Christmas Town 2022
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So an email today announcing that tomorrow I'll get an announcement about the black Friday sale.
Two questions:
1. How did I miss the email announcing that'll I'll get the announcement about the announcement?
2. Will this be nice extra discounts on in park experiences, or a sale to get new memberships - which is useless for current members?
Two questions:
1. How did I miss the email announcing that'll I'll get the announcement about the announcement?
2. Will this be nice extra discounts on in park experiences, or a sale to get new memberships - which is useless for current members?
In past years it's been passes and single day Christmas Town tickets but I don't remember any in park add one included.
This goes back quite a long time (before memberships were a thing), but I did get really nice Black Friday sales on CT seasonal photo key and Santa's fireside feast.
I thought, considering it was opening night, that it was pretty well done. Shows are definitely still finding their groove (saw quite a few stumbles last night). Other than the wind, it was a pretty nice day. Little windy but I didn’t have any major criticisms. Everything that was advertised to be running was running.
I wasn't impressed.. The lights were noticeably more Spartan and they didn't seem to have the atmosphere of past Christmas Towns. But it is billed as preview week so hopefully there will be some additions to come.
Yeah, I'm going to hold judgement until next weekend, but anyone going this weekend expecting the full experience is going to be VERY disappointed.
At least some artisans are back!
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Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
At least some artisans are back!
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
From what I am hearing from sources that are generally reliable Christmas Town is about 80% set up at this points so those of you who attended this weekend don't expect a huge change in the up coming weeks. I have also heard that the total light display count is actually reduced this year from past years.
Yeah, if they only have 20% to go, that's super plain to see. A reduction in lights and an overall degradation in the sophisticating of the remaining lighting around the park is clearly evident right now. Really starting to look like amateur hour to me.
I will give them a pass on the some lights being out on Friday night. I know that the rain had to have an effect on some of the circuitry. I did notice quite a few trees set up that were not lighted. I imagine that will come this week. O' Tanenbaum was also having some issues on Friday night. On the plus side, the Sky ride was running intermittently. The winds kept causing shutdowns. The biggest negative was some of the guests. They still don't respect the decorations and displays. I watched a family climb into the new nutcracker display near France to get selfies. I also saw a child climb onto one of the gingerbread houses near the German Christmas shop.
So we went to CT last night with the expectation that not everything was up, but we actually found it’s pretty much done. The tree just past the turnstiles is sitting to the side and lit, the fountain is still being changed over from HOS. Shows were good. We saw the candle carver, sure wish he was making candles but just having him back was great! As far as food, Squires had the normal burgers, Trappers the same menu as regular season, Marco closed, Festhaus did have the Christmas dinner for $17 but it’s looks like they are using dessert plates naw. It looked super tiny servings. We opted for Skrimp Shack and it was delicious and had a massive serving. We ordered the Catfish sandwitch $11, Chicken Sandwitch $10 and big box of fries $6. Took right at 10 minutes to get our food and my fish sandwich I had to work to finish. Hope they keep this one around. Was disappointed I couldn’t find coffee anywhere in the park. The starbucks at Grogans was closed and everywhere else I looked only had hot chocolate. Crowds were light, the train was a walk in at about 7:30 and they were running two trains. Love that Santa is back in the ice cream shop, really gives life to that area, that projection the past few years just left that section feeling dead. Also like the new Father Christmas meet at what was Union Jacks, didn’t see him but like the idea. Merch at the Enporium was lacking, didn’t really look anywhere else. We easily did all the shows last night except the one in the Abbey with arriving at 5pm, we just don’t care for that show, sure wish we still had Gloria!
O Tannembaun is looking rough, the trees are really looking bad and the clump
of strobes on the one tree looked like Russ Griswald just dropped them
there and walked away. I would add all the new lights in France looked great!
We went out to Christmas Town last Sunday.
I am sorry to say that pretty much everything that changed is worse than 1 or 2 years ago:
-My kids are definitely missing the activities that they had in the Christmas Maze during the covid season. There really isn't much to do for kids other than the regular attractions and photo ops. The crafting activities and learning about other cultures was a highlight with the kids.
-It seems that Santas workshop was reduced to only Santas Living Room with the photo op. Apparently no pre-show with elves other than the ones ushering you into the living room. My daughter was asking one of the elves where the paper to write Santa a letter is and they were telling her that she could use any paper at home to write a letter and it would be fine. One of the elves tried to save the day by asking one of the other elves if they don't have paper in the back somewhere that they could use. But instead of trying to find something the other elf insisted that they don't have any. At that point my daughter turned around and left while the friendly elf desperately tried to call her back to cheer her up. (my daughter just kept walking)
If anyone actually made it through the line (most of it outside in the cold) and there is a workshop inside, please correct me.
-It seems that the park is putting more and more effort into making sure queues can get longer and longer making it a pain to get to the attractions on slow days and not worth the wait on busy days. Seen the same pattern throughout the season at other events as well. E.g. To exit the train one now has to walk all the way down to the front of the train station and exit over the ramp behind the restrooms. With everyone on the train squeezing through there it is almost impossible to keep track of my kids without getting separated.
-While Celtic Fyre is great I still think that an additional season of basically the same show is a poor replacement for the show that used to run in Ireland before.
-Same goes for the shows in Italy and the Festhaus. I feel like these are a downgrade from 2 years ago.
Bottom line is, while my youngest is still fine with going to Busch Gardens for Christmas town, she is positively excited to go to Kings Dominion for the activities and more pre-teen tailored shows.
