Busch Gardens Reviews

It’s absolutely crazy to me that SeaWorld/Busch as a company can be SO unbelievably beaten up by the press in the last 10 years, after the documentaries and stories you hear about animal welfare.. and instead of wanting to entice customers back to their parks (which, are amazing when you really sit back and look at them).. they scare us off from wanting to ever come back with EXTORTIONATE food pricing, unhappy and unhelpful staff that are BARELY present throughout the park, poor food quality and then you want to add the option for a TIP at the checkout of a takeaway express food place? Literally unreal how greedy this company is

$34 for a bacon cheeseburger meal and some extra fries.. the burger was cold, the staff looked like they just crawled out of a cave, the eating area was a bit dirty and this was all because the other eating spots were CLOSED due to lack of staff I’m sure, or inaccessible

What the hell is going on at these parks where they think what customers they do have left; want to be scared away by these food prices? $60 per person for “all day dining” but there’s caveats?

Horrible business model. Might never come back

Busch Gardens facing bankruptcy as more than half of exhibits, rides etc. closed claiming maintenance. The prices are outrageous for what’s left that is open.
Bought the all day food pass and they don’t tell you what you can get so cashier tells every patron must buy the extra that’s not marked anywhere. I gave my side dish pickle back.
With fees parking nearly $40. They won’t last much longer.
DON’T GO!!!!

Like so many other negative reviews, our one-day experience was rough. Several of the 'best' rides were closed, which was very disappointing after being offered a 'Quick Queue' upgrade at a discount price that didn't happen. Park employees were no help in getting it price adjusted even though they could replicate the issue on the web site. Surprisingly, the park wasn't that busy, so we didn't really need a Quick Queue Pass, so was disappointed in spending the money for nothing. Suggest you wait to buy that until you know you need it. Food? Meh... the BBQ place was surprisingly good, but the lines were pretty long. As others pointed out, not many animals to see. Overall, it was way overpriced for what you get. We won't be back. Customer service number was no help on getting the refunded difference for the price discrepancy despite providing screen shots evidence of the price discrepancy. Clearly, these guys are struggling to keep every dollar they can and has no desire for long-term customer satisfaction. Be aware!

We were there as a family in April 2025. At first, the parking lot was not opened until 9:50 a.m. So you were already late to the park.

The employees all seem very unmotivated. We know this differently from parks in Europe...

The park is massively overpriced. Various items must then be purchased additionally. For example, the Serengeti Safari costs another $60 and this after the already expensive entrance fee.

Only one wagon was deliberately allowed to run on each track. So you had to queue forever, even though this would not have been necessary. Various rides were simply closed, including the waterway. I pay admission for the entire park and not for half!! This is a damn cheek!

The food tastes shitty and is massively overpriced, if you have found anything normal like burgers or hot dogs.

Do yourself a favor and save your money!! I should have listened to the recessions and not visited the park! Please don't make that mistake too!

Absolute No Go this park!

I have been visiting Busch gardens since I was a child but now at 24 I am incredibly disappointed with how it has turned out. used to be one of the better parks for rollercoasters with the added bonus of animals. however when we arrived we found that 3-4 of the rides were either not open that day or closed for other reasons, and a lot of "refurbishment" being made to both animal attractions and parts of the park. I understand maintenance has to be done however to charge full price and not inform you upon entry is really poor. you will have paid the $35 parking and park admission to then find out stuff is closed and animals aren't visible. not only that but the cost of food and drink in the park is ridiculous! $7-8 for a bottle of water is criminal, the visit to one of the Disney parks the week prior found that the food and drinks were more affordable there than at Busch gardens. if on entry they informed us on some of the closures and gave us a voucher of some kind or some form of complimentary refreshments for the trouble it would have made it a lot better. when I brought these issues up to staff at the end of the day it was mentioned how I still used the full day and couldn't receive a refund, comparing it to eating a full meal and complaining about it, however to compare it to that would be like eating the full plate yes however hiding parts of the meal behind the kitchen pass and not letting you know they won't give you that when you order. its a shame because I loved this park and still do. I don't plan to visit any time soon but I hope in a few years they fix those customer service issues.

Too long waiting 2 hours for 1 attraction! activities temporarily closed without explanation ... very expensive food on site brief horrible day

Our daughter purchased a $200 gift card for my husbands birthday on October 10th from the Busch Garden site. The gift card didn't work for parking or park entrance. Once in the park we tried it a restaurant and it still didn't work. We went to customer relations and they didn't seem to know what was wrong but took the card and issued a new one..ugh..that didn't work either...so we just used our regular card assuming where we live in Florida we would just use it another time. The next day when my husband checked on line it had a 0 balance. We suspect the manager did something shady...My husband has called multiple times and our daughter giving all the proper information..they have told her to file a police report....and or told us we had to go back to Busch Garden..we can do that as we do live in Florida but it is most inconvenient...We are very disappointed with Busch Gardens and this situation. I would say after this DO NOT PURCHASE GIFT CARDS ON LINE

Busch Gardens - you should be ashamed of yourselves. We paid a fortune to get in here and only 2 rides are functioning. Machines aren’t working, sky ride has been shut down all day. A beer was almost $20. The staff are clearly young kids who couldn’t care less about being here, have no clue where things are. It’s disgraceful. We live locally and this will be the last time we return. Disney is by far superior to this poorly run park.

The park is quite large with a theme of animals from Africa . Many radical Russian mountains. Fast-food razoável . Now what no one tells you neither there nor here:
Parking opens 30 minutes before the park. Buy his ticket online. For those who stop at the general parking lot there is a bus/train that takes you from it to the entrance of the park. Not all the attractions were working and others opened near lunch. There's a train that simulates a ride in the savannah . In the app it shows two stops which would be great to help in the displacement if the stop 2 were not closed making it back to the starting point . A tremendous loss of time that could have been avoided if this information was available in the entry of the attraction or in the app, which ultimately needs to be improved a lot. Vc does not know if the attraction is open or not, the queues are not trusted by the app and it takes time to update little information. Another tremendous sacanage and have free bus from Orlando there and in the city itself not.

I live in the area, and has been to Busch Gardens as a kid. My wife and I decided to go today, a thing we'd been thinking about for awhile.

We got to the park early, around 10:15am. We went up one side of the park, until we found a ride... closed. We made it to the next on our list: closed. And a third: closed (Stanley Falls Flume). Finally, a fourth ride (Congo River Rapids) has a line in front and sign they'd open at 11am. They didn't... in fact, the staff didn't even arrive until after 11am. It wasn't until about 11:20 that they told us this ride, too, is closed. We finally got to ride on the bumper cars and then Phoenix Rising (a small rollercoaster)... now it was past noon.

This in no way to run a park. They still got our excessive $40 for parking and $180 admissions.

The park closed its activities and had no estimate, but I couldn't take advantage of any of the toys.
It's for a five-minute rain.

Horrible experience.
We unluckly bought tickets for a rainy day. Most of the day the rides were closed, unitil 3pm the only thing I was able to do was watch a bad ice skating show that was the ONLY thing we could do. Then they closed the park 2 hours earlier with no previous announcement in any website. We barely got to go on any rides, the food is horribly expensive to the point I almost chose to not eat, they are not prepared at all for bad weather situations.

What pisses me off the most is that there was NO rain at night, I really don't know why they closed the park so early.

In these cases they usually give you a free ticket due to their weather policy but mind you, I'm from Brazil, what am I going to do with free tickets that only last for a year?

I want at least part of my money back. Horribme experience, I don't think I'm ever going back. So much worth it to go to an Orlando park like Disney or Universal and pay a little bit more. Because the money spent at bush gardens is just waste.

Love it. But don't get the quick queue for the ride if you are going mid week. Was there first 2 weeks of Feb 2025. No there to scan them. And the lines weren't long. Longest wait time was 10 min. AGAIN DONT GET THE QUICK QUEUE mid week. Waste of moner

I typically do not write reviews but felt compelled to address a few concerns about our recent family experience at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Florida. Our family ranging in age of 3-76 had decided to visit Busch Gardens for the first time. Usually we go to Disney when we visit Florida but wanted to do something different. First, there is no child rate-my granddaughter was limited in ride available for her to enjoy but had to pay as an adult. This is not the common practice at other amusement parks we have visited in the past. Second, when we went to rent a wheelchair scooter for our 76 year old family member who has mobility issues and needed assistance we found they had increased the rate to $130 because it was spring break and that the rate would return to normal the first of May. This was not a convenience rental but one of necessity due to health issues and taking advantage of the most vulnerable is not a way to conduct a family oriented business. In addition, there were many individuals walking around smoking-ignoring the designated area signs and the staff did not address it. I know for my family we will not visit there again-we will choose to go to locations that do not take advantage of the youngest and oldest population for a profit and whose staff will enforce the park rules.

most rides shut down
kids area not safe at all boat ride no seat belt so grandson almost fell out he is 3
train ride terrible experience

I am used to the high prices of food and drink there. Not worth it, but I planned ahead so as not to get too much food. The thing I found most disappointing was that when I asked which roller coasters were closed prior to purchasing the Quick Que Unlimited for 5 children, I was told none of them were closed. At that time I said to the agent on the phone, "Well, I know that is not correct because Kumba is closed currently for an issue with a sink hole" and her response was that she shows everything else is open. On arrival with 5 children and 5 Quick Ques, these are the rides that were open and closed: Open - Montu, Iron Gwazi, Phoenix Rising, Cheetah Hunt, Falcon Fury (Falcons Fury was closed for half the day, but then opened later). These are the ones closed - Shiekra, Kumba, Cobra's Curse, Tigris, Stanley Fume, Congo River Rapid. Needless to say, my daughter who is less than 54'' could only go on Cheetah Hunt (45 min wait with a Quick Que) and Phoenix Rising once (since you are only allowed one time on the newest rides). We could not us it at Air Grover. That was a waste of $60.00. The other kids did get to go on 4 rides (only once allowed on Iron Gwazi and Phoenix Rising, and no one wanted to wait 45 minutes for Cheetah Hunt). Was that worth an extra $60 each on top of admission ticket? Not really. Especially hard not to be resentful since I had asked the Agent directly and she had lied about ride closures.
Other things I didn't like but tried to overlook: Trams not working back and forth to all the parking lots - quite a walk. Understaffing - waited 40 min to get into the park, another 40 min in customer service line to get my monthly rewards voucher, and only one car running on Montu making the lines again incredibly long. Also not being allowed to wait in line for my daughter at the Sesame Street Lines so she could play around and then go on a ride after a very long wait. If I am waiting the 20 min for a spot on the bounce area, why is she not able then to use the spot because she is running around the tunnels with my husband while waiting? Clearly, I am not using the spot I waited for; I am too big to even enter the area. Thank goodness all the parents behind me all spoke up and said it was fair for her to go since I had clearly waited for 20 minutes.

Went during Food and wine festival... don't mistake this for an Epcot like version...doesn't compare. Food quality and experience is subpar.

At arrival We had tickets at will call for group. Told to get in line that literally snaked back to back of parking lot. No attendants directing ppl so many ppl were cutting in line... horrible. Many ppl on road too and tram attendant yelling and blowing horns. Slow line as season pass ppl getting pictures taken! Have separate line for this!
Got dining passes and very limited options .... strict policy .. had to get fountain drink no bottle water! Food is not great but very $$$ ...more than Disney!
Many rides were closed. Two coasters, the water rapids which are being torn down..
Do that in phases
Sky rude mostly closed and they charge extra for that!! We were in line before 5 and they made us get out at 4:58!!
Used to be a great park.
Sad to see decline.
Need more shaded benches and places to rest.
Very difficult to use snack option of dining credit.
$40 to park!?

There are positives with Busch Gardens.

There is free transportation for guests travelling from Orlando.
The train ride around the park is a good way of seeing the animals, although sadly only one of the stations was operating, so it could not be used to move to another area of the park as it used to be.
Some of the rides are excellent eg Cheetah Hunt, Sheikra, Montu, and especially Iron Gwazi.
The new attraction, Serengeti Flyer, is a lot of fun.
The queue lengths tend not to be long early in the day, with the exception of Cheetah Hunt.

However there are negatives.

The food is almost inedible and massively overpriced.
The move to cashless does not favour guests who either visit on a budget with an amount of cash each day, or those who are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with card purchases.
There are often numerous ride closures with no explanation given and no advance warning.
It is a park clearly created and managed on the cheap. The queues hold no interest as they have no creativity about them. There are minimal staff at each attraction, meaning that the Quick Queue is not managed and people use it knowing that they can walk on to the ride without question. And if you mention it to one of the few staff that you can find they are thoroughly uninterested. This happened to me.
Many of the rides, due to the lack of staff, run with minimal trains eg Cheetah Hunt, Sheikra etc and throughout the day this extends the wait lines unnecessarily.

Some of the rides make it worth a visit if they interest you, but otherwise it’s often a wasted day of your vacation/holiday.

Attended Busch Gardens on 25.04.25 and a massive disappointment. Rides completely shut (as were a myriad of food and refreshments locations) for over four hours and site ultimately shut early. Weather was typical Florida weather and despite periods of dryness, no attempt was made to open rides. We gave up waiting at 3pm and did the 140m return drive back to Orlando our hotel base. Raised request on website for carry over ticket in line with their guarantee and heard nothing two days on. My daughter is just so disappointed as we had been planning the holiday for over six months and are both mad about rollercoasters. Service and experience poor and would not recommend. I have been going to Busch Gardens since 1992 and would not go back based on this weeks experience.

We went here mid week in October, it was quiet with little or no wait for rides. $35 for car parking in addition to the entrance fee is not a good start but it was mostly a day well spent. The main disappointment was the food outlets which were of very poor standard quality wise and high prices to a captive audience. Even Chick fil A had a greatly reduced menu and when I asked the server for no ice with my Coke she served me just a container that was barely half full. So you pay full price for half a Coke drink!

1. Get there 30 mins before park opens, park in general parking - quick tram ride (might have to wait a bit for one at end of day ) we had 4 rides including Iron Gwazi ridden in first hour or so.
2. get the quick queue - will assist in getting more rides done if that's your focus
3. Meal deal - we had it - no strong opinion either way. Lines do get long in afternoon for food and rides - Chick Fil A line moves fastest.
4. It's a big park - lots of walking
5. Roller Coasters are pretty smooth - was fairly impressed with Coasters overall.
6. Get there early can be emphasized enough.
7. We did not experience any rude staff as some people mention
overall much better experience then expected based on some other reviews - we went Dec 26th

I have two teens - one who loves coasters and one who doesn't. They both had a blast at Busch Gardens Tampa. I highly recommend for a fun day. The quick queue and meal deals were worth the money.

Disappointing, many attractions closed such as Congo River rapids, log flume, sky ride, and all but one train station. I understand need for maintenance, but to have this many attractions closed was not acceptable.

We were horribly disappointed, we knew the morning rain would dampen things, but the rain stopped and the sun came out, but most of the coasters were closed, everything else had staff, that is food and nick nacks. Then the train stopped, then the very last coaster of the 3 or 4 that were sporadically running went off line .then they closed an hour early for inclement weather...there was none just sunny and breezy.

What a disappointment. We were excited to bring the Grand kids due to past experience, but this visit was terrible. The biggest attractions were down and the attitude of employees was poor. They acted as if they didn't want to be there. The quality of food was average at best. The entertainment was something you'd see at an elementary school talent show.

I agree with most of the recent reviews.
Do not go!
Paid for the ticket and all day dining.
I only got a pretzel and drink all day because all good lines for food were over an hour.

We were only able to go on 2 coasters before the wait times were almost 2 hours.
No staff around.
A total waste of money
Not to mention over 40 bucks to park!

The park entrance charge was reasonable; however the parking and fast passes were extremely overpriced.. Three of the roller coasters were closed ; one opened up later in the day which caused an over 2 hour wait. I am truly disappointed in Busch gardens service as a Floridian/guest. Now, I know why I don't come often; the price isn't worth what is offered.

This was a great experience for our family! Our 6 year old loved the sesame street area so much! The food and wine festival was going on so we got to experience that as well. The food we got from New Zealand and Chile was delicious. Lots to see, lots of fun for everyone.

The park is visible in Franca decadence..I visited the park in 1994, 1996, 2014, 2015...was great, my park preferred for having the most radical attractions, but in ten of 2025 was a description after another, several closed attractions( falcon fury, montu, cheeta, and in particular the phoenix rising was with a problem that every time stopped the attraction and when our turn stopped once including the bad experience that we stayed about 15 minutes locked in the chair without opening with my daughter passing ill of nervous...finally turned into an outdated park and I would say even dangerous ...other than caro...not recommend!

Decadent! After 20 years I went back to this park with my family. Decadence and screaming. Ugly, poorly cared for and, worse, almost all of the Russian mountains (your strong point in the past) were out of operation (for repairs) and many attractions as well. We managed to go on a Russian mountain (the first of the entrance), which then closed tbém. Don't waste time with this park.

I went with a summer program of around 100 middle schoolers, though we split up so that I was with only 25, along with 3 other adults. The kids loved the rides! I wasn't impressed because I'm from near Chicago and Six Flags Great America has a significantly bigger and faster selection of rides. But they ate it up, and that's what matters. So 5/5 in that sense. Dining options were great as well.

What pissed me off enough to take it down to a 2 was the attitude and sheer incompetence of the workers, though it's possible they were simply following orders—not that that excuses their actions. I was standing in line, the only adult, with 10 of our kids at Phoenix Rising or something like that. Blue ride near Falcon's Fury. Anyway. I'm holding all the bags for all the kids so that they can ride, and when we arrive at the front of the line I plan to simply cross over to the exit and wait for them there. I've done it a million times at various other theme parks, no problem.
But halfway through the line, the woman standing at the entrance of the line walks over to me and tells me that "bags aren't allowed in line." Before I say anything else, can we talk about how my troupe of 10 kids and I literally walked right past her WITH THESE SAME BAGS to get in line in the first place? WHY did she wait until we were halfway through to make this an issue? Tf? Anyway.
I tried to explain the situation: I wasn't riding, I was just going to hold the bags and cross over to the exit to wait for them. She was insistent that bags were NOT allowed in line (again... maybe say that BEFORE WE MAKE IT HALFWAY THROUGH NEXT TIME), and I needed to put them into lockers outside the line. That put me in a tough spot because I was given strict instructions NEVER to leave my middle schoolers alone, but the only other option was to bring all of them out of the line and restart (keep in mind we're already halfway through). So to be honest (shhh don't tell anyone) I absolutely BOOKED it out of the line and about 50 meters back to where another group of our kids were outside Falcon's Fury with a different adult, and booked it straight back. Wasn't gone more than a minute, but I shouldn't have had to leave AT ALL, and I also was lucky that one of the 8th grade guys hit puberty early or something so they were lowkey in safe hands.
But the point is that that rule is INSANE. The woman was unable to give me a logical explanation for bags being banned in line, and did not care that I would have to leave my group of 10 middle schoolers alone to take the bags out of line. I'm disgusted with her incompetence and lack of regard for the safety of my charges.

