Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

[tanthonyam]

Problems for Busch Tampa????

RMC files a 3 million construction lien lawsuit.

 

http://www.screamscape.com/html/busch_gardens_tampa.htm

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

Problems for Busch Tampa????

RMC files a 3 million construction lien lawsuit.

 

http://www.screamscape.com/html/busch_gardens_tampa.htm

Yikes. So basically the ride is almost done, but the park still owes 3mil on it and they can't open it until it's paid off? Idk how these things usually work... are there ways the park can make payments on it to open the ride, or does it have to be paid in full first? (bear with me... I've clearly never made a 3mil purchase before )

[A.J.]

As usual, enthusiasts are blowing this out of proportion. See level-headed article here:

 

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-bz-coronavirus-seaworld-construction-liens-20200616-olovgxilybbetnorlkhho5xuzq-story.html

 

Emphasis mine:

 

A growing number of contractors are pressuring SeaWorld to pay its bills.

 

In Orange County alone, vendors have filed at least 56 liens totaling about $16 million since April, according to a review of public records by the Orlando Sentinel. The disputed contracts are stacking up at other SeaWorld properties including in Tampa and California, records show.

 

Premier Rides, the Baltimore ride manufacturer of Ice Breaker, said it hasn’t been paid $2.7 million out of $8.2 million in Orange County, according to a lien filed June 10.

 

“We’re concerned SeaWorld has a stated fiscal strategy of deferring payments to their key suppliers and vendors, but we’re hoping to work it out with them,” Premier President Jim Seay said in an interview.

 

“A contract needs to be upheld,” Seay added, while acknowledging, “I’m also a businessman. I understand the challenges any entity, whether it be SeaWorld or other big operators, I can understand the challenges they’re going through.”

 

Seay points to his company’s long history of working with the SeaWorld ― Premier built Tigris last year at Busch Gardens — and said he hopes they keep working together in the future.

 

Filing liens isn’t uncommon for major capital projects that employ several layers of contractors and subcontractors, he pointed out, adding that construction companies filing liens are exercising their legal rights to make sure they get paid.

 

It’s also too early to tell if the liens are a red flag of SeaWorld’s deeper financial troubles, Salerno said.

 

Essentially, for obvious reasons, SeaWorld Parks can't pay their bills right now. And it goes beyond just Rocky Mountain, Premier, and B&M - these liens are coming from their contractors, architects, themimg consultants, everyone - from all of SeaWorld's parks that have active construction projects right now.

 

The rides specifically - if any of the manufacturers have to sign off on the ride before turning operation over to the park, they can straight-up refuse to until their bills are paid or SeaWorld is on track to being in good standing. Likewise, the contractors can just stop their work too - remember that all those people still need to be paid.

 

As for lump sum vs installments, that all comes down to what's written in their contracts.

 

But the point here is that while the situation is unusual, I would be surprised if it results in anything other than delays to the openings of the rides. In other words, sorry Iron Gwazi fans, but you need to keep going to the park without Iron Gwazi until SeaWorld can pay their bills.

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

^Thank you for the clarification, A.J.! That helped clear it up a bit more for me.

[thrillseeker4552]

Thank you A.J.!

 

I was seeing this all over social media and wasn't sure what to think or who to believe. That makes sense. With the exception of Stingray (since it already opened in Feb), I can easily see the other 4 major coaster projects in SeaWorld parks be pushed to next summer. But then again, 3 of those coasters are at year-round parks, so maybe we could be looking at some winter openings for those?

 

Is the same issue happening at BGW for Pantheon? I have heard absolutely no information about that ride's current state. I almost kinda forgot about it.

[A.J.]

You're welcome everyone, hopefully this lays it out in bare terms.

 

Is the same issue happening at BGW for Pantheon? I have heard absolutely no information about that ride's current state. I almost kinda forgot about it.

It's a fair assumption that the problems are being dealt with throughout the entire company. Remember though, that the parks and their consultants can always come to a new agreement if they can both agree on terms.

