InBev is at it again with the Busch parks.

First they take away the free beer at the hospitality house, then they remove the beer school, then they remove the history of the AB making of beer, the recycling efforts, the beer commercials, and the donkey.

Now they have jacked the prices of the beer up by 50 cents which now puts their beer prices almost in line with parks run by Six Flags and Cedar Fair.

I am assuming all of this is to make it more appealing to the potential buyer without having a backlash when they do buy the parks.

On a business standpoint, it makes sense, but it just sucks in general.

The Busch parks are arguably the best parks outside of Orlando. I do however, understand why they did get rid of all those things. If they are selling the parks, it makes sense to get ride of the brewery and beer commercials. Since they will no longer be owned by a beer company, the tie ins wouldn't necessarily be wanted so by getting rid of things AB related, I believe they are making them more attractive to potential buyers. While it is sad to see the Busch staples go, they are still hands down amazing experiences.

Just as long as the food quality doesnt go down Im ok with the beer thing.

Speak for yourself. :-D

I'm still pissed about the hospitality houses.

Fifty cents more is not a lot of money, unless you are washing down 10 or so beers per visit ($5 more). Beer is good, but there's a time and a place to get sloshed. High beer prices will detour people from drinking too much at the parks, and I support that.

And I agree about the food quality. I had a really delish pizza and burger at BGW last summer. It was priced right and service was excelent. With InBev's new vendor policy, I worry that that quality may get worse.

Chitown said:
First they take away the free beer at the hospitality house, then they remove the beer school, then they remove the history of the AB making of beer, the recycling efforts, the beer commercials, and the donkey.

Maybe Im missing something or possibly dont understand what you mean, but what recycling effort was removed? While there has been talk about having that as part of the "non-essential core assests" as part of sale.. they are still deeply rooted in environmental/recycling efforts.

AB-IB Recycling

Granted they are de-branding AB from the parks with respect to the beer, but that was expected. As the parks, while under the overall policy of IB-AB, operate semi-independently of the brewery now. Costs of the beer from the brewery to the parks have changed and subsequently will be changed to the consumer. Though .50 isnt really much of a change, and isnt the focal point of the parks. (Not many say lets go to Busch gardens so we can grab a beer). Its more a biproduct of being there.

As far as the food is concerned.. I visited the smokehouse at BGE and food was exceptional still. I dont think the terms will cause a major decline in their quaility. I also dont think IB-AB will successfully strip the parks of their honor and notoriety, least not without a fight from the GMs.

I meant that they removed the displays showcasing it.

Gotcha.. had a hunch on that..

Well rest assured.. Its still alive and well in the parks. Its one thing they definitely pride themselves on and doubt it ever will really be removed (other than a display that makes mention of it). I gather the parks will introduce their own type of "what we are doing" at some point.. But that's speculation. :)

LostKause said:
High beer prices will detour people from drinking too much at the parks, and I support that.

Was there a problem when it was free?

Didn't they limit how much free beer you could have? How large were the cups? How long was the free beer stand open? Did you ever see them cut anyone off if they appeared to be drinking too much? I really don't know, because I was always preoccupied with the coasters. That's why i'm asking.

I always thought that beer prices were really high at parks to detour people consuming too much alcohol. Maybe that's true for some parks and not others.

And don't get me wrong, I'll say it again, I'm not against drinking. I just think that if your planning to get sloshed, an amusement park probably isn't the right place to do so. A dark bar with an awesome rock band performing is the perfect place. ;)

LostKause, The limit was 2 beers in 12 oz Cups. But I didn't ever see or note anyone enforcing the limit so some people may of had more. They also had the Brew Masters Club which allowed you even more sampling and even shown you what goes great with the beers your were sampling. (I will miss the Brew Masters Club for that reason) The Brew Masters Club had a 1 Visit per 30 Day Limit.

I went to Busch Gardens and Sea World right after Christmas, and at that time only Busch Gardens was enforcing the once every 30 days thing for the Brewmasters Club. That was a really awesome experience that I will not soon forget. I did it at each park and thought Busch Gardens definitely did better with it. The guy we had at Sea World seemed rushed and like he just wanted to get through with the thing.

There were signs stating the 2 drink per day limit, although I also didn't see any enforcement of it. I had 5 or 6 drinks at each park, more so to sample the different varieties than to try to get drunk. I didn't notice anyone who appeared to be getting smashed while they were there. Most had a drink or two, went on their way, and then probably stopped in later that day for one or two more.

At least at BGE, the Brew Master sampling took pretty much all the samples to even slightly catch a hint of a buzz. They wernt big samples of each, so unless you leached off your neighbor I wouldnt call that something to get trashed over.