The State of the Park: Busch Gardens Williamsburg
- Thread starter CoasterTalkBob
- Start date
Universal seems to have the best setup. Most, if not all, of their refill stations have freestyle machines. You can either purchase a regular cup or the all day souvenir with free refills (every 10 mins), plus $10 per day after that. All of them feature little chips in them and honestly work really well. If bgw (or really any other chain for that matter) were to do something like this, it would make it a lot easier. As for how they would monitor that, the chips do that. The machines and the cups recognize each other and if you haven’t hit the minimum time requirement or your cup is expired, a message will pop up on your screen and you will not be able to fill up your cup.
I know it’s a bit off topic but I’d love to see other parks implement Universal’s setup.
Freestyle machines actually cut down on stock management quite a bit if used correctly. Yes the retailer has to physically fill them which is similar to clanging an ink cartridge. But the machines when properly linked can self monitor available inventory and even self reorder when you stock is low.
I hear a lot of people recommend Universal's Freestyle system, but I haven't used it. I've never been a big fan of their implementation in theme parks. A few years ago when I made a trip up to Cedar Point, they gave free sodas all day with their Freestyle machines as a Hotel Breakers perk. I think I used it once in the morning before I gave up on the system altogether due to outrageous lines. That said, food and beverage was a nightmare on the whole that day at CP.
I haven't gotten any type of refillable drink or summer long bottle at BGW in years. The one thing I do is get absurd amounts of hot chocolate refills at CT, and even with the crowds, I've never had a very bad experience with it.
I haven't gotten any type of refillable drink or summer long bottle at BGW in years. The one thing I do is get absurd amounts of hot chocolate refills at CT, and even with the crowds, I've never had a very bad experience with it.
I once was standing behind a woman and child exploring every possibly combination. I remarked, "Did you know that if n represents the numbers of flavors, there are 2 raised to the n possible drinks?" to which I quickly added, "unless we ignore the deviant case of an empty cup in which case it would be 2 ** n minus 1." They looked at me like I was some kind of nerd.
Had dinner at Marco Polo's yesterday and the odor by the drink machines was still there. So I sent a complaint email to BGW about it and asked when this would be fixed. It does not make the park look good to it's guests or us with memberships.
Thanks for clarifying. Wonder is it was just an honest mismarked tag. Or some ass thought it was funny. Shoulda price checked.
Yesterday all the Apollo's Shirts were marked up to $29.99.
The emporium put stickers over the original price, but the Festa store still just scribbled over the original price to show the new, higher price.
I honestly have never seen a store before that would not bother to hide the fact that they raised the price on an item.
The odor at Marco Polo's was disgusting on 16th. it was made far worse by there only being a single cashier after getting my food quickly. By the time I sat down my food was cold.
Bathrooms were all disgusting, one didn't have soap and toilet paper. Pantheon was late opening. My decision to cancel the passes that are EZ pay come march is becoming easier. We are thinking of getting multipark passes for cedar fair with the hope of hitting up all but Knotts.
Bathrooms were all disgusting, one didn't have soap and toilet paper. Pantheon was late opening. My decision to cancel the passes that are EZ pay come march is becoming easier. We are thinking of getting multipark passes for cedar fair with the hope of hitting up all but Knotts.
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I just pulled the trigger on Cedar Fair Platinum as well, and plan to end my BGW EZ pay at year end when my SIX pass also expires. I plan to hit San Antonio again this year Labor Day weekend to get a visit in at Schlitterbahn, and I also plan to visit LA in December (Knott's) while I still have my BGW and SIX passes. Come 2023, I will be focusing on the other Cedar Fair parks, with trips to WDW and USO sprinkled in.
I have a WDW trip starting labor day through the 11th.
I may stop my one pass earlier if the 2 free ticket benefit still lives going into next year. I really hate to do this, but I'm not pleased with the "state of the park". I just did a day trip to BGW on Tuesday and it's physically exhausting to do that without staying a night. Kings Dominion saves me an hour and I would never get a hotel for that unless we are doing something other than the park. The remainder of the parks we'd have to plan trips around. I'm hoping Darkoaster opens prior to me killing the ez pay. I did a BGW survey the other day and was honest and not rude about the state of the park
I received a reply from BGW to my complaint email about the smell. Below is most of their response.
"We appreciate you taking the time to reach out and share your feedback with us regarding Marco Polos marketplace. I have forwarded your feedback to our senior leadership team for them to review. We know it takes valuable time for you to reach out and we appreciate receiving your feedback."
Straight to the virtual trash can.
Facilities should 100% have a ticket system in place exclusively for customer service to input tickets based off customer feedback. Even if there is only one report for something, it is worth facilities taking a walk by and seeing if there is an issue or not.
Facilities should 100% have a ticket system in place exclusively for customer service to input tickets based off customer feedback. Even if there is only one report for something, it is worth facilities taking a walk by and seeing if there is an issue or not.
It was not very crowded today but I've noticed over the last few years, the guests visiting BGW are truly abysmal. The employees are too. The lack of professionalism I've seen especially this summer is kind of ridiculous. At Marco Polos tonight at the register, I went to buy food and the attendant was on her phone the entire interaction with me, just scrolling Instagram. Then this kid, multiple times was climbing up onto the fountain by the stage. I wasn't going to take a picture, but after the third time of his family encouraging his actions:
This is just a couple things that's happened this year and I'm sure it's influenced by an infinite amount of things.
I live 10 minutes away from BGW, work there, literally get in for free any time I want 24 hours a day, and I don't think I want to visit BGW during the summer anymore. I'm sure people have opinions about me to, but generally, people really do make my experience terrible when visiting.
This is just a couple things that's happened this year and I'm sure it's influenced by an infinite amount of things.
I live 10 minutes away from BGW, work there, literally get in for free any time I want 24 hours a day, and I don't think I want to visit BGW during the summer anymore. I'm sure people have opinions about me to, but generally, people really do make my experience terrible when visiting.
You would think BGW would be all over this. The kid shouldn't be up there, given what could happen if the kid slipped and fell. And the whole family should be kicked out for encouraging the behavior.
My biggest problem this summer has been the restrooms. Pre-Covid, I knew Busch to have some of the best public bathrooms. most of them were kept clean and smelling alright. I guess it’s cause of a lack of staff, but so many bathroom experiences have been quite nasty this summer.
I just want to give some defense to BGW on the staffing side:
SFA office crew actually spent time doing ride operations and custodial work this summer due to a lack of applications. This would be like Kevin running Bolt or Susie cleaning the bathrooms.
SFA office crew actually spent time doing ride operations and custodial work this summer due to a lack of applications. This would be like Kevin running Bolt or Susie cleaning the bathrooms.
why would you want them to out themselves?
I don't - I thought it was interesting they were willing to even mention they work at the park at all. I know others here have stated the park was a previous employer, but don't think I've seen anyone out themselves like that.
Hence I didn't actually ask what they do as much as ask if they can tell us (or even DM it though not really expecting that). I would expect the answer to be no, tbh.
I'm very happy that I do! I love what I do for a living. It is discouraging to see that likely several thousand employees in the same company I work for act so disengaged. Most of the time they're guest facing, the face of the park for everyone visiting. I get it, customer service sucks. I've been there. There was a time, however, where professionalism was enforced, and if you didn't comply, you were gone. I just don't like seeing the degrade so quickly.