Something may be Brewing...
- Thread starter Gavin
- Start date
I merely posted that link to fuel discussion.
I was hoping however someone would bring up if they are going to do an expansion, the cost of the parking garage is easily justifiable... especially if there is any merit in the rumor of them purchasing the brewery or expanding and adding this resort.
I was hoping however someone would bring up if they are going to do an expansion, the cost of the parking garage is easily justifiable... especially if there is any merit in the rumor of them purchasing the brewery or expanding and adding this resort.
The parking garage idea is a very good and smart one. But, parking garages don't have be above the ground level or if they went up, they can be on top of a building that already fits in, like they did at BGT. The cars park on top of admin or maintenance building.
What if instead of using the England lot as a shopping center, Blackstone bought the shopping center next to WCUSA? It's already doing badly, and they would need to acquire land from them anyways to extend Busch Gardens Blvd.
I don't know, didn't they just finish a bunch of work on that area. I would say if they bought the land they would use it for more parking since they have a rather small parking lot, and they really need to work out preferred parking over there. Most times you can pay general parking but end up right in front of the entrance, which defeats the purpose of the preferred parking deal.
Agreed. All they need to do is bring in retailers that bring in the people and the shopping center should do well even in a bad economy.Gavin said:
For a shopping district, they should do what they do now, as far as shops. Like, have the shopping buildings themed to which park it is closest and then have major brand names sell out of them, like with some of the shops throughout the park. The brand names is what will bring in the people.
The goal for any shopping area is that it needs to have a mix of shops for people to go to. If, if you don't have this, it won't be worth it and it will sink and no one will go there. This includes the businesses, which employs the people to work in these businesses. That's why Shane's point makes since, as well Gavin's point about extending Busch Gardens Blvd over to WCUSA as long as the land can be acquired. Even if they don't acquire the land, they can still make it work to make it worth while
coasterFREAK said:
Confirmed, from what my sources tell, that photo place did terrible. Not enough profit from it.
Please continue discussion of Pompeii in a more appropriate thread, or make a new one.
Shane said:Thanks Gavin, but lets look even bigger everyone...
So we know a SeaWorld could survive here, based on Gavin's post, but SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment could do even more. The England parking lot is perfectly situated between SeaWorld (the brewery) and Busch Gardens. It would make a perfect portal to both parks as an Entertainment and Shopping Hub. Additionally thanks to the guys in the chatroom they could even extend the ramp that connects the park to 64 to WCUSA so that buses can shuttle between the Entertainment Complex/Parks and the waterpark. Take a look below:
I registered just to offer my thoughts on this.
First of all, I love your plans. I think turning this into a multi-park resort would be amazing. I live in Ohio and REALLY miss our SeaWorld. Having been to all the other SeaWorlds, I can tell you that ours was the most beautiful. Similar in style to BGW, they used the hilly terrain and natural forrest to advantage and added waterfalls and gardens. It was just fantastic and I personally will never set foot in a Cedar Fair park again after watching them bulldoze it all down (I worked for them and was well aware of their intentions to buy out the competition, tear it all down and what's worse is that I had to watch it all happen slowly).
Second of all, SeaWorld Ohio did indeed make a HUGE amount of profit BUT they would loose a great amount of it during the offseason. This is one of the reasons they sold the park. Having to pay a good amount of employees to take care of the animals and maintain the exhibits for months while the park was inoperable was a HUGE drain on their profits. The other reason, and this wouldn't apply to a Williamsburg SeaWorld, is that they were restricted against building roller-coasters. This is why they invested in extremely expensive tech like simulators and such was to get around this. I can't go into details but they signed something saying they wouldn't build roller coasters or anything that would disturb the local residents (that literally lived right outside their gate). Six Flags, on the other-hand, didn't have to honor this agreement when they bought SeaWorld. did I mention how much I miss our SeaWorld?
Also, I love the resort entertainment district and parking garage idea. This is taking a page from both Disneyland and Universal Orlando. I can honestly say that I LOVE the Universal parking garage. The elevators, moving floors, bathrooms, snack stands, etc. It has everything. It keeps your car free of bird poop, it keeps it cool, and you never have to worry about weather when walking to your car. The Universal parking garage it also extremely clean. I just love it. Also, Downtown Disney and City Walk are great ways to keep resort guest on property and possibly even extend their stay. Having stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel in Universal Orlando, it was awesome to be able to just walk to a restaurant or shop. Convenience is everything. The less their guests get into their cars, the better it is for them.
Lastly, traffic is a problem. It's OK if you're on the highways but navigating through the intercity streets and residential streets is just a nightmare (which is bad since that's the main way to get around). They would need to do a little rerouting, which would require funds a city just doesn't have available in a recession. The city would have to really think about this and ask the question as to whether or not it would be a good investment on their part. If this will create a healthy amount of additional revenue via taxes, then they might push to receive the funds. As far as this trampling on Colonial Williamsburg, I don't think so. For the most part, they're two separate groups of tourists. There are a few of us that come in to try everything but most of the time we're looking for just one of the two experiences. I really just can't see how anyone can spine a resort into something bad and I'd really love to see your plans come into fruition.
