Busch Gardens

We had some guests visiting us over the weekend from Michigan, so we thought we’d use it as an opportunity to visit Busch Gardens Tampa. We were a bit anxious about the crowds as it is the spring break time of year, so we tried our best to get to the Busch Gardens when it opened at 9:30am. We had a little trouble waking up early enough and made a wrong turn (follow the park signs and not google maps directions!), but still ended up getting there shortly before 10am. We quickly hopped on a tram (no lines yet!) and made it through the bag check and ticket lines.

Since Busch Gardens seemed fairly empty, we made a beeline for one of the top attractions, SheiKra. This was my favorite ride of the day, and since we were there first thing in the morning, the ZERO wait time didn’t hurt either. And because there wasn’t a wait, we went twice in a row and got to sit on the front seat! The floor drops out below you, so your feet are dangling, and the ride is super smooth and exhilarating. The best part? After the first climb, you begin to dip down over the edge for the drop and then the coaster stops with you staring straight down for 5 seconds. All of the seats are great, but head to the front row for the best experience. The wind is intense in the front though, so you might have trouble keeping your eyes open for the whole time! Protip: They won’t allow you to take backpacks (even if you tell them you will leave them in a cubbie box at the side of the ride), so rent a locker beforehand ($1/2 hr). 

After Sheikra, we wanted a gentler ride to change things up, so we headed to River Congo. On a hot, sunny day, this has to be one of the most popular rides, but on this cloudy morning, we again walked straight onto the ride. You are seated in a round raft and launched into the rapids. There were a couple splashes of refreshingly cold water here and there along the ride, but we thought we were mostly spared. Boy were we wrong! Right before the finish we were spun into a big waterfall and got completely drenched!!

Since we were soaked, we needed another ride to help dry off, and luckily we were right next to Kumba which only had a wait time of 5-10 minutes. This coaster was intense, so I don’t recommend it for those with weak stomachs. The ride has many spirals and upside-down stomach-twisting loops. There are exhilarating drops, turns, and spirals, but it isn’t the smoothest of rides.

We needed a break after Kumba, so we decided to eat some lunch. We had to get money out of our locker, so we ended back up near SheiKra and the Zambia Smokehouse. Nisheet and I split a pulled pork sandwich, fries, baked beans, and mac & cheese for around $17. We got more than enough food, so I felt the price was decent for an amusement park. The pulled pork sandwich was so-so. The bun was a little soggy and it was a bit lacking in flavor for me, but then again, it was just amusement park food and not a fancy restaurant. The macaroni and cheese and fries were great though!

Afterwards, we jumped on the Serengeti Railway for a tour of African animals. Be sure to sit on the left side of the train as this is the side with the majority of the animals. The conductor does a good job of pointing out the various animals, including zebras, giraffes, and rhinos as well as the different roller coasters and show venues.

The train stops at 3 stations, and we got off at the Congo Station to pick up where we left off earlier near Kumba. We made our way through the park stopping to look at attractions, shops, and animals (the elephants were so playful!). We got to the Moroccan Palace Theater right as the Iceploration Ice Show was about to start, so we followed the crowds in and took a seat. The show was better than I expected and kept me entertained for the duration of the show  30 minutes. I thought it was cool how they turned the stage into and ice rink and had “animals” skating around. There were acrobats dressed as monkeys jumping on trampolines and baby elephant goofing around on skates. There were a few real animals here and there like a mountain lion, birds, and a macaw. The costumes were fantastic (approaching Broadway level details), and I was impressed the skaters still managed to do jumps and lifts on relatively small stage.

The Moroccan Palace is close to the Cheetah Run and Montu, so we headed off in that direction. Montu was at the top of our list, and even though the wait time was 40 minutes, we got in line and waited. And waited. And waited some more. After 45 minutes we were close to boarding the ride, and it broke down. Ugh! So then we walked towards the Cheetah Run and it was having issues also. Double ugh! Being a bit frustrated, we decided we needed a drink, so we checked out the Food & Wine Festival. We got a glass of wine, watched a juggler, and made plans to come back for dinner because the food looked awesome. We wandered through some more animal attractions including a gorilla exhibit with the most adorable baby gorilla ever, a kangaroo exhibit with sleepy kangaroos, and a bird exhibit where you could let the birds land on you if you wanted to risk them pecking and pooping on you.

Then, it was time for another ride! Since we were finally dried off from Congo River (yes, it takes most of the day for denim type shorts to dry…) we picked out another water ride, this time the Log Flume. An oldie but a goodie! The ride is actually quite long with several short drops and one large drop at the very end. You don’t get very wet, and it was a lot of old school fun!

There are electronic boards around the park showing wait times for the various rides, and it showed that Montu was running again with only a 10 minute wait! We jumped on the train, and tried again. The wait was more like 25 minutes (the loading/unloading cycle takes way longer than it should),  but it was well worth it! It was another coaster where your feet dangle, and there were some serious Gs. So fun!

For the last ride of the day, we went on the Skyride. It also had maintenance issues, but fortunately they were fixed pretty quickly, and the wait wasn’t too bad. It was the perfect last ride of the day as it was very relaxing and gave us a great view of the park lit up at night.

We then ended the night at the Busch Gardens Food & Wine Festival which was amazing.  For $25 you could buy a pass for 5 food samples. Nisheet and I split one pass, and we had enough food to fill us up since most of the samples were fairly large. We tried polenta with tomatoes and olives, a goat cheese and potato tart, duck tacos, scallops with watermelon salsa, and buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese, and we washed it down with a strawberry lime cider. All of it was absolutely scrumptious!!

 

Busch Gardens Expenses:

• Tickets: $80/person
• Parking: $18
• Food: $17
• Locker: $1 (for 2 hours)
• Food and Wine Festival: $25
• Total for 2 people: $221

 

Tips for Busch Gardens:

• Get to the park right when it opens! We found the shortest lines were before lunch. 
• Don’t follow directions from google maps. It led us to the employee only entrance. Instead, follow the Busch Garden signs. 
• Buy your tickets online ahead of time. It saved us $20 each over the gate price. 
• Pack water and snacks as purchasing the food inside the park can be pricey. 
• Wear quick drying clothes if you plan on going on water rides. They have dryers near some of the water rides, but it will set you back $5. Likewise, strap on sandals worked much better than shoes and socks.
• Rent a locker. Some of the rides such as SheiKra won’t even let you stand in line if you have a backpack.
• Try to do the major roller coasters first while the lines are shorter. Save the animal attractions for later in the day because they don’t have lines.