We’re sharing our full experience at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay from epic roller coasters like Iron Gwazi and SheiKra to safari-style animal encounters. Get insider tips on tickets, lockers, crowds, and must-ride attractions to plan the perfect visit to one of Florida’s top theme parks.

If you are spending more time in the Tampa area, check out the Tampa Bay CityPASS
Hotels near Busch Gardens we recommend:

• Oasis Bay & Suites
• Hampton Inn & Suites Tampa Busch Gardens Area
• Or you can search for more good hotel options near Busch Garden on TripAdvisor

If you are already in the area, we highly recommend extending your trip to swim with manatees in Crystal River, FL too, its an amazing experience you won’t want to miss out on.

Busch Gardens – Episode Transcript

0:35

Hey squaddies, Travel Squad Podcast is back with Just the Tip, our Friday mini episode series where we give you quick travel stories, hacks and recommendations to send you off into the weekend.

Right today you have me, Brittany and Jamal as your hosts and we’re going to talk to you about our time and experience at the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Florida amusement park.

0:58

Yes. So we went on a weekend trip to Florida and if you harken back to a couple episodes ago we mentioned how we did a manatee snorkel swim.

And so we originally tried to do the swim with the manatees 2 years ago but when we were in Florida the weather was bad and our tour had to be cancelled the night before.

1:18

So this was a redo attempt and I told Brittany that I wanted to go to Busch Gardens while we were there.

We usually do go to Disney World or Universal when we go to Florida for other things but I am a roller coaster lover and Busch Gardens Tampa is known for the roller coasters.

1:35

They have several ones that are just known in the roller coaster world to be really great and I wanted to experience them and this is a place that I really wanted to go.

So Busch Gardens is actually an animal theme park featuring roller coasters and animal exhibits.

1:51

Originally, it opened up in 1959, and if you pay attention to the name of the park and the spelling, you’ll notice that Busch is spelled Busch, and it’s spelled like Anheuser Busch, the beer company that makes Budweiser and Busch beers.

Yeah.

So originally at opening it was a brewery with gardens and parks surrounding the immediate area as an attraction and place for people to go an experience.

2:16

The gardens featured lagoons, specially curated garden landscapes, animal exhibits which included an amphitheater for a bird show, aviaries, flamingos, cockatoos and a themed village where you could get free samples of beer.

So over time the park naturally expanded to what it is today, but the first major expansion occurred several years after the park opened due to its success.

2:41

And so they created an Africa themed area which showcased African animals in an open safari style setting experience which they still have this attraction to this very day.

And dare I say this was maybe the original Disney Animal Kingdom.

2:57

Obviously that’s not owned by Disney, nor any part of it, but really one of the first places to really mash amusement parks with live animals in a setting like this.

I wish they still did the beer garden though and the free samples of beer.

You know, we’re going to talk about it a little bit later, but one of my favorite rides here, which was Iron Gwazi that we did, that is actually the site of the old brewery and they tore it down I believe in the 90s to make way for wooden roller coaster, which they retrofitted to the new Iron Gwazi.

3:24

So they do not have the beer garden there anymore or the brewery.

But yes, that would be a nice touch.

And squaddies, before we get into our day and all of the attractions at Busch Gardens, I just want to let you know the easiest airport to fly into is Tampa.

And if you’re looking for good flights to Tampa with points and miles, be sure to sign up for the Thrifty Traveler Premium subscription.

3:48

You’ll get deals sent right to your inbox.

And we have a promo code for you.

It’s TSP to get $20 off your first year subscription.

So we flew in on a Thursday and arrived in Tampa and we were going to go to Busch Gardens on Friday.

4:05

Now, you can buy tickets direct, but if you happen to work for a large corporation, check to see if they have any deals, right?

You could honestly even do this if you’re a AAA member.

AAA sometimes even has discounts for amusement parks.

But Brittany does work for a large employer, and she was able to get discounted tickets through them versus buying it either at the gate or even online.

4:28

And the tickets that they were offering were about $25 cheaper per person for the ticket.

And it also included one meal for the same cost, which the meal is valued at.

I would say 15 to $25 depending on where you redeem it at.

4:43

So we arrived early in the morning to beat the crowds.

The park opened at 10 AM and if you’ve ever heard any past episodes where we talked about when we go to amusement parks, you will know I need to be there early.

You need to be there right on time to beat the crowds.

4:59

Get in some rides before they really start to arrive, otherwise I feel like it’s a wasted day.

