Busch Gardens has always taken great pride in the beauty of the park. Some people believe that's been going by the wayside recently.(Some even say since the addition of Festa Italia.) Larry Giles has been the VP of Engineering for over 20 years now, yet some think he doesn't care too much for building around trees/other obstacles. That's pretty sad, because of all the management in the park I've always had great respect for him. If you think of it, Alpengeist and Apollo's Chariot, are the only ones that didn't get all the surrounding trees bulldozed since before the '80s. That was only because B&M promised to alter the terrain as little as possible. For this reason John Reilly (former GM) and Larry supposedly did not get along very well. There is a more complex story behind, but it's more than I am not willing/able to share. I often like to talk about this, though, because I think he is one of the most creative people left in the SeaWorld/Busch Gardens chain. That makes up for most of his slight shortcomings. Sometimes I wish I was the CEO, because almost everyone is in the chain for a reason,(even Scott and Carl). I just think some people are in the wrong places. JMHO. Does anyone know who his predecessor was? All I know is August Busch was so "OCD" about keeping trees, that while they were building the park he chose strategically what trees to keep. Some of these trees are still standing, in his honor. If anyone knows more, or would like to share their opinion, please feel free to do so.
