Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW BGE) Discussion Thread

[defrocker]

Ok, so KD had 4. I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that CP has 3. That's not what I said though. I said it's rare. There can't be more than a handful of parks with more than 2.

 

And yeah, whatever it is, it won't be an Intamin. But it will be big. So if were talking coasters here, it's almost guaranteed to be a B&M. Not sure who else would go that big.

[SLCHeadache]

If the new coaster is not going to be for 2018 - and I can see that, giving the new VR thing its time in the spotlight - fanboy mode engaged, maybe it could be an RMC T-Rex?

[prozach626]

^And without "Fanboy mode" engaged, you'll see that it will likely be a B&M **IF** the park is building a coaster, especially with the success of Fury 325. They will want something to compete with I305. Maybe not in terms of ride intensity or experience for the average coaster enthusiast, but catered toward the average park visitor and re-rideability, like Fury 325. I also doubt the first T-Rex will be a giga.

[Brassinthegrass]

All fair points, but what would they be building at the 300ft level that's not a drop tower and not a coaster? Nothing else in parks go that high (other than an observation tower, but I can't really see them building one...)

[average.coaster.fan]

All fair points, but what would they be building at the 300ft level that's not a drop tower and not a coaster? Nothing else in parks go that high (other than an observation tower, but I can't really see them building one...)

 

A Starflyer

[SLCHeadache]

^And without "Fanboy mode" engaged, you'll see that it will likely be a B&M **IF** the park is building a coaster, especially with the success of Fury 325. They will want something to compete with I305. Maybe not in terms of ride intensity or experience for the average coaster enthusiast, but catered toward the average park visitor and re-rideability, like Fury 325. I also doubt the first T-Rex will be a giga.

If it's 2020, then it's a sliver of a chance. Intamin went from Ride of Steel in 1999 to Millennium Force in 2000.

 

*disengages*

 

Knowing SeaWorld's financial troubles at this point, I say bring on the StarFlyer (or even observation tower) and a spinning or other family-friendly coaster in 2019 to anchor a hypothetical Spain section. Maybe some thrill flats to round it out.

[Jcoaster]

Who says it would have to B&M? I know BGW has a great relationship with them but maybe Mack or Gerlauster could venture into the Giga coaster field.

[defrocker]

I would think and hope that BGW would have learned from Verbolten that they tend to do best when they stick to the manufacturers for proven products. If it's a coaster, I can't see it not being B&M.

[coasterbill]

Knowing SeaWorld's financial troubles at this point, I say bring on the StarFlyer (or even observation tower) and a spinning or other family-friendly coaster in 2019 to anchor a hypothetical Spain section. Maybe some thrill flats to round it out.

 

I'm speculating and pulling things out of my a** quite a bit with this post and that's not normally something I like to do but I think SeaWorld's financial troubles are why they're investing so heavily in Williamsburg right now.

 

Williamsburg is the one "major" property that's been mostly unaffected by the negative PR surrounding SeaWorld. Very few people know that they're affiliated with SeaWorld in any way, and unlike the Tampa park they're not piggybacking off of a damaged brand. There are plenty of people out there that don't know SeaWorld and Busch Tampa are affiliated (though many people do since they push their combo tickets so hard) but that park basically relies on people making a 90 minute drive from Orlando and a lot of the reason that's worked for so long is because of their partnership with SeaWorld. People can buy incredibly cheap (by Orlando theme park standards) 2 day tickets in advance, upgrade their SeaWorld ticket once they're in the park and even take a bus from SeaWorld if they don't have a rental car. Without that partnership, BGT would be absolutely empty on offseason weekdays and would never be able to operate 365 days a year without bleeding money. SeaWorld is dragging that park down with them, the only parks that haven't really been hurt by Blackfish are Williamsburg and Sesame Place.

 

Again... I'm speaking out of my a** here but I firmly believe that coaster fans in Williamsburg are benefiting from SeaWorld's problems because it's caused the chain to double down on this park because it's basically the only place where they can generate a return on their investment and try to generate slightly rosier numbers to present to the shareholders. The park has felt some ill effects from Blackfish in the form of cost-cutting measures with shows / animal exhibits but they're doubling down on coasters because they need to drive up attendance in Williamsburg to cut into their losses elsewhere.

 

Looking at the TEA numbers (which are all we have to go on, I'm aware that they shouldn't be taken as gospel), you can see that SeaWorld Orlando dropped 7.9% the year they added a huge B&M hyper coaster and Busch Gardens Tampa dropped 2% despite adding Cobra's Curse. It's virtually unheard of for a park to add a hypercoaster and see a drop in attendance, a 7.9% drop is devastating. The Tampa number is also horrendous, though slightly less so.

 

Meanwhile, Williamsburg seems to be responding in very predictable ways to major investments. In 2015 (the year they added Tempesto), they saw a 3% jump in attendance. On their Q1 call (where they discussed their April results as well) they noted that Williamsburg set an all time attendance record for April thanks to invadR and Joel Manby stated that it was their "most efficient coaster spend".

