Tell me about Busch Gardens please.

[buzz for boys]

I have looked at their website but I would like to know from people who have been is it worth a visit if half of us are not coaster fans??
What is there for little ones to keep them amused ? I get the feeling if youre not a coaster fan you will be sitting watching bags all day ???

So over to you guys any information is apprecited as we have never been.
Louise x

 

[katiec]

We are not big coaster fans but had a great day - well I did, DH got a rub somewhere unmentionable half way though the day and was like a bear with a sore **** for the rest of the day.

I would definately go back again this summer - not done planning fine tuning yet!

Lots of things for the kids to look at and do, there are rides that are NOT coaster rides that are fab - and the safari and gondola type ride are great. The kids wil love the gorillas and tigers - we spent ages just looking at them!

We walked halfway round the park to have lunch at Zambia smokehouse - we could have shared one portion of ribs and sat right under the Sheikra ride for a good half hour!

Its such a different pace to the Disney parks, and I think this it what makes it soo different - we loved it .

Katie

 

[ben1993]

I really enjoyed it, but I'm a coaster fan. I'm skipping it this year though, I feel like It isn't a Must Do and I could happily go to Florida and not do it, yano?

 

[wayneg]

My fave park, I am a coaster fan but there is that much to do at Busch we usually only do Sheikra, not enough time to do the rides for us in a 1 day visit.

Folder with Busch pics in from past trips. http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/wayneg1/Busch/
Also more in last August's folder starts with the Whale shape Icecream, ends with the 3 pics inside the new buffet http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/wayneg1/August 2010/?start=all

I love photographing animals, I far prefer Busch to AK, you can get right upto them, Jungala tiger area is brilliant.

Entertainment for the little ones is not something we have considered before but this August we will have a 3 year old with us, I am sure there will be plenty for her to do.

 

[Lil_Me]

We went for the first time on our third trip just gone and we loved it!

We paid $100 for the guided tour after seeing some photos on here and we weren't disappointed. It was a quiet day, but we got our moneys worth. We walked onto all the rides, fed the birds, kangaroos and giraffe. The tour was only 5 hours (included drinks, lunch, $5 each to play games, 20% discount card, safari tour and the food for animals.) After the tour we had a couple of hours spare to wander round and do the things we wanted to spend a little more time doing.

We're big animal lovers, and like Wayneg we prefer Busch to AK.

 

[dixonsontour]

We've never done it but I was looking at maybe going in October.

There was a new kids area in 2010 - based on sesame street - looked similar to the seaworld kids rides and a big water play area.

 

[fairytale]

Hiya Louise

I seem to recall that we have children very similar in ages?.

We absolutely love Busch Gardens and is a must do for us each trip.

One tip would be to make sure you get there the minute it opens, there is so much to do we never get to see it all If you are like us,when you have children of various ages it takes so much longer getting around the parks as every attraction appeals to at least one member of the family which is why we usually spend at least 2 days per park, however, due to the distance to Busch Gardens we only allocate one day in our plans.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it

 

[T16GEM]

My fave park too! Love it there. DH & I are both big time coaster fans, but obviously we have the kids with us and there is always a lot to do as well as the coasters.

There are loads of animal exhibits, there is a new Sesame Street part that we haven't been into yet, but it looks cool.

There are also lots of fun fair type rides for the kids, merry go rounds, train ride etc, my two love these and they can go on alone with no adults which makes them feel like grown ups!

I think we are planning two days here this year, if there is time

 

[Tinks1984]

I'll throw in my 2 cents...

We went back in May last year, as we hadn't visited since 1998. We do enjoy the coasters, so they were fine for us all. Couldn't fault them except for Gwazi, my brain felt like I'd done ten rounds with Tyson after that ride, didn't enjoy it at all

On the other hand, we've decided we wouldn't return again on our next trip. It hadn't improved as much as we'd have liked in the 12 years we'd not visited. It was lacking in appeal compared to the other theme parks.

The only thing I believe they have there for little ones is the Sesame Street characters and a small themed area with them in. Obviously there's the animal exhibitions, but we also found these were hard to come across at times. We felt the park wasn't sign posted as well as it should have been.

We were disappointed with the Rhino Rally Safari too, it wasn't half as good as Kilimanjaro Safari at AK. They've changed the ride, so there's no longer the 'raft' experience on it, which was a great part of the attraction last time.

I am glad we went back, as we'd never have known if it had changed, but as I mentioned, we wouldn't drive all the way out again next trip.

