The State of the Park: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

[Alf33]

I’m curious if those are not serviced by them though. We had one in our family bakery and at one restaurant I worked at and they were serviced by Coca Cola and PepsiCo. So unless they got someone out to fix it, we could lose our contract by trying to fix it ourselves.

I seems like the machines may be owned by Coke and are part of the sponsorship contract they have with them for the park. If that's the case then generally the only thing BGW can do is place a service call to get the machine fixed as they are probably prohibited from fixing it themselves per the contract. That leaves getting it fixed up to whoever Coke subs it out to for the fix is (unless they send their own techs out if they have them) and how busy they are and of course parts availability depending on what's wrong.

 

[warfelg]

I seems like the machines may be owned by Coke and are part of the sponsorship contract they have with them for the park. If that's the case then generally the only thing BGW can do is place a service call to get the machine fixed as they are probably prohibited from fixing it themselves per the contract. That leaves getting it fixed up to whoever Coke subs it out to for the fix is (unless they send their own techs out if they have them) and how busy they are and of course parts availability depending on what's wrong.

Thank you for understanding what I was trying to point out.

 

[Rothbury]

I could be wrong, but I believe those Coke machines have to be filled from a lid on the top. Usually somebody is using a 5-gallon container to dump the ice into the top. At least the ones I have watched being filled were done that way. When I made my comments yesterday there were 3 TMs standing around joking and laughing with each other. I believe they have a commercial icemaker around behind the drink stand in the area where the lockers are. They were making no effort to do anything. Maybe a supervisor needs to make more frequent visits to ensure the Coke machines are filled with ice. As for the machines that are just ice dispensers, I doubt Coke has anything to do with those.

 

[Icer]

Thank you for understanding what I was trying to point out.

Dude I fully understood what you were pointing it out, my point was if after years upon years of Coke not adequately maintaining these machines to a high enough standard, SEAS as a company should have reconsidered their agreement. My point was clearly they value the money they save with a partnership like this more than the money they potentially lose from small customer experience negatives piling up, when someone who prioritizes customer experience would've addressed this exact situation. Hell, this specific situation wouldn't even require dealing with Coke if they really don't wanna fracture that relationship, just have backup ice machines pumping out transportable loads you can bring out to ice dispensers in the park if you care at all about this problem. But, since they don't do anything, they don't care. This isn't a consequence of parts shortages or repair agreements or whatever, 5 years ago sure. It is entirely their fault at this point.

It is a perfectly reasonable predicament to have for a season to then figure out how to mitigate in future seasons, but my point is they didn't, at all.

 

[apollo18]

The smell in front of that drinks area is atrocious. I don't know why it is a repeat issue, but I wonder if it has something to do with their grease trap ventilation or something. Regardless it is something I have noticed multiple times and am shocked they haven't addressed it.

Piling on here -- the rancid stench of the Festhaus men's room was staggering. I've visited BGW in the summer many times since 2010 and it was never this bad. I had to hold my breath.

And my daughter seconds the vile smell by the Marco soda area.

 

[Aidansn07]

Piling on here -- the rancid stench of the Festhaus men's room was staggering. I've visited BGW in the summer many times since 2010 and it was never this bad. I had to hold my breath.

And my daughter seconds the vile smell by the Marco soda area.

I believe it’s a sewage issue, however it is kinda hard to believe that When only one of the soda machines smells.

 

[apollo18]

I have noticed that recently to it seems to be coming from the floor drain that runs the front on the soda fountain area.

Ah, that makes sense

 

[panopticon31]

I believe it’s a sewage issue, however it is kinda hard to believe that When only one of the soda machines smells.

I wonder if the traps are dry allowing the smell from the waste system to escape.

 

[halfabee]

I wonder if the traps are dry allowing the smell from the waste system to escape.

My first thought too. I don't know this system, but that's a common culprit in other settings. Only takes one dry trap.

 

[panopticon31]

My first thought too. I don't know this system, but that's a common culprit in other settings. Only takes one dry trap.

If it is the case and considering how easy it is to identify ( the smell) and resolve (just dumping a bucket of water down the drain) if these are recurring issues its a piss poor reflection on BGW OPs that they dont have a daily "dump bucket of water down these traps" task

 

[horsesboy]

My first thought too. I don't know this system, but that's a common culprit in other settings. Only takes one dry trap.

It smells more like a partially blocked drain to me. To BGW possible defense depending on pipe layout and clean out openings they may not be able to address it without doing significant digging which may not be possible with continuing opps right now.

 

[Icer]

It has been an issue for a long ass time that seems to only come up periodically when it does happen, leads me to believe negligence, not an intentional delay of action.

 

[warfelg]

It smells more like a partially blocked drain to me. To BGW possible defense depending on pipe layout and clean out openings they may not be able to address it without doing significant digging which may not be possible with continuing opps right now.

