Mardi Gras 2026

[Zachary]

Both sides are right here in my assessment.

Year-round-ish ops have degraded the park experience year-round, damaged the park's reputation, acted as a huge drain on already limited resources, etc. Yes, all of these issues COULD be fixed with increased funding, but we know they won't be. The park SHOULD pick a lane—either close for the off-season or properly fund year-round operations—but they're not going to as long as people keep showing up over the winter months and as long as they lose less money operating than they would if they were closed.

I'll also say this: Part of this is also a marketing issue. Marketing's unwillingness to accurately/effectively communicate to prospective guests when and to what degree the park is operating in a limited/degraded state causes a lot of the pain here. People show up to the park during what was previously core operating season in March and April and now find a significantly degraded experience vs a few years ago. If BGW accurately communicated to guests that the experience was going to be notably worse rather than effectively tricking people to show up regardless, year-round ops at current funding levels may suddenly not look so compelling on a spreadsheet. Instead the park is opting to cash in on their reputation and legacy in the short-term—a move I obviously think is awful.

 

[warfelg]

I dunno if this is a hot take or not:

The Mardi Gras event should feature no rides and be more show and event focused. Personally I feel the whole “Mardi Gras” idea should be killed off and the concept should be ‘Festivals of Europe’ and each hamlet should feature an event originating from that country.

 

[Alf33]

The operating schedule for this January has most of the month the park being closed for four full weeks which seems to me like way more closed days than prior years schedule. So in a way they have realized that they need to cut back during this coldest month of the year and use it for all of the maintenance that needs to be done. Adding a couple more weeks into February would be even better.

 

[AIR]

Mardi Gras never fit in Williamsburg. Quite literally every other idea would be better.

Walking around in 22°F, listening to the same 3 tracks on repeat, looking at giant beads on rooftops and other sparse decorations in a ghost town isn't appealing to me. Especially since it's marketed as a big party. It just feels weird to me. The food is good but it's nothing that can't be part of the Food and Wine Festival menu.

 

[Zachary]

Amen on all the Mardi Gras theme hate. Garbage conceptually, garbage in execution. It was forgivable at the height of COVID when they just needed something quick, easy, and immediate to give people to do, but after year one, it should have been binned. Insane to me that it still exists today.

I've seen/proposed a bunch of ideas for far better options (Ren Faire, Cider (& Tea?) Festival, "Inside Look"-type event, a collection of small-scale, hamlet-spesific holiday themes, a multifaceted Carnival event, etc), but somehow we are still stuck with this nonsense, embarrassing, bottom of the barrel, Six Flags-style Mardi Gras trash.

Seriously couldn't possibly care less about any of this event's offerings and I'm confident I'm far from alone. Oh, and if I hear "feet don't fail me now" one more time in my entire goddamn life I will jump off the Ponte del Accordo straight into the Rhine, I swear to god.

 

[MrBradferd]

Im only going for exercise and because 2 good coasters are open lol So unless the day is 40+ degrees they won't catch me there.

With how cold this weekend will be theres no god damn way hardly anyone is going to shop up besides the park vloggers. IF they're even open. Honestly I see no point in opening this weekend

 

[bill s]

Being that I only go to BGW on days when most other parks are not open, greatly slashing them is not in my interest. Closing all July would be fine by me. That said, this time of the year it tends to be a tease so a couple weeks more closed wouldn't make much difference.

 

[MrBradferd]

Being that I only go to BGW on days when most other parks are not open, greatly slashing them is not in my interest. Closing all July would be fine by me. That said, this time of the year it tends to be a tease so a couple weeks more closed wouldn't make much difference.

Why would closing a park in july make sense?

 

[bill s]

Why would closing a park in july make sense?

I was just saying it wouldn't dierectly affect me, but actually it would make a lot of sense, super hot. Of course this is contraindicated by it being a time when their audience is highly available.

 

[MrBradferd]

I was just saying it wouldn't dierectly affect me, but actually it would make a lot of sense, super hot. Of course this is contraindicated by it being a time when their audience is highly available.