The recent negative reviews are all true. We visited the park on MLK day and when we arrived soon after the park arrived, the tram was not running and we walked only to wait in a line for 45 minutes to enter. The park is large and we walked a lot only to find out rides were "temporarily" closed yet not listed as being closed in the app. Lines were very long 1.5 hours +, even if we had the Quick Que pass to skip it. Then again, we paid to skip the line and 4 of 7 rides where we could use it were closed. There are many concessions selling alcoholic beverages and a lot of drinking. Park is a bit worn down and the staff looks as miserable as the guests. We spent more than a day at Disney or Universal and I thought that was expensive. Save your money and go there instead!

We have been to Busch Gardens maaaany times now and we are never disappointed. The employees are always efficient, but kind and helpful, the rides are top-notch, and there is plenty to keep even the littlest family members entertained.

This trip was the first time we interacted with Lost and Found. I did not follow the "no loose items" instructions and Tigris ate my cell phone. The young lady working the queue line was extremely kind and helpful, and gave me hope that my phone would end up at Lost and Found after the closing-down sweep for the evening. However, that was not the case and I was sure my phone was lost for good. It poured rain all night long, too.

We went back to the park the next day and lo and behold, around 11:30 my husband got a call that Lost and Found had my cell phone! And it was intact, and fully functional. Huge shout outs and all my gratitude to the maintenance and ride crew that found and kept my phone safe.

We love you, Busch Gardens!

Busch Gardens has definitely gone downhill. It’s shocking to pay 100 dollars per person (we got the passes) and for the park to be so poorly maintained. Many of the rides were closed for the day, the food areas were disgusting. The employees who work there all look miserable. My kids had fun riding the rides that were open, but overall it’s a disappointing experience.

Not worth the money. Went on a Tuesday, most attractions were closed and that was not disclosed at the gate entrance. A couple of the roller coasters are OK, but the overall experience was very disappointing. Food and drink prices are ridiculous. They really need a reality check. Definitely rate this place as one of the worst parks in US.

Old park that is not worth a visit. I had great memories of when I came back 15 years, 12 years behind. But the park seems stalled in time.
The meals were expensive, the customer service left much to be desired. When we bought the tickets there was no information that the main Russian mountains would be in maintenance.
In my concept, if you are coming to Orlando should focus the visits to Universal and Disney that will be quite satisfied with the new rides.

Bush Gardens, Tampa, use to be impeccable with no overflowing trash cans, super clean restrooms, and the grounds were manicured perfectly as what you would expect for tropical gardens with animals and rides. Today, all has gone down hill, to include the food which is horrible and way overpriced. Then to top it off, the Sky Ride cost $5 and parking another $35. What is going on with Gardens. Wish I had something more positive to report. I sincerely understand it cost a lot for upkeep of the animals, rides, gardens and employees etc, If Bush Gardens invest more efforts/money on all mentioned to make improvements, then I would have no issue with paying the asking price for parking, entrance, sky ride and food. This will most likely be my last visit - as I have been visiting since 1998.

It was terrible me and my cousins were so hyped up about Busch gardens we were waiting to get into parking for three hours so much road rage three ambulances came to Busch gardens I wonder why. Right when we get there 40$ for parking and we were waiting for a tram for thirty minutes then they close the tram down for the day and they
forced us to walk they just open it 5 minutes later. We had to wait in a line that leads to nowhere we waited the entire time for everything and we went on know rides we waisted five hours until we canceled. One star never go to Busch gardens.

Complaint about a staff member at Dragon Fire Grill named ‘Key’. She refused to let us use our prepaid food voucher, stating that we could only use 4 out of the 5 included meals. Despite us showing clear paperwork that confirmed we had 5 valid tickets for food and park entry, she insisted we would need to pay an additional $22 for the fifth meal.

When we asked to speak with a manager, she refused to call one over and told us to leave our food and get the manager ourselves which had already gone cold after waiting in three different queues for meals and a long line at the cashier. We explained that we weren’t going to pay again and that it shouldn’t be our responsibility to find a manager. As a result, we were told to leave the food behind. So, five adult meals and five drinks were thrown away. We then had to go to a different food location, where our vouchers were accepted immediately, but this took another hour out of our day.

As someone with Crohn’s disease, this stressful situation made me feel very unwell. I am extremely upset by the poor customer service, especially since we had been having such a good day up until that point. We will be filing an official complaint with Busch Gardens upon our return home and, sadly, will not be visiting again or recommending the park to others.

I visited Busch Gardens Tampa Bay on **May 3, 2025**, and sadly, the experience did not live up to expectations. The park feels **dated**, with many areas showing signs of neglect. Throughout the park, I noticed **dead vegetation**, giving the landscape a lifeless and unkempt appearance.

When compared to **Disney standards**, Busch Gardens falls short in terms of maintenance, atmosphere, and overall guest experience. **Safety** was also a concern—some pathways and rides seemed poorly maintained, which did not inspire confidence.

At this point, I **can’t suggest anyone visit** until major improvements are made. With far **nicer parks to visit in Orlando**, Busch Gardens will likely **struggle to stay open in the years to come** if they don’t start adjusting to consumer expectations and raising their standards. The potential is there, but it desperately needs an overhaul.

By far the worst theme park experience of 2024

Busch Gardens has dropped in to the lowest tiers of theme parks Not even in the same discussion with Disney and Dollywood Even Sixflags towers over Busch gardens

The crowd was unbelievable Staff said they were expecting 40k guest today but had many things running at half capacity The staff seemed overwhelmed with the amount of guest

Went ahead and upgraded to a Quick que only to be stuck in hour plus waits Only got to use it 3 times today due to ride break downs

Meal plan is the biggest scam of them all All you can eat? Only if you want to wait 90 mins for food Some “all day” options were open

App constantly showed incorrect wait times

Sky buckets finally opened up at 2 You wait in line just to find out they CHARGE $5 a person to ride it

Busch Gardens Management obviously doesn’t care about my opinion but this park feels more like a money trap than an amusement park

Unbelievable waste of moneyHalf the rides are closed in the others are just miserable to get on.Everything is overpriced and not at all tasty

Well what can I say about Busch gardens except I wouldn’t bother wasting a day. If you like roller coaster then yeah go for it but dont go for the park experience. It’s gone far downhill in the last decade. The place looks worn and tired. There’s not many animals left to look at. The whole place is an absolute mood hoover. The staff were miserable, well apart from one young lady in the gift shop. She was exceptional. The place just was not happy at all.
A few things that really bugged me and why Ive given it poor. Firstly the staff. So unbelievably miserable it wasn’t real. Secondly the timeshare touts. My goodness, if a park lets this scum operate within its park then something is far wrong. Just be careful as they make it sound like it’s park related until they say you’ve won the top prize, no shock!! All you have to do is pay $75 and sit in a room on your holiday and be pressure into buying something holiday scam!! When I said absolutely no way my phone was literally thrown back at me. My tickets were on my phone and I was called an idiot. Lovely people so they are!!
Thirdly. The amount of people abusing the ride assistance pass. Now just to point out I’ve got an official diagnosis of adhd and autism. Sometimes I really do need help so I either purchase fast passes or I ask for help. Given the reviews I read I went for the ride assistant as I didn’t want to spend any more money. The fast lanes were just as long as the normal lane. I heard people laughing at how easy it was to get ride assistance for their entire party. Teens literally taking the mick. Yes my entire party are invited to use the ride assistance with me but they don’t. I try not take the mick but maybe I should have. The lines were so long with ride assistance that I had to leave. I had to jump through hoops for Disney and have an IBCCES card to universal but Busch gardens, just walk up and say you need help and well there you go. Ride assistance. This needs changed for folk who really need the help.
Anyway if you stay in Orlando I wouldn’t really bother making the trip down. It’s really not worth it. I know it’s the same company but head to SeaWorld instead. Much better and closer. Anyway with this is just my opinion.

The often forgotten Florida theme park. If you’re not a rollercoaster person, Busch Gardens doesn’t leave you many options in terms of rides. I did enjoy the animals, in particular the hippos. The lions and orangutans aren’t always seen during the daytime because it’s Florida and who wants to be out in the sun on display all day? Otherwise it’s your typical theme park: rides, shows, overpriced food and merchandise, and long lines. I have been twice and that is enough for one lifetime.

Having done all the Orlando theme parks decided to go to Busch Gardens. Bought the dining ticket so pretty expensive. The whole place looks run down and in need of renovation. Many of the animal enclosures were closed citing renovations but those that were open had very few animals - 1 elephant, lion, 2 hyenas, etc.
The food halls were horrendous with massive queues so by the time you waited and actually got your hot food you then had another queue to pay or show your pass so by the time you sat down the food was cold.

Very disappointing considering the huge expense of the tickets.

If you haven't been, don't waste your time or money......half the rides were closed, they were out of most of the food....and my Caesar salad that they do have, u have to eat with ranch because they don't have Caesar dressing. Your local town fair > Busch Gardens. Waste of $1000
BTW...Spent money on fast passes, but i cant ride 1 ride because im bigger than average . My $30 meal....a Caesar salad with ranch, because they don't have Caesar dressing and 2 mandarin oranges, smfh

JEFFREY at Guest Relations Desk was controversial & demeaning to my family and myself. He criticized us getting into the park for Free since my son is active military and husband a Veteran, he said, must be nice, what else do you want. We then signed up for annual passes-one of them was a bronze and supposed to be silver. He said since I went the cheap way online he can't help me and that I am stuck with it for a year, it is 3rd party. I told him I did it a few hours ago and didn't even use the pass yet, he snickered, yeah because military wants it all for free. He told us to step aside took the next people in line who were horrified. He went in the back came back and said I have to buy new passes the same stupid way I did it the first time online. Then he could possibly refund the other. He then started mumbling, rolling eyes and complaining that of course he had to work on Easter. At this point other customers saw him visibly being controversial. So a lady, Diana came over and took up two registrars down and said she would help and do it, simple task. No apology or anything but she did it in two minutes. Someone like Jeffrey should NOT be working there or in any customer service field.
Other then that the park was empty and awesome and we got on every ride!

This place is one of the poorest run amusement parks I’ve ever been to. Wait lines were double what was posted and being loaded completely inefficiently. Soooo many school groups cutting and letting their friends in lines and none of the employees cared. Even the food lines were a minimum of an hour. We will never come back to this place. Spend the extra money and go to a park that cares about their patrons.

Wow, park has gone way downhill. I use to love this park. We use to go every weekend when our kids were young. But the park is poorly maintained. Some very rude staff members too. Encountered a few nice staff members but not many. Save your money for Universal or Disney. You will have a better experience.

We visited Busch Gardens as part of an ultimate combo ticket. The drive was approximately 1hr 40 from where we were staying but not having been before we decided to venture out of Orlando. Upon arrival we were charged $35 to park, even though our ticket clearly stated parking was included- We were later refunded this by a lovely guest service lady, who also provided us with wristbands for the All Day Dining package. This was also part of our ticket, which had we not been given these wristbands would’ve caused problems in accessing the All Day Dining package. Another family, who had not collected the wristbands had huge issues trying to use just their tickets to order lunch. However, the wristband was a handy perk, once you found the places in the park which allowed you to access this N.B Bottles of water are not part of the deal. The food portion sizes were great and the peri-peri chips fab! This theme park is quite dated and although many of the rides appeared quite new the aesthetics of the park are tired and not a patch Universal or Disney. Be prepared for one very noticeable difference… the lack of air conditioning. However, as you go around the park there are cooling stations with big fans and water sprays. The restrooms provided the best cool off. Thankfully the ride times were really short, approximately 15-30mins max and in most cases the rides were walk-ons, which was a blessing in the 30c+ heat. Sadly we didn’t get to see many of the animals here as they were hiding from the sun, which was a pity as Busch Gardens does have a variety of larger animals that other zoos just don’t have.
Overall I’m glad I came but I wouldn’t rush back.

The title says it all. If you find a slightly older employee, the person will be fantastic and will help you--and dare I say, even smile. If there is a younger employee, don't expect much. My experience: they don't know the park lay out or where restrooms are located. Ride operators might either be a bit aggressive or completely, let anything go.

My angriest moment: was when we were headed to leave and we wanted one last refill in our cup. One of my sons went to get that taken care of as I went to the restroom. I came out and didn't see him. I asked my other son where he was and then I got this: the teenage worker was flirting with another employee so when my son went to the counter, he was told that there was a freestyle down the road and that he should go there. And then the damn employee laughed and walked away from my son.

My other son told me to calm down and not to make a big deal about it. I did raise my voice and an employee dealing with trash heard my outage, but ignored my comments.

My son was refused service because a young employee didn't want to do his job and instead socialize!--Even laughing about it!!

If someone is noticing a tripadvisor theme here: employees at this park are not the best. Interestingly, I have not seen any B.G. management responses to tripadvisor. So, I must wonder, how many associates with B.G. care about customer relations.

My girlfriend and I visited Busch Gardens Tampa on Labor Day. The crowd levels were surprisingly light for a holiday, which was great — but unfortunately, several rides were closed, including some major ones (you’d think they'd have the park in full swing for a holiday weekend). That definitely put a damper on the experience from the start.

The food situation was disappointing. You have to go upstairs to find anything more substantial than beer, and even then, your options are limited — basically just pizza. For a park of this size and price point, the dining options felt like a cheap afterthought. There was ONE decent restaurant - a Chick-Fil-A - as long as you dont mind paying nearly $50 for two people to eat; but at least the quality of the food was good and the staff was polite - as you would expect from a top-notch brand like Chick-Fil-A.

But the biggest problem we had was with accessibility and the disability accommodation process. My girlfriend is a kidney transplant recipient and had also injured her knee the week prior, so we needed a wheelchair. First off, there’s only one location — all the way at the front — to rent one. It cost $40 for a basic model, or $125 if you want the nicer ones. That alone feels like an unnecessary upcharge targeted at people with no other choice.

Worse, no one told us that if you're in a wheelchair, you must go to Guest Services and get a special disability pass to access the rides. We had no idea — and since most guest service desks at theme parks don't typically offer much actual help, we didn’t bother. Instead, we purchased the Quick Queue pass thinking it would solve the access issue.

That turned into a mixed experience. Most ride attendants were accommodating, but a few — like the staff at the log flume — were downright rude and refused to let us board or even wait in line without that special pass. It's frustrating how inconsistent the policies are and how much these parks barely comply with ADA regulations, doing the absolute minimum while trying to funnel people into spending hundreds more on skip-the-line passes.

Even parking was an issue. Despite arriving before 10 a.m., all the closer lots were full. You can’t park in handicap without a placard (which is fine), but thankfully one of the parking attendants helped us get a spot close to the shuttle.

Overall, we had fun, but the day was marred by nickel-and-dime tactics, inconsistent policies, and accessibility gaps that made it clear this park — like many others — sees its guests more as revenue sources than people to serve. We’re not new to theme parks and we do spend money, but it doesn’t feel great walking away feeling like you’ve been squeezed at every turn.

Went during the week in October, so was quieter than normal and wish we hadn't bought our Quick Queue passes as didn't really need them.
We were there for the coasters and loved all we tried, especially SheiKra.
The only negative was THE STAFF, many of whom had super miserable faces and clearly thought we were an annoyance rather than the people paying their wages!
There were many examples of this during our visit and one young lad (short with longish blondish hair) running the Kumba ride literally kicked open the Quick Queue gate for us TWICE!
I nearly lost my cool with him as he kicked it so hard the second time it rebounded and nearly hit my wife, but he caught it just in time and we were about to leave, which we were happy to do after several hours of begrudging service!
I might take my family again, but suggest BGdns hires some undercover customers and sacks some of the miserable staff we met...either you wanna work there or find another job, simple as that.

My husband and I went to Busch Gardens the first Sunday in April to take advantage of the Food and Wine Festival. We had a fun day with fairly short wait times and some good food. We stayed at a nearby hotel, which offered free shuttle service to and from the park. This allowed us to be some of the first in line when the gates opened. We had pre-purchased tickets and went directly to our first roller coaster. We got on the first car of the first run of Montu and had four of the large rides done in the first two hours. This gave us time to spend the rest of the day enjoying the festival, live music and other rides and attractions. I highly recommend taking in the Icons show if you want to get out of the heat for a few minutes. The ice skating show was also excellent and a nice way to cool off and sit down for a few minutes.

With the exception of Kumba, which appears to be permanently closed, all other major rides were open. There were a few times throughout the day Cheetah Hunt and Sheikra were not running, but were back online when we checked later in the day.

We did not purchase the Skip the Line pass and got on all the rides we wanted with minimal wait times.

For the Food and Wine festival, we purchased the 15-punch sampler. We found it to be just right for the two of us to try a variety of tasty bites and drinks. There was a fantstic band playing live music. It added to the atmosphere to help make this a great day at the park. By the end of the day, the festival was nearly empty so there were not waits for food and plenty of seating.

There is one improvement I would suggest... Some of the rides were still testing when the gates opened in the morning. It seems like that is something that should be done earlier so guests can jump right on their first ride. It didn't lessen our enjoyment, just seemed like an odd way for an amusement park to start the day. We stayed until just about closing time so by the end of the day, most of the roller coasters were walk-on and we rode them several times.

Our suggestion for anyone who wants to experience the park with little to no waits: Plan your visit for Sunday morning when many of the locals are at church or sleeping in. Pre-purchase your pass and either download to your phone or print, be at the gate by 9:15 am and get as many rides in before noon as you can.

Spent big money on tickets and another $35 to park and most of rides were closed and food was expensive….total ripoff from get go. . We’re from. Canada so we paid 50 percent more with our current dollar!

If you are not into rides. There is so much too do.
Enjoyed the Safari. Kayla, our guide was very informative. Enjoyed learning about the animals and seeing them in person.
The highlight is when you are able to feed a giraffe.

Went with my son's 5th grade class graduation field trip. Being a Floridian I should have expected the bad service and quality of service but it was beyond worse. I will never go back to bush gardens again! With staff and I mean all staff I had encounters with, either with purchasing or asking questions. I had nothing but rude and nasty attitudes. I can understand no one like working, and especially in Florida heat. That being said that is no reason to take your unhappiness out on me. It is so sad to have experience this because Bush gardens once was a nice place to go. To pay all that money to have half tmrides, and stores to be closed. It was the worse experience!!! Just don't waist your money!!!

We went to Busch gardens on Sunday. I was disappointed the park is run down the food is horrible, restaurant staff are rude and prices are high! Some rides were closed due to the weather. Pros are the ice show and seeing the Giraffes. Animal Kingdom wins by a mile! More prettier.Unfortunately Adventure Island was closed due to the rain so couldn't write a review.

Very disappointing to say the least. A lot of the stuff and areas were closed. The sky ride use to be free now they charge you $5 to use it unless you are a pass holder. Drinks are overpriced not sure about food we did not eat there. This place used to be so much better, sad how it seems to have gone down hill from where it used to be. You would think with it being summer time the water rides would have been up and running as well. I will not be returning there anytime soon.