Or damage to a structure. I’ve seen plenty of times this happens for aging infrastructure where it could be damaged pipe and he leak fix is far more costly than the pain of just dealing with it. Could just be the increased numbers in park means more needs to go through the drainage and the rate things are going down it is too high causing a slow drain and stagnant waste liquid.

 

[Rothbury]

I assume we are talking about the smell in and around Marco Polo. It is possible that when that space was remodeled from the old Italian cafeteria style food service, they messed up some buried plumbing/drain lines. I don't recall the year and I don't recall exactly when the smell started but just throwing it out there as a possible cause. Still doesn't excuse BGW from fixing whatever the problem is.

 

[warfelg]

WARNING: This post is going to be long and winding, but it's my full on thoughts to everything with the state of the park.

Yes the park has many issues. Many places they can go. But I'll be frank, they just can't throw money at all the issues and work it out. Especially with the current SEAS structure where they are outsourcing many things.

I think they need to take care of some things in their own control first. Things like the smell. This would likely require entire areas to have to be closed down to make this happen. These issues are likely more infrastructure related which would require massive work under, through, and to structures. Maybe this becomes a 1 area a year type work that they just close the area during the spring happenings. This will likely mean updates to the bathrooms.

The issue with ice items are likely subcontracted out and they really would struggle to make them change their ways. I think they best thing they can do here is just get separate ice machines. But, that might be something that breaks the Coca-Cola contract. Maybe they can undo an exclusive contract with them, but I can see that exploding the pricing of soda's in the park. I'm not too sure what the right answer would be here. I think the best thing would be to upgrade to the Coke machines that can do all the different type flavors. That would force new machines in the park to make broken machines not be the excuse. Of course another answer would be to not make these machines self service or minimize the number like that.

They need to slowly go through and update things like trash, benches, refresh railings. They need to go through and paint things. Exteriors, interiors, rides, etc.

But in the end all of that takes cap ex. And from the sounds of it the CEO rather look at things that can bring more people in the door that will spend money than the things that make members really happy from that repeat visit standpoint. I kinda think that SF and even CF are pointing to the direction of the industry. That experiences and profiting off non-members, basically get repeat daily tickets, is what with sustain the business.

I find it interesting how different the 3 parks are going.
CF - Experiences through interactive themed areas.
SF - Reducing crowds through higher ticket prices.
SEAS - One of a kind rides.

I really think that none of the three is right.

 

[halfabee]

Those multi-flavor Coke machines are throughput nightmares, in my experience. It takes longer to serve each guest, service is strictly serial, and one indecisive or overwhelmed person thinking through 100 visual options scattered across a dozen different screens can gum up the works for an infuriating amount of time. They are also more complex and expensive than regular machines.

On a hot and busy day during lunch at a high throughput theme park grab-n-go eatery? Better have about a million of them lined up next to each other.

Maybe some large parks have made them work at flagship eateries. I dunno. I’d be interested in how, if so.

 

[warfelg]

@halfabee i get your point there. I was just trying to think of a way that SEAS/BGW could force Coca-Cola to update all the fountain soda stations. Those contracts tend to get you by the balls. Maybe they can get the freestyle type machine without going fully to all the submenus.

 

[SLC Headache]

Those multi-flavor Coke machines are throughput nightmares, in my experience. It takes longer to serve each guest, service is strictly serial, and one indecisive or overwhelmed person thinking through 100 visual options scattered across a dozen different screens can gum up the works for an infuriating amount of time. They are also more complex and expensive than regular machines.

On a hot and busy day during lunch at a high throughput theme park grab-n-go eatery? Better have about a million of them lined up next to each other.

Maybe some large parks have made them work at flagship eateries. I dunno. I’d be interested in how, if so.

My visit to Carowinds earlier this month, the Coke Freestyle machines near Hurler were all out of many products and many of the flavors, and getting my drink was a shitshow. There were like eight machines too.

 

[Jonesta6]

If my understanding is correct, it's up to the retailer to ensure syrups and whatever are stocked for any soda fountain - so if the park got the freestyle machines they'd also potentially be increasing the amount of stock to manage.

If they didn't set them up like CF parks do, with plenty of self-serve stations through the midways, then I guess they could always only stock the main beverages and use it just like a regular fountain behind a serving line. It doesn't really make sense to me to do it that way, but...

 

[Alf33]

I wonder how long the Coke sponsorship contract with the park is and is it close to ending.
If it's close to ending I wonder if they could get Pepsi back in, if the price and T&C are good. And as part of it have them replace all of the machines instead of just rebrand them. If not then see what Coke would be willing to do for an extension.
I would have to believe that for how old the park is that infrastructure problems are going to start becoming more frequent. Then the question becomes how will the park address fixing and upgrading as needed.
SEAS probably could put more money towards problems like this if they wanted. All they would have to do is reduce the $250mil that they authorized for stock buy back they just approved!