Busch Gardens

[makinorlando]

DD9 and I ventured past Orlando - Disney and Sea World today, and went to Busch Gardens/Tampa. We have lived in Orlando almost 3 years, but had not taken the time to go before (spoiled by the less than hour trip to both WDW and SW!!).

Wow---- what have we been missing! I am in LOVE with this park, and I am not even a roller coaster rider (and it is a roller coaster fan's dream!). We were on a tight schedule to get back home this evening, so we did not see all of the park, and plan on going back on Sunday. Hopefully the traffic will be better and we will cut off some travel time (which is about 2 hrs one way)

It is a beautiful park, with so much to do. On the train ride (only part of the route) we saw more animals than we have ever seen at AK, and it's a much smoother ride. We didn't get to the safari ride today.

We rode the Flume Ride and the train. DD did bumper cars, and played in The Land of the Dragon (huge children's area), visited and feed the Lorikeets (very cool - they land right on you if you have nectar for them). We saw gorillas and chimps, flamingos and white tigers and a white peacock.

I can't wait to go back Sunday to do all the things we want to do and see some shows. Like I said, we were just getting a feel for the park, and knew we would not accomplish a great deal today. They have Sky Ride which I can't wait to do! (I don't do coasters, so the FLUME was adventurous for me!)

I will have photos posted later this evening. If you click on "My Pictures" below and go to the Busch Gardens folder.

 

[dylansmom1]

I LOVE Busch Gardens! I live 30 minutes from Busch Gardens Williamsburg and their parks are great. As a matter of fact I worked there as a teenager. Very clean, beautiful grounds and great roller coasters. We just bought platinum passes so we can go to Tampa and Seaworld on our passes in June (and next year too!). Can't wait. As much as we love Disney, we also love thrill rides and sometimes Space mountain just doesn't do it for us. I think sometimes people don't see enough outside of Disney. It's a shame because Busch is a real gem.

Jane

 

[RabFlmom]

We love BG, too. I still think it is so much better than Animal Kingdom, but have decided you can't compare the 2 Animal Parks because they are so different. AK is probably my favorite Disney Park, too .

If you see this befoire Sunday, try to eat lunch at the Colony House (top floor) either on the patio or ask for a window table. I love eating there. Without fail we all get the family chicken or fish meal and it is always good. It always seems strange to be sitting there in our shorts and t's in such an up-scale restaurant in a theme park.
Don't forget to give the server your pass so you get the 10% off of the price of the meal.
Also try to make it to Katonga! That is the greatest show! Of course I haven't seen the new one in the area they redid since last May. We also always end the night with the rock and roll spoof because I get a kick out of it. LOL MY sons choose to spend that time riding the coasters<g> Have fun. Wish I were going Sunday too, but the 3 hour ride from this coast seems to be getting harder and harder on us and I cannot convince my husband that we just should plan an overnighter when we go there and go back the second day fort a while. :-(

 

[makinorlando]

We love BG, too. I still think it is so much better than Animal Kingdom, but have decided you can't compare the 2 Animal Parks because they are so different. AK is probably my favorite Disney Park, too .

Also try to make it to Katonga! That is the greatest show! -(

It is so true - you just can't compare the Disney Parks to anything, but Busch Gardens and Sea World really don't get the attention that they should. It's funny how many FL folks don't do Disney at all... but love the BG and SW, and of course Universal (which we have yet to do!)

Katonga is the one thing that I missed on Friday that I really wanted to see. We got there too late for the one show, and were busy on the other side of the park for the next, and had to leave before the next!

The two hour (4 round trip) wore me out yesterday. Using the toll roads to go to WDW is for the most part a relaxed drive (35-40 min), so driving on I-4 with the horrendous traffic was tiring. Hopefully Sunday morning will be better and I am taking 417 to I-4, instead of 408 to I-4. Less time on I-4!

DD is not big on spending time in the parks in restaurants - we usually eat on the go, but it looks like a wonderful place.

I told her we will have to go and stay for a night sometime. We have 2 dogs, so it requires my getting a "pet sitter" to come and stay. I have a great girl who does it for $20/night, and she cares for 2 dogs and 3 cats. We did that to go to Beach Club for a night. It just requires planning, and not spur of the moment - which is so much more our style!

 

[stitch&ariel]

I love Busch Gardens and we try to go every year (although with it being quite a long drive we don't always have time) however the day never seems long enough there it goes too fast!

 

[Mom2DS]

How are the crowds there -- similar to WDW? Do they have anything like fastpass? Thinking of taking 2 animal- and roller coaster-loving boys there this summer. Any suggestions on where to stay also?

Thanks!!
-Dawn

 

[robvia]

Where to stay is a tuff one. The hotels right near the park are dives. There's the Days Inn and the Baymont Inn, but they're beat up, and a full block from the entrance. So there really isn't a good hotel within walking distance. The good hotels are on Fowler Ave, and you'll need a rental car to drive over. I wouldn't count on hotel shuttles, as they are spotty. Pick your favorite hotel chain, and see if they have a location near BGT. One time, I stayed 15 minutes south of the park on I-75. On the BGT web site, there is a list of hotels they recommend. Pick a few of them, surf the web sites, and do your homework. Use maps.yahoo.com to get directions and to see how far away the hotels are. A 15 minute drive is nothing, traffic is ok leading in and out of the park, so you don't have to book a hotel right next to BGT.

