I generally get there at 1pm and stay until closing. Throughout that time, I can say that ride operations and park staffing in other departments are good. I have not experienced slow waits unless a ride or food venue has a high volume of people. That generally comes with being there on a Saturday. I am still impressed by how quick lines at BGW move on Saturdays as compared to KD. BGW seems to have a lot of rides that move higher capacity.
The State of the Park: Busch Gardens Williamsburg
- Thread starter CoasterTalkBob
- Start date
- London Dairy
- Loch Ness Snack Booth
- Battle for Eire
- O'Taters
- Josephine's
- Ski Mart
- Das Gingerbread Haus (Construction)
- Many Games Booths
- San Marco Wine Booth
- La Cucina
- Festa Coke Market (Construction)
- Roman Rapids
- Roman Rapids Gifts
- Vesuvius Grill (Demoed)
I'm sorry @MikeLovesKD, but you simply don't have enough understanding of what the park was like before to be able to make a fair judgement as per whether or not it is operating in an even remotely comparable way now.
Again, I'm super glad you enjoy the park now, but you're out of your depth critiquing operational criticisms of a park you just started visiting regularly recently.
My testimony was meant for you to make the comparison. In reality, I'm asking if it's worst or better based on my account.
Not to mention all the craftspeople that are gone like the jewelry guys in Italy and the candle stick makers in new France. Feel free to correct me if they're back - that would be great news.
@MikeLovesKD - you also missed out on Pet Shenanigans a must see show on every visit
@MikeLovesKD - you also missed out on Pet Shenanigans a must see show on every visit
Maybe you should have come to the park when F&W was going on and ALL the regular food service places, including drink stands were closed except for the Festhaus. Had a thunderstorm come through back before the 4th and they even closed the F&W kiosks. That was a nightmare.
The park is doing a much better job with staffing. Most food and snack stands are open, coasters are back to two train operations and most gift shops are open. The park struggled trying to get people for a while.
BGW still has a ways to go before it's back at 100% operations, but this is a step in the right direction.
I do appreciate that they're working on touching up the Rhinefeld murals. It looks like they're starting to give the giant clock tower a bit more love. I saw the clock at the top freshly painted for the first time in years.
BGW still has a ways to go before it's back at 100% operations, but this is a step in the right direction.
I do appreciate that they're working on touching up the Rhinefeld murals. It looks like they're starting to give the giant clock tower a bit more love. I saw the clock at the top freshly painted for the first time in years.
I’m just curious on how much needing to staff F&W stands as well as school in session hurt them before now.
I wonder if it's fair to ask then that if these struggles continue in the fall, should they think of next year doing F&W in the day with minimal park operations, then in the evening reverse and have most the park open and minimal F&W. I know this might not be popular but it could be a solution.
I wonder if it's fair to ask then that if these struggles continue in the fall, should they think of next year doing F&W in the day with minimal park operations, then in the evening reverse and have most the park open and minimal F&W. I know this might not be popular but it could be a solution.
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I think pre-covid the park relied heavily on J-1 foreign employees and college aged employees. After covid that somewhat dried up although I have experienced a number of employees this year with limited English language skills. I guess what I can't help but wonder at this point is how well staffed things will be during next month's Beerfest and on into HOS when school is back in session. Will they start to close down drink stands and food places to man the beer kiosks? I guess we'll see.
Here’s what I hate (sorry for incoming rant on colleges):
This category of worker has dried up. Completely. And it’s because of the insane things expected anymore. College aged people are expected to pay for 3-6 credit hours to take unpaid internships in their chosen field even starting the summer after their freshman year now. They don’t have the luxury of going to school for Business Admin then working 3 summers at BGW in ride ops. They’re expected to get an internship in the offices working with accounting. Want to work in law? Get an internship working reception or copy room at a legal firm.
Gone are the days of my mom going to school for computer science and working in the steel mill in the summer. Gone are the days of my dad getting a marketing degree and being a life guard in the summer.
There’s no good answer to this unless places that rely on employees like that work with local colleges to build a 3-year coop internship program. Like year 1 you are a ride ops, year two you supervise a single ride, and year 3 you assist an area supervisor.
Sadly this has been the slow death or the recreation/entertainment industry for years. It was happening before COVID. COVID just accelerated the speed at which it happened. My field (golf) is experiencing it hard from a peak of 75,000 PGA members to roughly 38,000 now.
