Register or Login to Hide This Ad for Free!
Signs in the park: map boards, directional signs, even traffic signs were once made by a VERY talented carpentry shop that was probably 3 or 4 times as large as they are now. Those signs were stripped out of the park where it once added a lot of character to slapping the "coaster tree" on a bright green flat board. I'd give up branding any day to have that character again. The tape on the ground and printer paper taped to walls is truly unacceptable in my opinion. The chalk boards at the front of attractions are the operations department decisions as they can easily be swapped to say whatever they want. It looks terrible.
 
11am this morning. Grogans staff were struggling with broken A/C. An employee stated it was 90 degrees in the building. I then heard tales of handicap wheelchair building having no fan, and other staff areas with no air conditioning.

Deplorable conditions, I encouraged them to speak up, but of course many of them are stressed and are not able to. Leadership ignoring them.

Kevin you need to show some leadership instead of sitting around autographing overpriced, Loch Ness monster merch.
 
Just a note on that - there’s a ton of ACs going out. Not only is actual temps on the mid-90’s the feels like is in the 105+ range along with high humidity. Especially since many of those places have open doors or constantly opening does the units are getting extremely stressed.

Antidote, but 3 friends in the area have HVAC units less than 5 years old and they all had them break in this past week, and are waiting still for a technician to be free or parts to be available.

Does it mean it’s ok working like that? No.
Does it mean they are refusing to do anything? Also no.
 
Just a note on that - there’s a ton of ACs going out. Not only is actual temps on the mid-90’s the feels like is in the 105+ range along with high humidity. Especially since many of those places have open doors or constantly opening does the units are getting extremely stressed.

Antidote, but 3 friends in the area have HVAC units less than 5 years old and they all had them break in this past week, and are waiting still for a technician to be free or parts to be available.

Does it mean it’s ok working like that? No.
Does it mean they are refusing to do anything? Also no.
I understand that. I really do.

What people also don’t want to admit is that a lot of times HVAC units go out for lack of maintenance and that seems to be the issue with Busch. They do not want to keep up with maintenance or invest when money is needed outside of their revenue goals.

Grogan’s should have been shut down with a sign, apologizing that it was not open today. Human beings working in 90 degree temps to sling beers is not the answer.
 
Grogan’s should have been shut down with a sign, apologizing that it was not open today. Human beings working in 90 degree temps to sling beers is not the answer.
So, I agree with you, it sucks, but where do you draw the line?

Human beings inspect rides, climb on wet, humid steel structures for hours to let a good thousand people ride every day. Human beings operate those rides and the entire park. People are outside doing all sorts of real work just for the park to simply run. Log flume operators bake in the sun, often passing out, Finnegans operators, same situation. Nearly everything is very much outside with little to no relief. Natural shade has been stripped away from these areas over recent years. I do understand this is an incredible heat stretch the region is going through, but the park cannot shut down assets until it becomes simply unsafe for literally anyone to be outdoors.
 
What people also don’t want to admit is that a lot of times HVAC units go out for lack of maintenance and that seems to be the issue with Busch. They do not want to keep up with maintenance or invest when money is needed outside of their revenue goals.
Do we have the facts that this is the case? Sounds like speculation.

Where I work just have a part go bad that we replaced just last summer. I don’t know for sure what caused the A/C to go out there, but to just straight away blame it on not maintaining because they want profits doesn’t sit well when it can be a multitude of issues.
 
I understand that. I really do.
Grogan’s should have been shut down with a sign, apologizing that it was not open today. Human beings working in 90 degree temps to sling beers is not the answer.
Back in my early 20s I worked at an outside concert venue that was built in the 70s. No AC in the food prep builds with all the equipment running temps inside could get as high as 110+ on a hot day but we were able to keep going.
 
  • Like
Reactions: warfelg
Back in my early 20s I worked at an outside concert venue that was built in the 70s. No AC in the food prep builds with all the equipment running temps inside could get as high as 110+ on a hot day but we were able to keep going.
Similar experience growing up in a pretzel bakery with no A/C and an oven that was 10 feet by 15 feet running at 500F all day long along with a drying oven 30 feet long running 225 all day long for the hard pretzels.
 
simply unsafe for literally anyone to be outdoors.