Time for some truth telling. I've honestly only been to BGW once and it was an awesome experience. I'm hoping to get down there again but it's kind of a drive for just one park. I did enjoy the Colonial Williamsburg stuff but it's not something I'll be doing every time I go. Like most people, I'm a theme park guy.
^Like what? I had a video of it but my Dad accidentally recorded over it. This really sucks as it included all their shows, exhibits and even the dinosaur thing they were doing (Monster Marsh?). It was the only proof I have of me ever being their, since I didn't have enough foresight to know they'd close it.
Here's an image I found online that shows what I was talking about as far as natural beauty:
As you can see, the stadium shows were built into the hills, so you could walk up the hill and enter the stadium through the back. Notice the lush foliage on the side of the stadium (that's Penguin Encounter hidden in the trees). All that foliage actually surrounded the stadium and there was a little stream / waterfall, like the Big Bad Wolf one, that went all down the path on the side of the stadium and let out into a little pond that the wildlife used (ducks, geese, etc.).
Like I said, I worked on the SeaWorld side of the park when Cedar Fair owned it and it was sad to see the weeds growing through the paths that they blocked off and the empty animal exhibits (the Shark Encounter was creepy as shit). During my brakes, I used to sneak behind the walls and eat in the blocked off areas (in particular, their was an overgrown garden still there with the pants labeled and everything) and just imagine that it was still SeaWorld. It's really sad that both once thriving parks, SeaWorld and Geauga Lake, are now gone forever thanks to Cedar Fair.
What's even more disheartening is the lack of media available for this park. Not even a commercial. It's as if it never existed.
Here's an image I found online that shows what I was talking about as far as natural beauty:
As you can see, the stadium shows were built into the hills, so you could walk up the hill and enter the stadium through the back. Notice the lush foliage on the side of the stadium (that's Penguin Encounter hidden in the trees). All that foliage actually surrounded the stadium and there was a little stream / waterfall, like the Big Bad Wolf one, that went all down the path on the side of the stadium and let out into a little pond that the wildlife used (ducks, geese, etc.).
Like I said, I worked on the SeaWorld side of the park when Cedar Fair owned it and it was sad to see the weeds growing through the paths that they blocked off and the empty animal exhibits (the Shark Encounter was creepy as shit). During my brakes, I used to sneak behind the walls and eat in the blocked off areas (in particular, their was an overgrown garden still there with the pants labeled and everything) and just imagine that it was still SeaWorld. It's really sad that both once thriving parks, SeaWorld and Geauga Lake, are now gone forever thanks to Cedar Fair.
What's even more disheartening is the lack of media available for this park. Not even a commercial. It's as if it never existed.
Skippy said:
Well that stinks.
Skippy said:
Seeing GL via Satellite always depresses me, it's nothing but a field of footers now. :-/
I was just wondering if you had any other info on the park, everthing I could find is up here http://bgwfans.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1019&pid=31176#pid31176.
From what I know, their 2000 addition Mission: Bermuda Triangle was a bust. It was extremely popular, filling up the outdoor lines (when I worked it as Geauga Lake, I'd only get a few rides an hour and we had about a 5 person crew) but couldn't compete with Six Flags Ohio's grand opening (which included 4 new roller coasters) and Millennium Force (the world tallest roller coaster at the time). This was bad, since it was the most expensive addition in the park's history (each one of those cabins cost millions). So for the 2001 season, they planned on transforming it into Wild Arctic with the new Polar Bear display going right in the open land behind it. This way they could claim something new and recycle the costs already put into the ride system.
Here is more info on the ride:
http://www.jeslive.com/coasters/MBT/mbt.html
Jes, who I personally knew, makes it clear that it was a non-compete deal struck between the parks. No rides at SeaWorld and no animals at Geauga Lake. So it's worse then I thought.
Still, what people don't realize is that SeaWorld was a HUGE draw. Just a quick stroll through their parking lot and you would see many out-of-state license plates. Even as Six Flags they were pulling in well over 2 million visitors a year. When Cedar Fair took out the animal exhibits, they instantly dropped to around 700 thousand visitors. Every day I was asked at least 10 times, where's the animals? I'd then get lectured on how they are out-of-state visitors and that their news didn't cover the closing of SeaWorld (keep in mind, the internet wasn't as prevalent as it is now). People would travel for SeaWorld, that's a fact.
Here is more info on the ride:
http://www.jeslive.com/coasters/MBT/mbt.html
Jes, who I personally knew, makes it clear that it was a non-compete deal struck between the parks. No rides at SeaWorld and no animals at Geauga Lake. So it's worse then I thought.
Still, what people don't realize is that SeaWorld was a HUGE draw. Just a quick stroll through their parking lot and you would see many out-of-state license plates. Even as Six Flags they were pulling in well over 2 million visitors a year. When Cedar Fair took out the animal exhibits, they instantly dropped to around 700 thousand visitors. Every day I was asked at least 10 times, where's the animals? I'd then get lectured on how they are out-of-state visitors and that their news didn't cover the closing of SeaWorld (keep in mind, the internet wasn't as prevalent as it is now). People would travel for SeaWorld, that's a fact.
Thanks Skippy, I'm glad you see my logic. I love reading about SWOhio. Thanks for your insight.