r/BuschGardensW

It's sad to say, but I'm not renewing for 2027, and I'm not sure when I'll be back once howl o scream is over.

This was my favorite park anywhere for a long time, but I just don't enjoy it anymore. They've got great coasters, many unique aspects such as the ceramic crafts in Canada, and it's still a park with a nice setting, but everything else is failing.

Right off the bat, we're now having to dig up photo ID to get into the park and use the discount, even through the pass is on the app. Maybe they can just have give us a card again with our faces on it if you're so worried about someone impersonating someone else to get in for free??

Next, I'm trying to claim my quick queue perk for pantheon, but the app is not working (the checkout for it is disabled). Staff erroneously tells me to go find a kiosk all the way out by the entrance to Italy. That didn't work. Meanwhile I had spent $50 at the locker kiosk for a quick queue which didn't print the damn receipt! Had to wait for a supervisor to come which took almost as long as it would have taken to just wait in the line we were trying to skip. The teenage supervisor had no idea how to resolve the situation, directing me to first services in the front of the park....

Art this point we were scrambling to try and get to the Celtic show, which I saw on the app schedule earlier in the day, only to find out it's closed for the season!

Then we went to the aviary and it was kind of sad, way less birds, none interested in people. The landscape behind it, which used to be absolutely gorgeous, was not especially well kept, which was noticeable in a lot of other parts of the park, almost as though they've done very little landscaping since the season began.

Oh, and I'll concur that Bier Fest was absurdly lame. I saw the wtf post before going today to temper my expectations and avoiding the $80 I would've otherwise spent on the sampler card, but even with those low expectations it was pathetic. Not many great beer options. Found myself going to the hideaway in Germany to try and score a good beer and they had, I shit you not, yuengling, bud, mich ultra, some mango thing and high noon. Food was ok but of course not at all what it used to be.

But the thing that really was the last straw for me was that I learned that corporate had implemented new disciplinary policies that has resulted in as many as 50 of their most experienced scare actors being left out of howl o scream. This place is just poorly managed at this point, and from the sounds of it BGW's problems are just being ignored by disconnected executives while, at the same time, mettling with broad policies that aren't doing anything but adding to those problems.

It's a damn shame, because this place could easily be a great park still, but instead they seem headed towards the SFA trajectory.

Not a total loss. We rode the parks 4 best coasters and had nice afternoon in the craft store,

Anyone know the guidelines for these lines? Are they supposed to pull so many from this line each train?

I just watched the line for Apollos not move for 20-25 minutes. Many trains went on their way with riders from the regular line, but they were ignoring the QQU. People were getting angry. Similar situation happened at Pantheon.

On the website, it says select roller coasters open till midnight. Is this true, or just the coasters in the dark thing?

What happened to Busch gardens, came last year for bier fest and there was drink stands every where and lots of choices, definitely lacking this year.

Heading to the park next week for the first time in a long time and downloaded the app ahead of time to game plan. At first glance, it's shockingly basic and there isn't much filtering possible to designate type of rides for type, thrill level, etc. Is there a different way that folks are navigating the park other than this app? I'm used to using the Hershey app which is pretty great and I don't want to spend the entire day wandering in circles trying to find appropriate coasters/rides for my kids.

Huge coaster enthusiast here...have season passes and heading to water country tomorrow and then the dry park and kings dominion on Sunday.....been on all the coasters....not worried about that. Never been to water country. I hate lines. How bad is it gonna be? Should I just get the quick queue plus? I do have a RAP pass due to a physical disability, so I'm not sure if that factors into the decision. Any Help is appreciated. Thanks

I have been wanting to go to Busch gardens for years now and I finally did 🥳 so here are the goods and the bads… 