Who determines that threshold?

As it is, there's extreme heat and high UV warnings lasting practically all daylight hours.

Also, just because some of us have toughed out similar heat conditions in our lives doesn't mean it's right or fair to ask others to continue to do so, especially when there's potentially better employers nearby.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ziva
Also, just because some of us have toughed out similar heat conditions in our lives doesn't mean it's right or fair to ask others to continue to do so, especially when there's potentially better employers nearby.
This is true.

It does say for all applications to BGW "ability to work indoors and outdoors in all weather conditions" before even applying for a job.

When you get into specific jobs such as maintenance, F&B, operations, etc. The requirements and conditions get more specific. Heights, extreme heat, etc.

To be clear, I'm not defending BGW on things falling apart like HVAC in building or workspaces. Where there is A/C, it should work. But for folks who choose to work outside in a theme park in the summer in VA, I think that's partly on the employee.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This is true.

It does say for all applications to BGW "ability to work indoors and outdoors in all weather conditions" before even applying for a job.

When you get into specific jobs such as maintenance, F&B, operations, etc. The requirements and conditions get more specific. Heights, extreme heat, etc.

To be clear, I'm not defending BGW on things falling apart like HVAC in building or workspaces. Where there is A/C, it should work. But for folks who choose to work outside in a theme park in the summer in VA, I think that's partly on the employee.
It would be nice to see the park pay better. No way anyone can survive on min wage. And the fact many positions require a long 30 min walk from the employees parking area to your time clock. Most other companies, you park outside and walk maybe 5min walk and your clocked in.
 
I was an Apollo ride operator, of course working outside is a requirement. I loved it.

However, in an indoor building temperatures rise, and limited airflow.

Busch Gardens wants to claim itself as the world’s most beautiful theme park. Buildings designed to have air-conditioning need to have air-conditioning or be closed.

It is 100% unacceptable. Some of the reactions on this forum are disgusting. This may explain why the park quality is dropping, you all have no empathy for employees.

Y’all would probably be saying, you know kids in coal mines they like that job just fine.

If Busch Gardens wants to charge prices equivalent to a premier theme park, they need to act like a premier theme park. Mic Drop.
 
... What?

No one is saying the park should just leave ACs around the park broken. Obviously they need to fix them ASAP—and likely close locations that lose their ACs in the meantime. People are just highlighting that, you know, ACs break sometimes and, you know, during a massive heat wave, getting them replaced instantly isn't always feasible.

And I think there's universal agreement that staff deserve far better wages? Basically everyone 'round here agrees that BGW is massively overpriced for the poor experience they typically deliver to guests too. You're preachin' to the choir. Donno way you went all antagonistic all the sudden.
 
No one is saying the park should just leave ACs around the park broken. Obviously they need to fix them ASAP—and likely close locations that lose their ACs in the meantime. People are just highlighting that, you know, ACs break sometimes and, you know, during a massive heat wave, getting them replaced instantly isn't always feasible.
Yup. Things break, even well maintained things. IMO there's certain things that, yes, the park should have someone on staff that can take care of it and the inventory of parts to fix it. A/C is one of those (many) things that I don't blame them for. Someone certified in A/C on staff would (again IMO) be a waste of payroll dollars.

Personally I'm on the fence on needing to close locations. Let's take the example of Grogans. Why can't the close the dining, serve out disposable glasses, and make it walk through to prevent too many people in there at once?

And this is just a question tied to it - when F&B employees are hired are they trained to work just one place or multiple? Because, and I'll be honest this is where the blame BGW culture spins my mind, they don't pay people enough, they've done the tipping, which is both their fault, but then you add on that closing without cross trained employees, they would have to be sent home, which BGW would get some hate for (to be clear they should take heat for some of this). Sorry, just a place my mind goes with how this cycle goes down and down (yey for Autism).

