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Nora said:
I wonder how many "tourists," who are here on their first trip to BGW, are questioning why so many attractions are closed. I wonder how this will effect the overall "return visits" to out of town guests. Hopefully they are not upset by so many inconveniences.

Lets not forget that most of the shows now have off days too so if a tourist hits the park on the wrong day, they could entirely miss one of the park's stage shows as well. :-/ And, to top it all off, shows, Europe in the Air, and Pirates 4D are the park's indoor attractions. The list of ways for guests to escape the VA heat while doing something enjoyable is quickly getting shorter and shorter.
 
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Zachary said:
Nora said:
I wonder how many "tourists," who are here on their first trip to BGW, are questioning why so many attractions are closed. I wonder how this will effect the overall "return visits" to out of town guests. Hopefully they are not upset by so many inconveniences.

Lets not forget that most of the shows now have off days as well so if a tourist hits the park on the wrong day, they could entirely miss one of the park's stage shows as well. :-/
*crosses finger* *mutters to self* Let them miss Entwined...Let them miss Entwined...Let them miss Entwined.... That's actually what I think when I watch it.

Back to EitA, maybe they'll just see all the "construction" and think, "There's no way a park I've heard such good things about would board up that cool Soarin' ride and put construction up for no reason...maybe something really cool is being built!" :p
 
I hope they use this time wisely. There better not be a single blank wall in the house. Heck, I even want them to make it so as if you want to stare at walls, because of all the detail.
 
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Nora said:
and with the ops cutbacks making the lines longer..
Is this true? Are the lines actually longer because of less staff? How about lines at the restaurants, are thy also affected? That's terrible if it's true.
 
With EitA down those people are in lines elsewhere. I dare someone to say no one ride it and it won't make a difference.
 
gardener14 said:
Is this true? Are the lines actually longer because of less staff? How about lines at the restaurants, are thy also affected? That's terrible if it's true.

The operations budget overall has been slashed. Expect less trains on coasters during non-peak times, less lines open at eateries, etc. :-/
 
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gardener14 said:
Nora said:
and with the ops cutbacks making the lines longer..
Is this true? Are the lines actually longer because of less staff? How about lines at the restaurants, are they also affected? That's terrible if it's true.

Well you see, major roller coasters in the park have 3 trains they can run at a time(except for Verbolten which can run up to 5 trains at a time.) Usually on days that aren't so busy they usually only run 2 trains on each coaster(again except for Verbolten which usually runs 5 no matter how busy the park is). When a coaster runs 2 trains it requires less people to operate it. this is how many people it takes to operate the coasters during 2 train operations:

AC: 4 employees to operate(2 to check harnesses, 1 to operate the control panel, 1 to monitor the Quick Queue, and other misc. things)
Alpengeist: 4 employees to operate(2 to check harnesses, 1 to operate the control panel, 1 to monitor the Quick Queue, and other misc. things)
Griffon(this is the one that I'm not too sure about): 4 employees?(3 to check harnesses, 1 to operate the control panel, usually 1 of the people who is checking harnesses also monitors the QQ)
LNM: 3 employees to operate(2 to check harnesses, and 1 to operate the control panel, the employee closest to the exit monitors for handicap people to come in, since their is no QQ on LNM)
Verbolten: During 5 train operations, and 4 train operations it takes 5 employees to operate (4 to check harnesses, and 1 to operate the control panel)

Now on 3 train operations LNM, AP, and Alpengeist need an additional employee to check harnesses, to speed up the process. I think Griffon Might need an additional employee to check harnesses, but that is the only one that I'm not sure about, so if the park can't afford to pay the additional employees for 3 train operations then they will not run 3 trains even on busy days which will make the lines longer.

Also, Darkastle has a different amount of employees to operate it depending on how many ride vehicles they are running. On less busy days they will operate less ride vehicles, so they only open 1 loading zone, and 1 exit zone. On busier days they'll operate more ride vehicles which requires them to open 2 loading zones, and 2 exit zones which requires 2 more employees, on top of the other countless employees it already takes to operate it. If the Park can't afford to pay those 2 extra employees on busy days then it will make the lines longer.

Also eateries will have less lines open, because the park can't afford to pay the extra employees to operate the extra lines. Then on busier days lines at eateries with less lines open will be longer.

EDIT: I get this information, only on my numerous observations at the park, if some of my information is incorrect please don't criticize me.
 
chickenking said:
But the park can afford GLOW bugs? Priorities out whack me thinks.