So we arrived at the parking lot for Busch Gardens around 9:30 AM, actually a little bit before that, and we were held back because they really didn’t even have the attendance there yet to take payment for parking.

5:20

So parking is $35 and you do have to take a tram from the parking lot to the main entrance.

Of course you can pay more and do preferred parking, get closer to the main gate and avoid taking the tram, but we opted to just do $35.00.

5:37

So they did open the parking lot at 9:30.

So then the line of cars started to move.

We got on the first tram, I believe that even arrived.

But ironically enough, when we showed up to the gates, we were still there well before 10, maybe about 15 minutes before 10:00.

5:54

And I was really getting worried because there were so many people there and I was so confused because the parking lot was not full at all, but they have a drop off area right at the front where they could drop off guests who are going to be attending the park.

And it seemed like it was a day with lots of elementary schools and junior highs, and I was really worried.

6:15

Yeah, it’s happened before where we’ve shown up to theme parks and it’s like the high school’s key club day or the cheerleading squads day, and I feel like there was a lot of cheerleaders here on this day as well.

So we were a little bit worried, but actually overall it really did not feel crowded.

6:31

We were able to ride rides multiple times.

The longest wait that we waited was 30 minutes for a ride.

Some rides we were able to walk right on.

Some rides were only like a 10 minute wait.

But unfortunately, two of the roller coasters Jamal wanted to ride were closed for maintenance.

6:46

That is very true and I was very sad.

I obviously wanted to ride all the roller coasters that they had in the park, but two of the ones that were closed, one of them for sure, I really, really wanted to ride.

The other one I did, but it’s not one of the well known ones.

It’s just like, Oh my gosh, you really need to ride.

7:03

So I felt a little bit better about that.

Saddened about the other one, but the main one that I really wanted to ride, which we’ll talk about later, Iron Gwazi, it was not closed and we ended up riding that four times.

So instead of just going over our day ride by ride for you guys, what we’re really going to do is talk to you about Busch Gardens, the themed lands that they have and then of course the marquee roller coasters that they have.

7:29

And Busch Gardens.

They have two locations.

They have one in Williamsburg, VA which we have been to before and the one here that’s in Tampa.

They are known to be well themed theme parks.

I’m not going to sit here and say they’re at Universal or Disney level, but they are really well themed.

7:46

Having been here.

Now I will say the one in Williamsburg, VA is better themed.

It has a different theme, but in terms of like maintenance, well landscaped gardens, etcetera.

I think the one in Williamsburg takes it a little bit.

But this was still very well themed.

8:02

I do think it was very well themed, but I probably did like this one more only because it did have the animal aspect and I did really enjoy that.

See.

So to each their own, right?

That’s why you got to go to them both, I guess.

But no, this one was fun.

And I agree with you, Brittany.

The animals do make it.

So many of the roller coasters that you do ride require to put all of your belongings into a locker.

8:22

And we learned that they were not free.

You know, some places if they make you put your stuff in a locker, they’ll give you a free locker for the amount of time for the ride, like maybe two hours and then you have to move locations.

But even if it’s a mandatory for you to put your stuff in the locker, they’re making you pay for the lockers.

8:39

So you have to put your wallets, bags, cell phones, everything that’s in your pockets on some into the locker.

Some places actually have metal detectors where you have to go through so that you have to make sure everything’s cleared out and they don’t have cubbies at the loading station.

So don’t think like, oh, I’m just going to take this on and leave it on the other side and grab it when I get off the ride.

8:59

That’s not going to happen.

Yeah, that really bummed me out because I don’t like the concept of if you’re forcing me to put it in a locker than making me pay for it.

Especially the fact that they don’t have the cubbies.

The good news is at least here I didn’t really feel like they were gouging you.

You could do a one time rental at that ride location for $4.00 or you could do a $12.00 all day that was transferable to other locker stations around the park that happened to be by roller coasters or not even by roller coasters if you wanted to put it.

9:29

So you would get a code that you created and then you could transfer it.

So we opted to do the $12.00 all day.

And even though it’s more money that I really didn’t necessarily want to spend, especially if I’m obligated and forced to put my belongings in a locker, but still at least $12.00 all day I don’t think is a terrible price at least.

9:48

It’s not a terrible price and it hit both of our belongings.

So I mean, when you price it out per person, it’s really not much and it would have fit more so if we were in a larger group.

You can squeeze a few extra bags in there as well.

Small bags.

So let’s talk about the themed lands that are here at Busch Gardens.

10:06

I mentioned earlier how one of their major expansions that they had first was the Africa Safari.