 

[MichelinMan]

Admittedly its been a while since I've gone, but we are also not coaster fans, and whilst it was nice (especially the animals, but AK hadn't opened when we went), I think I wouldn't bother going again, and would rather spend an extra day in Orlando.

When we go next year we definitely won't have enough time in 2 weeks to fit it in as well as all the other stuff we want to do in Disney/Universal/Sea World/Discovery Cove.

 

[ben1993]

I'll throw in my 2 cents...

We went back in May last year, as we hadn't visited since 1998. We do enjoy the coasters, so they were fine for us all. Couldn't fault them except for Gwazi, my brain felt like I'd done ten rounds with Tyson after that ride, didn't enjoy it at all

On the other hand, we've decided we wouldn't return again on our next trip. It hadn't improved as much as we'd have liked in the 12 years we'd not visited. It was lacking in appeal compared to the other theme parks.

The only thing I believe they have there for little ones is the Sesame Street characters and a small themed area with them in. Obviously there's the animal exhibitions, but we also found these were hard to come across at times. We felt the park wasn't sign posted as well as it should have been.

We were disappointed with the Rhino Rally Safari too, it wasn't half as good as Kilimanjaro Safari at AK. They've changed the ride, so there's no longer the 'raft' experience on it, which was a great part of the attraction last time.

I am glad we went back, as we'd never have known if it had changed, but as I mentioned, we wouldn't drive all the way out again next trip.

Agreed. BG is a great park, and I think everyone who goes to Orlando should definitely go there at least once, but I'm not in too much of a hurry to get back to it like I am to Universal.

 

[Disneymadhouse]

We are big coaster fans and not so into animals, but we are planning to go when we return to WDW next year.We now have a daughter who will be 4 and she loves animals, so although we did do some of the animal attractions last time i'm sure we will be doing lots more next time. We've been there and done that on the coasters so are not going to be as bothered about them.
It is a BIG park though, and personally i don't find it as easy to navigate round as the Orlando parks.
The colony plaza house was lovely for lunch last time we went - it made a change from the "normal" theme park food.

Claire

 

[JulieSharp]

In the 20+ years we have been going to Florida we have never been to BG. So, we decided to book a character breakfast with Cookie Monster and Elmo as Joshual loves Seseme Street for this April and are really looking forward to our visit to BG.

 

[scottishgirl87]

I'll throw in my 2 cents...

We went back in May last year, as we hadn't visited since 1998. We do enjoy the coasters, so they were fine for us all. Couldn't fault them except for Gwazi, my brain felt like I'd done ten rounds with Tyson after that ride, didn't enjoy it at all

On the other hand, we've decided we wouldn't return again on our next trip. It hadn't improved as much as we'd have liked in the 12 years we'd not visited. It was lacking in appeal compared to the other theme parks.

The only thing I believe they have there for little ones is the Sesame Street characters and a small themed area with them in. Obviously there's the animal exhibitions, but we also found these were hard to come across at times. We felt the park wasn't sign posted as well as it should have been.

We were disappointed with the Rhino Rally Safari too, it wasn't half as good as Kilimanjaro Safari at AK. They've changed the ride, so there's no longer the 'raft' experience on it, which was a great part of the attraction last time.

I am glad we went back, as we'd never have known if it had changed, but as I mentioned, we wouldn't drive all the way out again next trip.

I seem to be the only one who was disappointed in BG I didn't go to BG in my first trip to Orlando and boyfriend hadn't been to Orlando full stop so I was quite excited about a new park to explore! We went in May last year also and we are complete and utter coaster junkies but I found Sheikra etc. disappointing!

Not to mention the toilets were absolutely filthy (as in I walked in a cubicle, had toilet paper over the top of the seat with a big you know what resting on it!). I actually walked to 3 seperate bathroom areas in the park before finding a half decent one, and even that one wasn't great!

We've spoken about it and said we'd maybe give it another chance but I don't think we'd be too bothered giving it a miss. Obviously if you haven't been I'd definitely go and see if it's something you enjoy or not!

 

[mitchfishguard]

been loads of times. great park. the transport there and back is a doddle. we always say that it is a park thats very kind on the eye. definitely going again.

 

[cannp123165]

We went for the first time last year - we are not big coaster fans at all, but there was plenty to do for a day there. The water rides were good, but the animals were the best part of the park. The train ride around the safari is excellent. I would definitely recommend visiting as it is a really lovely park.