Busch Gardens Info needed

[NewEnglandCamper]

Our WDW vacation is starting to wrap up nicely but need info on Busch Gardens.

We (Mom, Dad, and 3 kids) are thinking about heading south after Disney to hit Busch Gardens. Is it worth the extra drive and expense? How big is it compared to Animal Kingdom? We are thinking about going President Day weekend (will it be really busy then?) Do they have fast pass (or similar). Any hotel recommendations?

NOTE: We visited Sea World and Universal last year and that is not in our plans for this year.

 

[kimmy kay]

We went to Busch gardens in March free tickets came with Discovery Cove package. We loved it there. When we went it wasn't crowded at all. I don't know about fastpasses . You could check out there website. IEven if the tickets weren't included in my package it is well worth it

 

[wwessing]

We missed going to Busch Gardens Tampa last time we vacationed on Florida. We skipped it, but hit Animal Kingdom. My opinion is AK is Disney's answer to BG. While we like AK best of all the Disney parks, we still think Busch Gardens is much better, hands down. I would definitely make the effort to go.

You can do research by posting here, although I've had better luck as far as BGT goes by visiting http://www.bgtguide.com/ and posting specific questions. The board is not nearly as active as these, but they have good information. I also purchased a book called The Other Orlando, by Kelly Monaghan. You can probably find it in most book stores, or go to www.intrepidtraveler.com where you may find discounts. That's where I found mine. I gotten a great deal of info from the book and will take it with us. In addition, I contacted Busch Gardens and asked for a park map and any other information they could send me.

Hope this helps.

 

[DOOM1001]

Busch Gardens in Tampa is a really nice park.If you like rollercoasters then you will love this park,It also features several water rides,shows, the Rhino Rally safari ride,several animal walk through areas and transport rides like the skyride and the train.They tried a couple of years ago a FP type ticket for the Rhino rally ride during busy times but that only lasted a short time, so no FP type tickets available.It is a big park and requires a good amount of walking,use the train and skyride to go from one side of the park to the other when you can.Right now they're working on the Congo section of the park to turn it into Jungala, a new area with animal exhibits and interactions,rides like a zipline,a play structure geared to older kids and live entertainment.One thing you mention is that you're going during a holiday weekend which is when the park does tend to get busy,well many of the same rules that you hear about at Disney also apply here,get to the park early and do all the rides and attractions early so you can get them in before the lines get longer.During the middle of the day go to the Desert Grill where you can eat lunch at the same as watch a show,in my opinion Busch parks beat Disney or Universal as far as counter service food by a long shot.As far as hotels, my best advice is to stay somewhere reputable as Tampa doesn't have the amount of hotels you find in Orlando and the cheaper ones are kinda dumpy.My last stay I stayed at the Grand Suites Tampa Bay which used to be a Doubletree and it wasn't bad at all.There's also an Embassy suites nearby.Like I said the immediate area doesn't have an over abundance of great hotels,if you don't mind driving the area around the airport has better variety and is about 15 minutes away.

 

[Priorityonecb]

We have season passes to BG in Williamsburg. My girls would like to go to the Tampa Bay one this summer. Would those of you who have gone suggest allowing one day or two? We can easily do everything we want at the Williamsburg location in one day, but we are very familiar with the park.

 

[myprincessgirlisa]

IMO
Busch gardens is better than AK...i wasnt overly impressed with AK

I think you will really like Busch Gardens...lots of stuff!!! well established!!

Have fun whatever you decide

 

[DOOM1001]

I've been several times to the Williamsburg park and although probably smaller in size they have similar amount of attractions,with probably the Williamsburg park having more shows.Since shows take up a good amount of time during your day and you can get the VA park done in 1 day I would say 1 day is enough unless you want to do EVERYTHING in the park and want to do multiple rides on the coasters or you go on a very busy day.I would say if you get there early,plan right by looking at the map when you get there you should be able to do most or all of the attractions in 1 day.If you go on a busy day the coaster waits will be between 30 and 60 minutes,slower days between 5-15.I would suggest doing the Rhino rally ASAP as it has a pretty long wait most of the day,so if you can knock that off when lines are short you'll be helping yourself.

 

[Pokemom]

We went to Busch Gardens on December 26 and expected it to be quite busy. We were pleasantly surprised to find only 5 minutes waits for the roller coasters and were almost able to walk right on the water rides. We had 4 teenagers in our party, so they really enjoyed the coasters.

 

[NewEnglandCamper]

IMO
Busch gardens is better than AK...i wasnt overly impressed with AK

I think you will really like Busch Gardens...lots of stuff!!! well established!!

Have fun whatever you decide

We are definately hitting AK.

I just reviewed Busch Gardens web site. It doesn't look like it is a park for small children as they seem to have only roller coaster rides and animals. Would young children get bored there?

 

[OCEAN LOVE <3]

I just reviewed Busch Gardens web site. It doesn't look like it is a park for small children as they seem to have only roller coaster rides and animals. Would young children get bored there?

No, the children wont get bored.They have a whole section of the park (called dragon land) and it is for the kids. There are rides, a playgrounds and lots of different things in dragon land. There are also many rides that young children can go on. They have height restrictions of 42" , like sandstorm, rhino rally,scorpion and a bunch of others.