What a shambles our Christmas day turned out. The queues for rides where saying a complete different time to what we actually waited, because people were just jumping over the the fast pass queues. No one to sort us out at the actual ride where the fast pass people and the normal people who are queuing meet.
Nothing was open to get something to eat, except the larger food places, they was absolutely packed. I ended up queueing for over 2 hours for food...people with little children couldn't eat anywhere.
The toilets towards the end of the day where completely disgusting, didnt end up going.
To top it all off, the expensive perfume I had confiscated at the entrance disappeared when i went to collect it at the end of the day, even though i was assured it would be where they put it. Angry is an understatement.... I get its Christmas day, but if you cant accommodate for the crowds, dont open then.

I had always heard great things about Busch Gardens and really wanted to visit — but honestly, I don’t know what changed recently. This was my first and definitely my last time going.

Most of the roller coasters were closed, and the ones that were open kept going down for maintenance, making the lines super long. The whole park felt kind of cheap and didn’t give off a very safe vibe.

After doing just 3 rides, we decided to leave — it just didn’t make sense to stay and keep waiting around hoping something would reopen.

We bought the ticket for the American Groupon, already with the meal included for the whole day. Best price found. The park is muuuito away from Orlando. There is free transfer offered by the park but we chose to go by car for convenience. Quiet route, though long. Excellent parking, $37 already with fees. Beautifully decorated park for Christmas. We liked the little trenzinho to see the animals and the whole space where they were presented. Radical attractions were not our focus. We ate muuuuito well with the all day dinning system, it was super worth it! The area of Vila Sésamo is a delight for the children. There is a cable car on site at the cost of $15 per person. Only those who have an annual pass are not paid. I found a clown charging the part. Oh, bad! We stayed in the park for 6 hours and we liked it very much. We walked too much, we were too tired, but we would come back. :)

Horrible, hot, overcrowded, people cutting in line, two adult women fighting over lines, an hour and a half in each line, even for lunch. I'll never go back.

Review from our experience in 6/19/2025. Don’t waste your time or money here. For about the same amount of money you can go to a clean Disney Park for the day. Park is filthy with trash cans overflowing, bathrooms without toilet paper and areas that look like they haven’t been cleaned in years. Food options are thin as many were closed even before it started raining. Those open do not have many of the items listed on the menu. Employees do not want to be there and could care less about your experience. Rides are very understaffed and are slow to turnaround even with fast passes. The food prices here are even more expensive than Disney. $20 for 3 bottles water, $65 for 2 adult and one kid meal at Chick-fil-a. Animal areas need maintenance too. Poor elephants had zero shade since their overhead shade looked like it was destroyed and needed repair.
The worst part, The park closed early due to inclement weather (although no rain for the previous 2 hours) and they only had 3 people working at customer service to issue rain checks. Rides did not run for hours so they knew this would be the case at the end of the day. Not sure why they could not recruit more help at customer service since rides were not running and plenty of employees were just standing around. Waited 1.5 hours at the end of the day to get rainchecks on fast passes that we paid $240 and that consisted of no formal vouchers given just “notes made on the account”. Expensive lesson. Avoid this park at all costs.

My son & I visited Busch Gardens on Friday. The weather was simply beautiful to enjoy this amusement park. We actually came to enjoy the first day of the Food & Wine Festival. Arrived at 10:30 am However quickly realized that the Festival didn’t open until 12 noon. We took advantage of relaxing on the train. Two of the train stop locations were closed so it was a non stop 20 ms ride to view attractions including many active animals crossing the tracks in their habitat. The 15 punch pass ( total of 18) at the festival is well worth the $85. It’s one punch per selection at each country. The only disappointment was the jerk chicken in Jamaica. The chicken was overcooked and dry. Crowds were very light on opening day of the Food & Wine Festival . It’s well worth the experience.

We went to Busch today. It is a Monday so we expected shorter than normal lines, but that wasn't the case because literally half the major rides were shut down. Since so many rides were shut down, the ones that were running had long lines. We used to love Busch but it has become such a money grab that I am not longer a fan. You used to be able to go up in the Seregheti restaurant or on the sky tram ( which now has a fee) and see so many animals. Now there are hardly any that you can see. I am assuming because they want people to have to pay to see them on the expensive animal excursions. You have to pay for lockers now to put your items in while you ride. I carried my backpack in a ride because I planned on not riding and then changed my mind. They wouldn't let me set my backpack down on the other side and ride, so after waiting in line for 45 minutes with my family, I didn't get to ride. We waited 25ish minutes in line to get our food. You expect to pay exhorbant prices for your food, but not to have to wait in 2 lines. After we got our food, we literally had to wait in the checkout line as long or longer to just pay for the food we had already waited in line for. My grandson got Asian food and his paper food container was giving out by the time we got thru the checkout. I was afraid it was going to dump on the floor. Needless to say, by the time we were able to eat $75 worth of food(3 meals) it was cold. When I was eating my food, also Asian, I found what appeared to be the ear piece on a headphone in my food. They did give me my money back, but nothing can remove the disgust at having had something that was once in a strangers ear in my mouth. This is su h a disappointment since the day was a Christmas present for one of my grandkids and was not at all a good day. You don't know the rides are closed until you have walked all the way to them. We were there 6 hours and rode 4 rides and had some cold, very mediocre food for a mere $400. So disappointed in Busch.

We travelled from Orlando by Coach that picked us up and was excellent. The park wasn't that busy through the day, we arrive about an hour after opening. There were some longer queues for those big rides, some of the older rides had shorter queues of 10 - 15 mins, so we started with those. We downloaded the app which was not very helpful as there isn't a button that shows where you are relative to the park, so you have to look around the map to try and work out where you are, there is also a distinct lack of signed maps in the park, I saw one when we entered. There are signs pointing you, but not whole park maps. Sometimes the app would show you wait times, other it showed wildly inaccurate times.

The little train that went through the "Serengeti Plain" was great, it was a shame the recent storms had damaged part of the track so we had a shortened trip. The wheels were very squeaky!

We weren't able to experience all rides before our bus left, Montu kept breaking down, but loved the Cobra's curse.

And back to the ol' chestnut of food. It was appalling and disgusting in equal measures. The cost astronomical, we paid over £125 (about $150) for a basic lunch. Come on American parks, sort this nonsense out. You make a thing about "Meets animal welfare guidelines" how about "fit for human consumption" because I very much doubt what was served here would not meet this criteria.

Park Cleanliness 4/5
Rides 4/5
Food 0/5
Overall experience 3/5

Average of above - 11/20, so it gets a 3/5, average score from me. Would I go back? Possibly.

Would not return or recommend!

Wheelchair hire was $40 compared to $12 at Disney!

All day dining was a joke - nothing opened until 11:30 for food and food was disgusting!

It’s incredible how the Park is completely desorganized. I knew all the parks in the región and I didn’t recommend anyway for someone to want good moments with your family

Before :
- The app didn’t work well, I bought and I needed to call to receive the confirmation by mail and I didn’t get to include in app
- I tried to buy the fast pass by app, but, I didn’t get it because my tickets were not included.

In the Park:
- I well understand that’s a saturday and very hot day, but in all lines we didn’t have ventilation and need to wait more than an hour with a sensation of more than 40 Celsius
- In a lot of lines we didn’t have an employee to organize and a lot of confusión among people.
- In the big lines as we have a lot of people with fast pass in some cases, without control, we didn’t have information
- Another point ; As we have a lot of people”fast pass” sometimes the normal line stop for so many time to support the demand
- To finish … after 1h30 in cheetah Hunt Line the ride was stopped
As I say, I real understand, vacation time, high temperatures, but I was in the other parks of Universal and Disney and the Experience was completely different

We purchased the all you eat dining package. This was supposed to include bottled water (my children don’t drink soda) and we like to have water with us to enjoy during the long lines. Despite what the fine print promised (see my snapshot below) we were repeatedly denied bottled water and were thereby forced to purchase them for $8-9 each. Not okay. Shame on you guys for denying us something that we were clearly promised at time of purchase.

Came here for a cruise getaway with my man and had a blast. I've never seen anything like it! We did the animal encounters and had fun. Felt like 10 minutes but it was so worth it. Lines were also not too bad! Loved the spooky stuff for Halloween.

The park was unfortunately very disappointing and makes a run-down impression. Unfortunately, too few and unprofessional staff are used at the attractions. Despite long waiting times for the rides, they are half empty because nobody cares.
Despite an express pass, it could not be used at two important scooter costers. Also for the cable car is extra to pay.
We had the all-day dining option, but unfortunately many restaurants were closed and the food offered was really not edible.
It’s a pity, the Bush Gardens used to be a great park, but now a trip there doesn’t pay off.

This will be our 3rd year with gold passes, we love it! Some times we get lucky and get a preferred spot sometimes we don’t. Park is big with lots to do and pick from even when certain stuff is closed. We use the app and go when there are free bush bucks which pays for our food or toy for our daughter. In the summer time we enjoy adventure island. Some might complain about staff or closures or bathrooms or cost but at the end of the day it’s an Amusement park.

First off we purchased a season pass for the family back in February when they were running a big sale. I would recommend buying the premier parking. You can spend a lot of time waiting for the trolly to take you over. It would also be nice if they figure out a way to do the entrance better.there were alot schools/classes and they were pulling teachers out for extra scans but then the students had to wait for teacher creating a mess. We paid for the “jump the line pass” and were disappointed in that the lines were still avg 30-45 minute waits with the passes. There were a lot of animals to see and the park was clean. Another thing that was a bummer was there were rides that were shut down and no notification about it. The food was pretty expensive for what you got. We will go back because we have season passes but I don’t think we will get them next year. Finally they have it in the fine print that the season passes automatically renew. You have notify them ahead of time not to renew

This will be my last visit to this park. Mind you that I haven’t been since the 90’s and trust me when I tell you no improvements have been made to the parks infrastructure since then. Oh yeah they have added new rides, but the buildings, pathways and bathrooms are atrocious. And the poor animals. Just shut that down already. I spent almost a $1k for a family of four for admission, fast pass, all day dining and preferred parking. If going I would recommend this no matter what park you attend. But a lot of the rides were closed due to whatever excuse the park wanted to come up with. The all day dining pass pays for itself pretty quickly, but does not include water. The food venues were disgustingly filthy, you had to be careful walking because the floors have so much grease on them. The bathrooms smelled like urine and have not been updated, painted, any maintenance since the 90’s. The few employees that do work there don’t give a crap about you or what you think. I wish I would have read the reviews before buying the tickets. This is a mistake I will not make again. Spend your money at old school attractions like Weeki Wachee, Homossasa Springs or Silver Springs. Much nicer and a whole lot cheaper.

Could not be more disappointed with our experience today. We have been here for 4 hours and have been in line for the entire time. We have yet to ride a single thing and paid for the “quick queue” at $50 a head to then realize that the rollercoasters are an additional almost $200 a head and have limited use as well. Additionally we got the unlimited food plan and waited an hour to get what was supposed to be a quick meal, so we can’t even use that every 90 minutes unless we are committed to not doing anything but eating. All in all, we spend almost $900 and have nothing but disgruntled adults and crying children. Would not recommend this to anyone and would not return. Would welcome contact from customer service to make it right.

Visit Date: December 29, 2025

This was one of the most frustrating theme park experiences I’ve ever had.

The park was severely overcrowded, yet Busch Gardens continued letting more guests in despite being clearly unprepared to handle the volume. To make matters worse, we paid an outrageous amount (over $150 per person) for Quick Queue, expecting a premium experience. Instead, we encountered Quick Queue lines exceeding 100 minutes, which is completely unacceptable given the cost.

Staff appeared poorly trained and understaffed. On several rides, employees were not even checking whether guests had paid for Quick Queue, allowing people to cut in line freely. When this was brought to staff’s attention, we were repeatedly told there was “nothing they could do,” even though signage clearly states that cutting in line can result in removal from the park without a refund. Those rules were simply not enforced.

Restaurants were another nightmare. Food lines exceeded 45 minutes, there were no trays available because they had run out, and the entire operation felt chaotic and under-resourced. It was obvious the park was not staffed or prepared appropriately for the crowd size.

In 7 hours at the park, we were only able to ride two attractions due to excessive wait times, frequent ride breakdowns, and several rides operating with reduced capacity (fewer trains), which only made wait times worse.

When we attempted to request a refund—after paying full price for tickets plus extremely expensive add-ons—customer service told us we were not eligible for any refund because we rode two rides. That response is simply ridiculous and dismissive. Paying for services that cannot reasonably be delivered should be treated as a customer rights issue, not brushed off.

Maintenance throughout the park was clearly lacking. By 10:00 AM, restrooms were already trashed, and overall upkeep felt neglected. Rust, broken rides, and general wear were visible throughout the park.

Busch Gardens used to be a much better experience when it was owned by Anheuser-Busch. Unfortunately, that level of quality, maintenance, and guest care is no longer present.

Many guests around us were equally frustrated and voicing the same complaints. This was not an isolated experience—it was systemic failure. Until major operational, staffing, and capacity management issues are addressed, I cannot recommend visiting, especially at peak pricing.

This was a joke. Majority of the rides were closed due to maintenance. The main roller coaster, Iron Gwazi, was closed on arrival. Opened after 30 minutes only to close again. Other rides were also closed. This was a Christmas gift. What a disappointment and shame. The park would not give a rain check. Drove Over an hour to get there one way. Don’t waste your money.

Got here at 10 this morning. Still in line waiting to get on first ride. Waited an hour to get food for kids that we bought food passes for. Most rides are closed. Total waste of money.

I love roller coasters. And having not been to Busch Gardens since 2014, two of us decided to make the journey from Orlando whilst on holiday from the UK. However, I wish we hadn't bothered.

The draw was the roller coasters. But at least six of the advertised attractions/shows were all down for maintenance/refurbishment or just closed. Surprising, considering September is still the key amusement park season. On the roller coasters that were open, all of them were only running with one train. So whilst the lines looked short, they were excruciatingly slow. I spoke with various staff members about why this is, and I surmised that this is due to poor/slow maintenance and upkeep of reserve trains, combined with a disregard for the guest experience from the park operations management to ever resolve this.

Staff throughout the park looked unhappy in their positions and on a few occasions gave the impression they were woefully untrained for their roles. When staff members are telling their colleagues 'I don't know how to do that,' whilst operating heavy machinery thrill rides, I was fearful for our safety at times. How is a guest supposed to relax in a theme park if the indicators for both maintenance and training are that they are just not up to scratch. If you ask me, it's only a matter of time until an accident happens. We even had a guest in front of us on Iron Gwazi that sustained an injury that drew a lot of blood. Whilst we don't know the reason behind the incident, that was a warning for us to leave, alongside lightning in the area closing almost every attraction simultaneously.

Did we enjoy the roller coaster thrills we got on? Yes. And that's the only reason the park isn't getting a 1 out of 5. However, it certainly wasn't enough to make the day a fun experience, or worth the $100+ Uber each way. Not to mention paying for lockers and $70 for a chicken burger lunch for two.

If you want my advice, unless you're going to Tampa for a specific reason and it's easy to pop in for a few hours, I wouldn't make an effort to visit this 'theme' park. Busch Gardens might not realise it's competing with the likes of Disney and Universal, and it shows. I think a major change in park operations and an investment in training and development is needed to make the park worthy of a day visit for tourists.

I won't be going back and will actively discourage people from going if they ask me about it.

Fantastic Park. Big spread out park that doesnt feel busy even when it is! The lines were long when we went over spring break which is expected but there was so much to see and do. Also had special St Pattys day events like dancing and foods. Overall had a great time with great thrilling safe rides and fun shows!

I used to love coming to Busch Gardens... I hadn't been in a few years but decided it would be fun to get four Platinum passes to enjoy with my family. It was better than paying almost 400 for one day, right? Well, either way, my money was wasted big time. Most of the rides were shut down, even in Sesame Street, the swings weren't running... Montu, Shiekra, Gawzi, Congo River were just a few to name. It felt like everywhere we went there was a sign that an attraction was closed. The prices in the park were horrendous. Food cost me 75 for four people getting the bare minimum at Chik fil a... insane. There was barely any staff around to ask directions... and everyone was just so confused and miserable. The only ride my threw year old had a genuinely good time on was the Rollercoaster at Sesame Street which is where we ended up spending most of our time. That'd be fine if I didn't also have a tall 11 year old who was too tall for the rides there. I feel I wasted my money on VIP for a bad experience. And Hallow Scream isn't included in a Platinum Pass? Very disappointing.

I visited busch gardens tampa 30 years ago and had a great memory of it, there was a show about birds and a nice part of the park dedicated to them. Disappeared, okay... but... the park is dilapidated, overpriced for what it is. The staff is unkind and totally jaded, the attractions close an hour for every drop of rain, it’s ridiculous! We stay in the queues in full sun for 45 minutes, the attraction returns 2 trains and closes... for another rain. Suggestion: your attractions last 90 seconds max, stop them only when it’s overcast, not when your weather radar says a thunderstorm forms at 25km!!! Food is nasty and expensive (much more than at universal studio). Express queues are useless at most attractions, a real rip-off. Train, please, shut up! The view of the garbage cans in the park, the storage workshops, the works, it is horrible. In short, an abandoned park that will probably go bankrupt. Too bad, because if the thema is absolutely zero, the coasters are pretty good (bcp of bollinger/mabillard)

We were in this park on December 30, 2024 and I can't actually find anything good about this park.
It started with the parking lot being crowded and we had to park at the alternate parking lot, the fun costs 36 dollars.
Furthermore, the roller coasters were at least 90 min waiting time, even if you bought Fast Line for 180 dollars, you can not ride all roller coasters.
The food is underground!!!! And totally overpriced.
This is dad's worst food I've ever eaten.
The cable car costs an extra $5, which I find very outrageous considering the price of admission.
Not all rides were open either.

The best thing was actually the ride with the Zuh, since you saw at least a few animals.

The worst theme park in Florida no doubt

We had the worst experience ever at bush gardens, we travelled from Orlando on the bus, and we were hoping to have a really nice day, however we couldn’t of been more in the wrong.

Let me start by saying the rides are good when they are working, but most of them were off! In 10 hours at the park we managed to do 2 rides, because the rest were delayed, and when they finally opened, the lines were so long, the amount of staff around the rides were totally unacceptable, I felt like I managed my own safety on the 2 rides I actually rode! The staff are so rude as well x I had 3 different encounters with disrespectful staff, all seemed not to care in the slightest, and I put this down to bush gardens training!

The next thing I would like to state is the food is so bad! They try convince you your gettin a good deal on the all day dining, but the food stations are so irregular and the quality of the food is the worst I’ve ever eaten in Florida, nasty cold processed garbage at extortionate prices, a bottle of Powerade was over €8 and a coffee the same! The dining option is priced at $60 pp!!!!!!

We decided to take a full day out of Orlando to come here, especially when I had such good memories here as a child, but this place has completely gone to pot! Nobody cares anymore!

Rides are always down

Staff are rude

Food is so bad

Everything is a ploy to take as much money as possible, including charging you for lockers! $15 for 2 hours!!!! It’s absolutely disgusting in my opinion!

I thought sea world had gone down hill , but this place has taken it to a new level, never ever again will I return here!

