aquatica & BG

[mickeymel]

Has anyone purchased the all day pass for eating at either park? What were your thoughts.....worth the $$$? THanks.

 

[nemo&remi]

We did the all you can eat deal at both Sea World and Busch Gardens last summer. We found the food at Busch Gardens a little better than Sea World. I have a 16 year old son and a 13 year old son, and I can honestly say that Busch Gardens lost money on the oldest one last year. Busch Gardens also has breakfast available at the Zangora Cafe...close to the entrance of the park. We had been at Busch Gardens the previous day, and inquired if the deal included breakfast. The people at customer service checked...took about 10 minutes..but came back and said breakfast was included. It was a great deal for our family! We arrived at the park before opening at 9, had breakfast as close to 9 as possible, and stayed until about 7:45 pm. There is a wide variety of food at Busch Gardens and Sea World, but my family preferred Busch Gardens' food. When we did Sea World, we spent half the day at Aquatica and half at Sea World. The deal was good at both parks on the same day. Aquatica had breakfast...not as fancy as Busch Gardens...but it was ok..muffins, juice, cereal, fruit, etc. We left Aquatica around 11 and headed over to Sea World. The food was fair in comparison to Busch Gardens. We also found the lines at Sea World to be a lot longer than at BG. We are planning another trip for this summer, and are definitely doing the meal deal at Busch Gardens...we will probably skip the all you can eat at Sea World. Hope this helps. Enjoy your trip

 

[jagfanjosh3252]

Nemo

Can you tell me how much it was at Sea World and Aquatica?

I'm going in a week and really am thinking of doing this. Where would I go to do it?

 

[nemo&remi]

Sorry for the delay...When you enter Busch Gardens the walkway kind of splits and you can go either right or left around small buildings in the center. The first building in the center is where you pay for your wristbands. They give you a voucher and you take the voucher up to a window by the Zangora Cafe, and trade the voucher in for a wrist band. I am not sure how you do it if you buy the voucher ahead of time, on line. We purchased our bands for Sea World when we were at Aquatica, but if you go to customer service I am sure they will be able to point you in the right direction. Have a great trip

 

[jagfanjosh3252]

How much was the one at SW?

 

[nemo&remi]

The price last year was $27.99, I am not sure if Sea World has it this year, there is no mention of it on their web site. Busch Gardens was the same price last year, but went up to $29.99, but you do get 10% off if you are a passholder.

 

[RabFlmom]

How much was the one at SW?

We got the one at SW on Thursday. With a silver, gold, or platinum pass it is $26.99 adult. Without a season pass it is $29.99. I think it is something like $18.99 for kids. Most of the kids meals run around $8.99 and come in Shamu lunch boxes, so 2 meals pretty much pay for the food pass..

At SW it is good at 6 of the CS places-Voyagers, Mango Joes, Sea Fire Inn, Spice Mill, Seaport Pizza, The Terrace Cafe.
I can tell you we had a little of everything almost. You pay for it at Guest Services and they give you a ticket. At whichever restaurant you go to first , the cashier takes the card and puts a color coded band on your wrist.

We got the BBQ combo meals, drinks and desserts at Voyagers at 11AM. Met up with family and they wanted to eat so we went straight to the Spice Mill, got dessert(fruit) and drinks while they ate burgers,salads, and roast beef sandwiches that were really good. One of the sons ate another entree and drink. Most entrees range from $9-$12 so doesn't take long to pay for the ticket in food or drinks.

It was really hot and my sons took off on their own to ride the coasters. They said they kept cool by ducking into one of the CS to get some air conditioning and while there picked up water and fruit or cookies to eat in line.
We got water and fruit whenever we were out of water.

We all ate dinner at Mango Joes. I got the combo steak and chicken burrito and it was as good as any I have ever eaten and I love burritos. Both sons both went back in for seconds and got the chicken strips and french fries. So we obviously got our moneys worth and thought the food was excellent.

At Aquatica when my son got the all you can eat meal he said they got water and brownies many times during the day. I think there is only 1 restaurant there where you can do the all you can eat/all day meal.

The one drawback---the food lines move slow and there is no line for people with wrist bands to go to show someone the wrist band, so we ended up having to wait for people paying before we could leave the building etc. When I was pressed for time at Mangoes, I finally just asked the cashier if it was OK to go around the people paying when they were taking so long to get their drinks and the money figured out.