I usually love Christmas Town, but I had a rather disappointing experience yesterday. I'd go so far as to call it one of the worst days I've had at BGW.
It wasn't so much that the event was problematic- it was the crowd control and the customer service. It was downright lousy yesterday. I really felt crummy being there, like the park just didn't give a crap about my patronage.
I'll start with Verbolten. It was running only one side of its dual station and only three trains were running. An operator told me they only run one side on lightly-attended days... but folks, this was not a lightly attended day. It was far more crowded than both Saturdays that I attended this year. Suffice to say, the line moved at a snail's pace. It reached through the entire tourist center and nearly all of the switchbacks, and an exiting guest said he waited about an hour. Running only one side of a two-station coaster, when it is the park's only operating coaster, on a crowded day, seems like a big middle finger to guests.
I don't buy the excuse that there wasn't enough staff. There were two park employees stationed at the entrance to the queue as greeters. Why not use at least ONE them as an operator instead, and open up the second station? This issue seriously needs to be addressed.
Then we go over to Pretzel World and order some peppermint coco, because I loves me some Christmas Town peppermint coco. Annnddd, they're out of peppermint. At like 4 o'clock. So we go over to Marketplatz. Apparently they were also out of peppermint coco. Is there some sort of peppermint crisis going on that I'm not aware of? Surely the park should be better prepared.
And lights were out everywhere, which was perhaps the most disappointing thing. I know, I know... rain messes with the lights. But it hadn't rained since before noon, and at 8 o'clock half the lights in some areas were still out. I think the park needs to look into how they weatherproof their lights. I noticed that the connections between most of the cords are left exposed, allowing water to works its way into the outlets and mess with the electricity. I always wrap every single cord connection in electrical tape, and it protects the lights from rain. I do not understand why the park does not do this... probably the oldest trick in the book.
And then there are things I just can't put my finger on. The park just felt hollow last night (which is an ironic metaphor, since the pathways were anything but "hollow"). For some reason, I almost got the feeling that after Christmas day, the park doesn't really care as much about the quality of Chrismas Town.
The park wasn't all bad, though. Scrooge No More was performing on top of its game yesterday. They had a swing performer playing Fezziwig, and I actually liked him better than the normal Fezziwig. He had a ton of energy and gave off a believably jolly vibe, fitting his character perfectly and really enhancing his scene.
PLEASE don't take this mini-review as some hateful spitballing. Like I said, I usually love Christmas Town. I really do. But yesterday was disappointing, since the issues above tainted what is usually a fantastic event. I really hope the park looks into addressing these issues in the future.
