Verbolten (Project Announcement Fall 2011 Through Opening Discussion August 2012)

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RE: Verbolten

HAJiME said:
There's no good reason why season pass holders should be treated any better than regular customers. It's not as if you pay extra for a privilege.
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Disagree.

When BGW started offering tiered passes over a decade ago they made it a point to advertise perks like exclusive ride time for new attractions to get people to buy them. From a marketing standpoint this makes the pass lucrative to a potential customer. Whether we pay for that or not is not the point. The fact that the parks advertise it at all means offers like this are expected.

HAJiME said:
Never understood why parks do anything for us, to be honest. It's not in their interest. They know we'll come regardless. It's the once a year, if that, crowd they have to impress.
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Disagree with this as well.

It is most definitely in the park's interest to to cater to passholders and get them coming back as much as possible. While they may not receive the gate admission as they do from the one-day customers the passholders will eventually spend the money inside the park by making multiple visits per season. They also have to keep the passholders interested in making return visits so offering a perk like Verbolten ERT would make the customer feel like their pass has some worth to it.

Now whether or not BGW does this well is another discussion...
 
RE: Verbolten

But my point is that us, along with many season pass holders, will go often regardless of the amount of perks we get. People buy season passes not because of perks, but because it's cost efficient. For the parks to offer perks on top of this, which really only encourage a small percentage of people into getting a pass, is an added bonus for us as enthusiasts - because we'd go regardless.
 
RE: Verbolten

BGW is a bit interesting. They have a fun card which is a summer pass the price of a regular admission. Any perks that the park is able to give to season pass members is really important. I know where your coming from, but those who pay more can't help but want more than those who just get the summer pass.
 
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RE: Verbolten

HAJiME said:
But my point is that us, along with many season pass holders, will go often regardless of the amount of perks we get. People buy season passes not because of perks, but because it's cost efficient. For the parks to offer perks on top of this, which really only encourage a small percentage of people into getting a pass, is an added bonus for us as enthusiasts - because we'd go regardless.
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Have to disagree again.

The majority of passholders are not enthusiasts. They are locals. While they may buy the passes because they are cost efficient the park has to sell them in a way to make them lucrative especially with the state of the economy. Nowadays consumers in general are gonna be hesitant on dumping X amount of money for a silver, gold or platinum pass. I personally know tons of people (many of whom have families) who have not renewed their park passes because they can't afford them. And if the park was only targeting enthusiasts for these perks then they wouldn't be sending out Verbolten ERT postcards in the mail to every household that owns passes or to some that had owned one in the past (a couple of my friends that are former passholders received the card in the mail earlier this week).
 
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RE: Verbolten

Just throwing this out there, but the coaster's only been open 2-3 weeks, which means that breakdowns WILL happen and openings/operations WILL be delayed, passholders ERT or not. It's not the park's fault their multi-million dollar project breaks down and can't get the ride up and running on time because breakdowns are normal for new rides.
 
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RE: Verbolten

netdvn said:
Just throwing this out there, but the coaster's only been open 2-3 weeks, which means that breakdowns WILL happen and openings/operations WILL be delayed, passholders ERT or not. It's not the park's fault their multi-million dollar project breaks down and can't get the ride up and running on time because breakdowns are normal for new rides.
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Just to be clear, I have no problem with the ERT being switched to Apollo's Chariot. In fact, I was actually sorta glad it was. Giving us just over 20 minutes when an hour is advertised is ridiculous though. All it comes down to is not providing what was advertised or even a suitable replacement for what was advertised. I have a friend that drove 3 hours from DC for the Verbolten ERT today. He wasn't mad that it was switched to Apollo. He was mad that they took almost 40 minutes of it away.
 
RE: Verbolten

Absolutely, what Swiftman said. The park can't help that Vbolt is down, but it was a good call to switch to AC. But they should NOT have only done it for 20 minutes instead of the advertised hour.

Honestly, I'd be happy for ERT on any of the coasters (well, to be honest, maybe not Nessie).
 
