I resonate with a lot of what you said, and I’m really worried about how the park’s food will fare with the in-park culinary team ousted, but I don’t see what makes the conversion of one of the funnel cake stands to a biergarten inherently a “horrible idea.” Drunk guests are an issue during Haunt, but I’ve never observed that same type of disturbance during the main season — even though plenty of places already serve alcohol like the Parched Pig, Tin Goose Bar, and Grain & Grill.
It’s easy to be jaded by a lot of the bad news that’s come out today, but are we sure this isn’t one of those upgrades that squeaked in before all the cost-cutting happened?
Fair point. I did stop, re-read, and also considered if my reply was jaded before posting. It's possible there's some overlap, but let me break down my thinking as someone who spends around $100/visit on booze:
- They just filed the permit this month. This means they filed
after they knew about the layoffs and food changes.
- Reducing food options while increasing alcohol options means there's likely going to be more alcohol sales to less food sales.
- They have to know that reducing the quality of food is going to reduce the amount of food that patrons
want. Are you going to order that extra side now when it's fries instead of a more premium offering? Are you going to eat that extra meal in the park if it's just tendies vs if it was brisket? They surely aren't going to lower prices simply because they lowered costs so it won't be night & day, but I, for one, surely prefer beef and chimichurri over a very underwhelming slice of overrated & overpriced pizza. I'd probably rather just have another beer instead. Same price, likely more filling, and the desire to
want more food is now changed to a need-only situation.
- This is replacing a food option with an alcohol option, and doing so in a very prominent location in the park. Most others are set aside and even the Parched Pig, while right along a main path, is quite unassuming. If they also add any decor and/or seating, it adds to the draw. My guess (and hope) is it's something like what we saw in the back of Victoria's when they had those small events.
- It's one thing to have a full belly of hearty food (beef loin, a half-chicken, etc.) and have a few beers. It's a whole other ball game doing so on a corn dog.
- Haunt is a whole other ball game and isn't fair to compare. It's supposed to be a reduced-children, adult-oriented event. Make sense to push more alcohol.
It's surely not a guarantee that it changes things, but I think there's enough to have some concern, especially when they appear to be prioritizing profit margins over guest experience.
I find it funny they are opening a Biergarten when they are normally out of all the good beers everywhere they sell them around the park...
I never seem to have this issue, but I generally drink the KD-branded cans from down the road or have one of Barb's pickle margs.