 

They're not adding an observation tower and I highly doubt they're adding a Star Flyer either. In my opinion, they're adding a huge coaster because they know that they need to double down on this park since it's the path of least resistance when it comes to improving their overall numbers.The only other thing they could really do is build another Sesame Place and... surprise, they're planning to do just that.

[defrocker]

I've kinda been along this line of thinking as well. Also, if you consider the fact that BGW hasn't really had a major investment since 2012 with Verbolten, it seems that could use it. They've seen Tempesto, which is a fairly inexpensive addition, and InvadR, which recycled many of the pricier parts from Gwazi and has a pretty small footprint. Both of these were easy-on-the-budget additions.

 

If you look at SeaWorld as a whole, weaker numbers is not exactly a new phenomenon, yet they still are pumping money into their parks. Mack launch coaster, Intamin launch coaster, B&M hyper, GCI woodie... these are just over the last couple years. It's not out of the question to have the plans in the works for a major investment into, arguably, their best performing park a few years from now.

 

Also, BGW and KD have different target markets and a major coaster addition would let BGW reach over into some of who KD appeals to and steal some business.

 

Again, all of this is purely conjecture, however, I don't think the company having a rather poor 2016/17 is an excuse for one of their parks to not get an investment in 2020. The question should be, if their market research team sees potential ROI, why would they NOT do it?

[Trevor Hamilton]

I'd honestly rather speculate about the new Spain section itself (IF we're getting a whole new area). Over the next few years we could see a coaster, some flat rides, and maybe even a show or dark ride. I'd love to see what BGW can do with a whole new section.

[CoasterAuditor]

I personally really would like for BGW to get a nice flat ride package so hopefully if we do see a new hamlet go in we get 2 or 3 flats going in at some point.

[coastin_dude]

A GCI, RMC, and giga in consecutive years in the same 2 hour radius? God damn!

[Rayj]

So I decided to ride alpengeist to find out if it is as bad as people say, and I'm usually a back row person, worst. decision. ever. That cobra roll was deadly. I didn't get a chance to ride front row, but I assume it's smoother with less rattle.

[coasterbill]

[boldikus]

So I decided to ride alpengeist to find out if it is as bad as people say, and I'm usually a back row person, worst. decision. ever. That cobra roll was deadly. I didn't get a chance to ride front row, but I assume it's smoother with less rattle.

[Woodie Warrior]

My dad and I are going to be in Virginia October 19-22. I know the park will most likely be packed all of these days, but would Friday or Saturday be better? Is Quick Queue needed? Thanks in advance.

[CoasterAuditor]

My dad and I are going to be in Virginia October 19-22. I know the park will most likely be packed all of these days, but would Friday or Saturday be better? Is Quick Queue needed? Thanks in advance.

 

Friday 100%. Amusement parks on Saturdays in October can set record crowds.

[Woodie Warrior]

My dad and I are going to be in Virginia October 19-22. I know the park will most likely be packed all of these days, but would Friday or Saturday be better? Is Quick Queue needed? Thanks in advance.

 

Friday 100%. Amusement parks on Saturdays in October can set record crowds.

I was assuming Friday would be better crowd wise, but was also wondering if the two extra hours the park is open on Saturday would give us more time to do things.

 

Is Quick Queue worth it? The website says it's only good on 4 rides.

[CoasterAuditor]

My dad and I are going to be in Virginia October 19-22. I know the park will most likely be packed all of these days, but would Friday or Saturday be better? Is Quick Queue needed? Thanks in advance.

 

Friday 100%. Amusement parks on Saturdays in October can set record crowds.

I was assuming Friday would be better crowd wise, but was also wondering if the two extra hours the park is open on Saturday would give us more time to do things.

 

Is Quick Queue worth it? The website says it's only good on 4 rides.

 

 

I'm gonna say the extra two hours while the park is potentially at max capacity may give you time to do one additional thing but it's also possible with how busy it could be you would do less throughout the day. Not sure on Quick Queue. Never really been a skip the line type (because money ).

[TwistyTie]

How crowded do you guys think BGW will be this coming Sunday? I'm going for the first time!

[njcoasterguy34]

I don't know about regular Quick Queue, but when I went the year they added Tempesto, I got Quick Queue Unlimited, and it was absolutely worth it.

[bgtlover]

Is Quick Queue worth it? The website says it's only good on 4 rides.

 

There are 4 levels of Quick Queue. One is a Jr QQ that has one time access to some family and junior size rides. Since You are probably wanting the coasters, I didn't include that below:

[prozach626]

If you're going on a busy day go for Quick Queue Unlimited, but the Unlimited plus is probably not needed.

[Keetz]

I went to BGW a few years ago during their Halloween event on a Saturday. The park was very manageable from opening to ~4pm. No line over 20 mins. Then between 4pm and 6pm we started to have a few drinks and watched the park quickly get SLAMMED. We bought quick queue + access to scare mazes for the night. It got us one time use on all major attractions. After 6 pm we started to use the quick queue and got on everything well before the park closed. I think the system is different now but it was well worth the money.