Busch Gardens Williamsburg Dog Kennel during Holiday Festivities

[BroadwayHermione5]

Hi all!


You might remember last year when I came on here asking all about Christmas Town and then we had to cancel our plans?


Well this years-fingers crossed, wood knocked, every deity prayed to- we are going!


We are bringing our dog as we found a pet friendly hotel and I know that BGW has a dog kennel but does it run during operating hours during Christmas Town?

Thanks in advance.


BH5

 

[mylilnikita]

They should so far they just have September and October to reserve, but the kennel is climate control.I’m a local so I don’t board there. The link is down below.
Scroll til you see about reservations for kennel and put in date you want. I believe it’s like 10$ and you have to provide the dogs food and food bowl.
You also have to pay for Preferred Parking since the kennel is in England parking lot.
Hope this helps.



https://buschgardens.com/williamsburg/upgrades/events/

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

They should so far they just have September and October to reserve, but the kennel is climate control.I’m a local so I don’t board there. The link is down below.
Scroll til you see about reservations for kennel and put in date you want. I believe it’s like 10$ and you have to provide the dogs food and food bowl.
You also have to pay for Preferred Parking since the kennel is in England parking lot.
Hope this helps.



https://buschgardens.com/williamsburg/upgrades/events/

Thank you!

I’m going to see if there is a number as well as my dogs annual vet appointment is right after we go, but if they need up to date stuff what can we do. Plus unfortunately she used to be so good with tiger dogs and then got scared by one jumping out of a car at her so hopefully they have an option for non interactive!

We always park in preferred aka England lol so that won’t be a problem!

 

[mylilnikita]

Hope you have a great time!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Hope you have a great time!

Thank you! Fingers crossed we get to go this year!

 

[tetera]

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[BroadwayHermione5]

So bit of an update: We can reserve ahead of time! And it’s only $10 a day!

However I sent an email and never heard back in regards to some questions. It might be easier to have my dog go for her annual prior to the trip at this point to play it safe.

 

[tetera]

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[BroadwayHermione5]

I saw the other day when we bought our Christmas Town tickets that you could book the kennels in advance for $10- we have a smaller barky dog so debating what the best option is!

Here is what the info says on the website after you select the kennel option and date:

"Reserve your pet a spot in our climate-controlled facility. All owners must provide a cell phone number at check-in.

• Pet Care Center is located in our England parking lot at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and is open from park open to close each operational day.
• Specify the weight of your pet when making the reservation.
• Guests are asked to visit, feed & walk pets on a leash in the designated area. Please pickup after pets, supplies provided.
• Pet owners need to bring food & food bowl. A water bowl is provided and will be kept full.
• Attendants avoid physical contact but will check pets for signs of stress and contact owners when necessary.
• Guests will pay for preferred parking to leave their vehicles in England parking lot.

Valid at Busch Gardens Williamsburg on the date selected at time of purchase and printed on the confirmation. Prices and products are subject to change without notice and do not include taxes. Reservations may be changed or cancelled once for free as long as the change is 24 hours in advance of the reservation date, but there are charges for changes made within 24 hours or for more than one change. Rebooking or cancellation requires at least a 24 hour advance notice. If you have to change or cancel your reservation, please call (757) 229-4386."


While I would assume one would have to show updated shot records if asked I do not see that as a requirement on the site....

Yeah we are just concerned about a) her shots because her annual is always around the time we go and b) interacting with other dogs. She got spooked really bad once when someone let their dog who was only a little bigger than her (she’s a Yorkie) jump out of a car and it’s been an uphill battle ever since. She’s getting better but we’d rather be safe then sorry.

Given the reservations, I don’t think we’d have to be there exactly on time for park opening but that was another question I emailed about

 

[tetera]

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[BroadwayHermione5]

Also very concerned about how our small dog would react with other dogs- like do the enclosures at the kennel share an open/linked side?

Great question about whether you have to arrive at park opening - I would certainly think with a reservation that it wouldn't be necessary but would be good to know for sure!

