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Am I crazy, or did they paint the footpath in England a whole new set of colors?
 
It's the same colors but it does look like it got repainted, which they normally do every year. They probably did it in Feb/March but there's been no traffic on it to wear it down.
Gotcha, thanks. I was worried that I was having a "the dress is gold and white/black and blue" moment, that or my memory isn't very trustworthy. I could've sworn it was brown and red.
 
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FINALLY the correct flags in Banbury. And we won't be there to see it in person. ? Wait...or are those still Union Jacks? Now I can't tell. Okay fans, boots on the ground and report back with photos.
 
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Maybe someone else can speak more definitively but based on what @Zachary has said I get the feeling it’s all in how it goes early. Although given the guest limits I would say unlikely, especially if they hit 1000 guests and everyone is spread out. Doesn’t make sense to add staff and add space if you aren’t adding guests.
What I mean by that is to open a different area like Italy and close the other areas.
 
Just a note for anyone travelling the area on 64 between exits 231 and 242 in both directions have new traffic patterns through the constructions zones so be alert and cautious.
 
Is there any chance that the path on Pantheon's side of the new bridge and the ride "plaza" will be more substantial than what's depicted in the Project 2020 Revealed article? Seeing the drone footage it's obviously not complete in its current state, but at the same time there's barely anything there in the first place. Really hoping I missed an update of even somewhat of a dedicated plaza.
 
A slight update has been made to the shopping section of the Coasters and Craft Brews page. Im sure youll know what it is(I put it in bold anyways)

"Commemorate your return to the park and treat yourself to a souvenir (or two) at Emerald Isle Gifts and Toy’s O’ The Leprechaun located in Ireland, La Belle Shop in France, Trapper Dave’s General Store found in New France, and The Emporium in England."
 
BGW Food Service, if you're listening, I'd love to see a Coasters and Craft Brews freakshake from Josephine's! You've got two days, go!
 
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Wait - why is there a pass member quota to begin with? Seems like a bad move to put a reservation quota on those who have been making monthly payments to the park this whole time.

There's a limit on the number of people that can be in the park at one time, so they have to limit the number of reservations... except they aren't in this case. if they let in more people than they are allowed to have, they could potentially get shut down, I'd think. Now having said that, probably some people won't show up and they'll be fine, as long as they don't let a lot of people do this. Then they might be in a situation where they either need to risk breaking the limit, or turn people away who have reservations.
 
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Wait - why is there a pass member quota to begin with? Seems like a bad move to put a reservation quota on those who have been making monthly payments to the park this whole time.

An unfortunately simple answer: members and pass holders are important to the park's bottom line, but the specific financial feasibility of this opening is dependent on the people willing to pay $45 per person. We don't know the official math, but the 1000-person limit for each 4-hour window has been divided between the different options. They've currently stopped taking reservations from people who won't be paying admission (members/pass holders, fun card holders, people who had purchased single tickets and wish to use them for this event), but are still selling $45 tickets.

Member Preview meant that at least 1000 members were able to reserve a spot. Only they know what percentage of their members were able to make reservations (I hope someone asks Lembke at the press preview today, if it's still going forward), which should hopefully help them negotiate the balance of everything if they repeat this process in subsequent months.
 
Edit: @Memles beat me

Wait - why is there a pass member quota to begin with? Seems like a bad move to put a reservation quota on those who have been making monthly payments to the park this whole time.

Because in order to have any hope of profitability the event needs to sell a certain number of single day $45 tickets too. Since the pass suspension period is still remaining in place until a full reopening happens, this is effectively a free bonus for members.

Now what we probably SHOULD be bitter about is that Fun Cards are being given access too AND they’re pulling from the same pool as Memberships and Legacy APs. Since Fun Cards aren’t a 12 month product, I really think BGW should have already announced that they’ll just be valid for summer 2021 and they shouldn’t be afforded access to anything right now.

Sidenote: I actually think no one should be afforded free access right now—I think everyone having to pay for this event and possible future limited events like this is a much better approach.
 
There's a limit on the number of people that can be in the park at one time, so they have to limit the number of reservations... except they aren't in this case. if they let in more people than they are allowed to have, they could potentially get shut down, I'd think. Now having said that, probably some people won't show up and they'll be fine, as long as they don't let a lot of people do this. Then they might be in a situation where they either need to risk breaking the limit, or turn people away who have reservations.
I'm confused how you say that there isn't a limit in place because there is. They are only allowing a finite amount of reservations. There are still some reservations available for purchase and they have already adjusted amount that was available for members. Regardless they are only allowing so many reservations. When they do what was described they are effectively taking away a reservation from the amount allotted for purchased tickets. The park is honestly probably doing less than 1000 tickets for the express purpose of not going over 1000 people somehow.
 
Edit: @Memles Now what we probably SHOULD be bitter about is that Fun Cards are being given access too AND they’re pulling from the same pool as Memberships and Legacy APs. Since Fun Cards aren’t a 12 month product, I really think BGW should have already announced that they’ll just be valid for summer 2021 and they shouldn’t be afforded access to anything right now.

Sidenote: I actually think no one should be afforded free access right now—I think everyone having to pay for this event and possible future limited events like this is a much better approach.

It's a real "letting the genie out of the bottle" situation. I understand the Fun Card argument in context: the park is going to be open during the period for which they purchased the fun card, so refusing them entry was probably considered a case of particularly bad optics. (I'm also not sure how many Fun Cards would have necessarily been purchased that long in advance, to be honest—most of the cases of fun card holders on the Facebook groups were people long-term planning multi-day trips to the park, but that doesn't seem like a huge subset of likely visitors to this event to me).

But you're right that the easiest way to ensure profitability on these events is to switch to a "members and pass holders get discounted admission, but still have to pay model," but it will be tough to go to that after having made it free this time. Although I suppose they would be able to say "this was an experiment, and we've discovered that we need to adjust our pricing model to continue operating, so we hope our members will understand." Not impossible, but going to be a difficult thing to walk back.

Unrelated: Our first glimpse of the media event, via Twitter:
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Are they going to use the train to block off Elmo and Beyond? I just think that might be a cool look. I'll find out for sure on the 8th.

My guess is no, but they may lower the railroad crossing gates. From past experience when they block off an area they bring in large plants and station a security guard at that spot. They probably need to keep an opening for employees to get through as needed.
 
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