What If BGW Closed Permanently

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Jonesta6

Jonesta6

Kehoe
Feb 14, 2019
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Obligatory don't know if this topic is the best place to post this or if it would be better in a different thread/topic - mods do your thing if needed.

So something has been coming to mind (due to boredom and not from current events around the world) that I'd be curious to see what everyone else thinks:

If in some dystopian future BGW was permanently closed under SEAS (possibly other SEAS parks too depending on how it went down) and up for sale, what would likely happen?

Would we see another chain take over and reopen the park assuming there's no environmental/physical issues that caused the closure (ie. the pipeline exploding and taking out a huge chunk of the park and attractions with it, etc)?

Would any new owner be required to rename and/or rebrand anything, and if they do, what has to change?

Would we see JCC or VA snatch it up? Could a theme park somehow be absorbed into an existing parks division of government? Or would they sell/remove/disable attractions then use it as more of a natural space like other parks?

Is it likely that in the case of no buyers comin forward in a given time period they'd sell what rides they could? If that were to happen, which would sell and which would be destroyed (assuming they all had to go one way or the other)?

Would this become an opportunity for other amusement or theme parks located elsewhere in Virginia to be opened with only KD as competition? Thinking brand new parks, or conversion of FFCs to full-scale but small to medium sized amusement/theme parks.

Would I be correct in assuming CF would pass on the sale because KD is too close for another park, assuming there aren't any monopoly laws preventing such a sale?
 
If CF had the opportunity to buy up BGW at a reasonable price, they would do so in a second, and they definitely would do what they could to keep other buyers out. Owning KD and BGW allows CF to effectively monopolize much of VA and rationalize both investments and pricing between the two parks. You would almost certainly see events and new rides split between the parks to encourage multi-park passes instead of single park ones. You might even see Soak City either sold as a separate ticket or closed to funnel everyone to WCUSA and encourage more multi-park passes. From the consumer side everyone would be paying more for less and have little leverage, unless SFA got its act together.
 
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There have been rumors for years of a couple different companies being intrest in the Busch parks. I feel quite confident that someone would buy it. Honestly I could see SF making a bid as it would certainly be attractive from a business prospective to own a park that would place them in the market of both Southern Virginia and the Carolinas. I personally don't think that CF is likely given the extreme closes to KD and the moderate closeness to CW. But I think the best bet would be on Hershend or Merlin both rumored to have had a past interest. Heck maybe Carl could come back if Hershend bought it.

As for naming that all depends on the sell terms they could include the naming rights or not but given that Busch has little intellectual property that is not limited to the park I would think that the sell would likely include everything but the Sesame stuff which would have to be worked out separately from Sea since they don't own them. It would also depend on what Intellectual property rights the new owner gas for example if it's SF I would anticipate seeing DC names and theming replacing the current ones at least in a section of the park .
 
horsesboy said:
There have been rumors for years of a couple different companies being intrest in the Busch parks. I feel quite confident that someone would buy it. Honestly I could see SF making a bid as it would certainly be attractive from a business prospective to own a park that would place them in the market of both Southern Virginia and the Carolinas. I personally don't think that CF is likely given the extreme closes to KD and the moderate closeness to CW. But I think the best bet would be on Hershend or Merlin both rumored to have had a past interest. Heck maybe Carl could come back if Hershend bought it.

As for naming that all depends on the sell terms they could include the naming rights or not but given that Busch has little intellectual property that is not limited to the park I would think that the sell would likely include everything but the Sesame stuff which would have to be worked out separately from Sea since they don't own them. It would also depend on what Intellectual property rights the new owner gas for example if it's SF I would anticipate seeing DC names and theming replacing the current ones at least in a section of the park .
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It would truly take a dystopian event for Carl to come back and for anyone to really enjoy it. Anyone but Carl
 
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I don't recall saying it would either be a good idea or popular just that it was possible.
 
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Can I give a what if here?

What if Disney still wants to have a park in the north east area? What if within the company they are ready to expand a new park again with Universal looking to open up a whole new park? Could in the worst case scenario where SEAS basically dissolves and the parks are sold individually, Disney step up and buy Busch Gardens Williamsburg?

I honestly think it would be a really interesting scenario to consider. I was thinking about how BGW/WCUSA could fit the Disney park structure and how the opportunity could give them a park unlike any other they have. With IoA, Universal has a "high thrill" park with some more intense rides. If what @Jonesta6 is proposing us to think of came to happen, think of the benefit for Disney. They would get a higher thrill park without having to take care of the infrastructure, the build out, and they would tap into a whole new market. Along with that, all the land available to them between both BGW and WCUSA Disney would be able to readily expand as they want too. Hell even in this case if they needed to close down for a year to redo everything in a more "Disney" way, but keep the European feel to it, it would be really awesome. And if they really want to use IP's on the rides and spaces, they wouldn't even need to go deep into recognizable Disney stuff, as the addition of Fox Studios and their other film properties such as Searchlight, they have more "adult" level IP's they could use. I hope that they wouldn't do so, but they could.

Honestly if push came to shove, I think that Merlin entertainment would be the most likely to put in the bid for BGW/BGT as a pair. There's constant rumors of them being interested, they want to be in America beyond Legoland, so this could be their way in without building a whole new park. If there's going to be a split of BGW and BGT, I could see BGT having more suiters than BGW because CF and SF aren't in Florida at all and BGW is close to pre-existing properties. Imagine is SWO gets bought by CF and BGT by SF. Could be a rather interesting split with them.

A thirst interesting proposition that hasn't been brought up, what if Hershey Entertainment and Resorts bought out BGW, BGT, WCUSA, and AI? Would owning more properties mean a slow down of ride expansion? Maybe. But HERCO is pretty good with what they do, and this could allow them to expand their reach without going too big. With HP being close to landlocked at this point, the logical expansion of HERCO is to get new properties. And it spreads them out nicely to do "battle" with SF and CF by getting a property in the middle of them and tapping a market neither are in. And Hershey's experience with ZooAmerica could mean a continued effort of animal protection and conservation efforts at the parks, and possibly even an expansion.
 
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If BGW is sold to another company the only thing I would like to see happen is that the new owner (even if it's Disney) doesn't change hardly anything. BGW has been around long enough that it has a lot of brand name recognition and reputation (most beautiful) that would be stupid to throw away. Also the park is unique enough that making a lot of changes would ruin it and turn a lot of people off.
 
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Alf33 said:
If BGW is sold to another company the only thing I would like to see happen is that the new owner (even if it's Disney) doesn't change hardly anything. BGW has been around long enough that it has a lot of brand name recognition and reputation (most beautiful) that would be stupid to throw away. Also the park is unique enough that making a lot of changes would ruin it and turn a lot of people off.
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I'd be curious about that - when you think about it BGW wasn't a thrill ride kind of park until recently, under AB it was way more family oriented with a few good thrill rides sprinkled in IMO. If you wanted to go to a park for rides you'd go to KD. Nowadays both parks are known for their rides, though BGW has a leg up on scenery.

Could a new owner make changes that'd actually increase the park's scenery and beauty? In the same vein of thought, would there be an option to relocate a BGW ride or two either within the park or to another park if that means BGW gains somewhere?
 
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