On-Site Resort Hotel for Busch Gardens Williamsburg?

[Jonesta6]

As for locals, perhaps they could offer VA resident discounts like the FLA resorts do, but that might not be enough of a draw?

I'd guess that a majority of their members will not likely want to stay in the hotel unless they live further away than either the Hampton Roads or Richmond metro areas.

But if it's an actual resort, there should be other amenities that'd make staying there more enticing.

 

[Zachary]

I, too, would only really want to see a European-themed resort built on BGW property. Surely they understand that their advantage over the many, many other hotels in the area would, in significant part, be the thematic and functional integration with the park.

There's no reason they couldn't offer Sesame-themed room inventory at a European-themed resort though. Prince Elmo's castle-themed kids rooms as part of a multi-room family suite offering seems like an easy solution.

 

[Jonesta6]

As long as it's well maintained and periodically updated so it doesn't end up like the Nickelodeon Holiday Inn...

 

[tursiops]

I think a true on-site resort will added perks would be incredibly popular. A given should be early/ late access or complimentary QQ. In the long run I really hope to see the Sesame Place concept work out, despite my kids aging out before it will happen. That takes away the France lot. Then I'd like to see at least one resort rather over the England lot. Put the pool on the side that sees Griffon. I love looking at the parks from the hotels in Orlando. Not sure if two resorts would fit there or not. The across the street parking lots would have to be converted to garages to make up for lost parking. Another resort perk should be using the employee entrance to access the resort.

Eventually I'd love to see two separate hotels. One should be a somewhat smaller boutique hotel that resembles a castle. This would be grand, nice restaurant and outdoor pool. I'd theme one wing to sesame characters in knight and medieval costumes for family, but that's separate and not an overall theme.

The second hotel I'd like to be larger and more contemporary. This could still be in the same area or perhaps somewhere else. This would be more of a generic tower style with more rooms. Still chic European decor, again with a sesame area. I think ideally this would also have an outdoor pool or share if the two were close. This resort should have a sesame play area, plus a "small" indoor water park area, that both hotels can use. This would help year round tourists.

If these were done well i cannot imagine them both not being huge hits. Run specials for locals in the slow periods. Maybe theme wings to previous rides like big bad wolf. So much they could do! I do think two different experiences caters to a much larger crowd though.

Attached are pictures of Waterford Castle, nose a hotel in Ireland where I've stayed that would be a great model for the castle hotel.

 

[MICHAELRG]

Here's a layout of a proposed on-site resort. No idea about the context in terms of what year this is from or what, especially considering that Verbolten is missing. This was probably just a concept that never went beyond a concept, but thought it would be interesting to share anyway...

Theme Park Master Planning - Basemint Creative

 

[AIR]

Um, yes please.

 

[Zachary]

This appears to be part of that same concept package and does include Vbolt:

Projects | Services - Basemint Creative

basemintcreative.com

Obviously this was some VERY "blue sky"-y, grandiose, concept art, but to see ideas this grand even being tossed around at all is lovely. Love, love, love.

That tower in particular is a stroke of genius. Likely completely unrealistic (price would be monumental), but I love the idea of a tower overlooking the Rhine that would also act as a conveyance method to bridge the vertical gap between path level in FHP and the water level of the Rhine. Using the base of such a structure as a second stop on the Rhine River Cruise is just.... Utterly brilliant.

As for the hotel, I would hope that it would move outside the train loop—at least to the boneyard—but it is certainly interesting that Festhaus Park was considered. Also, the hotel conceptualized in the site plan seems far larger than what I envision a first pass at a BGW resort would look like. I'm sure the prompt was to sketch up the most grant possible, realistic option though and they certainly managed that.

Anyway, absolute gem of a find @MICHAELRG!

 

[deacfan31]

If it was to happen, I think a good spot, is the small peninsula area on the back circle of Apollo/entrance from 60 and 64. This area gives them room to build and allow for easy access to the resort. I love the concept art and it's great to see the ambition of the designer.

 

[Chorizo]

Don't know if this is a hot take, but I'd much rather have this resort in the Festhaus Park area than another major coaster.

 

[Zachary]

I really dislike the idea of a resort within the railroad loop. I'd argue that BGW has been sloppily boxing itself in with shortsighted land uses like the design of Pantheon and, if it was built as pitched, this concept.

If SEAS believes in a future where BGW is a destination park with three gates and at least one on-site resort, they need to leave room for BGW itself to expand as well. In my mind, that means putting a resort outside the railroad loop at a minimum.

 

[AIR]

This conversation and concept style reminds me of the Kingsmill Resort expansion plans released in 2011-2012 I believe:

Kingsmill Expansion Plans Announced

Xanterra , the Colorado-based resort management company that now owns Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg has unveiled it’s ambitious long term plans for the future of Kingsmill. The first proje…

williamsburgsrealestate.com

It involved a massive expansion of the Resort proper and a few residential expansions throughout the property. It makes me think the BGW resort posted above was planned around the same time. Obviously pre-Verbolten or at least while Verbolten was in planning during the Anheuser-Busch ownership.

 

[PhantomJB93]

I tend to agree that it would be a poor use of space in terms of future expansion to have a resort in FP. That said, I LOVE the concept of integrating the resort into the middle of the theme park itself like that. That’s something you don’t see many places (not even Disney) but there’s also probably a reason for that.

Also of note - both those concept art images depict the train running in the “opposite” direction. Maybe just a coincidence/oversight by the artists, but I think I remember that being part of discussions about the feasibility of a FP station and the grades or whatever.