Different departments can spend their money any way they want basically. While operations may lack the funding for two team members at each coaster, entertainment may have a few extra bucks to pay for those bugs.

BTW, eateries are under Culinary not Operations, but in general even if just one thing closed, that is more people that would be in the line out on the pathway or in another line. This is why the park added RoAE because it took people out of the pathway and other lines, granted it may not have been the best maze it still took people off the pathway.

Just think with EitA, Mach Tower, Pirates 4D all closed, I wonder how much of an impact that made? Because if you add up all the people that would be on those rides, in those lines, or watching that show, they are all now elsewhere in the park in other lines or shows or on the pathways making things more congested and slow.
 
Party Rocker said:
While operations may lack the funding for two team members at each coaster, entertainment may have a few extra bucks to pay for those bugs.

This is perhaps the dumbest thing I have ever read on these forums in total. WOW. Let me get a hold of myself here. Woah. LOL. Really?

"Entertainment may have a few extra bucks to pay for those bugs," really!??!??!?! That has to be the joke of the century. Have you not seen the sorry tail state that that department is in? Paying who knows what amount they paid for that monstrosity? REALLY?!?

Let's call it a massive misallocation of resources.
 
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Came across this link, on the ScreamScape site, to an Orlando newspaper article about cutbacks in the main year round parks in FL. This included information from a SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. executive (CFO) concerning cutbacks including operating hours. he talked about staggering park section openings on slow days (shoulder seasons). This article does appear to re-enforce what Zach is hearing through the BGW grapevine.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-07-04/business/os-theme-parks-cutting-hours-20130704_1_theme-parks-cost-cuts-universal-orlando
 
OriginalPoster said:
Morran Tomlinson Brown
I was very disappointed with the way Busch Gardens and Orbitz treated me as a customer. I purchase 5 tickets for Busch Gardens and Water Country USA (2 adult and 3 children) along with a hotel. I tried to redeem my ticket and was told that it was only valid for one park even though the description clearly states get two parks for one price. I called Orbitz who yes I know what the the description says but we cant control it as it comes directly from Bush Gardens and they can do nothing to help. Even though the product they sold me was not being honored. They transferred me to Busch Garden who basically said that they could do nothing since I did not purchase the tickets directly from them. In the mean after driving almost 300 miles and not wanting to disappoint my children I had I was forced to come up with another $200 for water park tickets. I cant believe that this has happen two companies refusing to stand behind their product and false advertisement. Passing the buck and leaving me to holding the bag. A company should stand behind it product or not sell it. If I purchase an apple product or any other manufacturer product at Walmart or any other authorize retailer I cant imagine that manufacturer saying you did not buy form us so we cant help you. Amazon would not have told me like Orbitz did we cant control what the sellers description says. Shame on you Busch Garden and Orbitz your behavior is reprehensible. Your actions caused harm to children and that is unacceptable. You should honor your product.
 
Been doing some research on this here is another possibility the company that made EITA has since gone out of business. In some cases this has led in other parks to after a key part failure either extended or permanent closure of rides to see if it's possible to fix. Not saying this is the case but given the short notice it seems as a strong possibility.
 
horsesboy said:
Been doing some research on this here is another possibility the company that made EITA has since gone out of business. In some cases this has led in other parks to after a key part failure either extended or permanent closure of rides to see if it's possible to fix. Not saying this is the case but given the short notice it seems as a strong possibility.

The simulator was built by a company called Reflectone. That company went out of business, but was re-opened as CAE U.S.A.
They can still get replacement parts, but it costs a lot more now. Both Williamsburg and Tampa had the same simulator system, and it opened as the same ride(Questor).
As they heard Reflectone was going out of business, both parks bought as many of the rare spare parts as they could, so they wouldn't have to get them custom-made. When Tampa got rid of their ride, they scrapped most of it, and sent some parts to Williamsburg.
Perhaps, they have gotten to the point where they would have to contract another company, and at this point, I don't think it's worth it. This is only an educated guess as to what might have happened. I can't call it official until the park says something (which the probably won't).
 
Well, it's about word usage, you see. From etymonline:

Etymonline said:
temporary (adj.) -
1540s, from Latin temporarius "of seasonal character, lasting a short time," from tempus (genitive temporis) "time, season" (see temporal). The noun meaning "person employed only for a time" is recorded from 1848.

So you see, they're simply using the word temporary in its old, old form, and saying that this attraction is closed for time. And the time they're referring to is time. As in all time. Time. Forever.

Temporarily forever.

Hopefully that clears it up a little.
 
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