Busch Gardens

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DIS Veteran
Joined
May 11, 2014
we have been to wlliamsburg busch gardens and loved it. is busch gardens in tampa worth a day drive from WDW. i heard the two Busch parks are very different. i also heard the one in tampa is more like a zoo than an amusement park.
 
It has lots of Roller Coasters & other stuff , Theater shows , & a Safari Area with animals

Well worth a FULL day visit .
 
It really reminds me a lot of the St. Louis zoo. I live in St. Louis and am a member there, and it is a well rated zoo (Usually on most surveys the St. Louis Zoo and San Diego zoo come n 1 and 2). It does have some excellent coasters and some shows that many people enjoy (I'm not all that impressed with the shows myself, but other family members like them). For me personally it would not be worth it to go all the way from Orlando, as there are so many great parks right in Orlando that I like better and I'm only going to visit so many theme parks in any one vacation. All that said, on my next mini Orlando trip, I am flying into Tampa, spending the day with my favorite cousin who lives in Tampa, going with him to Busch Gardens for about six hours the next day, and then taking the train to Orlando and doing a mini vacation there with my son who will be flying in. DH stays home as he doesn't care for any of the theme parks. Now SeaWorld owned by the same company is a favorite park of ours (right in Orlando), and pricing to do both (combo ticket) is quite attractve. // The safari to feed the giraffes at Busch is pretty fun too and I'm going to fork over the extra money to do that at Busch with my cousin on my next trip too. // If you like the other park in Williamsburg, though, you might for fun want to check this one out. I've never been that big a fan of either Busch park -- liked them both, but didn't love either.
 
I went to Busch Gardens this past August. It was my first time and I enjoyed it. I have a DD12 who enjoyed the thrill rides/rollercoasters. I enjoyed the cheetah show and a few others. It is like a zoo with amusements. I can't say I LOVED IT but to us it was worth the time and the drive. We stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel on the way one morning and then went to the park. Our ticket also included Adventure Island Water Park which is VERY small in comparison to other waterparks, but my family enjoyed it. I went because we had tickets that included unlimited visits for 14 days to Seaworld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens and Adventure Island. Our tickets also included parking so it was well worth it in my opinion to take the drive from Orlando to Tampa twice. We went in late August so the park hours were from like 10am and closed at like 7pm and that was enough time for us to enjoy. I am not a fan of their food choices at either park, so eating on the way there and on the way back was a fun part of our vacation too. I say if you have never been and have a day to spare, I think its worth the experience at least once.
 


It is different from the Virginia park as far as how it looks as Virginia is very woodsy,full of trees and hills but essentially everything else is pretty similar,rollercoasters,shows,train ride and skyride and yeah it probably resembles a zoo more than Williamsburg which does have animal attractions but Tampa has more.They're both good parks and well worth a trip.
 
We LOVED it! Spent a whole day there in May (stayed at SSR but did a non-WDW parks trip). Would definitely do again.
 
Our 6th or 7th visit to Florida in 2 weeks, and we will spend 3-4 days in Tampa, then a week in Orlando. We don't touch Disney, and this time universal is off the menu. My 4 kids love Busch Tampa. They are 10,12,15 and 17 years old. For $150 each I can get a 14 day pass to Busch, adventure island, seaworld and aquatica. That's unlimited park entry for 6 for $900. A 2 park pass at Disney is $400. Magic kingdom bored my kids because their are no coaster rides. They don't really care for princesses or woodie anymore. I just wish we weren't going at such a busy time. Might have to fork out for some quick queues. But we can always visit any day we like during our stay. Disney just overrated and overpriced form a family of 6 who are not that interested in it anyway.
 


If you love bumpy/jerky roller coasters, yes, it probably is worth it. BG has a wide variety of coasters, and some of them (like Sheikra) are not a type that is common. BG is known for their coasters. There are a lot of animals too.
 
There are 7 coasters in Tampa. Sheikra is identical to Griffon. The other coasters are great and the animal encounters make Tampa much better in my opinion. Where else can you pet a kangaroo in this country?

We love the sky ride, shows and keeper talks also. For us, it is well worth the drive. Weekdays can be quiet but park hours are short. Weekends have longer lines but longer hours also. The park is beautiful at night.
 
We bought the two for 99 deal. With the tickets, you can take the free shuttle to tampa. You can park at seaworld the bus lot.
 
We are going for 2 days this Summer. Decided to do Discovery Cove, Seaworld, Aquatica, and BGs this trip. We will sprinkle in Disney Springs and a monorail resort tour one evening. I haven't been to BG Tampa in probably 30 years. It was fun in the early 80s. Been to Williamsburg several times.
 
if you are going to buy the combo tickets and use them -- or stay near BG as they offer some very attractive deals it is worth it.... If a one day from Disney stick with the Virginia park as a vacation another time. The rides are very similar and as I said you can get some great deals to either BG on their own and make a 3-4 day trip out of it or more in Orlando with the combo pass.
 
I missed a cruise in January, stayed in Orlando for a week instead and did three Disney Parks, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, and a day at Disney Springs. I picked Busch Gardens really as an easy way to visit my cousin who lives in Tampa without either of us needing to drive. I took the free shuttle to Buch and back from SeaWorld and spent the day with my cousin at the park -- lovely visit (we don't do coasters and just enjoy the animal visits and shows). I bought my son for an extra $30 the Front of LIne coaster pass so he could get all the coasters in quickly and spend most of his time with us. It was a lovely day. I will say, though, that I would have picked all Orlando parks vs. Busch if it wasn't a priority to meet up with my cousin. It was such a great way to spend the day with him and meet up with him, though, that if in Orlando again I would do the same thing again for one of my days. The SeaWorld Busch combo ticket is pretty reasonable from a pricing standpoint too.
 

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