Floridian fun (Busch Gardens (Tampa Bay, Florida))

Member Name: tartlette

Product:	Busch Gardens (Tampa Bay, Florida)
Date:	03/10/08 (180 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great rides, animals

Disadvantages: Price

While in Florida for a holiday with three of my friends, we decided to visit Busch Gardens to celebrate one of my friend's birthdays. We had done Orlando earlier in the holiday and after spending 10 days sunbathing we wanted something fun to end our time in the States. Busch Gardens did not disappoint.

GETTING THERE:

Busch Gardens is located in Tampa, Florida. The park is located off the I-75, one of the main roads n Florida. We were travelling from the south, near Sarasota and it took us about an hour. If travelling from Orlando as most people do it takes between an hour and a half and two hours. Once off the I-75 you just need to follow the signs as Busch Gardens is the major attraction in Tampa and is well signposted. There is plenty of car parking available and like Disney they have unemployed air traffic controllers directing you to spaces. Once parked you walk to a tram stop where the tram will then drive you to the main entrance. The trams are constant so you shouldn't have to wait too long.

PRICES:

Tickets for Busch Gardens are, like any theme park, not cheap. A one day ticket is $67.95 and for a child (3-9) it is $57.95. There are cheaper tickets available if you buy online. We bought our tickets through a discount company online before we left the UK and they were less than $60 each. If you are staying in Orlando you can combine a Busch Gardens ticket with ones for Sea World and Universal Studios. If you plan to do a lot of parks then this is definitely the way to do it.

A new addition to Busch Gardens are the fast passes. These cost extra over ticket prices and are not, at the moment, very well advertised before you get to the park. We had searched the Internet but everywhere said that Busch Gardens did not have the queue jump facility which Disney and Universal Studios had. We were surprised to see fast passes on sale when we got to the park, but we had found them so useful in the other parks that we bought them immediately. I can't remember the price exactly but I'm fairly sure it was around $30 each. If you are going at a busy time these are well worth it. They mean you get one fast track on each of the main rides in the park and can save hours of time. The only problem we found was that because they are obviously a new introduction to Busch Gardens the staff did not really know what they were doing with them, but I'm sure this will get better.

THE EXPERIENCE:

Busch Gardens is divided into different areas named after African lands. The first land you come into in Morocco. We did not spend any time here but moved straight on. We were hoping to take the Skyride across the Serengeti Plain but when we got there it was closed. The Skyride is basically a cable car which takes you across the Plain where you can see some of the animals, to the other side of the park. Instead we took the train through the Serengeti. The train goes every 30 minutes or so. We thought this would be a good option to save us walking to get to the other side of the park but I wouldn't recommend it for this end. It was a really good way to see the animals, however. One recommendation - if it remotely looks like rain don't sit in the front of any of the carriages - we got absolutely soaked!!

The first area that we visited was the Congo. This area has one of the main water rides in the park, the Congo River Rapids. Having just got absolutely soaking on the train and also having waited almost an hour until the rides re-opened after the storm, we were having a water ride free day! The river rapids looked very similar to other rides we had been on in other parks. You rode in a 12 person raft down the rapids and the people looked like they were having a lot of fun (if slightly bedraggled!).

The main ride for us in the Congo was Kumba. This rollercoaster is definitely one for the thrill seekers. It has its fair share of drops and loops, certainly enough to make me feel a little wobbly when I got off!

Once finished with this ride (which we did twice!) we headed to Stanleyville. Here there are two more water rides, the Flume and Tidal Wave. Again we missed out on these but the water rides are always fun if you know the weather is going to hold out long enough to dry you! The ride for us here was SheiKra. This is one of the more famous rides at Busch Gardens. It is the tallest rollercoaster in Florida and was the first in America to have a 90 degree drop. If any of you have been on Oblivion in Alton Towers that part of the ride is very similar but it lasts a lot longer and has far more elements to it. The cars don't have a floor which means you really see everything that's going on (that's if you keep your eyes open during the ride!). I loved this ride. It was really terrifying but I think people tend to go on roller-coasters to be a little terrified!

The next big ride we tried was Gwazi. This is a twin roller-coaster and you can choose to ride either Gwazi Lion or Gwazi Tiger. I cannot emphasise enough how awful this coaster was. If you value the vertebrae in your neck or any of your teeth then don't ride it! The coaster is made out of wood and this makes it very rickety (not in a it might break way, more of a 'it'll rattle the teeth right out of your head' way). It was especially bad for me and my other friend, who were the slimmest, as our heads got rattled around a lot more. We came off the ride feeling very bruised and actually in quite a bit of pain. Very poor and I would never go back on it. We only rode one of them as we couldn't face the other one!

The last big ride that we wanted to go on was Montu in Egypt. This ride has very big inverted loops and the G force you feel is very big. I loved this ride and would definitely recommend it. Again it left us a little wobbly but I'd be disappointed if it didn't!

We actually ended up not going on very many rides, mainly due to the soaking at the beginning of the day. Had it been a dryer start to the day I certainly would have gone on all the water rides as well.

Each area of the park also has rides suitable for smaller children. However, I do see Busch Gardens as more of an adult park due to the big rides. One of the things that did annoy me about the rides was the fact that possessions had to be stored in lockers, which you had to pay for! Having paid a lot for entry into the park, plus the extra for the express passes, it irked me that we had to pay at every ride for a locker. There was really no alternative for us as we wanted to ride them altogether.

Busch Gardens is not only famous for its rides but also for the numerous exotic animals it houses. In the Serengeti Plain there are zebras, rhinos, giraffes and lions. At various other points around the park there are gorillas, orang-utans, lots of exotic birds, elephants and hippos. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with these animals being part of a park like this but at the same time I am pretty convinced that they are well looked after there. Seeing the animals was definitely cool and we really liked seeing all the different species.

We didn't eat in the park - it was the last day of the holiday and we were all spent out! There were plenty of options for eating but it was mainly of the fast food type. I would say the prices were pretty standard for a theme park. However, I would recommend sandwiches, as feeding a family in a theme park can cost a fair bit! There were also lots of shops in the park. They sell the usual array of goods with the Busch Gardens logo all over them. There are also goods with the logos of various rides. You can also get lots of cuddly toys of the animals that are in the park. These were all priced averagely for a theme park in the states and were cheaper than you would buy them for in a theme park over here.

CONCLUSION:

If you're in Florida then Busch Gardens is a must. It is definitely one of the best theme parks and we loved it as we were after thrill-seeking rides. The animals are cool and children will like these. There were some children friendly rides but I would say in general that Busch Gardens is more geared towards adults than children. It's not a cheap day out but I think most people realise that they will have to spend a few bucks when they go to Florida. Highly recommended!

Summary: So much fun!