My older 2 kids have no interest to go to Busch Gardens anymore at this point with my 11 year-old actually asking me why I did not cancel their membership yet.
I am sorry to say that pretty much everything that changed is worse than 1 or 2 years ago:
-My kids are definitely missing the activities that they had in the Christmas Maze during the covid season. There really isn't much to do for kids other than the regular attractions and photo ops. The crafting activities and learning about other cultures was a highlight with the kids.
-It seems that Santas workshop was reduced to only Santas Living Room with the photo op. Apparently no pre-show with elves other than the ones ushering you into the living room. My daughter was asking one of the elves where the paper to write Santa a letter is and they were telling her that she could use any paper at home to write a letter and it would be fine. One of the elves tried to save the day by asking one of the other elves if they don't have paper in the back somewhere that they could use. But instead of trying to find something the other elf insisted that they don't have any. At that point my daughter turned around and left while the friendly elf desperately tried to call her back to cheer her up. (my daughter just kept walking)
If anyone actually made it through the line (most of it outside in the cold) and there is a workshop inside, please correct me.
-It seems that the park is putting more and more effort into making sure queues can get longer and longer making it a pain to get to the attractions on slow days and not worth the wait on busy days. Seen the same pattern throughout the season at other events as well. E.g. To exit the train one now has to walk all the way down to the front of the train station and exit over the ramp behind the restrooms. With everyone on the train squeezing through there it is almost impossible to keep track of my kids without getting separated.
-While Celtic Fyre is great I still think that an additional season of basically the same show is a poor replacement for the show that used to run in Ireland before.
-Same goes for the shows in Italy and the Festhaus. I feel like these are a downgrade from 2 years ago.
Bottom line is, while my youngest is still fine with going to Busch Gardens for Christmas town, she is positively excited to go to Kings Dominion for the activities and more pre-teen tailored shows.
My older 2 kids have no interest to go to Busch Gardens anymore at this point with my 11 year-old actually asking me why I did not cancel their membership yet.
On one hand I get cutting stuff and reducing pathways to right size for their staffing.
On the other hand the fact that they are so comfortable doing so rather than finding other ways to attack the issue (even if it is making the queue interactive without employees) is a massive disappointment.
On the other hand the fact that they are so comfortable doing so rather than finding other ways to attack the issue (even if it is making the queue interactive without employees) is a massive disappointment.
I didn't want to start a new thread for tonight's "Member Exclusive" night. There was nothing exclusive about it. It was absolutely the poorest excuse for an "exclusive" that I have ever experienced. There were no rides open even before the temperatures dropped. The only 2 food places (excluding the pretzel place) open were the Smokehouse and the Festhaus. Since I am on the Festhaus there was not a beer to be had. The Brauhaus was closed, the beer service in the food area was closed and the front taps were closed. Interestingly the shops throughout the park were open. In other words, "Screw our members and let's see how much merchandise we can sell". What little respect I had for BGW was lost tonight. What a slap in the face to members who decided to go tonight.
I would like to set it straight—rides were open. However, some may not have been open due to staffing related reasons. Knowing how BGW staffs their rides, it’s never ideal. I was there and InvadR was open from opening to sometime after 8 (I rode right around then).
Kinda what I expected and mainly why I skipped tonight. Im actually surprised Somkhouse was open. I wasnt sure if there would be food trucks either so we just gave it a pass and stayed home. When CT was in its heyday was fun to go to just to walk and see all the amazing lights, but its stale now and so many other places as well as home displays do way better jobs putting in impressive displays.
And whats up with that bullshit ornament this year? Does whoever though of that not realize people gather ornaments as keepsakes to hang on their tree year after year to remember experiences of years past? But glad they came up with such a enviromentally friendly save the world solutions for its members this year, too bad the packaged it in plastic and cardboard that will go into the landfill.
And whats up with that bullshit ornament this year? Does whoever though of that not realize people gather ornaments as keepsakes to hang on their tree year after year to remember experiences of years past? But glad they came up with such a enviromentally friendly save the world solutions for its members this year, too bad the packaged it in plastic and cardboard that will go into the landfill.
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I thought it was great. Walked on AC then Pantheon at about 6. Looked like all rides in Festa were open except Tempesto. Didn’t look like Verbolten was open but not sure if temps had dropped by the time we got over there. Swings and all the kid rides in that area were operating. Ate dinner at festhaus and I know the temps were below 40 when we left about 7 so obviously nothing was really going after that. Train ride as always was fun but I have 2 under 5 so they eat it up which obviously helps my perception of it.
Park was empty. Wish Marcos and sky ride were open but not surprising about the sky ride given how cold it was. Had an awesome time and we agreed that Ctown members only night is our favorite night of the year to go.
Last night's Member Night was fantastic. The park was empty. All the employees were incredibly friendly. No lines, except for a short one a Festhaus. We did have a 15 minute wait for Santa, but it was totally worth it. He is so much fun and engaging. All the shows have phenomenal talent. I highly recommend a visit to Father Christmas as he is witty and makes the experience light and fun. Every photo op spot was a walk-on. Almost all the flat rides were open, only the coasters closed down and I'm sure that due to the cold, however Invadr was still running at 8pm. The guests were all friendly and well behaved.
Glad to hear someone had a good time. Haven't heard many positive reports out of BGW since the middle of HoS, and nearly none for CT. Hopefully next year we see DarKoaster help out with some of the cold-weather ride closure issues and I expect it to add value to fringe-season operations as a whole.
HoS was "Screw our guests and let's see how many people we can cram into a skeleton-crew-staffed park.", so at least it's nice to see change for CT.
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