The State of the Park: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

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warfelg said:
Saying you want to compare this stuff regardless of inflation ignores a good bit if what is causing the prices to go up.
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That's not exactly what I'm saying- You're leaving out the important part. I'm saying that Paying more for less is a bigger hit than if it was just inflation-related increases. If they has just raised the prices to keep up with inflation, people wouldn't be nearly as vocal. They raised the prices ABOVE inflation, and (and this is the real important part) they're offering a worse experience to go with it. The experience no longer matches the cost. Also- Compare the season pass for BGW which was like 70 bucks in 2005 to whatever they're charging now, and you'll find a HUGE bump. We can't base the vitriol people have solely on the cost of one day tickets, when the people complaining the loudest are those who go multiple times and have done for years.
 
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Riboflavenus said:
That's not exactly what I'm saying- You're leaving out the important part. I'm saying that Paying more for less is a bigger hit than if it was just inflation-related increases. If they has just raised the prices to keep up with inflation, people wouldn't be nearly as vocal. They raised the prices ABOVE inflation, and (and this is the real important part) they're offering a worse experience to go with it. The experience no longer matches the cost.
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Which I pointed out, and was left out of the quoting by only selecting part of it. Your first response was:
Riboflavenus said:
more than double the cost for a lesser experience doesn't feel good regardless of inflation.
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I'm calling out saying "double the cost" where a majority of that doubling is tied to inflation. When you inflation adjust pricing 20 years ago, BGW is up about 50% on it's pricing (not double) which is slightly above the middle point of the research I did that shows it's anywhere from 15%-80% up on pricing across the industry.
 
warfelg said:
Which I pointed out, and was left out of the quoting by only selecting part of it. Your first response was:

I'm calling out saying "double the cost" where a majority of that doubling is tied to inflation. When you inflation adjust pricing 20 years ago, BGW is up about 50% on it's pricing (not double) which is slightly above the middle point of the research I did that shows it's anywhere from 15%-80% up on pricing across the industry.
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I said double the cost because that's what it is- And paying that for a worse experience feels bad regardless of the reason. But now we're talking in circles, so this is the last I'll say on the matter. People don't like to pay more money for lesser product. That's it. I don't care why the product costs more, I'm not goin to be happy paying more for it if it's less. Remember when they reduced the half gallon of ice cream to 1.75 pints? That still pisses me off.
 
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I would like to give a shout-out to the cashier that let us ring up multiple items at a time to make the most of our $10 Busch Bucks. I know they are told not to do that, but this individual was really doing the Lord's work. For all the grief Seaworld corporate gets, and rightfully so, some of the park employees are everyday heroes.
 
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warfelg said:
I've always been interested in this line so I wanted to test something.

2005 - The best I could find inline was single day tickets were $55.95
2024 - The best I can find is $114.99

But if you account for inflation from 2005 to 2024, that ticket in 2005 was akin to a ticket costing $90.33 today. So when accounting for inflation the cost of BGW has gone up $24.66 in almost 20 years. Not saying that's good or great, but its a more equitable comparison.
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You can buy single day tickets to Busch Gardens, right now, for $29.99.
 
Zachary said:
Okay, but I think @warfelg probably wasn't talking about the cheapest price for any day, but the cheapest price for a comparable day.

Don't want to put words in @warfelg's mouth, but that seemed obvious to me?
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Riboflavenus said:
I agree, i think that would be a disingenuous argument, and I don't think warleg would have gone that route.
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Correct (-ish on @Zachary ’s point). I googled “BGW full price summer 2024 single day ticket.”

For the sake of the argument, normal easily findable discounts puts BGW single day ticket only $5 over its 2005 pricing when inflation adjusted.
 
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warfelg said:
Correct (-ish on @Zachary ’s point). I googled “BGW full price summer 2024 single day ticket.”

For the sake of the argument, normal easily findable discounts puts BGW single day ticket only $5 over its 2005 pricing when inflation adjusted.
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And for what it's worth, if I'm not getting my timeline too squirrely, you used to be able to take a coke can in and get in for like 19.99 in the early 2000's. Most places in Virginia that sold coke cans (including grocery stores and vending machines) had ones with BGW coupons printed on the can- there have been special rates for decades.

One thing that hasn't been brought us is how terrible their veteran program is in comparison- CF parks offer a season pass discount, which is essentially August prices year round, and that discount applies for all season passes the veteran buys, while BGW offers one day of free admission for the veteran only. For anyone who wants to go to either park more than once, there is a clear winner there. I'm not sure if either of these policies is a change from the early 2000's - I haven't had much luck in trying to search for that info.
 
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Riboflavenus said:
And for what it's worth, if I'm not getting my timeline too squirrely, you used to be able to take a coke can in and get in for like 19.99 in the early 2000's. Most places in Virginia that sold coke cans (including grocery stores and vending machines) had ones with BGW coupons printed on the can- there have been special rates for decades.
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I mean - I lived in PA at the time and for Hershey single day tickets you could go into a GIANT and get them for $20. Now that route is $62 vs gate rate of $94 (gate rate then was $40).

I did this research the other day and the worse price increase was Disney/Universal almost tripling, most regional parks went from the $45-50 to $95-105 range and most small parks I looked into went from $30 to $60 range. Some of that was raising rates outside of inflation. A majority of that is due to inflation.

But again - what I took issue with was saying they doubled in price (they did) but you aren’t (seemingly) willing to account for the role inflation has. If you did the price increase they did outside of inflation, BGW in 2004 terms went from $50 to $75 a ticket.
 
For the record, the BGW/WCUSA Military Pass does exist. $130-ish for all-season admission to both BGW and WCUSA + Free Parking. Great deal if you don't care about all the random additional membership stuff.
 
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Riboflavenus said:
One thing that hasn't been brought us is how terrible their veteran program is in comparison- CF parks offer a season pass discount, which is essentially August prices year round, and that discount applies for all season passes the veteran buys, while BGW offers one day of free admission for the veteran only. For anyone who wants to go to either park more than once, there is a clear winner there. I'm not sure if either of these policies is a change from the early 2000's - I haven't had much luck in trying to search for that info.
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Not sure if BGW is different from the FL parks, but Veterans in FL are given 4 free tickets seasonally over the summer. Active duty get 4 tickets they can redeem at any time per year and it has been that way for decades. Cheaper passes are available through the base MWRs and are frequently very cheap. Also, not sure if they still have it but bgw also sells a military pass for active duty.

I feel the current military offerings are quite generous, and a give and take over other chains offerings. Regardless, I view any significant discounts for veterans to be a courtesy, esp when offered to those that aren't active/retired, but I digress.
 
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With now Apollo, Verbolten, and Pantheon down for extended times, I start this thread for any updates.

Apollo is getting/got a new lift motor and was testing yesterday. Est open late April.

Verbolten is getting a fix for it's lift. Est open June

Pantheon??? Mark closed for the day today and seeing on socials that apparently it will be down an extended period due to something 'happening'
Est open????

Anyone know what's going on with Pantheon?
 
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