Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg Partnership

[Leland Wykoff]

Behind the Thrills is reporting a partnership between Cedar Fair's Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg to co-market the parks and region as a family gateway to the Northeast:

 

http://behindthethrills.com/2015/05/kings-dominion-and-busch-gardens-williamsburg-to-announce-partnership/

 

Behind the Thrills indicates the official announcement is to take place tomorrow.  The partnership, involving many tourism agencies, will reportedly include a combination ticket good for both parks.

 

Will be interesting to see the details as they emerge and are expanded upon in Tuesdays announcement. As always, one should read between the lines and pay attention to what is not said.

[Merthecat]

Hmmm...I wonder if it's possible that the "no B&M's within a certain distance of Busch Gardens" limit will be removed? I kinda doubt it, though...

[jsus]

Where does the rumored B&M non-compete come from?  It really doesn't make much sense to me that they would agree to that.

[The Interpreter]

You can pay for nearly anything if you pays enough. Most such things are time limited.

[shark6495]

On the surface this makes sense to me. Many families can't afford or don't plan to go to both parks during a vacation. By offering a combo ticket you may lose a little money at the gate but are bound to make it up inside the park.

[malem]

Perhaps this is in part a way to demonstrate advantages of consolidation, in case BGW ends up on the market. In that event, they'd presumably want FUN as a suitor.

[Steph88]

It sounds like a good idea that would be beneficial to both parks. If a family was planning on Kings Dominion and has never heard of Busch Gardens Williamsburg (or vise versa) that combo deal is really good advertising. It will be interesting to see how this plays out!

[marth555]

I am very interested to see what comes out of this

[silver2005]

Hmmm...I wonder if it's possible that the "no B&M's within a certain distance of Busch Gardens" limit will be removed? I kinda doubt it, though...

 

Last I checked, KD has a B&M. 

[malem]

Though that was moved there from Geauga Lake.

[silver2005]

^That doesn't matter.  If that clause truly exists, Dominator wouldn't be at KD.

[malem]

^ But, if it exists, we don't know for how long it has. Such a clause presumably wouldn't affect the rights of parks to move rides purchased before it became effective.

[Merthecat]

^That doesn't matter.  If that clause truly exists, Dominator wouldn't be at KD.

I'm pretty sure it only applies to brand-new B&Ms, which is why Kings Dominion was chosen as the recipient of Dominator.

[silver2005]

So KD could keep adding relocated B&M's and BGW would have 0 problem with it?

[The Interpreter]

See Paramount Canada's Wonderland vis-a-vis Cedar Point before the Paramount Parks 'merger.' The proviso there barely geographically included PCWo...which certainly was not a coincidence.

[Leland Wykoff]

Here is the announcement and web page.  Sorry for the delay some problem getting on KICentral earlier today:

 

http://www.visitrichmondva.com/things-to-do/vathrills/

 

Interesting. Worth a site visit. 

[The Interpreter]

Ugh.

Whatever misguided soul wrote that page is most likely a magma cum laude graduate of the PR school of stilted, overly excited yet intensely boring school of puffery writing.

I love this industry. I really do.

Yet that page turns my stomach.

Dick Konebels effective, it is not.

Blech.

[malem]

Tickets now on sale, via Cedar Fair's ticket store powered by Accesso. https://shopcf.accesso.com/clients/cedarfair/affiliate/index.php?m=9476&ec=400&username=BGKD&password=BGKD

[TheCandyManCan]

This shows me how much the parks (or at least BGW) is hurting. A few years ago if you asked me if they would do something like this, I would have laughed in your face. For so long they refused to even acknowledge eachother existed.

[Oldiesmann]

This was clearly arranged by the tourism group rather than the parks themselves. I wonder how much each park gets out of the deal...

[TheCandyManCan]

The parks did not have to comply however..it's an agreement.

[jsus]

It's also on a Cedar Fair-run Accesso site.  Cedar Fair, thus, has taken responsibility for selling the tickets.  In order to sell its competitor's tickets, they definitely need cooperation from BGW/SEAS.

 

That said, it may well be that the tourism group came to the parks and offered this as a suggestion.  Both parks, then, would have evaluated the pros vs. cons and determined it was beneficial to work together (likely after some negotiating).

[WOF Guy]

I hear KD's new marketing director was hired away from BGW.

[Italian Job 2005]

Surely, this is one of the leading indicators that SEAS is looking to other park operators to see how they're doing their business, and seeing how they can increase their attendance.

Granted, Busch as a brand is in a much better place than SeaWorld, so maybe they're trying to make up for the losses at SeaWorld at Busch Gardens.

[malem]

It's worth noting that SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment doesn't own the name "Busch Gardens". It's used under license.

[TheCandyManCan]

I hope people go to both parks, and then realize which of the two is much better off. I'll take themed rides, food, landscaping, and reasonable prices over I-305, crappy carnival esque food, and terrible park layout anyday

[The Interpreter]

And when were you last at BGW?

I'd rather do the Dorney\SFGAd combo any time. For many, many reasons.

[TheCandyManCan]

Last season, I'd like to go again and give Tempesto a few rides, did it ever have a hard opening or just soft opening, I haven't heard much but I know people have ridden it at least theres POV's everywhere.

[marth555]

Tempesto is open http://seaworldparks.com/buschgardens-williamsburg/