 

What this all means is that if you were holding off on a trip for a specific ride - be it Iron Gwazi, Ice Breaker, Pantheon, and / or Emperor - eat it as a lost cause and just go, because we won't see any openings until the parks have started making enough money to pay everyone off.

[Garet]

There's also a lot of unknowns here which I think has led to all the social media speculation. There's a lot of ifs that we probably don't know about. Like A.J. put it, the worst-case scenario is most likely just delays to the opening. But I'm sure the parks are going to look at all these liens as the money comes in and consider how much each is owed and how important each service is.

 

In any other year, I'm sure getting new rides open to attract bigger crowds and advertize the park would be important. But in the year 2020 where there are reservations and people local will go anyway and people from out of state/abroad (more general public than enthusiasts) are less likely to be travelling for a new ride, as well as, I'm assuming here so someone correct me if I'm wrong, probably being one of the more expensive liens, then the park could push it.

 

Until the parks make any announcements, who knows. It could be the first thing the park wants to pay off or it could be the last.

[tanthonyam]

As usual, enthusiasts are blowing this out of proportion.

 

 

I was not. Just posting what I saw.

[SharkTums]

The news is also reporting that even Disney has liens right now, mostly because soooooo many people were laid off or furloughed all over Orlando that some bills just didn't get paid due to no one being able to pay them who was left in the skeleton crews at the parks.

[xVicesAndVirtues]

I'm curious. Did anyone go yesterday? Interested in your thoughts and observations. How did it go????

 

So, I wasn't planning on doing a report or anything nor did I take any photos from my visit, but my boyfriend and I went back on Monday, and honestly it was some of the same sh*t that's been said about SeaWorld Orlando, with some miniscule improvements that I think they made after getting a lot of negative publicity over the weekend.

 

Going into the park, I actually got flagged for registering 102 degrees when they put the gun to my head, but I was quickly whisked away into the secondary screening tent, re-checked twice, and was good to go after about 3-5 minutes.

 

The park did enforce mask-wearing when entering, but a lot of people were walking around with them pulled down or with their nose exposed, or just not wearing them at all. I think we saw two employees all day actually enforce mask wearing and that was about it. One guy walked up to us and told us to "watch out for the mask police". We weren't sure if the guy needed to lay off the meth or the Fox News. (Probably both).

 

Social distancing was pretty much not a thing at all both out in the park and in queues, people were really piling in. The only place we witnessed it being really enforced was at Kumba, but only once you got past the attendant going into the station. They did run two stations for the first time I've seen in like 8 years on Sheikra, which was nice, but even past the ride attendant there people were right on top of each other. The way they loaded the trains was super random. I saw one row of Sheikra with one seat between two parties, one with two, another with none. A lot of parties were merging with one another or asking other people to merge parties because they didn't want to wait. Sometimes a group of two would just follow another group of two onto a ride and nothing was said. Unlike SeaWorld, we did not once see a train seat wiped down between riders. We weren't at all about to be big enough of dicks to ask for our platinum pass re-rides with the long, slow lines, but I did ask an attendant if we could re-ride through quick queue. She replied, "we aren't doing the platinum pass re-rides anymore". I pointed to the sign above us that was still up advertising platinum pass re-rides. It's still being advertised on the website, too.

 

It's obvious that staffing cuts were made to save money but they seemed to stupidly cut the staff in areas that literally make them money; food and retail. We were disappointed to find a sad, scaled-back menu at the BBQ place by Sheikra, which is usually one of our favorite places to eat in that park. Only one side of the restaurant was open, so the line was super long and people were packed in with, you guessed it, no social distancing. The liquor stand we usually frequent on the path across from Stanley Falls was closed. Ride exit shops were closed. It was over 90 degrees and it took us a good minute to find somewhere to buy a bottle of water. There were just so many missed opportunities where we literally WOULD have spent more of our money there. And like, I get it may not make sense to staff something like a full-service restaurant, but did they really make the call that they didn't believe they'd sell 1/2 of one cocktail or a cheeseburger without fries per hour to make up for the $7 they'd have to pay one employee to be in a few of the smaller stands each hour?

