The State of the Park: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

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The sorry state of the rides and their operations are among a long list of problems Park President Kevin, and United/Seaworld have spent years neglecting.

We need leadership that values Employees, and treating these rides with the proper maintenance and attention they deserve.

Instead I’ll bet $100 we see a “Tariff surcharge” launched next.
 
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Burnouts said:
The sorry state of rides and their operations
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The park needs a better reward system for good dispatches from a crew. Currently there is essentially no reward system for fast dispatches, and slow dispatches don't really get punished from what I know. I also know of a few coasters where the park has put policies in place that are not required by the manufacturer which do almost nothing except hurt the operations. Most rides are intentionally understaffed even on the busiest of days so the park can make more profit. None of the coasters with 3+ trains ever run all of them anymore. Alpengeist's third maintenance bay was recently walled off so I'm not sure if it's third train even still exists. It's actually crazy how little management cares about operations and in my opinion it's a very valid criticism of Kevin and corporate.
 
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Go to literally any other United Parks property—it's worse.

The chain SHOULD be condemned for their horrid operations and @rollercoastercoaster is correct that there needs to be a much better structure put in place to incentivize and ensure good operational efficiency.

That said, while there are likely improvements that could be made at the park level, the root of the issue resides in the corporate offices which order all of their parks to run these rides with minimal staffing and shoestring budgets.

The "why" doesn't matter to the average customer at the end of the day, but we have broader context which enables us to be a little more sophisticated than that in our critiques. I think we need to keep our sights pointed to the corporate structure that requires the penny pinching, not the folks trying to make the place function as well as they can despite the penny pinching.
 
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cricket said:
By sorry state of rides do you mean Nessie getting an overhaul, the log flume getting retracked, as well as parts of invadr getting retracked to preserve it? Apollos and Verbolten being down are issues that the park wasn’t aware of before the planned opening, and the parks are working as hard as they can to fix it.
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don’t forget Pantheon, and it will be something after that.

That’s what the park doesn’t realize, the status quo has led to a very disappointing start to a headlining 50th year.

More rides will break and be removed.

KD is winning right now imo. My pass ends April 9th, first time in years I’m thrilled. We have to speak with our wallets.
 
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Oh, and for the record...

Burnouts said:
Instead I’ll bet $100 we see a “Tariff surcharge” launched next.
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The huge tariffs unexpectedly inflicted upon BGW (and the industry at large) WILL have to be passed onto consumers so yes, you should expect (and it will be reasonable for BGW to implement) significant price increases in many areas of the park experience should these tariffs remain in place for any notable amount of time.
 
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Zachary said:
Go to literally any other United Parks property—it's worse.

The chain SHOULD be condemned for their horrid operations and @rollercoastercoaster is correct that there needs to be a much better structure put in place to incentivize and ensure good operational efficiency.

That said, while there are likely improvements that could be made at the park level, the root of the issue resides in the corporate offices which order all of their parks to run these rides with minimal staffing and shoestring budgets.

The "why" doesn't matter to the average customer at the end of the day, but we have broader context which enables us to be a little more sophisticated than that in our critiques. I think we need to keep our sights pointed to the corporate structure that requires the penny pinching, not the folks trying to make the place function as well as they can despite the penny pinching.
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I disagree this problem lies only in the boardroom.

Someone should ask Kevin these questions at his little sit ins. Where we get canned responses about how he is looking at his map for where to put the next attraction. The next moment he doesn’t know basic coaster stuff.

I just feel with the prestige associated with the legacy of this park we need an honest enthusiast level “President” who will tackle these issues head on. In fact. I have a great idea.

Kevin should spend some time operating some rides in the park and getting his hands dirty. He’s too far removed from his troops.
 
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warfelg said:
I've seen Kevin out and about in the park more than almost any other park president inside and out SEAS chains. Bridget at KD is about the only one that rivals him with public visibility IMO.
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Also worth noting that even Kevin himself grew up going to BGW so he genuinely does care about the park, but the problem is out of his hands—corporate has such a tight grip on anything these days, but Kevin seems to be regaining some control.

A couple things that have happened with Kevin in charge:
-Burgermeister’s Hideaway. This was done purely at the park level with corporate just green lighting it. If you’ve experienced it, you can see just how much love and attention to detail went into that experience, and that’s what happens when the park has full control over a project.
-DarKoaster, while a bit of a stumble was a good start. Yes it needs more. But it was a step in the right direction.
-Nessie refurb, proven to be a very successful project and has a significant increase in thematic quality.
And that doesn’t even include all the little things like the new murals around, renovations like Squires, and more.
 
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The operations themselves are fine. Nothing amazing but nothing terrible either.

The problem is everything is still running 1 train and that causes what should be a short wait to back up. Throw in Quick Queue crowds and 2-3 of your other coasters being down and you have a recipe for disaster. I don't remember this being a problem in the past, even after year round ops started. Usually by Spring Break, everything runs 2 trains every day.

Sea World has been pulling 1 train ops on weekends and 2 trains on weekdays for years now. Fortunately BGW hasn't stooped to that level yet. It could be a budget thing or a maintenance thing. I just hope BGW starts adding second trains to their rides before the heavier spring break and school group trips start descending on the park.
 
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netdvn said:
The operations themselves are fine. Nothing amazing but nothing terrible either.

The problem is everything is still running 1 train and that causes what should be a short wait to back up. Throw in Quick Queue crowds and 2-3 of your other coasters being down and you have a recipe for disaster. I don't remember this being a problem in the past, even after year round ops started. Usually by Spring Break, everything runs 2 trains every day.

Sea World has been pulling 1 train ops on weekends and 2 trains on weekdays for years now. Fortunately BGW hasn't stooped to that level yet. It could be a budget thing or a maintenance thing. I just hope BGW starts adding second trains to their rides before the heavier spring break and school group trips start descending on the park.
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Only 2 of the coasters is at 1 train now. Hell kings dominion still has Timbers at 1 train. It does really suck though. If Alpengeist had 2 trains going I would of went to the park yesterday but I really don't wanna stand in a 30min line for what should be way less. So it is keeping me a local from going to the park
 
rollercoastercoaster said:
The park needs a better reward system for good dispatches from a crew. Currently there is essentially no reward system for fast dispatches, and slow dispatches don't really get punished from what I know. I also know of a few coasters where the park has put policies in place that are not required by the manufacturer which do almost nothing except hurt the operations. Most rides are intentionally understaffed even on the busiest of days so the park can make more profit. None of the coasters with 3+ trains ever run all of them anymore. Alpengeist's third maintenance bay was recently walled off so I'm not sure if its third train even still exists. It's actually crazy how little management cares about operations and in my opinion it's a very valid criticism of Kevin and corporate.
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TIL there’s rewards for fast dispatches
 
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