The drive over from Orlando is 75 miles and takes 1.5 hours. If you leave early at 06:30am, you would arrive BGT at about 08:30am when the parking lot opens. You could stay the entire day, then drive back that evening. So you could leave Orlando as your base camp and just drive over. If you want to spend two days at BGT, then you would book a hotel for one night near the park.

 

[Sylvester McBean]

the park is quite large so it handles crowds well. during summer though, the queues for the 4 big coasters and the water rides tend to get long. BG has no system like fastpass. platinum passholders get a 'ride again' feature on the coasters.

check out the Doubletree or Amersuites on 30th st.. Embassy Suites, Wingate, La Quinta, or Holiday Inn on Fowler ave..

 

[Motherfletcher]

Is it Fowler or Flagler? The LaQuinta is good, the Holiday Inn Busch Gardens is OK. The best is the Seminole Hard Rock.
Let's see 75 miles at 80 MPH would be less than an hour? It depends on the time of travel. I've made it from that LaQuinta to Universal in 45 minutes but I'm one of those 80+ MPH drivers and I leave before the a.m. peak.

 

[ChrisFL]

the park is quite large so it handles crowds well. during summer though, the queues for the 4 big coasters and the water rides tend to get long. BG has no system like fastpass. platinum passholders get a 'ride again' feature on the coasters.

check out the Doubletree or Amersuites on 30th st.. Embassy Suites, Wingate, La Quinta, or Holiday Inn on Fowler ave..

I love BG, however it is large and if you think AK is laid out badly, BG is worse in that regard. The problem is that it was built from nearly nothing but a brewery and gardens to a full park and it took 30+ years to expand. Therefore there was no master plan for moving guests around.

But that is my only complaint. The Crown Colony house top floor has the best fried chicken I've ever tasted and I just love the atmosphere up there.

 

[Sylvester McBean]

I love BG, however it is large and if you think AK is laid out badly, BG is worse in that regard. The problem is that it was built from nearly nothing but a brewery and gardens to a full park and it took 30+ years to expand. Therefore there was no master plan for moving guests around.

But that is my only complaint. The Crown Colony house top floor has the best fried chicken I've ever tasted and I just love the atmosphere up there.

good point. you do a lot of walking in BG, and a lot of it is backtracking.

 

[4theloveofdisney]

Funny but we used to live in Tampa and always went to Busch Gardens! Anyway, we moved many years ago and hadn't been back to BG in ages. Last year though we decided to go again and we also loved it! It's really a great park, even for those who don't do coasters or have young children. We totally give it a thumbs up right along with you! Have fun on your next trip.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

Thanks for all the great advice. This thread encouraged me to do it! We're flying into Tampa via Southwest and spending two nights, spending one full day at BGT before driving to Orlando, where we'll fly out, for four nights. I'm going to try to Priceline a resort (looks like Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay comes up most, for about $75-$85/night). If that doesn't work, the La Quinta Inn USB is running less than $80/night.

I haven't taken a full week off from work since my honeymoon!

 

[goofy4tink]

Thanks for the terrific thread guys!! We're heading down to WDW in mid-May and ending our trip with 2 days in Tampa, visiting my ds. We'll be doing BG both days, and staying at the Doubletree Suites out on N. Rocky Point Dr. We almost booked the Baymont...glad we didn't now. Ds said it wasn't in the greatest of areas, so we went with someplace closer to the airport but further from BG. Since ds is about 8 miles to the west of the airport, we figured it was a good spot to crash. Can't wait to try out BG. Don't do coasters but I think there should be enough to keep up amused for 5 hrs each day!!!

 

[Sylvester McBean]

Thanks for all the great advice. This thread encouraged me to do it! We're flying into Tampa via Southwest and spending two nights, spending one full day at BGT before driving to Orlando, where we'll fly out, for four nights. I'm going to try to Priceline a resort (looks like Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay comes up most, for about $75-$85/night). If that doesn't work, the La Quinta Inn USB is running less than $80/night.

I haven't taken a full week off from work since my honeymoon!

if you can get a deal on the grand hyatt, jump on it. it's a bit of a drive to BG, but the hotel is great. it sits right on old tampa bay for the sunsets, and has 2 awesome restaurants, armani's and oystercatcher's.

 

[robvia]

Is it Fowler or Flagler? The LaQuinta is good, the Holiday Inn Busch Gardens is OK. The best is the Seminole Hard Rock.
Let's see 75 miles at 80 MPH would be less than an hour? It depends on the time of travel. I've made it from that LaQuinta to Universal in 45 minutes but I'm one of those 80+ MPH drivers and I leave before the a.m. peak.

It's Fowler Ave. Just pull up maps.yahoo.com and for the address box type in I-4 and I-75, for the city type in Tampa Florida. The little red dot will be where I-4 meets I-75. Now go north a few times, and you'll see Fowler. Now start heading West and you'll eventually see BGT.

No, 75 miles at 80 is not less than an hour, because once you get off the highway at Fowler, you have to go thru 5 miles of stop lights on a 40 mph road. That's where the extra time comes into play.

 

[4theloveofdisney]

We like the Holiday Inn in the New Tampa section. It's about a 10 minute drive but the area surrounding the hotel is nice. You couldn't pay me to stay anywhere right near BG!! The Holiday Inn that I'm talking about is on Galbraith in case anyone is interested. We have stayed there twice and it's clean and fairly new. HTH!

Oh - they also have free internet access via two computers in the lobby and serve a very nice continental breakfast every morning and it's included in your stay.