But also, and I know this is highly unlikely, but what if the AC went out at a majority of indoor eatery venues on the same day, or within a week span and the others haven't gotten fixed yet? Especially since some places seem to be closed long term right now. So lets say Gorgons, Festhaus, Squires, Marco Polo's A/C's were all down...that leaves Trappers as the only major place to eat a full meal as a guest. So I don't even feel that closing places with broken A/C is fully the right answer either.

Anyways, sorry for the rant in the 3rd and 4th paragraph.

And I think there's universal agreement that staff deserve far better wages? Basically everyone 'round here agrees that BGW is massively overpriced for the poor experience they typically deliver to guests too. You're preachin' to the choir. Donno way you went all antagonistic all the sudden.

Agreed. But like in my rant above, I feel like at times blame for things all get's lumped into "BGW is terrible" without understanding what is and isn't their control. Does their staff deserve better wages? Absolutely. But also, does paying more always fix employee attitude? In my experience no. So in this case would not being so highly profiteering maintain the AC? Sure. Does it prevent it from breaking? Absolutely not.

Anyways sorry for the rants. Feels good to say out loud. but anyways, BGW employees deserve to be paid more, employees shouldn't be forced to work in dangerous situations (without it being an inherent part of the position), but things break and the answer always isn't just to close it all down.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mwe BGW
I was an Apollo ride operator, of course working outside is a requirement. I loved it.

However, in an indoor building temperatures rise, and limited airflow.

Busch Gardens wants to claim itself as the world’s most beautiful theme park. Buildings designed to have air-conditioning need to have air-conditioning or be closed.

It is 100% unacceptable. Some of the reactions on this forum are disgusting. This may explain why the park quality is dropping, you all have no empathy for employees.

Y’all would probably be saying, you know kids in coal mines they like that job just fine.

If Busch Gardens wants to charge prices equivalent to a premier theme park, they need to act like a premier theme park. Mic Drop.
As another former ride employee, mainly one who did not have a shaded station; I find your take to be a tad bit arrogant. While it is not the idea temperature inside that building, the employees will live. Rides Ops or lifeguards at nearby WCUSA are facing the same weather, all while being exposed to the sun for the entire day. Should Busch close the entire building? No, you would have people complaining on this forum that they closed a restaurant due to "Heat". Should Busch use extra caution to give breaks and rotations to make sure no one is overheating? Yes. The question is if they have that staffing to do that. I do have sympathy for the workers as that building must have gotten extremely warm due to the grills, but if we closed something when it got mildly inconvenienced, the park would never be fully open.
 
A/C is one of those (many) things that I don't blame them for. Someone certified in A/C on staff would (again IMO) be a waste of payroll dollars.
I know KD has a 10k+ sqft shop dedicated to HVAC&R and I've multiple times seen kings dominion maintenance workers working on rooftop AC units while I was visiting the park. I imagine BGW is probably using more air conditioning than KD so they probably also have their own technicians.
 
I know KD has a 10k+ sqft shop dedicated to HVAC&R and I've multiple times seen kings dominion maintenance workers working on rooftop AC units while I was visiting the park. I imagine BGW is probably using more air conditioning than KD so they probably also have their own technicians.
Just in my defense here, I did say "IMO" meaning its not necessarily fact. If a park wants people full time in that, it's fine. I just don't blame a park not having one because if it's a role that would have multiple hours a week without much to do it doesn't make sense.

I remember one hotel I worked at (resort hotel, I was an F&B manager) we had maintenance trained on how to handle some basics with HVAC systems like electrical, replacing motors. But we were in with 3 other local resorts to have a local HVAC company on retainer where they kept 2 guys available for just us available at all times should we need more help. Overall it helped keep our costs down as he was needed for us only 10-18 hours a week, which would have been hard to keep someone part time without a big hourly pay. Not to mention the fact that emergencies were far easier on us since someone was on call rather than having to pay someone even more to be available 24/7.

I know that an antidote, but it shapes why my opinion is what it is.
 
Consider Donating to Hide This Ad