpie or the others.
 
despite objections to a loyalty program, even though no one clearly read where I said it didn't have to be about years, but could be about the amount of money you spend (basically an accrued credits type thing), I still think there needs to be a rewards program of some sort
 
Personally I think number of $$ is even worse.  Frankly I am not certain why a Tiered based loyalty program even makes sense except for some kind of bragging rights.

Based off of $$ you are actually punishing the people who in fact show the most loyalty. Those who have the least expendable income and still choose to spend it at the park. Frankly they are the ones who, if you must, deserve a little extra something. (not that there is ANYWAY to do that without horrible embarrassment or with fairness)
 
I tend to agree. An expenditures-based rewards system merely rewards those with more disposable income.

One exception I can see is a program emulating many cafes, ice cream parlors, etc, where guests get a free X after purchasing some amount of X during a single season.
 
Count me in the camp of not being a fan of things based on length of membership and how much you spend. I feel either it needs to be available to everyone or, like Nicole suggests, just a free something after so many purchases of something.

Rewards based on years puts people that move into the area at a disadvantage to people who have lived in the area long term. Also hurts people that needed to take time off for various reasons.

Reports based on amount spent is hard to because some people have more to spend, some live closer and would be there more, and some just wouldn't spend enough in short spurts to take advantage to it.

I would plea that any extra things added to the membership are things that are the same for everyone regardless of years holding a pass/membership and amount you've spent. A 'level playingfield' in that way is how you grow it without alienating some people.
 
Let's also not confuse "loyalty" with "entitlement".

I dislike the idea of a tiered reward system because the pass system is already teired. The most I can see is maybe something like a pretzel punch card, but it would have to be available to all members.
 
I am opposed to any membership benefits system that doesn't provide the same benefits to everyone on a particular tier (whether that be "loyalty" rewards, raffles, etc).

My earlier proposal was not for a membership benefit, but for a rewards program exclusive to membership holders. As stated in my earlier post, the funds for such a promotion should not come out of the membership benefits pool—my membership should simply be used to track progress toward rewards.

It should be a financially self-sufficient promotion. Think punch-card at a sandwich shop—you don't pay membership dues at Subway—but, for every certain number of subs you buy, get a free one to encourage you to keep coming back.
 
lilleape said:
Another idea that would be nice for the Unlimited and Premier membership levels would be to extend the Preschool Pass to include HoS and CT. Or have it be an add-on for a nominal fee for the Unlimited membership and free for the Premier membership.


This is something I have always wished was possible. I have small children and am local to Williamsburg. Unfortunately we don’t visit BG after Labor Day since their passes run out. I would love for them to be able to visit in the fall and at CT with their PP.
 
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Just to clarify, I wasn't suggesting that a loyalty based program be the only perk. I think it should be in addition to other perks that are equal to everyone.

I understand that everyone has their own situations and may not be able to achieve long-term memberships, but you have to look at it from the park's bueinss perspective. Those people's satisfaction is much more important than people who come for just a year or two. It costs the park a whole lot less to retain existing members than it does to constantly market themselves to new people.

Also, I fully understand that some people have more disposable income than others. Again, from a business perspective, the park is most interested in attracting those people and retaining them as members. It's less beneficial for them to have a lot of members who don't spend as much money on each visit.

There are already benefits included in membership that all members receive. I'm sure a few more perks will be added. I just feel that something extra for those people on whom the park can make a bit more profit and have a lower marketing expenditure would be a good move for the company.
 
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