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Busch Gardens Williamsburg: General Discussion

Mooooore bad news (this time from BGWFans member Zachary):

The Steins & Cuckoo Clocks Are Gone

From what Nora and I were able to gather yesterday, the remaining stock of authentic German steins and cuckoo clocks in the German Gifts shop in Rhinefield are the last crop of clocks and steines the park will be selling. It sounds like the park simply doesn't plan to restock the shelves and other merchandise will soon be taking their places. Nora was fortunate enough to pick up the very last Busch Gardens Williamsburg-themed stein yesterday and, when we left, there was still one Killarney stein, two Anheuser Busch steins, and maybe 2 or 3 other miscellaneous authentic German beer steins as well. The cuckoo clock supply is dwindling rapidly as well. First they took the Hummels and now they've taken the steins and cuckoo clocks. It's absolutely heartbreaking. A Busch Gardens Williamsburg that doesn't sell authentic German beer steins anymore isn't the Busch Gardens Williamsburg I knew and loved. That is all.


I wonder what generic tat will be replacing these two items? :/
 
I'm there on August 9/10. Will look out for this...'

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I'm glad I went to the park when I did in 2011, Verbolten aside it seems to have gone somewhat downhill since then. It's a really pity as it is such a fantastic and in my opinion iconic theme park. :(

:)
 
I doubt it's gone downhill much.

I hope not as this park is the main reason i'm spending good money on my holidays this summer!

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I'm sure the park is still a fantastic place to visit. It's just when you hear of cuts you start to wonder if it's also changed the atmosphere on park etc. The staff might know that things aren't great and it can sometimes be passed onto guests. Hopefully it's not the case. And whatever happens the world class coasters remain! And you can be sure the park is looking as wonderful as ever! Whatever is going on is clearly a financial thing, I think the park's management really care about the place.

:)
 
It sounds like BGW is getting the Merlin treatment; a brilliant park being taken over by a company that purely sees it as an opportunity for profit and just doesn't get what makes a good theme park.

BGW is a park that I've always wanted to visit and it has always struck me as one of the most loved parks in the enthusiast community worldwide. I was quite upset when Big Bad Wolf was removed and I've never even been there! If the park is declining in quality, that's a huge shame as the Busch parks have always been shining examples of how to run a theme park properly. It's worrying to think that this sort of thing can happen to a park like BGW.
 
I said to myself that BGW was like the American Alton Towers. Like it's forest like setting, the fact that both parks have a world class B&M Inverts and Divers for example.

Not how both parks seem to be on the dramatic decline :(
 
CGM said:
It sounds like BGW is getting the Merlin treatment; a brilliant park being taken over by a company that purely sees it as an opportunity for profit and just doesn't get what makes a good theme park.

Considering the park are owned by Blackstone who also own Merlin, this is no real surprise...

Same for the SeaWorld parks...
 
I'm afraid I have to deliver some more bad BGW news. The beautiful English entrance to the park, Banbury Cross, is getting a makeover next year so to fit with the new show for the area, London Rocks.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg said:
The entire English village inside Busch Gardens is getting a makeover to go with the new show. The Globe is being redesigned to take advantage of the latest technology in lighting, audio and stage design, including the use of projection mapping, ear-bending sonic soundscapes and a raked stage similar to performance stages used in European opera houses. Outside, the village will be decked out with new life and energy that embraces the roots of rock-n-roll with feelings of love, hope and freedom.
“Guests will feel the thrills and excitement of being rock stars in the heyday of rock-n-roll London as they walk through Busch Gardens’ English village,” Gasparich said.

This will almost certainly be tragic. Apparently the plans have been called "downright horrific" by some. It will be re-themed to London after the 1960's, which is just completely not what the area is.

Fans of the park over in the States are saying that they're looking forward to Kings Dominion more next year than BGW, and that is saying something. It appears major management changes are needed to stop this massive decline.

:)
 
What in God's name are these people thinking?! I can't understand why they'd want to ruin something for the sake of "updating" it. If it ain't broke..!

I hate to sound like a broken record but this screams Phantasialand, who removed a beautiful replica Brandenburg Gate plus a stunning children's area and encompassing flower gardens, and replaced it with a vile concrete plaza with zero atmosphere. Blleaaarrghh!!

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WHAT.

The entrance was so quaint and beautiful!

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bmac on CoasterForce said:
BGWFans has found a height permit for a future attraction 156 feet tall to be placed in the Festa Italia area, or somewhere nearby according to the balloon tests. Also rumored to come along with this new ride is a possible (and likely much needed) refreshment of the Festa Italia hamlet.

No clue what it could be right now, but from early murmurs everything has basically pointed at a wooden coaster. Before the nay-sayers hop on the trouncewagon, Festa Italia is the furthest point from Kingsmill, and the noise levels from Festa are much lower than anywhere else in the park.

A wooden coaster is obviously what they're lacking - it looks like it'd suit them down to a T.
 
I've just been having a look into this. The obvious idea as to what it could be is a woodie using Gwazi's trains. Another suggestion is that it could be a relocation of Time Machine from Freestyle Music Park (that is 155 feet tall, so a very similar height. Plus the footprint apparently fits the area where this new ride seems to be going).

The general consensus amongst members on BGWFans is that this will not be a significantly expensive investment purely because SeaWorld Parks and Ents are not willing to invest a lot of money into BGW at the moment. There had been a five year plan for after Verbolten opened which included a resort, dark rides and year round operations but this announcement seems to signal that this plan has either been cancelled or indefinitely delayed. So although this does appear to be good news, it's not all as good as it seems.

:)
 
This is definitely one I will be keeping an eye on! Despite the fact the five year plan might have planned other investments, a cheap B&M sit down would do the trick to attract guests... providing speculation comes to fruition!

After reading Dan's trip report and seeing the photos, it has made me desperately want to visit! I feel the park has a Europa vibe, so I'm intrigued to see how they progress under Seaworld Group's tight purse strings!

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BGWFans have managed to obtain the full permit, all the details can be found here.

Also Busch Gardens Williamsburg has updated their permit application and reworded the title from “Busch Gardens Festa Italia Expansion” to ”Busch Gardens 2015 Festa Italia Attraction.” So it does appear it will be only a single attraction and not an expansion. It does however confirm that the attraction is for 2015.

There is now a lot of speculation that this could be a flat ride of some sorts.

:)
 
Screamscape said:
(12/2/13) This project started last winter, but workers at Busch Gardens are busy taking down another section of the park’s Le Scoot flume ride in order to rebuild it by the start of the 2014 season. You can see pictures of the work in progress over at BGWFans.

Massive job!
 
I'd imagine this might interest some people, it certainly has me! Some old photos of Drachen Fire, the parks former Arrow looping coaster, have appeared online. I thought I would post there here to be seen, some of them are rather high quality and I've never really seen high quality photos of Drachen Fire before.

EDIT: I had posted the photos but I think you need to be a member of BGWFans to see them. So instead here is a link to where they can be found, it's worth signing up to see them if you can't already!

:)
 
General Park News - (3/10/14) I don’t know details, but according to posts towards the bottom of this BGWFans forum page, Europe in the Air is expected to be up and running once again for the 2014 season, starting with the passholder preview day
.

Good news for those worried about cost-cutting at this park. :)
 
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