I totally agree with this, although I’d point out that in BGW and KD’s defense, both parks seem to be building larger and larger internship programs to combat this exact problem. In addition to internships in behind-the-scenes positions (finance, engineering, HR, etc.) a number of internship positions involve placing the interns in leadership positions throughout the park, supplemented with business management seminars and training throughout the summer. Seems like a pretty clever move by the parks to give college students the resume experience and internship credits they need while still improving staffing in the park.
That’s awesome to hear. They should advertise this much more!
I was just up in Rehoboth for a few days..there were J1 employees everywhere. I was happy to see that it looked like it had ramped back up in a big way.
I have been told by a reliable source that the park has the highest number of J-1s that they have had. In fact according to that source BGW has so many that they are renting out space from several hotels in the area as the are well past their housing capacity,
The husband and I played hookie from work and spent most of the day in the park today. I am cautious writing this, but today felt the most ‘normal’ the park has felt since before Covid. Staffing levels appeared to be at their highest since the pandemic started, all attractions were up and running with ride ops doing a good job, and most eateries, shops, and snack areas were open. It was a welcome sight from what we experienced during the F&WF.
The only ride we noticed having issues was Finnegans. It went down to one side operation about 1. Pantheon was open every time we saw it!!! Festa Coke market, La Cucina, Bobs bar in Rhinefield, and the ski mart by Alpengiest were closed due to renovation, but all other eateries were open with the exception of the small snack shop by the Alpengiest / Log Flume bridge, the snack shop across from the horses and restrooms in Heatherdowns, and the French Fry shop that is very rarely open in Heatherdowns. Even every dippin dots stands were open!
The park was busy with a lot of groups but was manageable with everything that was open. I don’t want to act like BGW is back to ‘normal’ quite yet, but today was definitely a step in the right direction. It was definitely one of the best park experiences we have had in the last few years. I hope in a few weeks when we go back, we won’t be disappointed…… Getting the Busch bucks, single use QQs and free beers were nice!!!
The only ride we noticed having issues was Finnegans. It went down to one side operation about 1. Pantheon was open every time we saw it!!! Festa Coke market, La Cucina, Bobs bar in Rhinefield, and the ski mart by Alpengiest were closed due to renovation, but all other eateries were open with the exception of the small snack shop by the Alpengiest / Log Flume bridge, the snack shop across from the horses and restrooms in Heatherdowns, and the French Fry shop that is very rarely open in Heatherdowns. Even every dippin dots stands were open!
The park was busy with a lot of groups but was manageable with everything that was open. I don’t want to act like BGW is back to ‘normal’ quite yet, but today was definitely a step in the right direction. It was definitely one of the best park experiences we have had in the last few years. I hope in a few weeks when we go back, we won’t be disappointed…… Getting the Busch bucks, single use QQs and free beers were nice!!!
So I stated in a previous post that I wasn't planning on a BGW trip but we lost power at work this past Wednesday so I decided to drive down to BGW and KD. I agree with @RKRCC that the rides and ride ops were running great. Pantheon was a walk on. I only stayed at the park for about three hours but I was able to ride everything I wanted to multiple times. I didn't try any of the restaurants and I forgot how horrible bud light is.
Maintenance needs to step it up. Floor tiles missing in the Christmas shop in Germany. Ice machine not working at Marco Polo. The foul sewage/septic smell in the cashier area at Marco Polo. Baseboard trim missing or peeling in multiple shops. Hand dryers non-functional in multiple bathrooms.
I was at the park briefly yesterday and have been here most of today. I made a rookie mistake yesterday and printed my $10 busch bucks but forgot to use them. I stopped off in the Emporium today and asked the supervisor about it. She gave me excellent customer service and explained that she couldn't address it but assured my that if I went to guest services that they could exchange it for a guest appeasement voucher for the same value. I was pleased beyond belief till I got there and the employees said that they couldn't do anything. I pointed out that a merch supervisor had sent me to them and assured me that they could and would be more willing to fix the simple problem. They can continue to say no and outright accused me of trying to scam them. I honestly have no words for the condenseding and uncaring attitude displayed by guest relations. I guess it will be McDonald's for dinner tonight instead of the park where I would have easily spent 15-20 more the the voucher.
That's unfortunate! We had a similar situation back in July, and they were able to print us each a pair of $5 vouchers in exchange for our unused $10 Busch Bucks. It wasn't an easy process, and the time it took almost made it feel like a waste, but there were certainly two VERY different attitudes from the two guest relations employees that were assisting us. Had the second person not chimed in, we would've likely been in your situation.