Busch Gardens 1/19 Trip Report

[TylerDurden]

TD, I think most of your bad experiences were because of the extremely busy weekend, and everything / everyone having to deal with higher than usual crowds.

I've not had any bad experiences at BGT with staff personally, and I really love the park overall. I would get out there more often if I lived closer. But, I will agree that the layout is confusing and I've gotten lost several times Bob can attest to that

Gwazi... Dear lord... Last time I was at BGT, for Christmas Town, my brother insisted that we go on Gwazi because he'd never been on it. (The last time he had been to BGT yearsss ago, he was still not riding any coasters). Oh, and let me also clarify that he was ready and excited to go on the other coasters, even Sheikra. Well, needless to say, we both had a horrendous ride. We couldn't wait for it to end and when we got off we both had neck and back pain, and a headache that lasted the rest of the night. That put a damper on the night for sure, and he wouldn't go on any more coasters after that. Luckily, by the very end of the night, he agreed to get on Cheetah Hunt and he enjoyed that one very much :thumbs: But, yeah, that was DEFINITELY my last ride on Gwazi EVER.

It was definitely about the crowds. Obviously seeing more crowds than expected is always a bummer. But I feel like maybe the park was under more stress than it should've been. Granted, if they were surprised too I can see why there would be issues with slow staff. But there are surely some things management can improve when the park is busy--things like hippies high out of their mind coming in, or inefficient ride/food times, or I attentive staff are things I didn't expect and was disappointed to find. Since I'd never been on a day so busy, I was not only unpleasantly surprised but also assumed this was the norm for peak times. Which is a shame because its usually a great park.

 

[Octobers Fade]

It was definitely about the crowds. Obviously seeing more crowds than expected is always a bummer. But I feel like maybe the park was under more stress than it should've been. Granted, if they were surprised too I can see why there would be issues with slow staff. But there are surely some things management can improve when the park is busy--things like hippies high out of their mind coming in, or inefficient ride/food times, or I attentive staff are things I didn't expect and was disappointed to find. Since I'd never been on a day so busy, I was not only unpleasantly surprised but also assumed this was the norm for peak times. Which is a shame because its usually a great park.

Really....

 

[AK-Jake]

I've always tended to have the OPPOSITE experience: rude staff and inefficient loading at SWO, and a much improved experience at BGT. I go every October for Howl-O-Scream, and this past year, I went on opening night. I spent the day at the park, and then exited at 5:30 to meet up with family and go back in for HOS. We went in for the Fright Feast and generally had an awesome night. I found the staff at HOS to be MORE on their game than the daytime staff, and even more fun.

I will admit though, that the layout of BGT is HORRENDOUS. I routinely get lost in the damn place, and I've been there 5 times before. Still a great park and I hope it continues to be developed and taken care of. It, along with SWO, are great parks!

Gwazi? Tear it down! I hate to see coasters get the axe, but that one I won't miss. I just hope they bring in a quality giga coaster or pre-fab Intamin woodie like HTF was teasing a while back…

And the link to that park map with the brewery still on it was awesome. That had to have been anywhere from 93-95, because Montu wasn't in the picture yet. Thanks for sharing!

 

[El Erico]

I've always tended to have the OPPOSITE experience: rude staff and inefficient loading at SWO, and a much improved experience at BGT. I go every October for Howl-O-Scream, and this past year, I went on opening night. I spent the day at the park, and then exited at 5:30 to meet up with family and go back in for HOS. We went in for the Fright Feast and generally had an awesome night. I found the staff at HOS to be MORE on their game than the daytime staff, and even more fun.

One thing I've noticed about the Halloween events is that most of the people working during them are genuinely happy to be there, which translates well into the actual experience.

 

[Macfr3ak]

My personal experience with Busch Gardens has been great hands down best thrill park in Florida and the food there is much better than what you can find at many parks in Florida. The layout is a bit confusing you definitely need a map as just freelancing will probably make you miss much of the park. I did also note the size of the park and the many ways to get to places made many areas feel understaffed. The only experiences that made me feel the employees warnt happy to be there were at the dining locations. Not the average Smile and thank you type of staff you would find at other places.. kind of more like a school cafeteria get your sh*t and get out type feel. The good thing is there's room for improvement and i think Busch gardens can address many of our concerns relatively easy it just takes enforcement to be applied and training and execution for it to be seen.

With that said, keep in mind the area around Busch gardens is not the nicest i personally didn't feel like the city does enough for the surrounding area to give tourist the feel that its a nice tourist area the way Orlando has done with its theme parks. I think the city also needs to do a lot of improving.

 

[TylerDurden]

I do agree the food is better than average theme park food for sure. Yet I also agree that the service in the food locations is pretty sub-par. Not only is it unpleasant (school cafeteria is a good way to describe it I think), but it seems awfully slow. But youre right in that it can only improve.