I mean idk what to even say to be honest. Maybe in your intrests a park being closed in july is fine but to the rest of modern world and stuff july is vacation time. Heat doesnt matter nor does it keep a park from being open and funtioning with plenty of guests. The cold does. To cold = closed rides

 

[warfelg]

I mean idk what to even say to be honest. Maybe in your intrests a park being closed in july is fine but to the rest of modern world and stuff july is vacation time. Heat doesnt matter nor does it keep a park from being open and funtioning with plenty of guests. The cold does. To cold = closed rides

Also:
Winter = harder to staff
Summer = easier to staff

(Theoretically of course)

Hence why, IMO, if the park opened without rides (or minimal like train, skyride, boats) it could be a win/win. Time to work on the rides and maintain them, could get the staffing right, and they could still make plenty of money.

Heck I would even argue doing a ‘festival’ type thing that brought in plenty of small businesses to have stands for art and other items while keeping the entry fee ultra low like $20-30 would really work out.

 

[MrBradferd]

Also:
Winter = harder to staff
Summer = easier to staff

(Theoretically of course)

Hence why, IMO, if the park opened without rides (or minimal like train, skyride, boats) it could be a win/win. Time to work on the rides and maintain them, could get the staffing right, and they could still make plenty of money.

Heck I would even argue doing a ‘festival’ type thing that brought in plenty of small businesses to have stands for art and other items while keeping the entry fee ultra low like $20-30 would really work out.

Remember Christmas town used to have small etsy shop style vendors in front of Kastle?

 

[warfelg]

Remember Christmas town used to have small etsy shop style vendors in front of Kastle?

I miss that so much.

 

[tursiops]

I mean idk what to even say to be honest. Maybe in your intrests a park being closed in july is fine but to the rest of modern world and stuff july is vacation time. Heat doesnt matter nor does it keep a park from being open and funtioning with plenty of guests. The cold does. To cold = closed rides

I don't think he saying it should be closed then, only that he does not go then so it would not impact him.

 

[MrBradferd]

I don't think he saying it should be closed then, only that he does not go then so it would not impact him.

So im taking it literal

 

[Coasternerd]

Heck I would even argue doing a ‘festival’ type thing that brought in plenty of small businesses to have stands for art and other items while keeping the entry fee ultra low like $20-30 would really work out.

Take a page out of Epcot’s book: Festival of the Arts. It’s proven a great festival as you can mix speciality foods (à la Food and Wine) with independent artists, be it *art* or other handcrafted creations, all the way down to niche items. The park has plenty of space to work with, so it’s not impossible.

 

[R75]

While I enjoy Mardi Gras from a personal standpoint and we’ve made it a yearly tradition to go as a family ever since they introduced it, I share the same concerns with its long-term feasibility. Each year it has mostly felt the same without any major changes minus a few food/drink offerings. It’s not a bad event, but I think it’s just stuck where it’s at and not moving the needle one way or another.

 

[MrBradferd]

How is Tampas event vs ours?

 

[Zachary]

Take a page out of Epcot’s book: Festival of the Arts. It’s proven a great festival as you can mix speciality foods (à la Food and Wine) with independent artists, be it *art* or other handcrafted creations, all the way down to niche items. The park has plenty of space to work with, so it’s not impossible.

Totally support an Arts event, but they've sorta adopted those components for the "Summer of Wonder" thing. Can see where active artisans and large-scale art displays are better suited for the summer than February and March, honestly.

 

[sotomexx]

How is Tampas event vs ours?

I can answer this, just visited Saturday afternoon. Tampa’s food and drink-themed festivals are different because they have all of the booths in one area, just past Iron Gwazi near their concert area. There’s pros and cons to this because some might prefer the spread out booths that BGW and even SeaWorld Orlando have because it encourages exploring, spreading out bites, etc. At BGT we used up all of our samples quickly because we didn’t want to have to come back to that area after going to ride Montu on the other side of the park. They had great performers and photo ops and I think the layout favored that as opposed to BGW trying to cram everything in France. Operations wise, a few coasters were down but at least Gwazi was running 2 trains which was a big step up from our previous trip.