RE: Verbolten

Swiftman said:
netdvn said:
Just throwing this out there, but the coaster's only been open 2-3 weeks, which means that breakdowns WILL happen and openings/operations WILL be delayed, passholders ERT or not. It's not the park's fault their multi-million dollar project breaks down and can't get the ride up and running on time because breakdowns are normal for new rides.
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Just to be clear, I have no problem with the ERT being switched to Apollo's Chariot. In fact, I was actually sorta glad it was. Giving us just over 20 minutes when an hour is advertised is ridiculous though. All it comes down to is not providing what was advertised or even a suitable replacement for what was advertised. I have a friend that drove 3 hours from DC for the Verbolten ERT today. He wasn't mad that it was switched to Apollo. He was mad that they took almost 40 minutes of it away.
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To be fair, Italy and Festa were most likely scheduled to open at 10:30, meaning the Apollo crew wouldn't have been there until 10:00 so there would have been no crew to operate it at the time Verbolten ERT started. Opening staff levels on weekdays are at bare minimums until breakers come in at noon.
 
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RE: Verbolten

^I'm sure staffing may have been tough, but from what Swiftman said, they both started the ERT late but also ended it early, suggesting it was more than just a "we have to start late because we don't have crew here yet" issue.

WRT to perks for passholders, I really want more than just the admission to make it worthwhile. Gate admission is such a small part of the revenue pie, isn't it? Busch is very quick to offer free admission when someone is disgruntled -- I think in part because admission alone doesn't cost them much -- that is, it isn't a product or good -- and they want you in the gate so you will spend there == food, souvenirs, extra experiences like water blasts at the water rides, playing the carnie games, etc. Like the concessions at the movies being the primary moneymakers, not ticket sales. So to me them giving me a discounted admission is not some huge great offer on their part -- they WANT me to come as often as possible so I'll spend more money. You have to be very disciplined (and I'm sure plenty are) not to spend at the park -- to bring all your own refreshments, etc.

Also there's nonspecific factors -- as a passholder I want to feel I'm a member of something, a part of a club, if you will -- and I want membership in that club to have its privileges. In return I'm a loyal parkgoer and I take my family and friends there so they can spend their money, and I join message boards to show the world the park has fans, and to review exhaustively every aspect of the park!, etc.
 
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RE: Verbolten

They started a few minutes late but ended it a little more than 30 minutes early. All the crew was already there and working.

EDIT: What BBW said.
 
RE: Verbolten

Yeah I agree with Newsie... That was my first thought. Surely the reduction in the advertised time was because it was a last minute decision. They probably spent a while trying to get Verbolten open, then once they realised it would be a while decided to try and get Apollo ready. They had staff in early for Verbolten, not Apollo, and the staff probably aren't interchangeable. That's probably what caused the problem. They tried their best, it seems. I know if it happened at the park I've worked at, we'd struggle to accomodate it.
 
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RE: Verbolten

I'm a writer for Theme Park Tourist, and recently had the chance to visit Busch Gardens to ride Verbolten and posted my review online if anyone would like to read it. I should hope you all will agree with much of what I said. ;)

http://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20120530/6810/review-verbolten-busch-gardens-williamsburg
 
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RE: Verbolten

goodyellowkorn182 said:
I'm a writer for Theme Park Tourist, and recently had the chance to visit Busch Gardens to ride Verbolten and posted my review online if anyone would like to read it. I should hope you all will agree with much of what I said. ;)

http://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20120530/6810/review-verbolten-busch-gardens-williamsburg
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thanks for the review!!

Did you like it better then the mummy or rock n roll? nobody didn't answer this question yet LOL. I keep hearing it's "like" them, but haven't heard directly where v-bolt ranks with those 2 great coasters in florida. thanks!
 
RE: Verbolten

redsoxfan787 said:
So tomorrow morning, will it be verbolten for the ERT?
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There should be... but there is always the chance that they could be down again... I think the issue for the last few days is that maintenance did not clear the ride for use by the time bolt was supposed to open for this, that, and the other reasons... I deduced this because I have noticed that the trains were still in the maintenance bays, which means they were not even thinking of operating yet
 
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