Busch Gardens' website describes upgrading to preferred parking to "guarantee" a spot near the entrance. I paid $60 for preferred parking but the lot was full and they told me there were no refunds. Why are they publishing that the upgrade provides a guaranteed spot if it doesn't and why don't they refund the additional money to people who arrive to find the lot full?
Inside the park, we were hounded by a relentless woman selling timeshares and although the park has wheelchair rentals, people renting them have to find their own way to get from the entrance to the rental office.
There was about half the Christmas decorations this year compared to 2 years ago and the price of a bottle of water is now up to $6.
I'm disappointed that the customer service standards have dropped so low and I won't be returning.

Got trespassed because I spoke up about animal abuse. These poor kangaroos are so drugged up they can not move!!! They are like dead carcasses. Please do not go to Busch gardens in Tampa Florida. Terrible and very sad. Speak up and get punished.

Extremely disappointed with Busch Gardens Tampa. I purchased Quick Queue Unlimited for 24/06/2025, but the system incorrectly flagged it as expired. We had all proof: correct date, receipt, and confirmation. Guest Services said there was nothing they could do besides refunding. Our experience was ruined. I expected better service from a park of this size. Definitely unacceptable. Order number 202506165111727

DO NOT GO. Half of the rides (6-7) are closed for maintenance reasons, but this is very unfair! At least reduce the price until all the rides are open. Rip off. What upset me the most was 2-3 big rollercoasters, all the water rides are closed, and the one that goes through the sky over the animals, is closed too. DO NOT GO. You'll be upset when you show up to the ride and there's a huge sign that states it's closed.

Worst park experience ever!!! 5 rollercoasters were not working and 2 river rides closed! This park is a total scam!!! I paid a lot of money for 'skip the line' tickets but thats totally useless if only a couple rollercoasters work properly.

The worst experience ever!
From the minute we got there (chaos getting in, no organisation at all - traffic everywhere - over 2.5 hours to get in). Toilets closed at the entrance for cleaning at opening time - after the queuing! Women and kids desperate!

Purchased all day ticket with food.

Only managed to get on 1 ride. Queued for over 2 hours for that and it wasn’t even one of the popular ones.

5 of the rides closed!

Over an hour queue for food and drink….because of this bought 1 bottle of water$ 6 each!!!

Staff couldn’t care less, no management direction.

Severely disappointed . Everything about the visit on Dec 30 was terrible. The crowds, lack of signage and no employees anywhere to ask questions. We paid for the bundle including “Quick Queue “ and “All day dining “ which they push on you while booking online and virtually every step of the day in the park. Both were a joke as the Quick Queue still didn’t move quickly at all in any of the rides we took with well over 60 minutes per ride limiting the number of rides you could take. The all day dining was terrible food and in the only 2 “meals” we were able to fit in had lines of 45 minutes to get your food from a food court and then inadequate seating left us carrying trays around for another 15 minutes for basically fried chicken, fries and cookies or cakes.

The park is dirty, no employees actually doing anything and those at rides and food carts (not included in the package) were surly and couldn’t care less. The parking lots are poorly marked and maintained, shuttles inadequate for the volume of people on property. Every other guest we talked to had similar or worse comments including 1 who was going to stop payment on the Amex for this transaction.

I’ve already told 10 people I know that we won’t ever be back to waste over $800 for a family of 4.

Ridiculous.

Great visit to Busch gardens, we have been to six flags and cedar point and this was much better than six flags and close to cedar point, all rides running. Yes it’s expensive for food and drink but they all are. Was a fabulous day out.

Went on Wednesday so crowd was minimal. Enjoyed the Elvis show and the Ice Show. Took the train ride to see all the animals. Fun day. Only did one ride - due to motion sickness prone- Cheetah roller coaster and loved it. Line was minimal - maybe 10 minutes. Wish the log ride were open, but it wasn’t. Don’t recommend the meal plan due to restrictions; they will charge you for “extras!”

The park was severely overcrowded, understaffed, and dirty. The bathrooms were absolutely disgusting and many were lacking paper towels and toilet paper. Waited over an hour just to get lunch. Many of the animal exhibits were empty. I've been to Busch Gardens many times over the years and always enjoyed it. The visit before this was disappointing and this visit was terrible. We will not be back soon.

We have been to Busch before & have enjoyed it, not this time. From reading reviews park may have changed ownership bring back the old owners ! We arrived on an all day dining ticket stood in a queue for first meal for nearly an hour witnessed staff argue with customers & when we got it was not impressed by food. We were a party of 6 adults, 2 of the party did not have food & managed 1 ride. When checking bars at ride a member of staff laughed in my daughters boyfriends face for absolutely no reason, customer service training needed Jayden!!! Thunder arrived & rides stopped understandable we waited for over 2 hours for rides the reopen (after storm had long disappeared!) No staff around the ride to ask if rides to open again. Eventually we gave up decided to go for food Dragonfly restaurant was dirty staff extemely rude food horrible wet floors one of our party nearly slipped.on floor. Left restaurant disappointed only to discover park had been closed early because of weather - it had been blue skies for a long time! We waited in a line for over an hour & a half to complain, line was that long! We were offered another ticket to go back to Busch, no thank you will not be back until we hear park has improved. The only pisitive we had during the day was from Pinky at guest relations. Pinky was very helpful & a credit to her parents ! Pinky offered a ticket for Sea World for next day as it was the end of our holiday. We had thunder at Sea World next day although it was dealt with completely differently, rides open again as soon as possible & staff pleasant. Would not recommend any of my family or friends to visit Busch.

My review is for customer service. We have been going to Bush Gardens with a silver pass for years. This year, they took the last month of my pass away based on their poor paper work. I have the pass with the date on it, and a credit card receipt as well. The online reduced my pass by a month. I called and was told I could only get it changed at the park, which would then cause me time and 30 dollars for parking.

We had a blast at Bush Gardens Tampa Bay!! The park has so much to do, lots of animals to see, thrilling rides and it has beautiful scenery!! Me and my husband are both roller coaster junkies, our favorite was for sure Sheikra, it was extremely thrilling, as well as lots of other coasters! I would definitely recommend visiting!!

Beautiful Park. Enjoyable day. Nice mix of rides and animal exhibits. I really enjoyed the ice show. It's a Cirques Du Soleil type show, about 25 minutes. The chimps and gorillas were active and entertaining. The parking is overpriced at $40 per vehicle. We bought tickets on line. Be prepared, the tickets come with a name on them and everyone needs to show ID at the gate to enter. Really inconvenient and time consuming.

I was here 15 years ago and liked the park very well. The visit today (July-25) was not the same experience. The maintenance has not been very good and there were not too many animals to watch. The cleanliness of the dining places was not very good and the toilets very pigish. There were good mountain and valley tracks and nice ride by train around the park. We were lucky and got to see some giraffes and rhino on this trip.

We visited Busch gardens twice last summer so were really looking forward to returning this year but what a disappointing day!

Iron Gwazi, Cheetah Hunt and Kumba were all closed. Iron Gwazi only opened for about an hour before the announcement that all rides would be closing due to inclement weather nearby (yes the sky was dark in the distance but no thunder, lightning or even rain drops!) I don’t think Cheetah Hunt or Kumba opened at all.

It was clear the wait times in the app weren’t being updated. Congo river rapids showed a 20 minute wait the entire time we were in the park but when we arrived there it was actually 45 minutes. Similarly Phoenix rising showed 10 minutes but was actually 30 and Serengeti Flyer 5 minutes but also actually 30 minutes. Don’t base your ride decisions on the information in the app!

The park is huge and having to keep retracing your steps to check wait times and whether rides are open or not makes for a very tiring day, especially in the August heat. I’m not sure we’d bother returning again.

Parking was easy and a shuttle took you straight to the door. No waiting or queues.

The rides are fast paced coasters with some of the best being a 54” height limit. My daughter wasn’t that tall but she still had a blast on all the other rides.

We had 1 all day dine ticket which we used to the max. Make sure you take a re useable bottle so you can fill up on cold water.

Crazy busy, had to pay an extra $189/pp once we were in to actually get to ride any rides after paying $99/pp for tickets to get in. All rides are 90 minutes if you don’t have fast passes. They are selling all you can eat food, but multiple restaurants closed. Rest have hour and a half wait. After spending almost 2k on tickets and fast passes for 6, we ended up eating skittles and Pringle’s from gift shop because thanks to their all you can eat promo, all the restaurants were hour and a half wait AND out of food.

I am a platinum pass holder and I frequent both SeaWorld and Busch Gardens. We decided to go to Busch Gardens Tampa with a couple of friends to celebrate my wife completing her first trimester. We had the all day dining purchased for the four of us and we used guest passes for their entry.

The first half of the day was a pretty standard day at Busch Gardens but when we hit the back half it seems as though all hell broke loose.

We decided to use the sky gondola to get over to the other side of the park to see the ice skating show and we were stuck up there for a good 20-30 minutes. Went to go ride cheetah hunt and it went down with no communication as to when it would be back up. This was close to 7 pm and we all decided to go to the pizza place across from cheetah hunt for dinner. It takes us close to a half hour just to order the food and another 40 minutes to be told that they didn't have anything that we had ordered and that the only thing they could do was go down a list of food to then again be told they didn't have it. At this point as I'm standing there trying to get my pregnant and stressed out wife food your employee heard us complain about the situation and said "I don't know who the f#@ck you think you're talking to! F#@ck you, I don't need this bullsh#@t" ECT ECT. After that outburst another manager came over and exacerbated things by again going down the list of food they didn't have and offering me what looked to be food so old from under a heat lamp I just walked away.

I went to customer service to see if there was anything they could do to rectify the situation and when I told them that I was trying to leave because I was trying to get back home they told me to send an email.

Sent the email twice and left an official complaint and nothing has been resolved

Many rides and attractions were closed for maintenance, both water rides and several key attractions as well as many outlets for food, snacks and drinks were closed up. So recommend checking before if you can. My main points are if you have any specific dietary needs, I’m gluten free and couldn’t find anything to eat in the park and the staff were so unhelpful. I tried to speak to guest services but she really couldn’t even bother to listen to me, whilst I was explaining she continued to look and do stuff on her pc. When I asked if she was listening she got very aggressive, I was polite, calm and didn’t expect her negative attitude. Definitely take food if you have dietary needs.

Let’s start with the fact that 70pct of the rides at the park were not running. There was no mention of this at the time the tickets were purchased. The app that is suppose to update you on wait times was clearly not working or reflecting which rides were open or closed. The day was largely a bust and most other patrons also seemed dissatisfied as well. They need to get their act together and either open the attractions or stop selling tickets.

Went today after not having been there in 15 years or so. It was not good. Three of the big rides were broken, non-Christmas food was hard to find and some regular food places closed for no apparent reason. They oversell Quick Queue (fast pass) passes. It was a 2 hour wait in the quick queue line for SheiKra. The lines were disorganized - starting outside the line entrances and quick queue lines were hard to find. We tried to leave after only riding 3 rides and were stuck in the parking tram line for 25 minutes with three trams dropping people off but not taking people back to the parking lot- walking is much faster but if you have anyone mobility impaired it is not optimal. This place has gotten sad, disorganized, and disappointing. Save up and go to Universal.

I must confess, my expectations for Busch Gardens Tampa were... optimistic, to say the least. Alas, my visit proved a disheartening exercise in frustration, a litany of logistical lapses and operational ineptitude that swiftly curdled into outright disdain.

Upon arrival, we were summarily dispatched to the Adventure Island parking annex, a decision that begged the question: why? The ensuing 30-minute trek to the park, undertaken on foot after abandoning the recalcitrant train, set the tone for a day of begrudgement. One wonders: is this the best Busch Gardens can offer in terms of guest experience?

Regrettably, the park's operational shortcomings only escalated from there. Cheetah Hunt and Falcon Fury's unexplained absence rendered large swathes of the park dead zones, while Cobra Fury's Sisyphean struggles – breaking down thrice during my 3-hour wait – bordered on farcical. The Fast Pass system, priced at an eye-watering $200, proved a cruel joke, delivering minimal benefit for maximal pain.

In summation, Busch Gardens Tampa's haphazard management, crumbling infrastructure, and tone-deaf prioritization have soured me. Until the park addresses its glaring deficiencies, I'll be voting with my feet – straight to the competition.

*Rating: 1/10 – A Debacle of Unforced Errors*

_P.S._ The staff, though doubtless well-intentioned, cannot compensate for the park's systemic failings. Fix the basics, Busch Gardens.

Went on 12/26 with family. I bought their tickets that came with dining plan as their gift. For lunch went to Dragon Grill. Opened at 11am but they didn’t have food to serve until 11:40am so after standing in line we didn’t actually eat till almost 12:30 and food was barely edible. 2 of the soda machines were out of soda and ice. Then waited in line for 30 mins for Sheikra Eats to get snack only to be told what we wanted was not part of plan. There was no indication on the menu that only certain items were eligible. Time wasted. Had to go to 3 different restaurants to find soda because they were all out. Dinner was at Zamba Smokehouse. Waited in line for 40mins only to be told at counter they were out of soda, Mac cheese, ribs and chicken. We ended up eating kids chicken nuggets. Went to guest relations to get refund because dining was a complete disaster but Bri the manager said because we used it, no refund. We didn’t get to use it as it was advertised. She said it was a busy week and they had been running out of food all week. So the customer has to suffer for poor planning on parks part? She just blankly stared at me. I didn’t think I would have to worry about a park supplying food and drink upon entrance. Clearly understaffed and no one cares. Long ride times due to only running 1 train on coasters. Thanks Busch Gardens for ruining my Xmas gift.

My tickets were invalid and I was denied entry to the park!
The only good thing is that we got our money back after feeling 1h on the phone with the hotline!
But I have to give a big thank you to Bush Gardens. We had to book new tickets on site. As the staff at the ticket counter knew about our problems, we received a very customer-friendly discount on our tickets out of goodwill!
Thanks to Bush Gardens for that!

Disappointing - the rides are good, IF they open them!

We have been planning our trip to Florida for at least a year and with teenage sons, the coasters at Busch were on their must-ride list - especially Iron Gwazi.

We visited on Tuesday 8th April and made the effort to arrive half an hour before park opening. We wished we hadn’t bothered!

Our boys ran round to Iron Gwazi to be greeted with a sign saying it would be closed all day for annual maintenance. There was no sign at the gates, no listing at the car park entrance, nothing on the app (it actually advertised a 0 minute wait for the first couple of hours of park opening before they bothered to list it as closed all day) and don’t imagine there will be any helpful info on their website as it simply directs you to the app which, as others have reviewed, is completely useless - posting inaccurate information such as 0 minute queues for rides which are shut!
Customer service is atrocious. Miserable, unhelpful, skeleton staff. No one managing loading bays or quick queue leaves complete chaos. Rides operating only one train when there is the capacity for much more and loading painfully slowly due to lack of staff and those they do have being demotivated and depressed!
Because our kids were so desperate to ride Iron Gwazi, we returned on Monday 14th and found similar levels of ride closures and poor staffing so it wasn’t a one off. Thankfully Iron Gwazi finally opened at 4.30 - 6 and a half hours after park opening - and we had the fortune to be in the area as it was delayed pretty much as soon as we’d ridden it, half an hour after opening!
I have great memories of Busch from previous visits, but we’re talking at least 15 years ago. Management need to do something about the poor operation and dire customer experiences if they want any customer loyalty. Oh, and I really would advise against the All Day Dining. Aside from Chick Fil A, all the food tasted dreadful and the drinks at the Oasis pizza tasted of chlorine!! We preferred to leave the park hungry snd get dinner elsewhere.
We were very disappointed as it could be so different - my 16-year-old summed it up - ‘They’ve got all the gear but no idea!!’
With very slick competitors in Florida, Busch Gardens has set the bar low and then continues to fail miserably.

Work for a UK airline, two night stop over in Tampa. Been to Disney & Universal in the past. Unfortunately Bush Gardens is very run down and the general under investment is evident. Enjoyed the rollercoasters. Had a meal plan, I’d not recommend, as food was poor quality and nothing particularly heathly on offer. If you like fried fast food, maybe you’ll view this differently. Sadly disappointed.

Apprehensive after reading some recent poor reviews on here but we had the multi ticket from Discovery Cove so just decided to go for it.
2 adults, 3 children (12,12,9) and we had an amazing day.
We were at Epic yesterday - long queues and medium intensity rollercoasters - but today.. minimal queues and huuuge high thrill coasters.
Sam on the tiger tour was really informative and engaging, we loved it. I feel confident that they really look after their animals after hearing about behind the scenes.
Only 4 stars because it does look a bit tired and sad in places, and a couple of big rides were down for the day but overall we had a great time and would highly recommend. 4/5 of us preferred it to our day at Epic. Food is notably expensive.

Florida resident with annual passes to Universal and Sea World. We were in Tampa with friends and decided to visit. Awful experience from beginning to end. Long lines for everything with employees moving at glacial uncaring pace. Overpriced food with massive lines. Impossible to get on rides without buying the fast pass for the kids at least. Christmas Town was a total joke of an attraction. Nasty disgusting bathrooms. Place just sucks your money with zero in return. Literally never going back and recommend a day visit to any other attraction in Tampa other than this one.

I was very excited to visit since we hadn’t been in since before COVID. It was a terrible experience. Tram driver and pedestrian were yelling at each other. Very few animals and the ones that were aren’t in the nicest habitats. Highly disappointed.

I send my daughter to Zoo Camp yearly and I went to Zoo Camp yearly as child. Whoever is running Zoo Camp should be running the whole park because Zoo Camp is fun, educational and cognizant of providing a good customer experience. I used to lifeguard at Adventure Island and we were really held to a high standard. After today we are DONE with the Busch Gardens. They are closing the Flume Ride- a long time fan favorite. So we went to bid good bye to it and were excited to use the heavily discounted Quick Que option at 40 dollars a piece. The Flume never disappoints, and was the highlight of the day. All the merchandise in the park was terrible and there was NOTHING that honored the Flume. We tried to ride Sheikra, there was only one coaster running and when we loaded it shut down so we weren't able to ride it. After I paid four dollars for a locker for my tiny backpack which supposedly wasn't allowed on. We rode the Sky Ride. Thank God we had an annual pass because otherwise you have to PAY to ride it! We walked to Cheetah hunt as I was drinking a 7 dollar Body Armor drink. It was closed. I bought some horrible mozzarella sticks and yummy chocolate pudding and a lemonade for TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS. The girl who took my order was fabulous though at the Treetop Kitchen. The men working the flume were great and the girl who actually prompted us to go to preferred park were great. That was IT. The staff there otherwise were TERRIBLE. We tried to buy ice cream but the employees were THROWING some object around and having fun instead of manning the register. We decided not to ruin their fun.

My husband and I were looking around trying to figure out what to do. There was NOTHING to do. No entertainment. At all. Usually the shows there are amazing. But there were NO SHOWS. The stores weren't engaging and I felt no home town pride for my park so I didn't want to buy anything that advertised this disaster of a park. I took my daughter here 5-10 years ago and we still had fun. But my recent visits have been boring and insulting. START CARING about the experience of your customers. I wouldn't pay 10 dollars to return. Give us an experience to return to! Stop luring people in with cheap prices if you have nothing to offer. Rides everywhere are shut down. The staff are uninspired and unmanaged and unprofessional. This park was amazing for most of my life, it had lively character, charisma and entertainment and saved me from driving to Disney many times. Not anymore. Just let the poor park die already, because clearly that is the plan. I am begging the "new park president" that I have read about to start reading these reviews and enhancing the customer experience or cut your losses and let this park die with whatever shred of dignity it has left.

