Your time here will vary greatly based on one factor: where you live. PLEASE for the love of god do not live at the AHV or Fort Magruder. You need an apartment or sublet house to make this contract manageable. The AHV had roach and mold problems, and a gas leak. Magruder also had roach problems and three BGW employees rooms have been robbed during their stay there in the past six months. My mental health was deteoriating because of these things to the point where I seriously considered leaving mid contract. Most of the entertainment heads do care, but there's nothing they can do to help you. Your average work day is 10 hours or longer, and our longest stint without a day off was 12 days. You will be exhausted, overworked, and the corporate people calling the shots have no regard for your physical and mental needs. The amount of stories I can tell. - Tried to take a 4 day break that was on the schedule away, we fought back on it and got it back but still -Multiple leads were forced to work through sickness because it was a Saturday, one dancer had to go home midday because she was vomiting, we were forced to do a reblock of the dance numbers in 20 minutes and still go on for our afternoon show with that little prep time. -The cheaper eating facilities for staff in the park are infamous for giving people food poisoning -You get paid TWO DOLLARS more an hour working major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas - Constantly go back and forth on rules. In the orientation they say you can't work more than a week straight, yet they had us work 12 days in a row. They say they give breaks by equity rules but there were times during rehearsals we were working for three hours straight -CREEPY superfans. One has assaulted multiple actors and no action was taken -You have to walk almost a mile to and from your theatre because there is only one employee lot. At the end of your long days, this sucks. The only good part of my experience was the cast I got to work with. Hardworking, kind, and talented people, but that was definitely a streak of luck. I would never work here again. You're seriously better building credits with a community theater.

Wish I could leave zero stars. Terrible job and terrible housing. https://www.reddit.com/r/TheatreShitTalk/s/rjifM5sGSc

This is a cop out of an answer, but I had a pretty mediocre experience. The two heads of entertainment that I interacted with seemed kind for the most part and seemed to have our best interest in mind for the most part. The pay was not competitive, and the culture/vibes just felt…off? The show itself was fun, and our stage manager and sound tech were fantastic. My one word of advice is DO. NOT. STAY at the AHV, if they are still housing people there. It was cheap, but boy howdy, it has set a record for worst housing I have been in. There was both a roach, and a racoon problem when I was there and you may be put with up to 3 other roommates in a small run down motel type room.

Rehearsals were 3 weeks long, ~9-10 hours/day with an hour break, 1 (maybe 2) days off a week. Performances were 3-4/day 5-6 days/week. Work days were ~9-10 hours long with an hour break. Performers got 2 days off most weeks. Occasionally performances would be cancelled and work days would be cut short due to weather shutting down the park as a whole. The production company (only present for the rehearsal process) did not account for many technical aspects that would create major issues once tech started (scene changes, costume changes) and taught the show in a strange order without consideration for the flow of the show. Swings were unused and undervalued (practically ignored) throughout the rehearsal process by the production company but were treated much better once production left and the stage manager, Busch production manager, etc. were in charge. Many injuries occurred within the cast because of strain from being overworked which then impacted the remaining cast who had to work even more to cover empty tracks. However, injured cast members were able to come in and get paid to do "light duty" (busy work in areas like admin or costumes) when they could not perform. Uninjured cast members would get "swing pay" to fill in for injured performers. Base performer and technician pay is not enough to cover living costs in the Williamsburg area. Swings and captains get increased pay. Housing options are few and far between, especially when college is in session at W&M. Busch offered a housing arrangement with a local hotel; it was only a good deal if you shared a room with someone and then you were sharing a very basic hotel room (the tiniest mini fridge to share between 2 people, no microwave, double beds, limited storage, right along a noisy train route). At one point AC went out in the hotel (in the middle of summer) and there was no plan to have it fixed and little to no accommodation from either the hotel or Busch Gardens. There is a major disconnect between the corporate and artistic/production sides of Busch. Corporate was cutting hours and employees in the middle of summer, while artistic higher-ups were trying to lessen our performance load while keeping our hours. Most of the production team genuinely cares for the performers, but their help often comes too little too late by the time they get anywhere with corporate. AC worked very infrequently in both the theater and rehearsal spaces so production bought tons and tons of fans instead of getting the AC fixed. There are leaks in the theater so when it rained changes would have to be made to the show to avoid puddles. Employees get free admission to the park and a certain # of free/discounted tickets for friends/family as well as discounts on food and merch (but everything is ridiculously overpriced, like Disney prices but lacking Disney quality). Food in the parks is relatively limited, but employee dining halls are cheap (you pretty much get what you pay for, mediocre food for low prices). Productions are very high-quality visually including very professional lighting, mostly quality costumes and wigs (although lacked some consideration for what the performance requires). (edited)

Newbies....beware. You will be overworked. You will get ONE day off a week, and typically, because the dancer turnover rate is so high, you will have put-in rehearsals for cast members nearly every one of those Mondays. You. will. never. rest. Rehearsals are two weeks. 10am to 10pm. Short food breaks. Ross, the head of entertainment, is an insane wannabe Broadway star who takes it really personally when someone is more successful than him. Don't P!$$ him off. He will blacklist you for the smallest of indiscretion. Busch is a corporate company. Don't expect to have anyone to turn to, don't expect to feel cared about. Perks: get into the park for free. discount on food and merch in the park. Sometimes working with high-end directors/MD's. Cons: Ross. Overworked. Underpaid. Constantly have to be "on" when at the park, even on breaks. The super fans of the park shows are freaking weird and they will make at least one cast member uncomfortable on a daily basis. Does Ross or HR do anything about that? No. (edited)