Thursday, September 13, 2012

The infamous Busch Gardens letter

It occurred to me that my posting of BGW's reply would be better in context.  Below is the e-mail I sent to them the reply to which is in the post below.

Dear BGW,

Today my wife and I decided that we would not be renewing our annual
passes to Busch Gardens Williamsburg.  As Virginia residents, my wife
a native, we are most unhappy with the current trend we see at BGW.  I
have been following the BG official blog via the BG website and I
realize that others, many others, share our feelings.  The current
quality of the park, its rides and shows, has fallen far from the bar
set in previous years and we no longer desire to be associated with
it.  Despite living within 30 minutes of the park, we no longer see
the value in holding passes of any kid.
Our list of complaints are as follows:
1) The change to the Festhaus has not been for the better.  Things
must change, certainly, but the Entwined show is a poor replacement
for the Oktoberfest show.  The costumes are substandard, the singing
is barely adequate and the plot, such as it is, is vapid.  I took a 3
year old to see it and she was bored by the entire show with the
exception of the bears.  Children have their places at BG.  Insipid
children's musical theater belongs in the Sesame area.
2) The Verbolten is a poorly executed ride.  With such a show building
a much better presentation could be done, and yet it leaves much to be
desired.  The worst aspect is that the show building takes away from
the coaster.  Part of the thrill of a coaster is the feeling of
movement produced by rushing wind, the anticipation of the drop you
can see and the visual effect of the world moving past at blurring
speeds.  The show building denies the senses that enhance a coaster,
but then it also fails by providing weak visuals and auditory
stimulation.  The trick of the eye effect of DarKastle is wonderful,
yet the Verbolten does not even produce that and it moves faster.  A
poor, poor replacement for the beloved Big Bad Wolf that you murdered.
3) Howl-O-Scream 2011 was a major disappointment.  The child-friendly
choice to have scare zones rather than the scare everywhere turned the
entire event into a waste of time.  Halloween is supposed to a be a
bit scary, even for children.  That is part of its appeal.  If parents
are concerned about their children then can certainly leave the park
by 6 PM.  Ruining everyone else's good time for the sake of a few
overprotective parents (who aren't going to spend money anyway) is a
foolish and insulting decision.
4) Monster Stomp...gone.  2012 Howl-O-Scream is already off to a bad
start to us.  If you insist on taking away our entertainment, then
removing the appeal of Howl-O-Scream, and subjecting us to enslavement
to a child-worshipping cult, why should we patronize your
establishment?
5) The trend is toward a kiddie park.  There are plenty of kiddie
parks that parents can go to.  As a park BG was a good mix of
child-friendly and adult entertainment.  It is moving more and more to
a kiddie park.  Sadly this will not succeed.  The Disney parks manage
to be a great place for children and adults and are far more
entertaining, presently, than BG.  If you attempt to be a Disney you
will lose.  They are just too big and have been doing this for too
long.

Thus, if you do not feel we, and those like us, are valued customers
we have chosen to cease to be.

2 comments:

  1. Ouch! I,m not a big BG fan, Been to Tampa a couple times but not for Halloween yet. We went to Williamsburg,s once. It was definitely a different feel than Tampa's but we still left saying it was ok once but we wouldn't go back. Maybe kiddies make up e biggest market up there...

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    1. I too have been to Tampa BG a few times. It was interesting, but it has been several years since I went, so I cannot say how it is now. Sadly kiddies have not made up the Williamsburg BG market traditionally. It has always been a "family" place. By that I mean that it has rides for kids, rides for adults, good food, good entertainment for adults and kids and beer. Only this season has it begun to decline. I blame InBev, the conglomerate that purchased Annhauser Busch a few years ago. They didn't want the parks and they don't respect them.

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