So a lot of these lands are clearly themed towards Africa and the animal elements that they do have in the park.

One of the themed lands that they have is Morocco, which obviously is themed to Morocco.

10:26

They had another location too that was called Stanleyville, and this was an area that was themed to a real colonial city that’s actually in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Stanleyville is no longer the name of that city in real life.

It’s called Kasangani now.

10:41

But nevertheless, the name Stanleyville is still the themed area of the park after that city in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Another area of the park is called Congo and it’s themed to the jungles of Congo, both Republic of Congo and the DRC.

10:57

The other area that they have is Jungala and it’s themed around jungle animals in an up close environment such as tigers, orangutans, Gibbons and bats.

They also have Pantopia which is a themed mall area and bazaars of Africa.

Another area of the park is themed to Nairobi, Kenya and it has animals in this area such as elephants, gorillas, chimps, alligators, crocodiles and even an animal care center where you can see how the animals in the park are cared for, for the routine check UPS or more serious conditions.

11:29

And they even have an area where you could stand behind glass and watch surgeries that are being performed on the animals.

When we went into this area, we did not see any surgeries being performed that day.

One the kangaroo was in there that keepers were taking care of and doing things with.

11:46

But I really do think it would be so unique to be in there on a day when they’re doing a surgery and watch it.

And the surgery table was really up close to the window too, so you could really be in on the action and see it.

And I think that’s a really unique thing that they do allow, so you can actually see how they are caring for the animal.

12:05

The only thing that was going on with that while we were in there was they were feeding a kangaroo.

So we get got to watch a glimpse of that, but it would be really cool to see a surgery or something else going on.

Definitely.

And when we first walked in, there was somebody who was standing kind of behind a desk in presentation area and they had chairs set out.

12:24

Every once in a while they do have, I don’t want to necessarily call it a show, but they have a talk where you can go in and, and one of the keepers will actually talk about how they’re caring for the animal.

So we didn’t stay or come back to do that because it wasn’t happening during that time, nor did we take the initiative to come back and hear that.

12:41

But if that’s something that interests you, they do have this in this area as well.

There are three other themed areas of the park. 1 is Sesame Street and Safari Fun, which is a children’s theme area.

They also have Egypt, which is themed to Egypt.

And lastly they have the Edge of Africa.

12:58

It’s a small section of the park, but it’s where some of their signature roller coasters like Cheetah Hunt and there’s an actual cheetah exhibit in viewing there.

And a restaurant that overlooks the Safari Savannah section of the park, so you can see rhinos, giraffe, zebras and other safari animals roaming as you eat at the restaurant.

13:16

That’s pretty cool.

And again, in each of these lands, I want to articulate again, it is very well themed.

You do really get the sense that you are there.

Again, I want to stress, not necessarily Disney or Universal level, but for what it is, the theming is very well with the buildings, the architecture, the design, everything really immerses you into these settings.

13:40

So we did mention that Tampa Bush Gardens was Tampa’s largest zoo, and so they do have some animal exhibits.

And we’ve already mentioned some of the animals that you could expect to see in the theme lands because we were just discussing that.

But they feature over 200 species of animals within the park and they have Kangaroos, Wallabies, meerkats, lemurs, hippos, hyenas and lions and and more.

14:04

Absolutely.

And again, one of the animal exhibits is actually a ride.

You can take a train ride around the park, but in one section of of the train you pass through the vast open Savannah exhibit that makes you feel as if you’re really riding a train through Africa and are on a safari.

14:23

Lots of the animals roam freely in this area, from the zebras, gazelles, antelope, giraffe, kudu, water buck, the rhinos, whether it be the white or black rhinos, eelands, Impalas, ostriches, you name it, what you would expect to see on an African Savannah safari.

14:40

You’re going to find these animals out here.

Of course, you’re not going to find the predator roaming freely out here, but nevertheless, as you’re passing through on the train, you really are winding through the Savannah areas.

You can also choose to go out on an open plane safari vehicle and get much closer to the animals than you are when you’re on the train.

15:01

But that does have an additional cost.

And it wasn’t something that we did.

But if that’s something that interests you, you could definitely go out there and do that and get more close and clearly have a guide who’s going out and finding them and getting new within close proximity.

Jamal would say that the highlight of the park is going to be the roller coasters.

15:19

He is a roller coaster fanatic.

We’ve been to so many different theme parks across the US, his favorite probably being Cedar Point in Ohio, but he was really excited to come here to Tampa Bay, Busch Gardens and ride some of the coasters that they have on site.

