Survey Reveals More Attraction Concepts
Verbolten & Pantheon Overhauls Amongst the Pitched Proposals
On June 13th we received another survey from Busch Gardens Williamsburg, this time asking primarily for our thoughts about possible ride rethemes. While the last round of market research (discussed here) focused on new, mostly non-coaster attractions, this new survey largely focused on a range of options for upgrading the experiences on existing attractions. As […]
Surveys Reveal Future Attraction Concepts
Animals & Dark Rides & Coasters! Oh My!
Busch Gardens Williamsburg recently sent out a survey, describing a wide array of possible future attractions, apparently in an attempt to determine guest preferences. Unsurprisingly, we at BGWFans have a few thoughts. The bottom line is that many of the concepts described could fill holes in the attraction lineup and strengthen recently neglected aspects of […]
Comprehensive Review of Busch Gardens Williamsburg's 2024 Food & Wine Festival
Reviews, Ratings, and Photos of Every Dish at the Park's Annual Culinary-Focused Special Event
The booths are built, the menus are posted, and the tasting cards are on sale. Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s annual foodie event has begun, and that means it is time for the BGWFans team to taste and rate every dish to help our readers plan their own culinary adventures. Once again Zachary, Gavin, Renee, and I […]
Our Comprehensive Review of Busch Gardens Williamsburg's 2023 Food & Wine Festival
Reviews, Ratings, and Photos of Every Dish at the Park's Annual Culinary-Focused Special Event
It is the 10th anniversary of Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Food & Wine Festival, and BGWFans’ 7th comprehensive review since we started in 2014. Looking back, it is interesting to see how the event has evolved over the past decade, for good and bad. While we miss some aspects of the early years, this event remains […]
What If... Threadneedle Faire Became a Seasonal Event
Why Busch Gardens Williamsburg Should Resurrect a Long-Secret, Internal Event Concept to Replace Mardi Gras Next Season
Ever since Busch Gardens Williamsburg reopened, we have been able to experience a variety of limited-capacity special events ranging from the food-inspired Taste of Busch Gardens to the animal-focused Winter Weekends. Given the park’s resource and time constraints, these offerings have varied in quality and creativity. Of all of them, however, last month’s Mardi Gras […]
The Curious Case of Water Country USA's Unlimited Splash Pass
A Confounding Dive into Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Weirdest, Most-Broken Membership Offering
DISCLAIMER: The chances that this pass will act as advertised are essentially zero. Good luck arguing your case at Guest Services—you’re unlikely to prevail. You’ve been warned. BGWFans has discovered the deal of a lifetime and we are sharing this opportunity exclusively with you, our loyal readers! A deal like this can’t last long, and […]
COVID Compensation Complications
Busch Gardens Williamsburg's New Coronavirus Membership Upgrade Plan Introduces Issues
In this weird pandemic-induced dystopia, I was not expecting to find myself sitting down to write an article about park passes for BGWFans. Everyone in the world is self-isolating, deaths across the country continue to climb, and theme parks are ghost towns. But this week, some interesting news arrived in our inboxes, setting off a […]
Food & Wine Festival 2019: The Comprehensive Review
A week has passed since we published part one of our annual Food & Wine Festival Review, and in that time BGWFans has visited the park a second time and reconfirmed our observation that the events biggest weakness is its lack of consistency. Wow. That sounds unnecessarily negative. Let me start again. BGWFans has now […]
Food & Wine Festival 2019: Impressions & Highlights
It is May and that means Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 7th annual Food & Wine Festival is upon us. As has become our tradition, the BGWFans Tasting Team spent opening weekend trying every food and non-alcoholic drink option on the menu. This two-part article will highlight our recommendations and share our scores for everything by booth. […]
“Forgot this was a thing.” — @thatcoasternerd That was a comment in response to our Instagram post Thursday about Water Country USA’s Cutback Water Coaster, and it was hardly out of the norm. Busch Gardens Williamsburg is currently building and designing two thrill rides—Finnegan’s Flyer and Project 2020—that are large enough to overshadow Cutback, their sister […]
New Membership Program Gets a Substantial Overhaul
I have been pondering what to say about the new membership program, announced by Busch Gardens Williamsburg on Monday. My initial response was surprise, followed by confusion, and rounded out by concern. Before I go any further, I want to highlight the fact that both Zachary and I supported the original introduction of the Membership […]
Food & Wine Festival 2018: The Comprehensive Review
As we promised in part one, we have compiled a comprehensive, dish-by-dish review of Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2018 Food & Wine Festival. Please keep in mind that these ratings reflect what we tasted on Memorial Day weekend. Historically, the food at the event can vary dramatically throughout the day and across the weeks. Below you […]
Food & Wine Festival 2018: Impressions & Highlights
It is that time of year again: the season when BGWFans and our Band of Merry Foodies head to the park to try every dish at the annual Food & Wine Festival. Last weekend Zachary, Thomas, Luke, Zimmy, and I, accompanied by our friends Renee and Meri, spent Saturday and Sunday exploring the 2018 event. […]
So, Zachary and I had been considering when and if we were going to write a front page article on Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s newest ride, Battle for Eire. It seems like a reasonable topic, and we have been asked for a formal review. Unfortunately, that discussion has, again, been completely derailed—this time by the park’s […]
Sesame Place Williamsburg: Pros & Cons
Yesterday, Zachary reported on a recent survey soliciting feedback on a new, proposed SEAS theme park in Virginia, which we are calling “Sesame Place Williamsburg.” While his extensive analysis of the included site plan and concept art focused on the How, When, Where, and What in depth, we decided to address the Why separately, because it is such a complex […]
Busch Gardens Williamsburg Unveils Membership Program
February 9th Update: Because we have been adding information to this post regularly over the past two days, we decided our article needed to be completely restructured to better present everything we know about the recently announced Membership program. Hopefully this version is more user-friendly. BGWFans learned yesterday (February 7) that the long-rumored, new Membership Plan will […]
New Year Brings New Busch Gardens Williamsburg Passes
As some of you may have noticed, Busch Gardens Williamsburg is not currently selling season passes. No, this is not a computer error; the park is planning to institute a new membership program in 2018. While we have no hard data about the new structure, we do have some tantalizing clues. Specifically, we have information […]
Christmas Town 2017 Admission Information
With Howl-O-Scream 2017 behind us it is time to start thinking about the next big seasonal event at Busch Gardens Williamsburg: Christmas Town. I had the opportunity on Monday to speak with VP of Marketing Dan Dipiazzo and Senior Communications Manager Ron Vample about the upcoming ticket sale. Dated Tickets The bottom line is that […]
2017 Food & Wine Festival: More Thoughts & Highlights
Welcome to Part Two of our 2017 Food & Wine Festival review. Previously, we shared our scores and comments for every dish at the event. This week we want to talk about the festival more broadly. Below you will find our ranking of all of the booths from best to last, as well as our recommendations […]
2017 Food & Wine Festival: The Comprehensive Review
Once again over Memorial Day weekend, BGWFans braved the crowds and the weather to taste and review everything at Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s annual culinary extravaganza. This year Zachary and I (Nicole) were joined by Renee, Thomas, and Tony. Despite the forces of nature and a Code Purple at the park, we successfully tried, scored, and discussed […]
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