If anyone else is curious about breakfast and coffee- I cannot recommend getting there 15 minutes early have some donuts and coffee from the English coffee shop and by the time the gates open you’re done. Also if you are staying at a hotel nearby just uber/lyft. I ended up saving over $10 that way instead of parking. I went to Verbolten first like everyone said but they were having delays- ended up opening at 10:45ish and was able to be on the first cart out (first time that ever happened to me). I thought it was a bit over hyped 😬also it reminds me so much of hadgrids. DarKoaster was closed so couldn’t do that. We got one meal plan and the bbq and German food were both pretty good! My only complaint with the meal plan is even at some of the LIMITED places it’s included at- the desserts or other items aren’t included in the plan which is just stupid to me. My favorite ride was surprisingly pantheon! Which leads to me to the only true negative I had on my trip… someone stole my merch in that area. I left my bag for 5 minutes forgetting it and when I went back it was gone 🙃 oh how I love humanity. I talked to workers in the area none saw it and then check guest services and filled a missing item report but I doubt it. It was one of the 250 cups so it was 50% off so I bought another one. girl math it’s as if I paid full price (trying to make myself feel better for forgetting it lol). And to end on a positive note thank you Reddit because my past post helped me not buy the quick queue which would’ve been useless and I literally had barely any waits 🥳 longest one was the log flume and with the weather I’m not surprised. I truly enjoyed my day. The park was clean, the theming and rides were great, and the workers were kind! I also love how it had land (the train), air (skyride), and sea (river boat)! 

Hi friends. We have been to BGW many times but our family of 6 - 2 adults, 4 kids ages 3-11 - is visiting Water Country for the first time on Friday.

Tips? Thoughts? Do we b-line to Surfer's Bay and stake out some chairs for the day and work from there? All-day Dining worth it? Does the park thin out drastically during the final few hours? Should we prepare ourselves for a busy, potentially frustrating day? Can you take cell phones on slides if you have them in a waterproof lanyard? Just thinking about how to stay in communication with a spouse if we divide and conquer.

I'm slightly apprehensive about this experience given the complexities of managing a day at a water park compared to a theme park, but we're excited to have a day on the slides before school starts.

I welcome all advice!

I planned on going August 28th, didn’t get to make it any other date. Mainly going just to lap Alpengeist. I can’t find anything on the website for it, is it cancelled??? I didn’t get an email for it.

I haven’t been to water country all season. Can anyone tell me how it’s been on weekdays regarding the number of slides/rides open? Historically, in my experience, they have way more closed on weekdays than on weekends. I’m debating on going this Sunday, or this coming Monday.

It looks like this is a common question. Kind of annoying that they don’t update it on the app. Thinking of making the 4.5 hour drive tomorrow in large part to ride it. Would rather hold off if it’s actually closed today.

Sign at the park says it'll open back up for HowlOScream

Does anyone have knowledge of how the Ride Accessibility program is supposed to work, and whether it only applies to those in wheelchairs or with mobility aids?

We visited with a child with a rare but complex health condition - think chromosome duplication or deletion that can present with a bunch of issues that would impact your ability to enjoy the park fully or for long periods of time, some cognitive and some physical. They do, however, LOVE rollercoasters.

These conditions are not all immediately visible, but are backed up by doctor's assessments in writing.

Guest services refused to let us complete a RAP assessment questionnaire, would not review paperwork, and flatly stayed "We don't do anxiety or ADHD", neither of which the child has.

When I asked what sort of thing the program covers (the website mentions autism and sensory difficulties - again, not the issue here, but indicates some accomodations are made outside of wheelchair access) the guest services rep said they couldn't tell me.

Is this usual for Busch Gardens?

Basically how does it work? My wife and I both have passes, but we've never been without kids. We'll be at the rodeway inn I believe so we're exploring the idea of using an uber to go to and from the park. Does our pass work for drop off in the preferred area, and we'd like to stay until 10pm. We're guessing the ubers will pick us up form the park then, maybe we do it 30 minutes early?

Or is there a shuttle or bus line that we're missing out on.

Seems like everything is down

Why is Busch Gardens open one monday in October? This would be an ideal time for me to go and I want to make sure that I'm not going to something random that's going to be packed.

Will be up in the area the weekend of 9/11 and decided to visit BGW for the first time. We are up there the same weekend most years but we aren't booked up on Friday as usual and would love to check out the coaster offerings. I just found out that the day we have tickets for is the first night of HoS so I'm now minorly worried about crowd levels.

Spouse and I aren't concerned with hitting the houses or shows (well... maybe Fiends...) BGT is our home park so we are familiar with HoS and just want to get the coasters in. I see it's part of park admission rather than separately ticketed like down here, so not sure if that's going to make lines worse or better (like are the crowds going to be focused on HoS activities leaving us free to do our rides?). Plus BGT is a continuous mess so that leaves me a bit anxious in itself although I've heard BGW is typically in better operational shape.

Thrill-Data shows that wait times are predicted pretty low but I'd really like to hear from you guys that have been around the park on HoS nights!! Looks like according to the site all coasters will remain open which is great. Thank you!!