15:34

Yes, and like I had mentioned earlier, Busch Gardens is known to have some of the best critically acclaimed roller coasters with the coasters being immersed into their lands theming, which really adds to the the experience of the ride.

So one ride in particular that I was really excited about to ride was Montu, which is an inverted coaster.

15:52

And if you don’t know that terminology, it’s the ones where your feet are suspended and hanging and there is no floor below you.

Now this is in the Egypt section and it’s really well themed and lots of the track goes underground, almost as if you’re going into areas that resemble Egyptian tombs and passing through really well manicured landscapes.

16:14

And this ride site is actually really close to the African Savannah area that they have.

So I remember we rode this twice and both times going up the lift hill of the roller coaster, you can just look out to your left and see wild animals that are roaming.

16:29

And I thought that was really cool and unique for that.

But Montu features 6 inversions and it’s constantly ranked by amusement park rating sites, vendors and blogs as being one of the top 10 best inverted coasters in the world.

So I am glad to say I finally crossed that one off my list and have ridden.

16:48

This one was a fun ride, I really did enjoy it.

You did go upside down quite a few times.

Jamal was a little worried about me because I do get motion sick at times, but this was pretty smooth of a ride.

Yeah, You know, Brittany, you do like roller coasters.

You don’t love them like me.

But you could take him in moderation, right?

17:05

If you ride too many and too quick a succession or too many wild ones, then you can have that motion sickness set in.

But when we rode this the first time, we didn’t not sit in the front.

I really like the back of roller coasters, but these inverted type roller coasters, I think they really benefit from you sitting in the front because since the track is above you and the seats, you really don’t really get a view of where you’re going unless you’re in the front.

17:30

So the front added a new element when we wrote it the second time, but I really feel like the ride felt different in the front than in the back.

Another one of the rides that they do have is called Shikra, which is in the Stanleyville section.

Now this is one of the two that was closed that I really, really wanted to ride.

17:48

It’s a dive coaster, meaning that it’s a short train.

It only has three cars, but it’s designed to fit like 8 people across.

And when you get to the top of the lift hill, it holds you in a break section, literally hanging over the edge looking down at the drop.

18:06

But what makes it more exciting and suspenseful is it’s really considered a dive coaster when it falls straight down at 90° O.

This one goes literally straight down to 100 feet and at time of opening it was the tallest and fastest dive coaster in the world, and it was ranked 4th best new coaster when it originally opened.

18:28

But this one here Shikra really set the trend for how new dive coasters are actually built to this day.

So I wanted to ride it for its history, its uniqueness, but unfortunately it was closed.

The next roller coaster we’re going to talk about is called Kumba.

18:43

It’s in the Congo section.

It’s seemed really well into the hills and the landscape of the area.

It actually features 7 inversions and at the time of opening in 1993, it had the world’s tallest vertical loop and was ranked the number 4th best steel roller coaster in the world.

19:00

And today it’s still in the Top 40, and that’s 33 years later.

Yeah, so this one is a classic.

The ride itself was fun.

I don’t necessarily think the coasters like, Oh my gosh, it’s so great.

But what I really like about it is more so the landscape environment that it’s in.

19:19

Of course, when you’re walking up to the coaster coaster, you pass through certain areas of the loops and corkscrews that they have.

So it really adds a unique element with the theme in here.

But overall, really a good ride.

So Cheetah hunt was another roller coaster and this one looked wild.

19:36

It was on the edge of Africa.

You could actually see the cheetahs live cheetahs right across from this ride.

And this ride is a steel launch style roller coaster and it features three launch sequences through the ride.

And although this roller coaster was closed, they were doing annual maintenance on it, so they were running empty trains or tracks.

19:57

And the ride is designed to mimic the movements of a cheetah hunting its prey.

So there’s lots of curves and twists, and it’s very well integrated into the landscape.

But I took one look at this and I was like, I’m glad this one’s closed because I don’t think I’d ride it, really.

This one I feel like is probably the most tame of the ones that we actually rode.

20:16

If we were to ride this one, I really think it looks.

Really curvy, like it almost spit.

Well, yeah, you get motion sick, but yeah, I think this one only has one inversion, so it’s not really anything too crazy.

It’s really designed for those launches and kind of tight turns and maneuvers around the landscape area.

20:33

So disappointing that it was closed.

But if we’re ever back in Florida, which I know we will be in the Tampa area, maybe we’ll come here again and we’ll get lucky and Cheetah Hunt and Chic Route will be open for us to experience it.

But the next coaster.

20:49

I’ve already mentioned this name couple times before.

