Oyez, Oyez, Oyez! ‘Tis time for the inaugural edition of the BGWFans Town Crier!
What is the BGWFans Town Crier you ask? Well, in its current form, it’s a round-up of the most of the interesting things from the Busch Gardens Williamsburg board on the ParkFans Forum over the last seven days. That’s not to say that you won’t occasionally see new things here as well- but the focus will likely remain largely on things that are currently happening on the forum or elsewhere online.
All that said, to be completely honest with you, I have no idea if this will turn into a series of posts or not- it’s just something I’ve wanted to try for a while now and, since there has been a wealth of content this week, I figured it would be a good time to test it out. Anyway, enjoy!
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New Permits for The Globe Theatre & Das Festhaus
Two new permits have been added to Party Rocker’s consistently updated list of park permits this week: One for the ongoing Globe Theatre renovations to prepare for London Rocks and one for some minor updates to Das Festhaus. There’s not much to be gleaned from the Globe Theatre permit, but the Das Festhaus permit lists new counter-tops and cabinetry as being included in the planned work. From what I can tell, nothing being changed in Das Festhaus is guest-facing so, all things considered, it really isn’t that big of a deal.
Though it is very sparse on information, in my opinion, the real story here is the Globe Theatre permit. It is being filed very late in the off-season which seems to correlate with the rumors I’ve been hearing about work on the project being both extremely behind schedule and notably over budget. Not the best news ever. Anyway, I guess that flows nicely into our next bit of news…
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Rumored London Rocks Debut Date
Though Busch Gardens Williamsburg has yet to announce an official debut for their new show, London Rocks, BGWFans has been told by a few trusted sources that it will debut with or around the same time as this year’s Food & Wine Festival (May 23rd). So, if you’re looking forward to The Beatles, psychedelic color schemes, and puppets, now you know when to book your trip. Anyway, moving right along: Speaking of late May…
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Mix It Up Won’t Debut Until Mid to Late May
After the turbulence Mix it Up went through last year, there were questions about whether or not it would return at all for 2014. But, back in October, BGWFans leaked that the current plan was to, in fact, bring back Mix it Up once again. According to what we’ve been told recently, this is still the plan. However, it sounds as though Mix it Up won’t actually be opening with the park or, well, anywhere near then. According to a few trusted sources, Mix it Up won’t be debuting until mid to late May– around the same time that London Rocks is rumored to debut and Food & Wine is planned to start.
UPDATE: Yes it is. See the updated Maypole section below.
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The Maypole Show Will Not Return for 2014
[iconbox title=”UPDATE (2/23/2014): The Maypole Show Has Been Cut” icon=”warning”]Of course, within days of leaking that the Maypole show will be back, Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s entertainment department cut it from the most recent plans. Why you ask? Budget. Not a good sign of things to come.[/iconbox]
Anyway, that’s enough park news for now. Our forum members have been doing some pretty interesting things too…
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Franco’s Being the Best Guest That You Can Be Part 10
Believe it or not, Franco’s fantastic multi-part series, Being the Best Guest That You Can Be, has just hit its tenth edition- this one focused on Complaints, Compliments, and Compensation. Just like the rest of the series, this part is well worth a read. Fantastic work as always, Franco!
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Full Ghosts of the Globe Soundtrack
Another member of our forums, BGW Family, was kind enough to pass along the full Ghosts of the Globe soundtrack from the 1975 Globe Theatre show by the same name. If you haven’t heard it before, by all means, check it out below. It’s not too often that we get to hear something from the park’s opening year. Thanks again to BGW Family for allowing us to share it with everyone! Also, as you’re listening, if you’d like to learn a bit more about the show it’s from, you can check out Nora’s fantastic BGW Memories post about it, here.
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ChickenKing Looks Back at 2013’s Food & Shrubbery
Following up the extremely unique look at the park throughout the 2013 season that ChickenKing gave us with his Trestle Transitions video (well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it!), he has released another two videos: One focused on Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s culinary offerings throughout the last year and a second one showing off various greenery throughout the park and how it changes through the seasons. Both the videos below (as well as the one linked above) are prime examples of things only The Almighty ChickenKing could provide- the amount of time spent inside the gates to get all of these pictures is, basically, unparalleled. Thanks for sharing your year with us CK!
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MrLaptop’s RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Recreation of BGW
Closing out this week’s BGWFans Town Crier we have a RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 project that was posted to our forum by a new member who goes by the name MrLaptop. I’m sure that if you’re a BGW fan and you’ve played RCT3, you’ve tried to recreate something from the park or have, at the very least, seen it attempted time and time again. Well, unlike most of what you’ll see out there, this one is actually remarkably accurate. It’s still very much a work in progress, of course (most of the work thus far has been on Banbury Cross and Heatherdowns); but I highly recommend you check out the thread regardless. Truly is a very impressive project. Great work, MrLaptop!
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If you enjoyed this post and would want to see more like it in the future, by all means, let me know in the comments below or in the BGWFans Town Crier thread on the ParkFans Forum. Additionally, if you haven’t done so already, you should like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date with the latest Busch Gardens Williamsburg news as we publish it.
Only three weeks left till Pass Member Preview Day on the 15th!