Perfect, Timeless BGW: Birds and Wolves and Fairs, Oh My! (Post #42)

[Zachary]

Threadneedle Faire is another very poorly documented part of Busch Gardens history. I've included two of the better shots I've seen below. Source of these is unknown unfortunately.

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[Zachary]

Threadneedle Fair is such a poorly documented part of BGW's history that I seem to have gotten this wrong. Frankly, I expected to get to the point where issues like this would arise... but I thought I'd get through at least the first few rounds without an issue...

After studying some old satellite maps of Busch Gardens Williamsburg, I've come to realize that the Eagle One Monorail and Wolf Haven can't actually coexist since the Wolf Haven backstage is actually on the site of the monorail station.

Furthermore, Threadneedle Faire never touched the Eagle Ridge area. In fact, Threadneedle Faire and Eagle Canyon both actually coexisted in the mid-90s.

This opens up a million new issues and, frankly, makes the vote I started earlier today completely invalid.

In the area currently inhabited by Jack Hanna Trail, I believe we have the following options:

1. Threadneedle Faire and the Eagle One Monorail (Existed in 1997)
2. Wolf Valley, Wolf Haven, Lorikeet Glen Area (Current Configuration)
3. Threadneedle Faire and the Lorikeet Glen Area (Never Existed)

If anyone believes other options exist, please let me know. As this has demonstrated, I am in no way infallible. I've seen and read a lot about Busch Gardens Williamsburg over the last ten plus years, but there's still a ton I don't know.

What about Eagle Ridge? The oldest reference to Eagle Ridge I know of comes from the 1997 map where it is listed as Eagle Canyon. Since many older maps don't label the locations of animals at all, we will likely never know when eagles were first introduced to that area of the park. That said, as far as I've been able to tell, an eagle exhibit is the only attraction that has ever held its land and, hence, It's not up for a vote.

As for the Lorikeet Glen Area, there are a few minor sub-choices that would follow from opting to include it (such as the Conservation Station vs. whatever the drink booth is that is there now) but those would be way down the line... if we ever get that far. ?

Also, for anyone wondering about Pet Shenanigans theater, it has always been there (just under different names and showing different types of shows). We'll get to votes involving what that theater should house later on. Since the theater is all that has ever existed on that plot though, it's existence is not up for a vote.

All that said, I have deleted the poll from earlier today. I'm going to let this post sit for 24 hours or so. Hopefully some folks with more detailed memories or simply deeper understandings of some of these areas can chime in and point out any flaws in my three options above. If there aren't any, I'll post again when the new poll is live.

Anyway, sorry about the screw-up guys. I'm still trying to work out all of the kinks with this thread. Even just the research required is a pretty hefty undertaking. Hopefully I'll get better as we dive deeper into this though and maybe I'll even learn (and share) some new things along the way... as I did tonight.

Lastly, I just wanted to highlight something I said a minute ago again. If you think I might have something wrong in this thread, please, please, please speak up. We are dealing with aspects of the park that have rarely been talked about for decades. Much of what we're talking about has never been even roughly documented online before. If you have a memory that conflicts with what I (or anyone else in this thread) say(s), share what you remember. If nothing else, it lets us know that we should look into something a little further.

 

[halfabee]

Thanks for the update, Zachary. It must take a substantial amount of effort to get (and keep) these things straightened out. I used to visit the park frequently in the Threadneedle days, and even I couldn't have kept the boundaries straight in my head without digital assistance.

On the topic of Threadneedle Faire, since I'm confident a new poll will appear here soon regarding that area... as a kid I thought TF was cool because it was a mulch-and-dirt area with a very wooden structural theme, and the games were (1) very tactile and (2) highly visible, always seeming to attract a crowd. It seemed slightly like what a 1700s- or 1800s-era fair might have looked like: no cement-conglomerate pathway, no steel framing, etc. Just cash or coin exchanged for mostly grandiose-style games of chance or skill -- or, in the case of the rope ladder climb, neither.

These days I see it very much as just another vintage games area, albeit with a noteworthy volume of theming (by games-area standards) which somehow made it more fun. That's less unique than a cool wolf area where my kids and I take away something far more valuable than maybe a stuffed frog that can be had in several other areas of the park.

One small note that keeps rattling in the back of my mind: Threadneedle likely made some extra pocket change for BGW, whereas the wolf exhibit is exclusively a cost, presuming its incremental guest draw to the park is minimal.

Still, as fond as I was of the TF area, I intend for my personal affinity to be enthusiastically thrown to the wolves on this one.

Regarding the monorail: it was kinda cool, but the now-legendary proposition of "free beer at Busch Gardens" never truly relied on the existence of the brewery tour, nor vehicular conveyance thereto. It could have been done in other ways, including within the park. The monorail/tour placed a natural limit on how much beer could be given out in a given amount of time, both per person and overall,, and that was smart. But it could be done in other ways too, if one wanted to bring that particular perk back.

 

[warfelg]

Sorry that my innocent question caused a problem Zachary!

Could this be the part of the park that time and development forgot? I think so. But if this is our perfect timeless BGW, can we really include a history of the park that time has forgotten? I think there could be an argument there for Threadneedle because of the rustic aspect, but if it's been that forgotten or poorly documented I go with could it really be that memorable?

 

[Zachary]

So much of the park's history is very poorly documented. Useful photos from before the age of digital photography are hard to come by for any park. That said, communities based around other parks have often done a much better job finding, organizing, and sharing that content than the BGW community has. I think there are a few factors that contribute to this though.

First off, we have effectively lost the Busch Gardens Williamsburg fansites that came before BGWFans and with them, any information and content that they had dug up or even just reported on. Secondly, finding people with strong memories of the park throughout its history is remarkably difficult. I think the high rate of population churn in the Hampton Roads area likely contributes notably to this. Thirdly, many of the people who were heavily involved in those fansites and those who did care deeply about the park throughout its history have drifted away from the community. Fourthly, much of the current batch of younger enthusiasts don't seem to share the passion and interest in the park's history that groups before them did. The community often relies on its younger members to dig through old family albums and the like looking for new content. We haven't seen much of that in a long time.

Ultimately, when it comes to BGW history, the internet is a fairly shallow, very disorganized, but largely explored source of information. What we need at this point are new collections of physical media infused into the data pool and a better way to organize the content we do have.

Hopefully, moving forward, we can slowly categorize what we do have access to, but at the end of the day, more content is needed.

 

[..…]

Threadneedle Faire was basically an extremely downsized version of every renaissance festival ever. My vote is for the wolves.

 

[Zachary]

Speaking of voting, I just put up the latest poll with the three options I listed yesterday. Very curious to see how this one turns out.

 

[Nicole]

Team Wolf

I kinda think it may come down in part to whether your think the new mission of conservation is more important than the old mission of selling beer.

Also nostalgia.

 

[luseendesi]

I really wish the wolves didn't interfere with the monorail, that would be my dream bg. So I am also team wolf.

 

[Zachary]

I really wish the wolves didn't interfere with the monorail, that would be my dream bg. So I am also team wolf.

It's my impression that this is probably true for many people out there.

It's almost poetic how those two attractions both so clearly embody the "core mission" of the park at different periods throughout BGW's history and, just as a company can't have two primary goals, we can't pick both options either.

 

[Ice]

It's my impression that this is probably true for many people out there.

It's almost poetic how those two attractions both so clearly embody the "core mission" of the park at different periods throughout BGW's history and, just as a company can't have two primary goals, we can't pick both options either.

You blew my mind with this one