Halloween Harvest 2020

[Memles]

If you want to maximize your time in the park and get an early ride on Nessie/Finnegan’s, get there 45 minutes early and you’ll be in the park by 4:45 likely.

Or, if you would prefer not to wait at the parking gate, get there around 4:45, since the early birds will have cleared out by then. You’ll have a slightly longer wait to get your membership/reservation scanned, but will still move smoothly. I’ve arrived 15-30 minutes after the park opened my last two visits, and had no problems entering smoothly, so unless you’re an hour or more late it shouldn’t be a problem.

 

[woodardhsd]

Does anyone know if they are allowing you to pay for parking at the toll plaza, rather than pre-paying online?

 

[Zachary]

Yep, you can still pay in person.

 

[WDWRLD]

One thing that bugs me about Harvest and I really hope they fix it before CT Lite is the inconsistant offerings. I know though this has been a ongoing issue with BGW but with limited offerings its just amplified now. So we were at the park wednesday evening and there was almost no one there. We specifically went to see some of the things that we had seen people posting about that hadnt been open previous visits. We were happy to see the candy store in England open but again we only saw 3 scare actors in Festa but there was one by Verbolten. Other than that nothing new and no DJ by Marco Polos. The pretzel place across from Verbolten was open so we got a pretzel and sat for a while by the swings enjoying some fresh fall air and we were basically the only ones there. By the time we made it back to England the candy store was closed, guess they shut the doors at 9pm sharp. No biggie we will be back Saturday, which should be busy since its the Saturday before halloween so everything for the event should be open.....nope. We got there about 30 minutes after the time slot opened and no candy store. Basically the reason we went back on Saturday. The rest of the park was the same as far as scare actors, there was 2 by Verbolten and the DJ was playing. But the park was pretty empty. Anyhow....no fudge for me. This brings me to this point. If you are a paying guest theres really no night you can pick and get the full event for your moneys worth.

 

[Zachary]

I can't really complain about bonus things being open or closed. As long as everything that is advertised is open, I think that's all we can reasonably expect. Hell, consider normal operations—things that are advertised on the website are closed all the time due to lower than crowd levels. I can count on one hand how many times I've seen some eateries open over the last couple years. I'm not saying it's a good thing—but honestly just opening what is advertised is an improvement in my opinion.

I get the frustration, but it definitely isn't a battle I'd pick. Honestly, complaining about the inconsistencies in unadvertised options just encourages the park not to open additional things... ?

 

[ludmarco]

As long as BGW puts our safety first and does everything they can to prevent the spread of COVID (which they have been), I’m pretty content

 

[WDWRLD]

I was thinking more along the lines of say someone on this forum that reads what various people have posted as being open. Then they visit say once from out of town paying for tickets for a family of four. Then they arrive and things they expected to be open because they were for other paying guests they don’t get.I also get the fact that this is something extra but I also get the fact that we as members are floating the park a loan with no interest every month right now so they stay afloat. I keep hearing the recurring statement that the park must be making enough to cover costs yet no one mentions how many people are like me that are handing over $60 a month to them with a promise that when they open they will make it right. If they are right now using the money they are bringing in through members and pass holders to finance these events and when they do officially reopen we get way scaled back operations due to cost cutting measures because they are now not charging people for all those months then was it really worth it?

 

[WDWRLD]

As long as BGW puts our safety first and does everything they can to prevent the spread of COVID (which they have been), I’m pretty content

Doing everything they can would be just staying closed....im
trying really hard not to turn this into a covid discussion and derailing the thread but plastering the word “safety”
on everything and using it as a excuse is tiring.

 

[warfelg]

Regarding the discussion on things being open or closed:

I'm reminded of a line from "Scrubs" right now ~ "Tough Titties Turkleton". Basically the things that need to be open is what's listed on the site. Random games or food stands being open when they don't need to be is just extra they are giving us. If you are coming from that far away to a limited access, and limited availability, and limited time; why the heck would you be shocked if not everything is open. I'm sorry but if you come expecting everything to be open, then that's on you as an individual rather than the park because you heard from someone one day on a forum that something was open one operating period one day.

 

[WDWRLD]

Well....we went to the park with the intent on getting fudge to take home and something else sweet for dessert since it was the 8-12 time slot and that was well after we had dinner. The fact is we ended up not spending a penny in the park when we went there with plans on snacks and a couple drinks.

 

[Nicole]

https://www.kilwins.com/stores/kilwins-williamsburg

Wythe Candy & Gourmet Shop | Colonial Williamsburg Merchants Square

merchantssquare.org

 

[BGW Family]

Definitely Kilwins. Fudge even better than BGW glory days. Then down a few doors to Aromas for a healthy liquid chocolate shot of S'Mores Latté or a Captain's Mocha Espresso. If it's hot out, a Spiked Fruit Smoothie after a few scoops from the Baskin-Robbins across the road.

 

[Zimmy]

Doing everything they can would be just staying closed....im
trying really hard not to turn this into a covid discussion and derailing the thread but plastering the word “safety”
on everything and using it as a excuse is tiring.

During this strange time and this broke ass year, I think it seems reasonable to assume operations are going to be spotty. It seems you expect everything to be normal. That's cool man, you do you. But Dude... What I can not understand is why you keep spending all this money on a place you don't like... You seem to always feel like Bush Gardens is denying you and taking advantage of your patronage.

 

[WDWRLD]

I like how one minute yall say "support the park by spending money in the park” on food beverage and merchandise but then when you try but can’t y’all post other local places to go and buy the same things and act like i’m over expecting offerings from the park. I’ve been to Wythe Candy and I know there and many many places to get much better fudge in this case than BGW but I felt like fudge so I figured I would go there and get it and support the park.

 

[warfelg]

That's not the issue and I'm not shocked you are missing the point that what you were expecting to get wasn't guaranteed to be open so try another place. Honestly I'm for trying to spend money at the park and help them out, but we can't expect them to have everything open every single day. Saying that you are upset because there was a stand that the website doesn't guarantee would be open wasn't open then how the hell is that the parks fault?

 

[WDWRLD]

So we shouldn’t expect Marco Polos to
be open either I assume?

 

[Murphy]

Didn't they have the operating hours listed on those little marquees by the door? Also, during normal HOS / late night events, how late would they stay open?

 

[WDWRLD]

Didn't they have the operating hours listed on those little marquees by the door? Also, during normal HOS / late night events, how late would they stay open?

30 minutes past closing.

 

[BGWnut]

So we shouldn’t expect Marco Polos to
be open either I assume?

Marco Polo is listed as being open during this event. The pretzel shop and the candy shop are not.

30 minutes past closing.

During these limited capacity events nothing has been staying open after the time slot is over. If you weren't by the emporium you would see that they closed as soon as the closing time and not their normal 30 minutes late

 

[WDWRLD]

Marco Polo is listed as being open during this event. The pretzel shop and the candy shop are not.

During these limited capacity events nothing has been staying open after the time slot is over. If you weren't by the emporium you would see that they closed as soon as the closing time and not their normal 30 minutes late

On the BGW site Marco Polos is not listed. And the 30 minutes past closing was a reply to the question of “during normal HOS”.