 

Whew, when I started typing that I didn't think it'd end up being this long. In a nutshell, SeaWorld as a chain seems to need to get their sh*t together. On the way out we even saw the repo man demanding the keys to Iron Gwazi.

 

Jk about the last part.

[Midgetman82]

That's a huge shame to hear. I'm sure the layoffs/furloughs played a huge part in their efforts to save money, but nipped them when they thought the were ready to reopen like everything was still fine and not requiring extra effort to keep afloat smoothly. As for the guests, it was only time until folks started thinking of ways they could get away with circumventing new rules.

 

It's more and more sounding almost like the folks that opted to skip this year entirely on amusement parks probably had the right idea, if not for the complete tanking of capacity caused by new safety procedures, then for the other guests making the experience worse for everybody else actually trying to be safe.

[SharkTums]

I just don't understand how Universal seems to have gotten the reopening so right and Busch/SeaWorld so wrong. Thanks for the report, I'll keep hoping that they do better! Maybe now with the mask mandates in both Orlando and Tampa that will help?

[RideWoodenCoasters]

Perhaps higher staffing ratios help with mask "reminders". We just got the statewide mask order in CA so I hope this helps with parks reopening here.

[A.J.]

Maybe now with the mask mandates in both Orlando and Tampa that will help?

Oh, how we all wish.

[SharkTums]

FYI - It appears Busch Gardens has changed their schedule to now be closed Mondays and Wednesdays starting next week.

 

Also just throwing it out there that I said this made more sense WEEKS ago when they first announced their schedule. With this new schedule you can now visit BGT or SWO every day of the week, they no longer will share a closed day.

Edited June 23, 2020 by SharkTums

[prozach626]

Has anyone been to the park lately? I'm wondering how the lines and beer situation are. Every other car, etc. I guess quick queue still isn't offered, since I didn't see it on the website.

[bgtlover]

^Quick Queue has been available since the park reopened and can be bought online and at the park. The only thing they hadn't been doing is the Platinum re-rides.

 

https://buschgardens.com/tampa/upgrades/quick-queue/

[bgtlover]

Iron Gwazi update: RMC is back on site, as of yesterday (Tuesday, July 21,2020). They were seen inspecting areas of the track and had a crane in operation. I would share the post from FB here, but their posts aren't welcome here.

[tndank]

Iron Gwazi testing today.

[tndank]

Starting to look like Iron Gwazi may be running soon. Rumors say final inspection happens tomorrow. Lights, fans, wait sign are all on today.

[anonymouscactus]

I have a feeling they will open it before the new year, regardless of what they said during their quarterly call... though I never heard the exact quote of what was said and I didn't hear what attendance was like or anything like that. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time they lied to their investors. (Zing.)

 

I suspect they need the attendance **NOW**. While it makes sense to most to advertise a new ride next year, I feel like they probably aren't anywhere near capacity (unlike BGW where it makes sense to wait -- the demand is already there)

 

I would expect a soft opening before the year is up. This is all just my gut talking.

[VaCoasters]

Before the year is up??? It will be soft opened within the next few weeks.

[SharkTums]

Well, as expected, Busch is going for it! With the Universal and Disney Halloween events cancelled I bet this will sell out fast so grab tickets now if you're interested! They're also hiring for any locals who need a part time job this fall.

[tndank]

Nice! Just saw the email here. That's good news.

[coasterbill]

I don't know what to expect here. It's basically a Halloween party I guess but it's stupid, stupid cheap. I love it in theory but I'm interested to see what type of crowd it attracts. That's one of the reasons that I avoid Six Flags Fright Fest events and Busch Gardens seems to be taking the "Give away the gate and get everyone drunk" model to a level that even Six Flags hasn't tried yet.

Edited August 11, 2020 by coasterbill