RIP Flume/ Stanley Falls
RIP all the potential this park had

So far all rides closed but a few. 2 of 10 coasters working. WASTE of time and money. 😡. Parking $40 - $60. Animals cute. Family was very disappointed.

First off I had unlimited two week tickets to all Seaworld parks. Someone in my party lost their lanyard and Busch Gardens said they could not issue replacement ticket, even with the paper copy and proof of purchase/receipt. We had to pay additional for that person for the day $85. Most of the rides were closed 8/13 main attractions were open. All water rides were down, Sheikra, kumba, Montu. So the rides that were available were over an hour wait. There’s nothing on app or before animal displays that say they close at 5:30/6pm. The park was open until 8 and we missed a lot of the animals because sections were closed earlier. We went on the one animal walk and left someone waiting in Nairobi we went to walk back out that way after walking to end and there was someone there saying it closed. No signs anywhere that said that, so we had to walk all the way back and then around to get the person waiting for us. There were a couple rides in kid area that were closed as well. The animal enclosures are small and animals looked stressed. I was using app and wanted to catch the train in the back section, to find out that all stations expect one in the middle were open. App had no indication of closure nor were there signs at front of park. Park was not very clean, lack of signs, app communication not great, seemed disorganized compared to other parks. It was not worth the trip from Orlando or the additional $85. Can’t believe that regular tickets are $142/day there. There’s lots of carnival games that cost extra money, feeding of animals- that cost extra and there were staff inside park bothering you like sales people wanting to upgrade your tickets etc. getting pestered to spend extra on already an expensive day and having to spend extra to play games is ridiculous, when it’s already so expensive to get in.

We the two stars are for 2 reasons, otherwise this would be a zero.

Went here 3 times in 6 years from end of the 90s into 00’s. Those great memories were ruined today.

Park hour were reduced after a weekend, which lead to no rides with two trains, many rides closed all day on top of kumba which we had seen last year before booking. Made the queues long.

Then there were the left over extras from the walking dead. Never seen such poorly trained, slow and inefficient ride operators in a park even. Iron Gwazi was taking over 4 mins to load the one train. With the second train just sat there looking at you.

Chester run was saying temp closed from morning but no one around looking to fix so changes in late afternoon to never opening. Similar story with Cobra. Other flat rides were the same, others going down in the day making the limited capacity even longer on the few things that were open.

When the lighting came, half the animal paths were shut so couldn’t see those while the risk of a storm in the area have closed all rides, including the few indoor rides.

To top of all off, the all day dining plan is a con here. Everywhere closes for food at 5 to 5:30 apart from one at the park entrance that was advertised as open to 8 on the door. So the day isn’t All Day, as doesn’t run to operating hours. So that place runs out of food. I asked if more cookies were available to a member of staff, I was told not at the moment. This reply implied some might be ready soon or later ( this was about 6:30pm), the woman ignored me and walked off. Was the general vibe of the staff in the park all day.

Posted queue jumping policy isn’t enforced. Getting phones out on thrill rides is fine by Busches policy. The don’t/can’t take on policy isn’t enforced.

Now the good parts that got a star each. Iron Gwazi. What a ride. Could almost say made the entrance fee and putting up with the rest of the …. all day.

The other star goes to Luis. He was running the till at Zagora cafe. He was excellent and sorted out food for the All Day plan from what little was left. Certainly no cook to order.

Tips, use dining plan as early in day as possible. Avoid a lower hours day as rides not set up for crowds and staff limited. Get a discount if you can for entry fee. Avoid if you can’t do/get these. No longer worth the trip from Orlando to here. SeaWorld was a far better park to do. None of these issues.

Such a shame a favour park from the past is so poorly run. Those from the U.K., this makes Merlin parks look well run.

Groups if young teens cutting line and vaping just before getting on ride. No staff before the ones at the ride checking belts but when reported nothing done about it. Lots of rides and shows closed. Also many restaurants closed early so when trying to have a meal on all day dining this was only possible at one restaurant which had a queue over 40 minutes long. Staff I spoke to unhelpful and didn’t seem like they even wanted to help. Terrible experience

Disappointing park! For mountain lovers, an expectation is created about this park. However, it was extremely frustrating. For starters, the standard parking fee is $40. Nowhere they say which toys are closed. The app is very bad and outdated (does not show the reality of the park as queue times, if the attraction will stay closed, etc). I was at the park on 14/Apr/2025, and the park opened at 10am, but there was only 1 rush mountain running this time. Sheikra only opened close to lunchtime. Iron Gwazi and Cheetah closed and without further information (nowhere this had been informed). Kumba is permanently closed and this information is not passed anywhere. Montu opened and closed during the day, as did Cobra’s Curse, which opened in the middle of the day and then closed. Outside all this frustration of not being able to walk all the mountains, the park is pretty graceless and with dirty bathrooms. It was a waste of time and money!!

This place is truly what an amusement park should be!!! Bigger rides, making sure people quality 1st to ride and overall a fun atmosphere! Go on a Monday as u will have the place all to yourself. Buy the AYCE plan and eat every 90 minutes good idea(Disney) Sad that a few rides were down but during slow seasons guess thats the norm! Take the Serengheti Tour and feed Angel the Giraffe!! Lots of animals to view i love the zoo/amusement park option!! Go u won't be sorry!!!

We travelled a long way, spent a lot of money, and had one shot at giving our kids a day to remember at Busch Gardens. Spoiler: they’ll remember it, but for all the wrong reasons.

The weather in the morning? Awful. Buckets of rain. Fair enough — not their fault. The park quite sensibly kept everything shut until about 2pm. We accepted that, waited it out, and kept positive.

Then the sun came out. The skies cleared. Forecasts looked great. The kids were excited, we thought: finally, the day can be salvaged. We set off around the park to make the most of what was left.

And then — the kicker. At the very best part of the day, with everything finally running, Busch Gardens decided to close two hours early. Not just a minor tweak: an entire 25% of the advertised opening hours, gone. Their reason? “Inclement weather.” Which, for the record, at that exact moment meant clear skies, pleasant temperatures, and not a cloud worth worrying about.

Let’s call this what it was: not about safety, but about saving money on a quiet day. Cutting costs at the expense of paying guests who have no ability to reschedule. That’s my opinion.

For a park that surely knows it’s been struggling with attendance, this felt like shooting themselves in both feet. People don’t come back to places where they feel lied to and short-changed.

So, if you enjoy paying full price for half a day, being told it’s “due to weather” when you’re standing in glorious sunshine, and explaining to your kids why the fun is over just as it was starting — Busch Gardens is the place for you.

Otherwise? Spend your money elsewhere. Universal and Disney may cost more, but at least they don’t close two hours early because it’s too nice outside.

By the way - we wrote to them to query this and complain. Guess what…no response at all. No surprise.

We found the elephant enclosure very upsetting. The constant noise from the music looked as if it was depressing the poor animals. They had their backs to the people and their head against the wall. It looks cruel. There are no middle of the road rides, only roller coasters of toddler rides. Very disappointing. The food outlets are disgusting. All chips,cheese and pretzels covered in salt and sugar. Very unhealthy.

I read the recent reviews before going to the park. Many were negative about the staff. As I already committed I was not going to be put off. I was expecting the worst. What a pleasant surprise. Everyone I interacted with was pleasant, courteous and helpful. Don’t let others steer you wrong.
I will say however that the food and drink prices were shockingly high.

I am a platinum member such a waste of money. I’m sorry I ever entertained bringing my grandchildren.
Its very expensive long lines rude staff. The membership was not worth it because the premium parking is not available. Customer service is rude. Everything‘s expensive takes forever to get on a ride and sometimes when you wait in line and you finally get to the front, they tell you the ride is broken. They don’t give a damn don’t waste your money.

Hard to navigate your way around, not many signs telling you & there is only an app on your phone to look at. Suggest taking the train first because it seems like they take you around the whole park & talk/explain more. The special needs card was had to navigate as well since not every ride had an attendant at the beginning of the ride.

I went to Busch Gardens about a decade ago and it was amazing.

This Feb school break most of the thrill rides were closed, most of the animals were not present and no one was there. The kids still had a good time as the lines were short. Just disappointing to pay so much money and have the majority of attractions closed. I imagine a lot has to do with the staffing shortage everywhere.

We went here on a Monday 2/3/25 and it was perfect! Don’t waste $$$ on fast pass. We were on every ride within minutes. Even IronGwazi which is definitely the best ride in the park. The sky ride was closed but just hop on the train and you’ll see the Serengeti part free.

Park is nice with the animals and the train. Daughter waited over 2 hours for a ride, when wait times said 45 min. Horrible experience- the app wait times are not accurate.

This park is GREEDY!
You will need to pay evrything, even after you purchased a $100 admission.
The parking fee is even more expensive than the Disney World.
Dont go! ZERO star!

We travelled from our florida base in orlando which was a simple drive of around 1 hour 20 mins. Parking was easy and we hoped on the tram to the park entrance and seamlessly through the entrance. Our tickets were included as park of a package with our discovery cove purchase.

On checking the App there were no queue times listed so we went to Cheetah Hunt which said 60 mins, 40 mins later we were at the front however the staff werent loading the cars and just said "go where you want" this led to chaotic scenes as groups tried to line up different rows to get on the same train.

Next up was cobras curse which was advertised 10 mins but due to painfully slow loading this turned out to be in excess of 60 mins. Express pass was prioritised to the point that it had to be clear for the standard queue to be loaded.

The worst was yet to come, on Iron Gwazi there were no staff in the queue line at all which caused a total free for all of queue jumping and, similar to cheetah hunt, chaos to try get on the same train as family members.

Unfortunately for one guest they vomited on the ride which led to a closure whilst the staff looked puzzles, threw some water in the carriage and sent the train round, presumably hoping it would clean itself. This went on for around 40 minutes until a weather delay led us to abandon the queue.

Similar levels of disinterest and poor service were seen around the park included the coke freestyle attendent who was telling visitors not to get ice as she "couldn't be bothered to refill it".

Also worth pointing out the prices are ridiculous, which starts with the $35 parking (more than Disney and Universal!) And this continues with park food and drink. Thankfully we had reusable water bottles (though they didn't make refills easy to find!)

If you are couple, who can afford express, you will likely have a great day on some fantastic rides. Everyone else should give this dump a miss!

Unfortunately 3 coasters down and not functioning in our Christmas to new year visit. Plus $40 parking. Not a great experience and I would choose alternative for our family. So many alternatives in Florida.

This place was a joke. Food was ridiculous paid 107 dollars for 3 drinks three chicken strip baskets and 2 desserts. Staff was rude almost every ride we went on and food places. Guest services was rude. Bought tickets off Expedia spent 348 for what I thought was admission to the park and fast Pass ticket for the day. I get there they tell me all i got was a fast pass. How I can buy a fast pass with out getting a ticket I have no idea. So had to buy admission to park for 3 of us that was 378 dollars so total for fast pass and admission total was $718. Only one employee the entire trip actually scanned my fast pass. There was no employees even checking on almost every ride. Not to say there was no one in the park half the rides there was only a hand full of people in line anyway so fast pass was completely worthless don’t go here

We were visiting Florida with family for the holidays and for a Michigan Football Bowl game. We visited in the day the football bands were performing. We had three family’s and kids from 5-14. I remember coming to Busch Gardens in the past and having a blast. Awe got tickets ahead of time and got the pass that allowed us to come back the rest of the year and next as we were hoping to come back again. We will not be going back after our experience.

We arrived early and sat in traffic in the parking lot for over 30 minutes. This should have been our first sign it would not be a good day. We spent 6 hours at park and it was so busy we were only able to do 3 rides the entire time we were there. Many animal exhibits were closed and under construction. The park was poorly staffed.

The first ride we did was SheiKra. This was a great ride and we really didn’t wait long. Then the kids did the bumper cars. Morning wasn’t bad. We decided to do Chick Fil A for lunch. This was a long line but expected, maybe took 30 minutes. After lunch things went downhill. We got in line for the Tigris. It said the wait was 60 minutes. We had the pep rally in 90 minutes so we thought we would have plenty of time. When we got in line there was no one working the entrance. We did not have the fast passes so we got in our normal line. This did not stop many people who did not have fast passes from getting in the other line. We waited and waited for the ride. Our line moved at first then stopped. We finally got up close but now we were pushing too close to the pep rally. We had 20 people in front of us and 10 minutes. We thought we would still make it. This was when a manager came and told the workers to let all the fast pass people ride and stop the normal line. 50 people from fast passes 2 from the normal line. Over and over. We missed the pep rally and sat in line another hour. 60 minute expected wait to 2 1/2 hours. Terrible. We spoke to the manager at the ride and he said that those other people paid more than we did and they deserved not to wait. We explained no one was working check to make sure they actually had the passes when we got in line. He really didn’t care what we had to say and said it was what it was.

After this we tried to get dips and dots. Waited 20 minutes to find out they had one flavor. Next dip and dots place was sold out. They were very understaffed and under prepared for a busy day. We decided to leave early and not deal with the chaos. We will not be going back anytime soon.

The park REALLY needs to be cleaned up and fix their buildings etc. It feels like the park is being neglected by the owners and they only focusing on building new rides. This park needs to fully close for 4-6 months and do a big renovation/clean up in my opinion. Tons of food/drink stalls that are always closed, bathrooms that are nasty and broken. You can clearly see that they are understaffed and not paying their staff enough to attract more.

With now 5 attractions down out of 11 if I’m not wrong, the value of coming to this park is not there. I see this park on a heavy down spiral unfortunately. A company that doesn’t care as long as they only make money. IronGwazi was a very nice add-on but there is so much more that is needed to be done to this park.

Underwhelming to say the least. Incredibly slow service. Lots of closed rides. Even more rides were closed at times if a cloud appeared in the sky. 0 stars. Would not recommend.

Busch Gardens is surprised that people may want to enter the park, and so consequently they make no effort to control the queues, it becomes a free for all. No staff in sight.

What's the park like inside? No idea yet, we've spent the first hour in the shambles that is their 'queue'.

Would I come back? I don't think so, I'd rather spend the hour standing in my own garden.

I had the chance to go to Busch Gardens and their Bier Fest on back to back weekends this year. We had lots of rain, but managed to have a good time anyway. The Bier Fest itself is actually in a small area within Busch Gardens. There are some cleverly named ‘cabins’ which are basically walled and roofed booths, Helga’s Biergarten and The Springs Taproom that offer beers and unique foods. I was surprised at just how many craft brews were offered. I was more surprised to see no Anheuser Busch beer products for sale. I would have liked to have something other than a craft beer. The Bier Fest website does a good job of telling you what beers are available and where. There is also a display board in the Fest area for reference. Here’s our opinion on each that we tried.
Helga’s Biergarten had the only live entertainment with a band playing German music, demonstrating the long Alpenhorn, mens and ladies stein hoisting contests and more. Salted Mini Salted Pretzel Bites With Beer Cheese Dipping Sauce. Not worth the money. Beer Braised Currywurst and Sauerkraut with Tater Tots. This was good. A full size sausage. Bratwurst with Onion Mustard Relish with Tater Tots. This was good. Also a full size sausage. CABIN 2: Tipsy Bird. Smoked Pulled Duck Roll. Pulled duck salad with a brioche roll with grape apple slaw and house pickles. Very good with plenty of duck. CABIN 3: Island Hoppers. Mango Jerk Chicken Wings. Tender chicken wings in spicy jerk seasoning and grilled with sweet mango for a smoky, sweet island kick and fluffy coconut rice. Only 1 wing and 1 drummy on a scoop of rice. Not a good jerk flavor, not worth it. Jamaican Surf & Turf (Shrimp & Beef Skewers). Garlic-lime shrimp and seasoned beef skewers with coconut rice. Skip it. 2 very small pieces of beef on the sides of one skewered small shrimp. CABIN 4: Mis Amigos Cabin. Churrasco Street Taco. Marinated grilled steak, sliced thin and served on a warm corn tortilla with chopped onions and fresh cilantro. Two tacos that were very good and good value. Charred Street Corn. Sweet corn grilled over open flame and slathered in chili-lime mayo, cotija cheese, and a hint of lime. Tasty. The corn was grilled, but this is served as loose kernels in a cup. We liked it. CABIN 6: Local Knowledge. BBQ Grilled Pinchos (Beef Tips & Shishito). Marinated beef and pepper kabobs with sweet plantain mash. Pretty good. Shishito is not hot. CABIN 7: Root Beer Floats. Peanut Butter Stout Float. Stout with peanut butter syrup and vanilla ice cream. This was good. CABIN 9: Out of the Box. Brisket Mac (in a Waffle Cone). Mac and cheese topped with smoked brisket in a waffle cone. I think our most favorite item. Plenty of brisket in creamy cheesy mac. Mini Bison Slider with Honey Chipotle Slaw. Bison slider with chipotle-honey slaw. Forget it. Very small burger and dry as shoe leather. Grilled Stuffed Avocado. Grilled avocado with brisket, roasted corn, and cilantro cream. Served cold. Flavorless. Pass on this. Chocolate Pecan Tart. Dark chocolate ganache tart with toasted pecans and sea salt. Excellent dessert. Very rich. 3 people can share. CABIN 10: Lost in the Sauce. Root Beer Ribs. Fall Off the Bone Root Beer Braise St. Louis Ribs, Root Beer BBQ Sauce, and Jalapeño cornbread. They give you 3 ribs. Sticky with good flavor. Southern Peach Sonker (Peach Cobbler). Funnel cake peach cobbler with whipped cream. Tied with the Pecan Tart for best dessert. Get it, you’ll love it. The Springs Taproom. A regular building with great A/C to escape the heat and tables to sit at. They did have a full bar with many craft beers on tap. Bier Fest punch cards were accepted here. When it comes to getting the best value, buy the Sampler Punch Cards. Either 5 ($40) or 8 ($65) items per card so the cost per sampled item is $8.00. That is much better than paying the prices on the menu boards at the different cabins. We saw some food items priced at $13+. As for beer, one punch per 10 ounce beer. I did purchase a 20 ounce oatmeal stout at the Springs Taproom and I think it was $17.00. Oh well. You can buy the cards right at the park.
As for the rest of the park, it’s small enough to get around and see a lot in one day. During one of the downpours, we went to the Rhythm of Nature ice skating show. A good show, included in park admission, and fun to see real ice in Florida. We also took a ride on the Serengeti Express Train which winds through the property and through their Serengeti Plain, loaded with all kinds of animals. I know I’ve never been closer to rhinos before. There’s a tour guide telling riders what they’re seeing and some interesting info about some. This is also no extra charge. It is a zoo with rides so there are many cool looking coasters and natural areas with a variety of animals. We found the swimming penguins fun to watch. I would go back as I would like to try a few of the more tame rides. A fun place and a fun event.

