Mardi Gras 2022

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Zachary said:
Says the person who apparently travels to Williamsburg, VA exclusively for BGW and can't find anything to do indoors in Hampton Roads during a rained-out weekend trip...?

I wasn't going to go down this route, but since you opened the door, yes, there's a ton of great stuff to do around here. If you book a hotel and then the weather changes and it looks like a total washout, that sucks, but it happens. In fact, it happens to any and all types of vacations to most types of destinations. Make the best of a bad situation and find something else to do. We have many indoor, year-round, weather-resilient, historical/cultural/scientific/educational attractions that are well worth your time and money around here.
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If I am planning a trip to do something, I want to do what is planned and not scramble to find something else. I have seen those other sites and miss the days when BGW was well run.

Like I said. I’m not coming. I’m sore I’m not the only one. BGW Had bad management. I made the mistake of buying a membership this year to see all the dead trees at Christmas Town. The place is a mismanaged shell of its former self. There’s no defending it.
 
If BGW decides to stay closed for the day during Mardi Gras, what's the fastest outlet to get that news? Twitter? Facebook? The BGW website? We're looking to drive to the park sometime next weekend, and since it's 120+ miles for us, we'd like to do a last-minute check before we leave. Thanks!
 
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VArunner said:
If BGW decides to stay closed for the day during Mardi Gras, what's the fastest outlet to get that news? Twitter? Facebook? The BGW website? We're looking to drive to the park sometime next weekend, and since it's 120+ miles for us, we'd like to do a last-minute check before we leave. Thanks!
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The park seems to post it simultaneously to all of those places. Setting up tweet notifications is probably the lowest friction approach for getting notified ASAP.
 
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super7 said:
If I am planning a trip to do something, I want to do what is planned and not scramble to find something else. I have seen those other sites and miss the days when BGW was well run.

Like I said. I’m not coming. I’m sore I’m not the only one. BGW Had bad management. I made the mistake of buying a membership this year to see all the dead trees at Christmas Town. The place is a mismanaged shell of its former self. There’s no defending it.
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So what do you do if you are here and there's bad rainy weather that won't allow the rides to operate? Do you still go to BGW or do you make alternate plans?
 
Next weekend is looking like their best weather all winter season so far, though things could change!
 
I've been going to BGW fairly regularly since I moved back out here in the mid 90's and the only time I experienced them closing the park because of rain was during the 2020 season when only part of the park was open and hardly anybody was there. Even then the park only closed an hour early. I can think of plenty of instances where I've been in the park during some really bad thunderstorms but the park didn't close. One time we saw Loverboy in torrential rain and leaving the concert we found the area outside of Festhaus was knee deep in water. I just don't recall the park shutting down for bad weather in the past but that would be a random sampling from the times I've been there. Having said that, I don't blame them for not opening due to bad weather in February and if I was planning a trip I would definitely be checking the weather. It's a lot of fun riding the coasters in the rain during the summer, but visiting the park during foul weather in the winter doesn't sound so good.
 
Zachary said:
Says the person who apparently travels to Williamsburg, VA exclusively for BGW and can't find anything to do indoors in Hampton Roads during a rained-out weekend trip...?

I wasn't going to go down this route, but since you opened the door, yes, there's a ton of great stuff to do around here. If you book a hotel and then the weather changes and it looks like a total washout, that sucks, but it happens. In fact, it happens on vacations to almost any type of destination. Ever tried to go hiking or camping only for it to rain the whole time? I have. You just gotta make the best of a bad situation and find something else to do. Luckily, unlike some small town up in the mountains, Hampton Roads features many indoor, year-round, weather-resilient, historical/cultural/scientific/educational attractions that are well worth your time and money.
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I have to agree. I've been to Williamsburg during the winter when the park was closed and we had a great time. We hung out at Colonial Williamsburg and visited a friend's brewery among other things. Though my wife is always telling me that if it wasn't for BGW, we would never go to Williamsburg or at least as often as we do. There might be some truth to that statement.
 
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I have always felt that way. The music changing in the entirety of the park has always felt jarring for me with events like this and St Patrick's Day, and even Summer Nights to an extent (I have thought the Summer Nights music should be a HoS style "at night, the party starts").

