State of the Park

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R

RKRCC

Aug 9, 2016
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Virginia Beach
Here today with a friend since the slacker husband is working…. 😂

Jetscream got a tower and stairs replacement this offseason. It now has two separate stairs, one for general q, one for quick q.

Malibu pipeline is closed but filling

Aquazoid has issues again. It is closed and they are digging around it. Maybe another water line issue??

There seems to be a shortage of rafts on a few rides. Colossal only had 4 rafts, cutback is only operating with 4 or 5, and big daddy falls is a few low. This should improve as the year progresses.

Hubba Hubba Highway got some new boarder tile. It is a pretty blue but the workmanship isn’t the best.

Cow a bunga and rock n roll island were both closed. Probably due to staffing
 
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I'm disappointed to hear about the reduced operations. When I was there two weeks ago, the closed attractions were Wild Thang, Cowabunga, Malibu Pipeline, Vanish Point, Nitro Racer, Aquazoid, and RocknRoll Island. My quick count was that more than HALF the park was closed.

On one hand, props to Water Country that they were all listed as closed on the website. But add the low tube count at a couple of other rides (which has been a thing at Big Daddy Falls for years), and it was pretty frustrating. I understand the challenges of staffing, but it's the park's job to pay at a rate that they can staff their attractions.
 
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It’s weird, certain departments like the sign shop seem to have the right idea. A lot of the new signage around the park especially around High Tide Harbor have a 50s aesthetic to it, but whatever department is in charge of park music does not seem to be with the program
 
AlpenChrist97 said:
It’s weird, certain departments like the sign shop seem to have the right idea. A lot of the new signage around the park especially around High Tide Harbor have a 50s aesthetic to it, but whatever department is in charge of park music does not seem to be with the program
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These would be the exact same people who control the music at Busch Gardens. The lovely BGW Entertainment Department.

I share in your disappointment about the music. Water Country did have a charm to it that didn't make it seem like every other water park and the music and general theme of the park really encouraged that.

I'm pretty sure the only department Water Country and Busch Gardens do not share is maintenance and operations. And even then they're going back and forth sometimes.
 
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The only thing that I can see at play here is licensing fees. Some music genres aren’t as popular for mass play, so companies who put together the sound tracks won’t do it, then it’s up to the company (BGW) to get licensing on each song.

Could and should they do better? Absolutely. Might be a thing of them being cheap and the cost difference isn’t that big.

Just a quick google search: most places use a performing rights organization that costs about $500-2500 per playlist; and licensing individual songs if you want specific music can be $10-$100+k per track. So if you can’t find a PRO that has the tracks and station you want, well it’s extremely cost prohibitive.

Research found at:
musicforbusinessfinder.com

ASCAP Music License: 2026 Costs & Guide for Small Business

Learn the 2026 ASCAP music license cost for small businesses. Compare direct PRO licensing vs. bundled providers like Soundtrack & SoundMachine.
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cloudcovermusic.com

Music License Cost Guide | PROs & Commercial Streaming Fees

Music licensing is managed by PROs, which represent artists and music publishers. Negotiating licenses with these organizations can get expensive and complex. Learn about other options.
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orphiq.com

Music Copyright Basics Every Artist Should Know | Orphiq

What copyright protects, how to register, and the difference between master and publishing rights. Written for artists, not lawyers.
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warfelg said:
The only thing that I can see at play here is licensing fees. Some music genres aren’t as popular for mass play, so companies who put together the sound tracks won’t do it, then it’s up to the company (BGW) to get licensing on each song.

Could and should they do better? Absolutely. Might be a thing of them being cheap and the cost difference isn’t that big.

Just a quick google search: most places use a performing rights organization that costs about $500-2500 per playlist; and licensing individual songs if you want specific music can be $10-$100+k per track. So if you can’t find a PRO that has the tracks and station you want, well it’s extremely cost prohibitive.

Research found at:
musicforbusinessfinder.com

ASCAP Music License: 2026 Costs & Guide for Small Business

Learn the 2026 ASCAP music license cost for small businesses. Compare direct PRO licensing vs. bundled providers like Soundtrack & SoundMachine.
musicforbusinessfinder.com musicforbusinessfinder.com
cloudcovermusic.com

Music License Cost Guide | PROs & Commercial Streaming Fees

Music licensing is managed by PROs, which represent artists and music publishers. Negotiating licenses with these organizations can get expensive and complex. Learn about other options.
cloudcovermusic.com cloudcovermusic.com
orphiq.com

Music Copyright Basics Every Artist Should Know | Orphiq

What copyright protects, how to register, and the difference between master and publishing rights. Written for artists, not lawyers.
orphiq.com orphiq.com
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BGW changes their music for special events all the time so I find that doubtful.