What a lame time.
If you enjoy walking in the heat and sun and discovering that everything is closed, Busch Gardens is for you. Last night I found info stating that a lot of stuff was closed. This morning, everything seemed to be open, so we went. Mistake! The majority of rides are closed, and even some of the animal exhibits. None of it is labeled as closed on the app.

No shows except for the Seasame Street show, half the park was closed, few animal encounters, the air tram was 5.00pp more , the animal surfari was 20.00 pp more, restaurant food was nasty & cold. Few games open , of course all shops open to sell you things at a high price. TOTAL RIP OFF! I feel angry I spent the $ for 4 people. Ho somewhere else to be satisfied.

This park is not amusing! We went on a Saturday with family! By about 3 till closing it was so crowded you couldn't even get a cup of coffee. No venue had enough help. The food special was awful. For a certain amount you could get 12 things. Except for the turkey the food was not good at all. The ice show was good but completely full! Had to wait out in the cold for 30 minutes to get in! The park administration is so greedy they don't care an ounce about you or anyone else. It's just about money! We paid for priority parking but at 11 it was full so had to park a mile away. So many people we couldn't get on a shuttle. Walked into park and coming out there was hundreds of people waiting on shuttle so had to walk a mile back to car. I swear I will never return to that park! They don't even care about the little things. Like stale popcorn for example. No coffee that you can get to because they only have one coffee place with one line out the door. How stupid are they? Fix your problems you lazy people.

Avoid awful attraction!

x poor signage
x on entering Bush Gardens, no staff around to assist with queue management people pushing in - Security not doing their job
x no staff members to help with Quick Queue /all day dining
x long wait times 3 hours at 13.00
x toilets dirty not regularly checked

Our visit last 2 hours / 1 x soda each ! $583 EXPENSIVE !!! Plus paid extra for stroller!!

On exiting didn't even scan us out - Health & Safety DISASTER!

We decided to go on Jan 1st and arrived at the parking lot 15 minutes before the park opened. There was a line to get through the parking entrance which took a good 20 minutes. A tram then took us to the entrance of the park. Even though we had our tickets there was a massive line to get through. That took about 30-40 minutes. We headed to Cheetah Run that already had an hour wait time. We were also told we had to rent a locker for our bags/purse in order to ride. We decided to forego this ride. We found Mantu which had a 5 minute wait time and rode this a few times. We then went to Snake King and although the posted time was 5 minutes it took an hour to get through!! This ride is not worth that long of a wait and wasted a lot of time. In the end, with all the wait times well over 60 minutes for most rides by the time it was noon, we basically walked around. We took the train ride which was our only option for seeing actual animals. The other animals at the park were not out other than a tiger, a lioness, a monkey and two hyenas. A sign explains that animals are given the choice to stay inside or go outside (perhaps it was too warm for them to be out?). The train ride was cute but the breaks make a horrendous sound that shrieks most of the way. It was not pleasant and probably is not appreciated by the animals either. The ice skating show was the only highlight of the day. These are athletes and they clearly work hard to get to that level of professionalism!!! We didn’t have any add-ons and calculated that the all day dining would not be worth it. They did have a « special » 2 burgers with fries and a drink for 40$. By the time we ordered our lunch there were only beef patties left and no chicken burgers. We ended our day in Sesame Street land where my 9 year old was able to do a few rides while we waited. If my children had been younger we would have probably stayed here most of the day.
Some employees were great (the lady working the trampoline in Sesame Street place was great with the kids) but others clearly don’t want to be there (the employees working Snake King were too busy chatting which had a huge impact on the wait time! A family exited the ride through an employee access only door which caused the employees to start hollering but did not provide them with the wherewithal to actual do their job properly).
In the end, the price we paid was not worth it even though we got our tickets at a discount! We were happy we didn’t pay for all day dining and the quality of the rides does not warrant the purchase of express passes! Spend your hard earned money somewhere else!

I was looking forward to an enjoyable day at Busch Gardens with my family, but the experience was riddled with frustrations and poor management. We started at the Dragon Fire Pub & Grill around 5 PM, only to find that two drink stations were completely out of ice, and the one that still had ice had no soda options available. To make matters worse, the Fresh Market Cafe was closed, which meant paninis and other advertised food options were not being served.

Christmas Town was another major letdown. Many stalls had either sold out of items or were offering very limited options. At the Coca-Cola Cabin, there were no flavored syrups or toppings for floats. When I asked about this, the clerk casually mentioned they hadn’t had these items for four to five days. It was incredibly disappointing to encounter such poor preparation during what should be a festive, well-stocked event.

The issues extended beyond individual locations. The Rita’s kiosk closed at 8:30 PM, but there were no listed operating hours—neither in the app nor at the kiosk itself—which left us guessing. On our way out, we stopped at a food kiosk, only to find it nearly empty, with no Dippin’ Dots or other substantial snacks left. Again, this was by 8:30 PM, well before the park was officially winding down at 9:45- when fireworks were starting.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the visit was the staff's apparent disinterest. Many seemed eager to leave for the night and openly discussed how early they could close up. Several were on their phones or kept registers covered, giving the impression that they were closed or closing—even though the rain had cleared up by 7 PM. This lack of professionalism and engagement significantly detracted from the experience.

Overall, the park felt unorganized, understaffed, and unprepared to handle the holiday crowds. With limited food and drink options, early closures, and disengaged staff, it felt like the park was rushing to shut down rather than providing the quality experience that guests deserve. For the cost of admission, this level of service was unacceptable, and I would hesitate to recommend visiting during busy seasons unless significant improvements are made.

Just purchased a Gold annual membership for myself and my wife. After standing in long lines to enter the park, we then had to stand in another long line to get our annual pass cards. The lines for the customer service center were over an hour long standing in the hot sun in an uncovered area. We then found out that the Busch Bucks we earned could not be used together for our meal purchase. Now we have to make two transactions to use them. No difference other than an inconvenience for the restaurant and ourselves. I have noticed that the park has deteriorated since our last annual passes in 2023. There are fewer animals fewer flower plantings and according to others the winter music series has deteriorated to the point of being boring. Just overall poor management. We will not be renewing our Gold annual passes and am sorry that we bought them for the 2020-2026 season. If Busch Gardens were at all concerned for their customers they could at least provide sun protection (even a tent covering) over the customer service line area! After numerous visits since the above review, things at Busch Garden Tampa bay have degenerated even more. In the past you could check the website or app to determine what rides were closed, which were few. Busch no longer list's ride closures in an attempt to attract more visitors. They don't even list ride closures at the ticket counters. Guests paying for entrance expecting advertised rides are left frustrated by the closures which are increasing daily. At the current rate of increased closures they will soon be at 50%. Their behavior is unethical. This park should no longer be allowed to operate by the state of Florida and the county of Hillsborough as they continue practicing this consumer fraud!

Me and my family went to Busch gardens to go on all the rides. We knew there would be long lines but when we got there most of the rides WERE CLOSED. My mother spent $440 on the tickets just for me and my dad to go on one ride. The only rides with no lines were ones for little kids. Me and my family enjoyed the train ride but all the stations were closed except for one. A lot of the animals weren’t there with is another reason we come. I just feel bad for my mom to spend all that money for that to happen.😭 If you want to get your money’s worth go to another place. If you go good luck with rides.💖

We stayed as a family with two children (8 and 2 years old) in Busch Gardens Tampa. Our experience was mixed:

Pros:
• The children's area is really cute and a highlight for the little ones.
• The big roller coasters are the absolute blast – pure adrenaline for all who are big enough!

Cons:
• For children under 105 cm there is unfortunately hardly anything to experience apart from the children's area.
• The park is extremely expensive! Be sure to take as much water as possible – a single bottle costs over $6!
• We had to wait in line for over an hour at dinner. The quality was okay, but fries and chicken nuggets for $18 is just too much.

Conclusion:
Those who come for the roller coasters will be thrilled. Families with small children should think carefully about whether it is worth it – and definitely bring provisions.

If you buy the ‘all day dining’ then there is no point in worrying about the queue times, mostly because you will spend all day queuing for the food and drink instead - it took us 54 minutes to get cups for fountain drinks!! I asked to speak to a supervisor who basically humiliated me and shouted at me for wanting to skip the line - I didn’t want to skip the queue but as a park, Busch Gardens accepted our money in advanced for the food and drink and then are not able to meet the demands.
The park has currently been open 6 hours and so far all we have managed is 2 rides!!
Most definitely the worst park in Florida.
Staff attitudes vary from very friendly and helpful, to full of attitude and just plain rude. Not an enjoyable experience at all.

We were very disappointed while being in the park ,things are poorly mark, missed seeing certain animals, and events.
People couldn't direct us to things we wanted to do.
Spent 6 hours there and felt we missed a lot because of poor signage and incompetence of giving directions .Won't be back

Was a bit nervous after reading the reviews but we have just left after having a great day. We did buy quick queue which meant we were able to ride everything in 3.5 hours. One of our party doesn’t like coasters so it meant we could get it done quickly. Everything was open except Kuma but I think that has been closed for months. All the rides were brilliant and thrilling and they definitely have the best selection on offer. I thought the park was clean and well maintained. Didn’t eat so can’t comment. 1st time there and I would recommend. It’s not Disney but it’s not as expensive.

Busch Gardens…unfortunately….NEVER AGAIN!

Since 1990 I have been visiting Busch Gardens but recently my visits have been very disappointing.

I have just spent over 90 minutes on the gridlocked I4 travelling from Kissimmee. I arrived 30 minutes before the park opened to find a line for the car park almost 2 miles long. I queued patiently but in very dangerous circumstances because drivers which were impatient to wait jumped the line cutting in and even going through red traffic lights. I was astounded to see 6 adults sitting in the back seats of one car. It took an hour to get through the car park booths. Unfortunately, they left two booths closed and coned off which were in my lane causing even further delay. I went for Preferred parking which is $60. That was another disaster as my space was a 10 minute walk to the park entrance. If I had paid the $40 regular parking there was a tram from the car directly to the entrance.

The park entrance was bedlam. There were dozens of coaches transporting probably 1000+ schoolchildren which were allowed to park by the entrance. These children were now ahead of those having to use the car park. It took a further 20 minutes to get passed security and the park entrance. It was now 50 minutes after the park opened. Busch strategy means they keep half the park closed until an hour after opening, therefore only a couple of rides were open. I headed to the Iron Gwazi. The wait time was now 60 minutes! The park app said 5 minutes! The ride wait times on the app are totally inaccurate all day. The rides that were closed according to the app were open! I waited whilst they sent two cars completely empty. There was no announcement to say what was going on. I gave up waiting.

The log flume and Kumba was closed for the day. The Kumba track was rusty so has probably been closed for some time. Other attractions were closed. Falcons Fury was closed most of the day. There is no advance warning about what is working at the park. After 5 hours all I had done was Sheikra, (only one coaster operating), Congo River Rapids, (only one person slowly loading and dispatching the rafts), the train and the Ice Show. By now the lines were over an hour for every ride. Cheetah Hunt was over two hours. The park looks run down. Urinals in two gents toilets were all overflowing. I gave up and made my way home.

You are not allowed to take any food or drink into the park. The prices inside are eyewatering. Over $6 for a small plastic bottle of water.
The line at guest services was huge. Ten minutes walk to my $60 parking space…..and over 2 hours drive back to Kissimmee on the grid locked I4.

The few staff there are untrained and look bored stiff. The schoolchildren were regularly jumping the lines ‘to join their friends’ but no one did anything to stop them. No sign of any management in the park. At the very least they need mystery shoppers to see what is going on. On my arrival at a Theme Park I should be excited. If I had not travelled so far I would have returned home before entering the park. Unfortunately, there is no magic at Busch Gardens or Seaworld any longer.

On a previous visit I sent an email to Busch Gardens pointing out some issues. They never even bothered to respond.

We went on June 8 and only a few attractions were working, there was no show and almost all restaurants were closed. We went in at 10:00am and by 3:00pm we were out. It's not working at capacity.
Don't be sorry

We purchased 7 tickets with the All-Day Dining plan for my family, expecting an enjoyable experience, but unfortunately, the day was filled with logistical issues, poor service, and operational problems that significantly impacted our visit.
From the outset, traffic entering the park was backed up, taking over 25 minutes just to get through parking. Several roller coasters were inconsistently open, leading to long waits followed by abrupt closures, without clear communication. We only got to ride 2 roller coasters all day.
A particularly frustrating moment was when we waited 45 minutes in line for the Cheetah roller coaster, only to be turned away due to a discrepancy in the height measurement for a child in our group — the measurement tool inside the ride contradicted the one outside. The Sesame Street area closed early.
Additionally, the train ride experienced mechanical issues, stalling on the track and requiring multiple attempts to reverse and move forward again. The lack of clear signage also made navigation confusing.
The dining experience was also subpar:
* At Zagora Café around noon, there was no food readily available, and we waited 20 minutes just for basic items like burgers and chicken nuggets.
* At Smokehouse Grill around 5 PM, we stood in line for 40 minutes in the heat, only to discover a limited menu due to unavailability of items.
Some staff at the eating facilities seemed disengaged toward the customers. At end the day, exiting the park took over an hour due to traffic congestion likely worsened by Halloween festivities. It was evident that no additional traffic control support (e.g., police or event staff) was arranged to ease the flow, which was unacceptable for a park of this size and reputation.

The price for a 1 day pass was NOT worth the money spent--most all exhibits were "temporarily closed" as well as some of the rides. When purchasing the ticket, the customer service seriously lacking - Suggestion to general public, before you spend the $100+ for the 1 day pass - ask how many exhibits are open and rides functioning.

We visited Busch Gardens Tampa on April 23, 2025, and left extremely disappointed with the overall experience. Having last visited in 2008 and remembering it as a well-run and exciting park, the current state felt like a shadow of its former self.

Several major attractions were closed, and there was no clear communication — either in the park, on signage, or the app — about which rides were unavailable or why. Many animal exhibits were inexplicably empty, including the tiger enclosure, where we saw no sign of the animal at all despite walking around multiple times. This was a repeated issue across several exhibits.

We had purchased the All-Day Dining Deal in advance and attempted to use it at one of the pizza restaurants — the line was chaotic, extremely long, and poorly managed. Staff seemed confused, and service was slow and disorganized.

Wait times posted at rides were completely inaccurate, sometimes off by more than 30 minutes. We also had Quick Queue passes, but there were no staff members managing the merge points between the fast and regular lines. This caused awkward moments as guests didn’t know where to go or whether they were allowed to enter certain areas.

Staff throughout the park looked visibly unhappy and unmotivated, and many seemed untrained or unsure of how to help guests. At a barbecue restaurant, we asked a simple question about whether corn was included in the dining plan and the employee had no idea — no attempt to check, no interest in helping.

Adding to the frustration, many of the beverage carts scattered throughout the park were closed, likely due to a lack of staff, further reducing guest convenience and refreshment options.

While the roller coasters remain impressive in structure and concept, the overall experience was tainted by poor organization, lack of communication, insufficient staffing, and a general sense of decline.

We came with high expectations based on past experiences and left with deep disappointment. Busch Gardens used to be a must-visit attraction — unfortunately, it no longer feels that way.

Final Rating: Disappointed

It's hard to imagine how the management have ruined the possibilities this park has. App is utterly useless. Queue times wrong by quite a margin compared to the time on the rides themselves. Rides saying closed when working. Rides that have signs saying closed in real life marked as open all day on app. We had the all day dining and although the portions were good the service on the 2 times we used it couldn't have been slower. We got to the front and placed our order fairly quickly but on both occasions it took about 25 mins to get our order. There were not enough staff and for very simplistic menus the staff they do have or the systems are significantly slower than they could easily be. We were here on a Monday. We arrived at 10 am and no coaster was open till gone 11.30. Having been here for over 6 1/2 hours, iron gwazi has remained shut all day as has cheetah hunt. 2 of the big rides and no hint of action on either of them all day. The Congo River rapids haven't seen a drop of water all day so that's 3 big rides non operational all day. The staff on the rides we were able to go on were great and friendly enough. Thi spark has the potential to be amazing but it really is not anywhere close to that from today's experience. They even have the gall to charge $5 extra per person to use the skyline unless you are a season pass holder. And for the firsts 90 mins this was one of the only parts of the park that was open. It really feels like noone is actually running this place. Avoid at all costs

We went back to Busch gardens after a number of years and I have to say over all disappointed. Very unorganised with regards to people not knowing where to que for rides and several rides not working anymore. However worst than this was the staff. Almost every single one we encountered- mostly in the cafe areas- were so unhelpful and looked irritated that we were even nothing them to ask for a Coke Zero! Mostly younger staff were the worst. Never before have I seen just so many workers looking absolutely miserable at work all at the same time and in the same place. No idea where you got these people from but either sack them or get training because it does not take 3 teenagers to stand at one till and take an order for a Coke Zero whilst all the other tills are empty and the que is over 20 people long…. Wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were off their faces too by the look of them.

Over all not a great day and we paid a lot for it.

Had an amazing day at bush gardens and went on some of the biggest rollercoaster 🎢 we've ever been on. The Iron Gwazi was amazing. Feeding the multi-coloured birds in the avery with the liquid food was truly amazing. They literally fly on you, arm's, head, and shoulders getting that close up to them, and seeing all their beautiful colours was delightful.

2024 Update: Busch Gardens Parking is now regular $32. And preferred $35.+ tax. OUCH! You can find a few nearby parking spots and they are covered in other posts, but you will need to walk to the entrance. I parked in a large lot at Busch Plaza 1/2 mile away, remember to buy something from a store there, keep the receipt. Took an Uber to BG entrance cost 5.00 each way. The uber wait was 30mins @ 10am on a weekday. Your experience may vary.

Many of the attractions had closed. Nevertheless, they charge the full entrance fee. The people then spread out over the few open roller coasters, and the waiting times there were between 90 and 120 minutes. Also the zoo is very frugal, here an elephant, since two penguins....
The food stalls were pretty much all closed, but we wouldn't have bought anything there at those prices either.
Overall very outdated and not worth his money.

4 - 5 rides closed, stores and restaurants closed, it’s a Shame at least they should inform when you are paying that you will be available to ride only 3 rollercoasters and dont see any parade. Reading reviews its no something new

I am writing to express my disappointment regarding our recent visit to Busch Gardens Tampa. There were six of us in our group, and given the high cost of admission, we expected a much better experience.

First, we encountered several issues at the entrance, which made getting into the park frustrating. On top of that, parking was an outrageous $40, adding even more to the already expensive day.

Once inside, we were extremely disappointed to find that only a couple of rides were operating. There was no notice at the gate or before parking that half the park was closed, which felt misleading and unfair. Had we known in advance, we would have reconsidered our visit.

Additionally, one of the main attractions of Busch Gardens is the wildlife, yet there were hardly any animals, birds, or exhibits open. The park felt empty and did not live up to the experience we were expecting.

Overall, our visit felt like a waste of money, and we left feeling frustrated and disappointed. We would appreciate a response regarding this matter and how you plan to address these issues for future guests.

