For better or worse, BGW has proven with the removal of This is Oktoberfest that not even the most-beloved, most-iconic, most-thematically-perfect show is sacred.
I'm deeply conflicted on Celtic Fyre. On one hand, it has long overstayed its reasonable runtime and, in the name of keeping things fresh and interesting, it should be replaced. That said, the park has yet to produce a main season entertainment product that comes close to rivaling Celtic Fyre. Assuming this trend would continue, whatever replaces Celtic Fyre would almost certainly be worse than Celtic Fyre.
This situation is very reminiscent of how I feel about many Howl-O-Scream houses. Bitten long overstayed its welcome, but, at the same time, seeing it replaced with a house that I feel is strictly worse feels wrong. Same with Dead Line. Sure, it was getting old, but there was no reasonable expectation that BGW would top the house quality of Dead Line with its replacement.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg's entertainment department is very, very weak these days. The products we've seen put forward over the last couple years have ranged from disappointing to horrible and we've not seen anything to suggest that this will change. Given that, I don't know what I want to see happen with the elements of the park experience they control.
I know that when a park becomes a museum, it ceases to be a very good theme park—in other words, the park needs change. I also know that when a park offers new bad products, it may result in a temporary boost, but in the long run it's almost certainly a net negative.
Ultimately, Entertainment has to get their house in order or the park needs to decrease its reliance on and investment in the department. In the short term though, it's a matter of picking our poison whether we want to watch old, once-great products continue to degrade or if we want to see new, sub-par products replace the status quo.