Going a bit off topic, I think they should differentiate between major events like CT and HoS that really are destination events where the entire park is redone, and events like MG and St. Patrick's by keeping it as major celebrations in their respective hamlets, but the rest of the park functions somewhat normally for those who just want an offseason day in the park. Allows a much higher quality for these events since they can be isolated celebrations where they can really go all out, something I think the locals (their target audience) would be more interested in than a parkwide reskin that is honestly rather cheap and nothing to write home about.
 
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AlpenChrist97 said:
I may be alone on this, but I think Mardi Gras‘s would make way more sense from a thematic perspective if it was kept exclusively to France and New France. Hearing Cajun music in 17th-century England and pop music in front of Das Festhaus makes me cringe a bit.
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They should play Fasching music in the German area.
It's the German version of the same holiday and has plenty of music available that could be played that fits the theme.
 
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This might have already been asked but I can't find it. Can you buy the sampler cards at the food locations, or do you have to pre-order them online?
 
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Rothbury said:
This might have already been asked but I can't find it. Can you buy the sampler cards at the food locations, or do you have to pre-order them online?
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I think both are options. Maybe a few dollars cheaper to buy online though.
 
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horsesboy said:
I don't understand why people think changing policies to run rides colder equals more guests coming. Last Friday they were running coasters at right above the cut off. I rode several times and not one time in that visit did I see more then a half dozen in line to ride. This has been my experience everytime and at every park that I have riden coasters once the temp drops bellow 50. So what will running those rides in colder temps accomplish?
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It also becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. People who want to ride coasters won't show up when it's right above the cutoff if they've been burned before or don't know exactly what the cutoff is. At parks like Great Adventure where people are conditioned to know that if the park is open, the rides are open it's very common for coasters to have lines on cold nights.

Source: I've 100% waited an hour for Kingda Ka when it was 29 degrees.

I know people feel like this event isn't about coasters, but if you have zero indoor rides operating and your food reviews aren't overly great then your big rides are your big draws and nobody is going to show up if they think they won't be running.
 
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Both winter events are great family draws. This past Sunday was cold, but the park was far from empty. Lots of families, just like the previous event. The food I tried was good and the grasshopper cocktail was great, if you like mint. The Globe show is good. I'm pretty sure that the performers are from BGT, the Cirque show we saw in September there featured a lot of the same and several looked familiar.

I do like the idea @Nicole had about different Carnival inspirations in the different hamlets.
 
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Currently, I only think this event is worth it if you’re already a pass member. Being a saturday, it’s decently crowded and with not much being open, I can’t exactly justify or support coming in with a full price ticket. The food is nice but everything is just more inconvenient, especially with the bridge being out of service right now
 
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Rothbury said:
Agree with Horseboy 100%. They are totally unprepared for the crowds today. We just left. The lines for Mardi Gras food are running 45 minutes to an hour just to pay. Even Grogan's Pub for a beer is backed up to Finnegan's. The flyer for Mardi Gras says Trappers, Squires and Annies are open. No, they're not. Literally if you want food the only choices are Mardi Gras food.
They were selling preferred parking at 2:30 and it was full. Overheard one guy going off about paying for it and no place to park.
We got there when they opened and they didn't have the 10 sampler cards. I just can't describe how long the lines were. This is the weekend for the free beanie cap and you pick it up at Marketplatz. The line was out the door and down the bridge leading into Germany.
As other people have said in the past. The image they are projecting today is running people off. I saw so many people getting out of the long lines and the number of people leaving the park was more than I have ever seen.
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Putting this over here as I think my response fit better here then under the crowd thread.

Part of the problem I see with these special events us BGW seems to have given zero thought to how to adjust to crowd levels. The weather was bad the first two weeks and they got extremely low attendance so the cut Trappers, and Annie's as well as a bunch of drink stands and small stuff now the park is bursting at the seems and they can't please the guests. If they are going to keep having these events they MUST start working on a flexibility and try to figure out away to surge what they are offering on busy days while still being nibble enough to keep it cost effective on lite days. I had money I was planning on giving the park instead it will be going to Wendy's in a few minutes.
 
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And now I am hearing that booths are running out of food as in out for the day not just we need to make more.
 
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