I had emailed BGW about something non-kennel related last week and haven't heard back yet - I don't think they are great about communication....

I have some time to call tomorrow so I will. I just want answers and usually they are in top of things

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I HAVE ANSWERS!



So it has been a week since I used the email through the Contact Us oart of the website and I finally had enough waiting and went to try and call again. After that whole chaos, I decided to try the chat function cuz I had nothing to lose.

I spoke to Nasheik who was very helpful.


While this is more for my situation, Nasheik said they recommend contacting your dogs vet prior to visiting anyway just to play it safe.


The kennels are private-it is why they ask you to come and walk them throughout the day.

The last answer I got actually made me DM BGWFans on twitter because i think Nasheik was confused. I had asked if we had to be at the park for rope drop for the kennels and he didn't realize there was an option to reserve online so I DM'd the fans on twitter and I also asked if they had a direct number to the kennel to play it safe.


Hope this helps

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Another update: BGWFans unfortunately could not help me but told me to start @ing them on social media and it should help because they are more responsive there.

I really hate that if we reserve a spot we’d have to be there at rope drop.

 

[tetera]

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[BroadwayHermione5]

Yeah… it hasn’t even occurred to me that you would have to be there at rope drop with a reservation but it is definitely better to be safe than sorry! You’d think they would have a phone number for the kennels available….

It honestly is ridiculous. I finally tagged them on an Instagram post so hopefully we find out soon.

It doesn’t help the tickets are also confusing. Why is there no 2 day Christmas Town option? If we buy the tickets for regular BG will we be let in?

 

[tetera]

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[BroadwayHermione5]

I’ve wondered about the 2 day ticket option before but assume it’s because there is an option to buy a “Fun Card” with unlimited visits to Christmas Town for $76.99 (which is the same price as one “Visit Any Day” ticket).

Since regular BGW tickets cost most than Christmas Town tickets I wouldn’t use a regular day ticket for that anyway; I haven’t gone to Christmas Town since 2016 so I’m admittedly not the best authority on this but we had to have separate Christmas Town tickets even when we we were season pass holders (it used to be that it was included in the season pass, but that was over a decade ago, then they had a “buy one get one free” option for season pass holders about ten years ago; then we dropped our season pass and just bought tickets regularly based on date for several years after that).

I think even now it’s “date specific” unless you buy one of the “any time” tickets.

I just saw they have a Chat widget on their website (never noticed it before)- maybe give that a try if you don’t hear back on social media?

The chat option is great for quick answers but they also don’t have all the info. Also I had a totally random human berate me after asking a simple question on an Instagram post (thankfully they were doing it to others and it seems she may have been banned from the post after that).

Thankfully my mom called today and and got through to a human and NOT a robot!

You don’t have to be at rope drop for kennel and preferred parking! Thank every deity!

I just wish this wasn’t as complicated as in years past we had zero issue

 

[tetera]

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[BroadwayHermione5]

So sorry you had that experience on Instagram- booo.

How nice of your mom to call- that’s great news!

I hear you on it being more complicated than in years past- I was wondering if it was just me feeling that way since we had gone to BGW so often years ago but hadn’t been so much in recent years (I know WDW has changed so much and gotten more complicated, too, of course!) I guess we will just have to see how it is in person when we go to Christmas Town this year!

social media is gonna social media. I’m happy someone shut it down.


Yep, she’s the best plus she’s our ringleader since the whole family is legitimately coming. She got stuff done this morning!


It’s so weird because I know they’ve made some excellent changes too (I’m gonna mess up years but you can see in my signature when I’ve been there). The last time we had this long of a hiatus stuff changed but there was no pandemic, which I know really changed stuff.

We are also trying to reserve the Bergermiester Hideaway speakeasy! We never reserved anything before there so again all new!

And I am excited! I’ve never been to a theme park for any holiday outside of Halloween or normal park hours so this is totally new!

 

[tetera]

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