There are also technologies available that make this a non-issue. For example, KD uses a platform called Rockbot which allows them to pay a single flat rate per music channel (e.g. themed area) for unlimited custom and premade playlists.

Incidentally, KD’s Soak City switched to a mix of Caribbean and 50s/60s beach music a few years ago. It’s a sad state of affairs when KD is doing themed music better than BGW/WCUSA.
 
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I thought it was simply paying SESAC, ASCAP, and/or BMI their yearly licensing fees for using their artists' music in a for-profit setting?

Like, it's one thing if you need something custom scored and performed that would require contracting the composer and musicians and paying them for their work (and not using AI for any part of that scenario), but I was under the impression that generally broadcasting almost all non-custom recorded music was covered by paying those license fees?

Otherwise, why else would I sometimes see those stickers on the doors or windows of various establishments?
 
I was just trying to offer up the only thing other than they chose to play different music that could have happened.

Jonesta6 said:
I thought it was simply paying SESAC, ASCAP, and/or BMI their yearly licensing fees for using their artists' music in a for-profit setting?
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Majority of the time. And most the time they have prebuilt playlists. At least when I served at Lonestar I knew we had horrible music because corporate wouldn’t pay the higher level for more modern country music. Only so many times you can hear Conway Twitty in a day.
 
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My only tango with music industry extortion fees was running my university's student radio station for a year.

Since we were a student group at a public university, there was a special broadcaster organization that offered some kind of $500 deal that covered BMI and SESAC.

I don't recall anyone really paying attention to artist affiliations though, but ASCAP I think represents mostly orchestral/symphonic groups and not your more common genre artists.

Anyways, bummer to hear WC's playlist doesn't meet theming expectations.
 
Jonesta6 said:
Anyways, bummer to hear WC's playlist doesn't meet theming expectations.
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I mean, I know I said it in the past but having started going to it in 2016ish time frame, I never knew it was themed until it was brought up on here.
 
I haven't been in a long time, I think the most modern music they played when I used to go regularly was from the late 60's. Definitely had the vibes.

Not so fun fact: the term beach music was a way for white people to publicly express their interests in black artists without explicitly saying so to get past racist censors. (Beach = Black) - the youth of the 40's and 50's were supposedly exposed to these artists typically at beach resorts, thus giving credence to the term.
 
I sort of like the Beach Boys, but I have this memory of WCUSA when all they played at the wave pool was Beach Boys and I was tired of it after about one hour. That was years ago, I could be remembering wrong.


I worked the Racer 75 before it was Racer 75 when Wayne's World was in it's heyday and I know the Wayne's World soundtrack backwards and forwards from just one summer.
 
Seems like no one cares at WCU, and the wait times for rides is ridiculous, mostly due to under staffing, under rafting, and overall a lack of care/passion to keep lines moving quickly. Rock n roll slides always closed , hubba closed mid day, vanish point only running two slides and one worker - short line took 45 minutes to get through.

And they want $40 just to park. Time to boycott this bs.
 
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Yea the only way to do WC is get there at rope drop run through that park and be the hell out of there by 12. Otherwise is abysmal being in there with the lines. The ops are slow as hell
 
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I couldn’t agree with you two more. I went with a friend on Thursday and the park was absolutely miserable…. Ops were slow…. On colossal, the one person ops was filling the raft so slowly. At 10:20, 10 minutes before park “opening”, the wait was already 25 minutes. The lifeguard was loading the rafts so slowly. The light was green for the next group to be able to go and he didn’t even have the raft off the belt yet. Cutback only had a single lifeguard loading rafts and he was doing better. Unfortunately, he was waiting on rafts most of the time. I think they only had 4 rafts running for the ride. All rides were on single ops with no one controlling quick que or monitoring the lines. It was a pretty miserable day on a Thursday! We did talk with maintenance by aquazoid. They had some parts of the tube they had to repair, but are expecting it to be open this week coming up….
 
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