We even started talking about the roller coasters, which is iron quasi.

So this is a wooden hybrid coaster, which basically is a terminology used when they take an old wooden roller coaster and they retrofit it and they still keep the wooden support structure, but then they lay steel tracks on top.

21:12

So it allows for inversions.

And the way that they designed the track and how the wheels format on the track, it makes for a really smooth ride.

We’ve ridden several roller coasters that are the wooden hybrids, and in other parks such as Magic Mountain, they have Twisted Colossus.

21:30

When we went to Cedar Point, they have Steel Vengeance.

All these ones are the wooden hybrid coasters.

And you’ve ridden them, Brittany, you would say they are smooth.

They are intense, but they are definitely smooth.

Yes, they are smooth.

They are a bit intense and I rode this ride twice, but Jamal rode this ride four times.

21:49

Four times after the first time, we wrote it, ’cause this was the first ride of the day.

It’s right at the front of the park.

This is their signature attraction.

I said I want to get on it before the crowds come.

We rode it.

Brittany needed a break.

I was like I’m going to ride it again while the line is still short, so I wrote it again alone.

22:07

But this is the main reason why I wanted to come to the park.

It opened in 2022 and it ranks in the top five steel roller coasters in the world.

So I know not too much time has passed since 2022 until now, but this is ranked top five steel now.

22:24

Kind of odd to put it in the steel category since it has wooden support structures.

But again, the track itself is actually steel, so it falls into that category and it features a 91 degree first drop.

So beyond vertical and if you’re sitting in the back row, which I always love to do, you really feel the whip and pull down the first drop, especially at that angle.

22:49

So this one is just really wild.

Inversions, corkscrews, lots of air time.

They can really add elements to where you’re really riding the track sideways in a way.

It’s just intense and I really loved it.

Will I say it’s better than Steel Vengeance and Cedar Point?

23:07

I will not.

But this is very very highly U there and I loved.

It so another coaster that they have is called Cobra’s Curse.

It’s in the Egyptian section, but we didn’t ride this, but it’s a single car train that features a spinning car, so definitely not for me.

23:22

And it has an elevator lift hill themed around a giant cobra and Egyptian theming.

So really cool theming.

I love that they incorporate like the animals and the sections that it’s in.

So I do really appreciate that, but this ride was definitely not for me.

Yeah, this one had a little bit longer of a wait than we wanted to.

23:40

And I think it’s simply because again, it is the single car, kind of like mine train type vehicle.

So it made it to be a little bit longer, about 30 minutes.

But once I told Brittany it was a spinning one, she obviously didn’t want to do it because she didn’t want to get that motion sickness.

23:57

But I didn’t want to make her sit either for 30 minutes alone.

So we opted to skip this one.

I wouldn’t say this one is a high thrill ride.

I would put it somewhere in the middle.

I wouldn’t say it’s even a kiddie coaster either.

It’s somewhere right in the middle, but very interested in riding this one and I think the theming around it would have made it a really good ride.

24:17

Phoenix was another coaster in the Pantopia section of the park.

It’s another inverted coaster, but it doesn’t have any loops and it’s not super high up either.

But it and it’s a little family friendly.

So it’s a nice, fun, quick ride, and it’s worth riding, Yeah.

24:33

For it not being like a high thrill speed ride, it was actually a really fun roller coaster.

So I again, you can look look at it and maybe someone would say this is a kiddie ride, but I wouldn’t put it at that either.

It’s it has nice elements and a really fun ride, but over really quick short track, but nevertheless really cool.

24:53

And then the last coaster, so this makes 8 coasters in the park is Tigris.

And this one is a launch coaster that shoots you forward and then it reverses you back through the station only to like relaunch you faster to clear a loop and twisting elements that they have before arriving back in the state.

25:13

We did not ride this one because it’s an exact clone of a ride that we have here in SeaWorld San Diego titled Electric Eel.

Lots of parks have the same coaster design and track, and it’s pretty much like a copy and paste coaster.

So we didn’t necessarily take the time because there’s lots of clones of this around other amusement parks.

25:33

And we have one right by us here in SeaWorld San Diego.

But nevertheless, really enjoyed our time here and love these roller coasters.

Iron Gwazi was great, Montu fantastic.

I could only imagine what Chicro was.

25:48

But you know, all the more reason for us to go back.

Next time, next time.

So Squatty’s Jamal mentioned that we continued our adventure to Crystal River for the Manatee snorkeling, and then we also went to Disney World.

So be sure to listen to those episodes.

And thank you so much for tuning in to Just the Tip.