We had a very nice time at Bush Gardens.
I’ll try and provide some insights and helpful information for families….
First, we went on a Monday. Although “Spring Break” was going on, the park never appeared overly crowded during our time there (we were there from 11:30-7/close). If able, go during the week, I’ve heard weekends can be a bit of a mess.
Fast pass was totally worth it. If able, pay the extra bucks for quick access through the lines. My ride loving son and I hit 12 rides while moving in plenty of time for animals and food. The other ls in my family who don’t love rides as much were able to access lines quickly as well and then relax and stroll. Nothing worse than just standing in line, when there is a lot to see and do.

We did the all dining food deal. We would probably do it again, but one caution is that not all menu items are available with this. Example: milkshakes, most “desert” type fun items, anything alcoholic, etc is not included. Cookies and a brownie type desert are available at most, though, just not the overly fun items. However, most all places have a good list of menu items to still enjoy and we would probably do again since it’s just so simp and care free.

The BBQ/Smoke House place was my favorite. Actually pretty darn good brisket and ribs! Would expect to pay $30+ for what I had anywhere else.
Chicken tenders and cheese burgers at the various other places were kid favorites, and of course Chick Filet A.

Parking… I could see where this would be a drag on weekends, but with the shuttle service it’s super easy and not bad to park in general admission.

Overall, very good time… staff at most all locations were super friendly and seemed to enjoy their jobs. That always helps when you have kiddos.

We came here as part of our Christmas vacation. We arrived on Friday 12/27 and paid $42 for parking only to see the shuttle not working and the park entrance line all the way back to the shuttle. It would have been at least an hour just to get into the park. We asked the manager at the parking lot if we can get reimbursed for parking so we can come the next day. He said we will have to talk to guest relations once we are inside the park. We came back the next day and paid for parking again. The parking attendant also said to talk to guest relations to get reimbursed for yesterday’s parking. Once inside the park, we talked to guest relations and they said they don’t reimburse for parking and that everything is done at the parking lot! Basically we paid twice for parking for one day of park use.

Currently at bush gardens and this is a very disappointing and sad park the animals seems very stressed and not happy. Tiger is pacing and looks stressed this is the same for the elephants there are no staff around the address these concerns.
Everything is very dated and needs updating
We left after 2 hours not a good family day out
AVOID!!

Have visited this park many times over the years and this was the worst experience ever. We bought all day dining and quick queue…. Don’t bother with the dining and the quick queue gives you, at best, a slightly shorter wait, ‘quick’ it isn’t! They only have the unlimited dining in 4 restaurant. The lines at the smokehouse were worse than some of the rides, the chicken place near SheiKra was not taking orders so we ended up at dragons. Lines were ridiculous and food was sub par. You had to check out with the cashier before you got your cup with a QR code allowing one drink…. And to stand in yet another line. When did this park start nickel and diming its customers to this extent? Two main rides were fully closed, falcons fury and. Cheetah hunt. As a result all the rides were crazy busy and the quick queue was a joke, we waiting almost an hour in the line for cobras curse! Went back to Kumba and the line for quick queue was on to the bridge before the ride. In most cases they weren’t running two cars on the rides hence the issue but the park was rammed. You now have to pay $5 to ride the cable cars! I honestly have never been so disappointed in a place that I have always loved that now is simply all about how much money they can gouge from their customers, and based on other people we talked to I know we were not alone in our view. Avoid at all costs.

I was very disappointed in the Busch Gardens experience. It’s absolutely nothing like it was 20 years ago.

It felt like we were in an overcrowded third world foreign country. The filth and stink was overwhelming. There were so many people that we couldn’t even see everything that was there because of the wait times.

I left knowing I will never go back there again.

I would recommend SeaWorld though. It was awesome!

This park is a rip off! More than half the rides were broken! Half the animal displays were empty! Not worth it at all! Total rip off!

First place I visited in Florida, took a beautiful photo of the flamingos near Elmo Land in Busch Gardens. It takes about 3 hours or more to expernice everything. Especially the safari

Visited Busch gardens with family in july. The last time I visited was 10 years ago and I had fond memories of the park. Looks like I was either blinkered or the park has really gone down hill.

Firstly 43 dollars to park, have a day off. When we first lined up outside the car park for shuttle to the park, member of staff was shouting and swearing at people to listen to what she is saying and not put children on the outside seats.
Queue to get in was an absolute shambles, this was on a weds as well, heaven knows what it would have been like on a weekend, there were only two lines open so tonnes pushing in and people everywhere. Once we finally got into the park, only half of it is actually open until 10.30. So anyone getting in early to get on the rides forget it.

We jumped on the queue to ride the first ride we came across, queued for 30 mins to be told the ride had broken down. No fast passes just told to leave the queue.

Second ride was shikra, queued to get on and this also broke down. We decided to wait and were stuck in line for 30 mins, finally getting on.

This was par for the course throughout the day. Literally all rides breaking down and closing at some point throughout the day.

As for everything else, massively massively understaffed, the staff are more or less non existent, garbage all over the shop (at one point saw a coke bottle in an enclosure which was really sad), toilets were clean but not looking like they were cleared out regularly, food and drink 25% more expensive than disney.

Maybe it's unfair comparing some of the parks like this and seaworld to Disney but there is really no comparison, disney is 1000 times better.

Tickets seem to be heavily discounted now at Busch, therefore I guess you get what you pay for.

Avoid.

Enjoying a stay in Florida, to discover Busch Garden Tampa 🤩🎎tellage of YouTube videos watched, Coasters fan is the place to go, it is a waking dream.... ICONIC machines, the dream machine IRON GWAZI effectively its Top World ranking..... excellent, fluid, impressive.... After so many machines.... Beautiful park, also Zoo .... Also enjoy the delicious chicken from Fast food Chink fil a available at the park, it is DELICIOUS 😋

Platinum Passholder family on and off over many years. Did the Serengeti Safari tour at Tampa Busch Gardens yesterday (March 1, 2025)- was excellent with energetic and friendly tour guide.
Disappointed with long line to park our car at time of opening- took much longer than expected to get into the park, most of the time waiting on line at the parking lot entrance while trying to time our arrival as usual for the 10am opening.
We were reminded at guest services to stop by Expeditions store for our Platinum gift, but after walking there they didn't arrive yet. (Yesterday was a new month with new Platinum benefit advertised).
We are noticing our Platinum benefits have been watered down over the past few months (hence we have tended not to visit the park as often as we have in the past). Anticipating a trip to Williamsburg during the school spring break, expecting as last year few (possibly none) of our Platinum Benefits may be recognized while there- so we probably will spend more time in Colonial Williamsburg than in the park during our week trip (noting reduced hours anticipated due to colder season as in the past). I suppose it all will depend on their show schedule when they post it. Certainly if they don't reciprocate food discounts, we won't be staying the full day when they are opened later and will eat off site. So, as our park pass comes up soon for renewal, we need to decide soon- is it worth renewing as a Platinum? We would do it just for being close to Busch Gardens, however noting the Preferred lot keeps shrinking and our visits become more complicated, we have a decision to make soon.

It took 3 hours to get in the parking lot. Literally sat in 1 spot for 55 minutes! Bought the meal plan but every restaurant was over an hour wait! Bought a fast pass and it still took an hour to ride a roller coaster. It was 4 hours if you didn’t have a a fast pass! Then to add insult to injury they charged $5 to ride the sky bucket with an hour wait!! Why??? Do better Busch Gardens!!! I doubt we will ever return to this park again!

90 minute trip down after 10 days in Orlando parks had great time.
Down here at Busch absolute rubbish. Rides closed for " maintainence" many other rides often closed ," temporarily"
All day soda has no syrups or gas so flat weak soda. Attendant gave free drink code sticker.
Latest is over hour ago " inclement weather take cover all closed" radar shows rain over orlando!
All in all not customer focused operation.
Expect they were closing to prepare for the Halloween special and it's extra profits.
We like many others left

The park could use some cleaning. All the bathrooms smelled horrible. The rides were dirty and trash everywhere. I would think with having animals there, they would try to keep the park cleaner. The food was ok but I wanted a Cesar salad and they didn’t have any out. It seems like they need more employees. The ride entrances were unmanned on a few and they didn’t really check the quick que requirement. The smell was really bad in some areas. It needs a good pressure wash. They did have a heavy bleach smell in a few spots. The kids (teenagers) complained it was the worst park ever so they don’t want to ever come back.

Have been to Busch in Tampa many times since 1999 and this visit was the worst. We were staying in Orlando and drove to Busch for Howl-O-Scream which they cancelled last minute. We visited Sunday 28th October 2025 and it was busy, a lot of the rides were closed which was disappointing. Also, I think they should consider re-homing the animals as they seemed a bit neglected. This used to be one of the best parks in Orlando.

I am rather embarrassed to say that I have been to Busch Gardens. The only reason why it’s a 2/5 rather than a 1/5 is because the rides they have there are great when they are running. Especially Iron Gwazi. However a lot of the general running and presentation of the park outweighs this.

Firstly, the care and preservation of the animals they have there is really not nice to see. They have roller coasters that go over enclosures and music blaring out speakers right next to their pen. Surely this isn’t good for the animals? Speaking of pens they seem to be way too small some of the animals there seemed unsettled especially the tigers on their own in small enclosures constantly prowling making noises. Not only this but they have fireworks shows in the park with the park open for long hours. How can animals be okay with these scary noises and being stared at by guests from 10am until 10pm.

Another issue Busch Gardens have is how out of touch their app is. They have queue times on there but they are vastly out of touch with the actual time at the front of rides. The rapids showed 40 minutes on our app when getting to the ride which was only 2-3 mins away from where we are showed 70 mins. A lot of rides also said to be shut for weather delays, yet when watching the rides they were still loading guests on and guests were still riding which showed mass confusion. There is also other times where they would show rides open on the app yet when getting there the rides would be shut. The updating was awful and caused a lot of frustration that we left the park early.

Finally the employees. They seem to employ very young teenagers for summer/weekend jobs. They seem to just look miserable and not wanting to be there and don’t seem to be interested. To make things worse we were lining up for falcons fury as it was about to open. We saw the engineer doing their final checks and ticking off their checks sheet. Afterwards, we watched them give the approval and getting guests on. A guest then pointed to something wrong with the ride. A whole metal piece was unattached from the ride which went unnoticed! They immediately shut the ride. It’s highly worrying that this wasn’t seen by a professional member of
staff!

Overall I really would not recommend any Sea World or Busch Garden park this seems to be an issue with all parks we have been to and I feel guilty having been to these parks due to the reasons stated.

Such a money grab. Half of the rides were not working. I bought the meal plan which most places did not accept and even though we bought the fast pass it was not accepted for several of the main rides. Food was terrible. Service was terrible. Stay away. So disappointing.

Very very disappointed. I wish I had read the other trip advisors before we came.

Positives
I paid for fast pass it excluded 2 rides but for the rest it worked well. Kids got on every ride and they liked them. If like roller coasters then this is the place for you. But the rest is basic.

Negatives
I paid for the food package all inclusive. It was poor. Service was poor a lack of interest from some staff. food was slopped out. It reads like it’s restaurants it wasn’t . My daughter is vegetarian it was a really poor choice more in some places than others. I have been to other parks all inclusive this holiday and this park was no where near the same standard. In any way.
Beware no bottled water included in the all inclusive and no alcohol. If you do choose to buy alcohol or water both are ridiculously expensive. In fact I would say it was a rip off.
Park is dated in my opinion. I would not spend money or time here again and would not recommended it. Toilets were also poor lack of soap, towels not clean.
There are far better places to visit. Poor.

Absolutely awful.

Monsoon like weather on entering the park and there is nothing else to do apart from stand in line.

We stood in a queue for 3 hours watching the staff slap and hit each other. Totally unprofessional behaviour. No management it's staffed by teens.

The park is seriously tired, everything looks run down and dingy.

The zoo section was depressing.

Good overpriced and the restaurants, particularly Starbucks were dated and service was slow.

I'd be very concerned about safety here.

We have up and took the 1hr30 uber back to Orlando.

Don't worry, if you don't get to do anything they won't give a refund, only an offer to come back after a year. Pretty pointless when you live in the UK.

One of the best theme parks in the country. I am a theme park enthusiast and this is also my home park (live in Florida). Amazing atmosphere and the best thrill rides in Florida and a top park around country when rating by rides and experiences. Annual pass member for long time and also the best Halloween event in Florida (only down side is do not change all houses year to year). Take a guys trip for 20 years going to HHN and now Howl o Scream SeaWorld and the mighty Howl o Scream Busch Gardens Tampa (BGT) and BGT Howl o Scream is definitely the best overall best Halloween and thrill experience. (But need to invest in changing half of the houses year to year).

Absolute chaos in the restaurants and food outlets, the dine all day pass needs reviewing because to pay for a premium product takes hours out of your day. We had to queue at outlets for so long with two members of staff behind one till at each time, so inefficient, embarrassingly so.

Staff are rude and miserable, not just the odd few, every single member of staff we encountered was so miserable and offered no help or assistance.

For a busy weekend during the holidays, many to go food outlets were closed, something you expect to see out of season.

We purchased the fast pass, but so many of the top attractions were closed without any prior warning, waste of money. They new ride - pheanix rising was a shambles, we were fast pass, but even so we waited 40 mins and never even got to go on it because if people left the ride the wrong way and triggered a sensor, the ride locked out and they had to call and engineer, happened countless times while we were queuing. Each time a reset is required a run of the carts empty takes place. Could a simple barrier not prevent this?

The entire place feels like it’s being ran by teenagers with no clue of organisation or care for there guests. I won’t be back. I’ll be sticking to Disney and universal from now on. Big problems from the top at this organisation, SeaWorld wasn’t much different.

Full park, disorganized. Toys with 3h in line. Very bad experience. Time to buy meals from 1:30h. It's not worth coming to Tampa.

OMG, what has happened to this park. Set of very early from Orlando as one of our family has never been. We’ve been every time we’ve been in Florida for the past 26 years. In a nutshell, some great rides, unfortunately quite a few were closed and don’t even bother with the all day dining, the food is appalling. There is a serious lack of investment, we will not be wasting time and money going back there again.

Been there to revive my own childhood memories and show my wife where i spent my childhood and teen days. Only 5 Rollercoasters were running. Aside the amount of the entry fee (110$/pP) a complete rip-off: had two beers, cost me 28$ (!!!), water is 5+$. There are fresh water fountains for free refill of your brought along cup or bottle - but none of`em is signaled to actually urge you to buy. The 5 rides we made were fun but didnt worth our back to back 6h hour trip from Cape Coral.

BuschGardens the park of the Russian mountains, the rollercoaster, highly recommend, do not leave out

Cheetah Hunt - top D+ montanha russa
Cobra Curse - Russian mountain q turn
Falcon’s Fury - Torre top, vc desce de frente
Iron Gwazi - top D+ montanha russa
Kumba - Russian mountain
Montu - Russian mountain inverted top
Phoenix Rising - montanha russa
Sheikra - top D+

Start the park roadmap by the anti-hour direction, enter the park follow the right side starting with Cheetah Hunt, so you catch fewer queues

Negative points of the park, bathrooms clogged and very dirty, staff without pattern, very dumped, note, food, very weak options, lack of information, boards, no more paper map, compared to the other park in the group, the difference in care is quite large.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay isn’t just a theme park – it’s our favorite theme park in the world! We’ve got Platinum Season Passes, and trust us, they’re worth every cent. If you’re considering it, go for it – the perks are unbeatable!

We visited on a crisp Friday afternoon, arriving around 12 PM, and while the weather was chilly, the park was calm and inviting. Preferred parking made life so much easier – the short walk to the entrance alone makes it worth the splurge.

With Quick Queue Unlimited, we breezed through every ride with zero waits, even on the most popular attractions. From the adrenaline rush of Iron Gwazi to the fun twists of Cheetah Hunt, it felt like we had the park to ourselves!

The entire experience was elevated by the amazing staff – they were friendly, attentive, and clearly take pride in the park. Speaking of pride, Busch Gardens is spotless and beautifully maintained. The mix of world-class coasters, vibrant shows, and close encounters with incredible animals makes this park one of a kind.

Don’t skip the All-Day Dining Pass! Being able to grab a meal every 90 minutes is a game-changer – so much variety and value packed into one pass. And of course, the animals were a true highlight – seeing majestic lions, giraffes, and other exotic wildlife was such a unique addition to the day.

Whether you’re a thrill-seeker, animal lover, or just looking for a fun day with family, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay delivers for all ages. We’re already counting down the days until our next visit!

Very bad parking situation which was also expensive. Took an hour to get in the park. Very bad service and communication to direct people in.

On our holiday to Orlando we decided to revisit Busch gardens as we had been there on our last visit in 2017 and had a good time. As soon as we arrived, it felt disorganised….there was a huge long line to get through the 2 ticket booths open and it didn’t help that there was no shade and it was a boiling hot day. The park seemed quite tired and staff were not as helpful as in the Disney/universal parks. We had all day dining as part of our tickets but service wasn’t great and the main restaurant where we had lunch was poorly organised, so we had to queue for ages and the food wasn’t great at the end of it. It seemed at some rides like you were just left to manage the queue yourself which meant that it wasn’t as efficient and fast as it could be. To be fair, we were able to get on quite a few rides quickly in the morning but as soon as it started to get busy it was a bit of a nightmare….on a couple of rides they only had 1 car going at a time - not sure why they didn’t increase - maybe because they didn’t have staff to manage it or maybe because they wanted to sell more fast passes. It was a really hot day when we visited but it felt like there was very little shade and the fans that they put up were not doing the job needed..this resulted in us all feeling a bit ratty which is a shame as we were there to have fun! On the plus side the roller coasters that we went on were good although a couple were not in action and Cheetah broke down so we were unable to ride this.
Nice to see some of the animals but again their enclosures did seem small and a bit tired. Parking was $40 and you had to pay extra to go on the Skyride which I thought was a rip off.

The park is a good choice for those who like adrenaline and Russian mountains, but the Service and service are bad, especially in the restaurants. They work unwillingly and do not make the slightest effort to please you (negative mention for Zambia). We also note that the park has several points of poor conservation and cleanliness. Unfortunately, 3 attractions were closed. We won't come back.

---but not at all in a good way. Believe the reviews you read on here its a train wreck. 1. You'll pay way more than the website advertises. Buyer beware!
2. I was buying tickets for 10 people and was frustrated by the website double talk, so I made the big mistake to call to speak to someone who could understand my ticket request. It was a call center (I believe non US...)
3. I wanted tickets for 2 Senior Citizens and 2 Veterans, 5 fast pass admissions with meals included, 1 fast pass admission without meals. To everyone's surprise I was actually only sold a fast pass with no admission..... and a VERY RUDE employee tried to convince me that is actually what happened. So, on top of about $1700 I already spent I had to pay, I had to pay $130 more for one admission!!
4. Plus we had to take 3 cars since there were 10 of us, and general admission parking was $45 per car!
5. No BEEF all day long in one of the food court style restaurants. Lines were 1/2 hr long. Stand in line to get a $20 meal when all you want to do is sit down and rest so you can go stand line for a ride! Very poor value on food.
6. The senior adults wanted to take the train to see the animals to save on walking... it was a 1 out 10 enjoyable experience. If you like the sound of metal scraping metal, screeching, kids getting so bored they are fussing and kicking your seat ride the train. Alternately, much much more enjoyable is the cable car overhead, but that will cost you an extra $5 person to ride it!
7. The Christmas lights were pretty but not worth the cost of admission. We had high hopes for a reasonably good time but left feeling completely and utterly RIPPED off.

