My Parents Won't Go to Busch Gardens

My parents refuse to go to Busch Gardens. My wife and I have had the Busch season passes for years now, but my parents refuse to go because of the affiliation with alchohol. Interestingly, they'll go to Sea World, but not Busch Gardens. They have a problem with the name and the direct affiliation with the beer company.

On a related note, we'll be making a trip to Aquatica, their new water park down in Orlando, at the end of June. I'll post a trip report when we get back.

Here I thought this was going to be a thread about some kid who wasn't getting his way, but you're either an adult or got married very young. :)

Interesting that they make any distinction between the Gardens and SeaWorld. The dollars go the same place.

Disowning them is clearly the only reasonable answer.

We all make ourselves feel better by drawing vague distinctions between what is moral and what is immoral, or what is right or wrong. I'd say in this case it's just funny since its so plainly arbitrary. *** Edited 5/13/2008 3:29:04 AM UTC by ThemeDesigner***

It was very funny when the Simpson's went to Duff Gardens, and very absurd. Most of the parks serve alcohol. But folks don't leave Busch Gardens thinking 'What great beer they have.' They leave thinking that it is the most beautiful park in America.

I'm guessing Hard Rock Park is also out of the question, then.

It's a personal preference issue, I guess. But what about Disney World, they advertise themselves as probably one of the most family friendly places on Earth, but if you go to Epcot you're surrounded by different countries where you can sample not only cuisine but different beers and other alcoholic beverages. And every year, Epcot has the "Food and Wine" festival. I really don't think that Busch Gardens goes out of it's way to advertise alcohol as much as other parks. If you're not a drinker, just simply go to the parks and don't drink. To me that would be as ridiculous as saying you don't go to full service restaurants because they serve alcohol, or that you don't go to the grocery store because they have an aisle that sells beer.

I'm guessing they have no problems with the Wal-Mart down the street...

^Yeah, exactly. My dad knows this couple from his church that won't eat in any restaurant that serves alcohol (I guess they only eat fast food?)but they shop at Wal-Mart, Krogers, as well as stop at convenience stores like the rest of us.

Can someone say....hypocrisy?

-Tina

freest8r, I guess this also means that your parents aren't St. Louis Cardinals or Milwaukee Brewers fans as they play in stadiums sponsored by breweries (Busch Stadium, Miller Park). In fact, I think the Cardinals are owned by the Busch family.

Outside of the Beer School and Bud shop at the front of the park in BGE, how prominant are the Anheuser-Busch beers promoted in the park (I haven't been there in a few years)? I'd feel safe to say that Hershey pushes their products in HersheyPark much, much heavier than Busch pushes beer at any of their parks.

Personally, I can't disagree with someone standing by their morals, but knowing how Busch promotes their products in their parks I think you're parents are overrreacting a bit especially since they go to Sea World without issue.

*** Edited 5/13/2008 12:01:43 PM UTC by ShiveringTim***

I think that there is a difference between places that just "sell" the alcohol from other companies as well as food, gas, clothes, etc..., and places that "own" the alcohol, and are "owned" by the alcohol company and advertise under the same name, which I'm assuming his/her parent's are thinking the same thing.

I don't drink, and I don't support drinking, but there's no way in hell I would miss out on any Busch Gardens park because of it!

They don't do much advertising, they just like to point out that they are an American owned beer company unlike the other majors. Its exactly like Sea World actually, except Sea World has a beer tasting tent where you can taste a lot of their beers where Busch Gardens does not. :)

^ True, but "Sea World" does not have the name of the beer it is owned by in it's name, and "Busch Gardens" does.

Personally going to BG would not depend on what my parents think. I don't see the big deal with that. But the resoning behind why yours won't go is very narrow minded. Just go without them it's as simple as that.

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin

And of course:

“Alcohol, the cause of and the solution to all of life's problems”, - Homer Simpson

People are way too up tight. It's one thing if you have a problem, and I truly understand alcoholism with the amount of it in my family, but come on.

And what a loss, too. I went to Busch again last fall and it was the probably the nicest, best run park I've been to.

And hell, it was Kings Dominion where a drunk guy was waiting with us for Volcano after spending "probably $500 on beer" and knew all the crew's first names (much to their dismay). *** Edited 5/13/2008 3:00:55 PM UTC by Willh51***

I understand why your parents are against. Maybe, they are even against alcohol because they know someone that has had an addiction. It's not the same thing if Wal-Mart is selling beer, and Busch Gardens is a maker of beer.

You don't have to buy beer at a Wal-Mart, but in order to get into Busch Gardens, you are contributing to that company. It's very much different. They should boycott Sea World too if it's the same thing. Tell them that Busch owns that too, and let them not go there either or Aquatica.

It doesn't bother me whether I support the beer company or not. Isn't it so funny how beer is so great, but smoking is evil? You say it's because smoking get you lung cancer, but with beer, people get into tons of accidents, and deaths occur probably everyday. They are both addicting to people that have them.

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Spinout said:
but with beer, people get into tons of accidents, and deaths occur probably everyday.

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Lots of things cause accidents.

In 2000 there were 6,356,000 crashes of which 508,000 involved alcohol of some sort. Thats about 12% of all car crashes.

I am not for drunk driving by any stretch. Just some facts.

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ShiveringTim said:

I'd feel safe to say that Hershey pushes their products in HersheyPark much, much heavier than Busch pushes beer at any of their parks.

*** Edited 5/13/2008 12:01:43 PM UTC by ShiveringTim***

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What a brilliant marketing scheme! Dress people up like beer bottles and six-packs and let them wander around the park getting hugs from all the binge drinkers and college kids.

I'll never understand the segment of American culture that is so against alcohol, especially to the extent that they need to get up on a soapbox and talk about how bad it is every chance they get. Like anything else, moderation and responsibility are key. Those are two concepts ironically lost on a far bigger segment of Americans who are obese and causing more drain on the health care system than alcohol ever will. How people can make that distinction is beyond me.