Not crowded at all thanks to a bit chilly weather. But sadly many rides were closed due to renovations. No lines so no need for quick que in middle of week first two weeks of December. Must do is all day dining already paid after first meal if bought during Black Friday deals.

Everything either broken or closed I think they’ve actually closed the park and forgotten to tell everyone - this used to to no. 1 on our itinerary for rollercoasters as of today we won’t be going again it was that bad - do yourself a favour and steer clear of this train wreck

Nice zoo/amusement park combination. Beautiful grounds, clean/well-kept. Large variety of animals that appeared humanely kept. Enclosures well-designed to provide up close encounters. Coasters appeared thrilling. We will visit again.

Not worth the exorbitant prices. The entry was very disorganized and the help was not aware of how to help. Many people were as confused as we were.
A large number of the rides were closed because of high winds which is understandable but going into there app said they were open so it was hard to plan. Also the wait times in the app were always incorrect. We had the meal plan but it doesn't include all places so when we bought a bottle of water it was $6.79!

The icons show was good and the ice show was excellent.

The entrance to the park was quite chaotic, full of problems pq they do not know how to inform the customers. We were not informed that the Sea World ticket was required to enter. The attractions are pretty cool, but the all day dining is not worth it.

The Busch Gardens park is extremely decadent! Of 13 toys, 5 closed, plus other attractions also disabled for “maintenance”. Poorly educated employees, apparently ill-treated animals... finally, a total decay! Disappointing!

It was an incredibly expensive and disappointing visit. The water rides were all shut down, the coasters kept shutting down for various reasons making wait times at the open ones around 2 hours, the only way to get on rides was to buy the additional (and expensive!!!) quick queue passes. The food was limited, mediocre at best and also expensive. I would never recommend to anyone to visit.

We love this park, this was our 3rd visit over 13 years and we weren’t disappointed this time either. Rides were all pretty much walk on, and all super fun. There were a couple of rides closed, but we didn’t miss them too much. There’s been 2 new additions since we were last here and they were excellent too. One slight complaint would be on purchasing all day dining, we couldn’t really get anywhere to eat or drink earlier than 11.30 on our way round, but that was minor. On the whole it’s a great park and super rides for the thrill-seekers!

Lots of room for improvement:

(1) Needs more/better signage to point visitors to attractions, bathrooms, exits.

(2) App his a feature that leads you to an attraction, but it's not intuitive and it's super-easy to miss. When you're looking at the map, you can't just tap the location you want to go to. First you have to tap one of the buttons on top (e.g., "Rides", "Animals") and THEN you can tap to have it show you the route.

(3) App shows waiting time for rides, but ridiculously, no way to sort by wait time.

(4) Sky Ride (cable cars) is an extra $5 per person, ridiculous. We spent $720 for 3 people, including QuickQueue (FastPass). That wasn't enough to ride the Sky Ride.

(5) There are zero truly healthy food options.

Ice,show and Three Kings Show were awesome. The Christmas lights after 4p were magical. I bought the $42.00 unlimited dining plan but my food was awful. I ate at Zagoras Cafe. We had to wait because they had no grilled chicken sandwiches ready. When it finally came it was tough, on a hamburger bun with wilted lettuce (priced at $18.00, a coke,for $7.00 and a slice of carrot cake $10.99. The cake was dry but cream cheese icing was good. I expect food at a theme park to be expensive, but it should also be good. I did bring a water bottle and refilled it at the soda stations located in the Dragon Fire Grill Building where there is also a,food court.
I had a good Cafe Mocha at Starbucks for $8.00 and shared an expensive but delicious funnel cake topped with ice cream and fruit at a restaurant near the exit on the left. They had a few tables and chairs to eat at.

Overpriced, crowded and the food is horrible for the price. Miss the days when Anheiser Busch owned them. Bought season tickets last year but will let them expire.

A few good rides when they work, great fun but be prepared to get hammered on the wallet £7 for a water food and drink is extortionate the toilets are clean most of the staff are great the odd one with attitude.

What should have been a day of fun and joy became the biggest and most expensive disappointment ever!
Cheetah was closed so on to Cobra which malfunctioned and closed after 75 minutes of wait.
Then back to Cheetah which was now running but had 90 minutes of wait.
Meanwhile the rest of the family took a walk and found hyenas and a lion (3 total) sleeping. A couple of antelopes were visible, a couple of giraffes far away and a couple of elephants. The lone tiger was pacing, poor thing.
We had lunch at Falcon Fire which was another bad and expensive mistake. We were there at approx 1 pm. Long lines filled all 4 booths. When we finally got to the counter to order, the lady preparing the meals went back into the kitchen to make french fries.... like, wth!
The Starbucks in there closed out of nowhere while we were in line.
After that we found attractions were either closed or had a waiting time of 1-1.5 hours. On top of that the popular rides like komtu and river rapids had a sign saying the were only open from 11-4 although opening hours were 10-5.
And at this point our kids (7/12) had had enough of long lines so they gave up.
They went back to cobra which now had a 45 minute wait.
To sum up, half the rides weren't running and those that were open had shorter opening hours.
Also, wending machines didn't work and upon exiting the park we wanted to but Dippin dots for the kids. 5 out of 8 flavors were sold out.
We are all so very disappointed. The park wasn't full at all, yet the kiddos only got to try 2 rides, nothing worked, noone knew why or even spoke English.
The highlight was the park squirrels.
Definitely definitely do not waste your money!

Nice animal park, great different exhibits. Several rides were closed due to weather. If it was bad I surely didn't see it. Food is crazy way over price. $18 for a chicken sandwich, not a meal . Ridiculous, $70 to get in and a 2nd mortgage to do activities
Over 100 to feed a giraffe lettuce that costs you $10. Once of a life experience
Because we'll never go back

Rafael Rico is my name, I went to the park on Saturday 20/09/25, I bought 3 tickets with food included for me, my wife and teenage daughter with much excitement and expectation, order number 20250919556099. The worst amusement park I have visited for many years and have visited many for 40 years. Half of the 14 roller coasters closed, half of the food places closed, there was no show of the scheduled, old and poorly toilet facilities, poorly maintained and dirty general infrastructure without maintenance, the staff in minimal numbers, all unmotivated and with bad attitude for Customer Service except for Ms. Evelyn in the ticket office area on 20/09/25 at 10AM who offered me exceptional Service. The food is poor, poor presentation and very low quality. dirty restaurants and poorly maintained common areas. I do this review in order to alert new users to NOT LOSE THEIR MONEY AT THIS ATTRACTION, it is an embarrassment to Tampa that for a moment I use Bush Garden as an icon of the city and a disrespect to customers who in good faith trust the advertising and good faith of a traditional Enterprise. ADDITIONAL RATING: I clarify that I previously called Bush Garden to verify the general operability of the park attractions and could not give me information, they referred me to the Web where the updated information is also not found. I will make a formal complaint to the park management to demand compensation or reimbursement for not meeting their service offering and customer satisfaction

I love ❤️ the parks and I’ve been going there for a long time since I was a kid and I haven’t had any problems recently doing stuff only for the passes

So many major rides were closed with no warning, and the ones that were open had ridiculous wait times. The park was overcrowded, poorly managed, and not worth the price at all. Honestly can’t believe I paid for this experience, there are so many better places to go in Florida. Hugely disappointing.

Went on a Thursday - First time attending and I wasn't impressed. The park seemed understaffed and many rides were offline. The rollercoasters are very fun, but the wait times are long and they're really the only rides there. If you're looking for a park with rides and rollercoasters aren't your cup of tea, I would skip this park.

The other half of the park is a functioning zoo - which - was fine?

Food was expensive and not great. The pizza was "school quality" (according to my kids). Very long lines for food as well. I'm not sure if the food pass would be worth it.

The Sesame Street area looked like it might be fun for little kids, but I'm not sure it's $100+ "fun".

Key takeaways:
- Long lines (30 minutes) on a Thursday (wait times aren't accurate)
- At least 3 / 10 rollercoasters weren't running
- Food isn't great
- Only attend this park if you're into rollercoasters or really need to go to a zoo without going to a zoo.

Visited BG for the day with 5YO granddaughter & family to experience Christmas Town. Most of the day was enjoyable until we decided to eat at the Dragon Fire Grill. Just wanted a place to sit down & eat after a long day. FOOD WAS EXPENSIVE AND INEDIBLE!! Pizza resembled cardboard. Beef & Broccoli was BURNT. Cheeseburgers were COLD. Don't even get me started on the ridiculous soda fountain process. A 20% tip is automatically added to your bill as well?? ITS A SELF-SERVICE CAFETERIA!!!
DO BETTER BUSCH GARDENS

Complete rip-off/scam. I truly believe the team has this set-up in a way to charge you as much as possible with no remorse for their poor management. Much of what I'm writing has been echoed in numerous reviews, which I should have listened too before I went.

My family and I spent over $600 on three single day tickets with FastPass Plus add-ons, expecting to experience the park’s attractions at their best. Unfortunately, our visit was marred by several issues that significantly impacted our experience.

Firstly, nearly half of the rides were closed for “annual maintenance,” which was not disclosed anywhere on their websites or app. We confirmed this with a customer service representative at the park, who stated that the website and app were not updated to reflect the closures. She mentioned that the marketing team was working on having this issue resolved in the future. This lack of communication left us feeling misled and disappointed, especially after paying for tickets and add-ons with the expectation of enjoying all available rides. The app showed everything was operational, what a scam in itself.

Secondly, we encountered problems with the FastPass system. The FastPass lanes were not properly monitored, allowing guests to bypass the system by lane-hopping without any verification of their FastPass access. We only observed one ride (Rising Phoenix) where someone was actually monitoring the FastPass line and scanning passes. On our first attempt to ride, the ride was closed for about 45 minutes after waiting in line for some time. When we returned for a second attempt, our passes were scanned again, but no other rides had their lanes monitored. Additionally, we noticed that some rides had their FastPass lanes roped off in the middle of the day for no apparent reason, while guests continued to hop into the FastPass lane from the regular line.

This combination of ride closures, lack of FastPass monitoring, and inconsistent lane management was extremely frustrating and disappointing. I expected a much higher level of service and coordination, especially with how much money we spent.

It was disheartening to spend a significant amount of money and time and not receive the experience we anticipated. We live outside of the U.S., had we known that there were going to be unannounced closures, and disregard for add-on purchases to “enhance” our experience, we would not have spent the time and money into this location the way we did.

Also good luck trying to get ahold of anyone, they never responded to my e-mail when I informed them of the issue. I had to call after waiting 10 days for a response, in which they basically said there's nothing they can do about how the park manages their staff and advising people of what's open and when. They were also aware that they do not advertise what is closed and when. (Probably on purpose).

Here's some advice:
- Buy the tickets at the park if you decide to go, and call ahead even before you do that to see what's open.
- Don't bother buying fast-pass lanes as no one will be there to monitor it anyways, it'll save you almost 200 bucks per person and you can just skip the line.
- If someone is scanning, don't worry, they probably will only be at one. (if they scan your pass once, you can't get a refund, which is why we couldn't get a refund because they scanned our pass once at the only ride that was being manned and said "well your pass was scanned so we can't issue a refund even if no one else was monitoring the other lanes lanes".
- Bring your own food, most of the stands won't be open anyways and its extremely over priced.

Have been several times before but this time the park looked tired, neglected and stuck in the past in need of modernisation.
The two water rides are stuck in the '80s, the queue are slow moving the rides now tired and lacking excitement. The Popeye raft ride at Universal is way better, the queue there is always moving and the ride so much better.

The all day dining experience at Busch Gardens was poor. The food at the pizza place was cold and tasteless, the drinks machines in the pizza place had run out of everything by mid afternoon.

It's a shame to see the park on such a poor state now, the money seems to be spent on new rollercoasters and not much else.

We still pretty much enjoyed our time there but in no great rush to visit again.

I love seeing the animals and kids like the rides, but I will NOT go again in the summer, the heat and humidity is unbearable, they really need to fix their fans and air conditioning and add more shelter out of the sun. There were so many fans that were not working and as much as they continue to add rides they should be updating and adding more indoor and shelter areas. We did the all day dining, and I didn’t find it worth it. The kids wanted things that are not on the plan so I ended up paying even more on food. There should be more water available, I thought I would pass out at one point trying to find some air conditioning. Charging an extra $5.00 to ride the Sky Ride is ridiculous if you don’t have a fun pass or annual pass (It wasn’t running the last 3 times I was there) finally yesterday it was working. The train ride doesn’t stop at both depots, you can’t get off on the other side. Seems like you are just walking all day in the blazing sun. Bush Gardens was the best back in the 70’s…free samples of Bush Beer great shows and the clydesdales were the best!!

Christmas day, bought a discounted pass on member deals with all day dining
hope this isn't normal, food lines were awful at 2 out of 3 of them we went to.

1st place for food all day dining pass - WAIT WAS LONG - THe chicken tenders , fries and desset were good at zagora cafe

Drink machines at one spot were not fizzing (carbonation)

2nd place - Spent an hour in line to find out our all day dining pass wouldn't allow ice cream special pineapple waffle cone funnel cake, then got a drink pass to wait in another line

3rd place - LINE WAS AWFUL AT BBQ FIRE PLACE AROUND 5:30 - this where a show happens inside

Last place - Oasis - pizza was good, the garlic knots good chicken parm was just chicken tenders - good not great

Didn't see any lions or cheetahs or orangutans, we saw birds elephants and kangaroos the chritmas night lights were nice.

VALUE IS REALLY NOT THERE IF NOT DOING RIDES

$38 for PARKING - CRAZY - NO MILITARY DISCOUNT

This review is not "oh it was great" so prepare for the real experience. For years we have gone to Busch Gardens and it has always been a pleasant experience. This trip was NOT. It started before the park entrance. I don't know how long the park has been there; decades at least and on the same piece of road is the DOT and FHP so you would think they would notice a problem. The cars were backed up for 2 miles trying to get into the park at 10:00. It took us to 12:30 to get in!!!!! Once inside we were sent to park where there were no parking spots and no parking directors. We drove to the back lot and trekked to the entrance, half the day gone. The first water ride was a 90 minute wait so we went to the next one. It was also 90 minutes, but we decided to wait. An hour into the wait just as we were close to getting to ride, they shut down because of lightening in the area! So we decide to use the dining tickets we bought. after waiting another 20 minutes in line we get to the checkout and no one was at the register! After waiting another 15 I was really getting pissed and looked for a manager, they acted like I was speaking a different language. Finally the girl comes back and starts checking us out. I didn't read the fine print apparently and my grandson had a cookie on his tray that put him over the limit for food consumption. I hade to pay $6 for a stale cookie. We finally get back out and all the animals have chosen to stay inside. joy. The other cages looked sad and like a 3rd world zoo. The only show we could find, because the rides were closed again, was a moto show which wasn't too bad. The train was down, the air lift was down. even the jumping area for the kids was down. No other shows except a small overcrowded sesame street toddler show. The food and drinks were way over priced. It was a terrible experience that I spent a lot of money on for my grandkids summer visit. This is Florida, it rains all summer If you can't have rides that are out of the weather or more shows, maybe you should close down for summer. oh, mone mor thing. I picked after June 6 because a great new immersive area was opening June 6. It was NOT open. AND when i gave up and left the tram was down because of weather so we walked in the lightening to our car

Poor theme park. 3 big rides all closed with no notification on the app or before you get into the park, we found out when we arrived at the ride. Other rides constantly breaking down, long queues, late opening of park areas and inaccurate wait times. 1 food outlet stunk of vomit and they all had slow service and tables were filthy. The park and rides all look tied and outdated. Save your money and head to Universal resort.

The park is pretty awful. Do not waste your money on the food all day pass, because it is extremely limited and what is available is quite poor quality. The staff have very little knowledge of the park beyond the very minor function that they’re responsible for. There was no clear signage at the entrance about what you were supposed to do if you have the all day fast pass or the food pass. We had to walk all the way back to the front to get wristbands for the food, very annoying. All of the dining areas are dirty, the water and soft drink stations are not included in the food package, and bottles of water are seven dollars! The roller coasters are actually pretty good, but the problem is they do not provide shade for the queue lines, making it very hot and uncomfortable to wait for the ride. Overall, I’d pass on this park.

The sloth encounter was a longtime dream of mine. We visited in October and it was a delight beyond words. These special animals are clearly very meticulously loved, cared for and maintained at this facility. Of course the sloths were absolutely amazing, but our guides Justin and Amanda made it even better than expected. Their passion and care for these animals absolutely shined. They were so knowledgeable and friendly and had a great sense of humor. We were so comfortable and felt so welcomed, I was truly impressed with their combination of both people and sloth skills! Wonderful experience all around, and we'll be back not only to visit the sloths Harry and Lorenzo again, but also Justin and Amanda!

The food is overpriced, the queues too long. Like Waiting time indicator on mobile phone app did not match actual Waiting time at station. Some of the animal enclosures looked poor.

Avoid using Mears transportation included with your Busch Gardens admission ticket. We were left stranded for four hours in a lightning storm after the bus left 50 minutes early, abandoning 11 of us - including 3 children and an elderly person.

The rides broke down and we weren’t offered a line skip for when they resumed, despite lining up for an hour. We ordered food and part of the meal wasn’t available but no alternatives or discounts were provided so we weren’t charged full price for less. There are no efforts to keep people from overheating and the water fountains dispense warm water. This park might be worth a visit outside of summer but I would be hesitant to ever return again. A lot of drunk adults which concerned me as most visitors drive there. Saw more than one fight break out.

Went with family (6 of us) and upon entering park we bought "Quick Queue" upgrade to our tickets and were told that if we didn't use them at all, we could return to guest services at the end of the day for a full refund. Well, since so many rides were closed we never had a need to use quick queue tickets and were told by guest services rep that day, 3/9/25, that we would receive a full refund of $604.34. They said it might take a full billing cycle to show up (amazing that they are able to immediately process the charge but not the credit!). I waited until 4/27/25 to allow for credit to get processed--nothing! Called guest services today and was told that they are unable to credit me as promised but "maybe" they could give me tickets for future use! I was promised a cash refund on my credit card and now they refuse to let go of my money. What a fraudulent scam. The FL attorney general should shut them down.

Very disappointed on 5th February 2025. Traveled up from Orlando for this, a lot of rides closed!!! Looking very tired. Stick to Disney parks, more expensive but in my view better value

I love Busch Gardens, especially during the Christmas season. There are just so many fun things and activities to enjoy—from the winter ice-skating show to the Christmas lights, décor, Christmas train, and more. It’s so hard to beat!

I really want to emphasize the top-notch experience we had during our visit with Santa at the North Pole. It felt so personal. They only allow one family or group at a time to enter Santa’s house, and they don’t rush you after seeing Santa.

We visited the North Pole on the evening of 11/29/2025, and we were assisted by the elf “Mistletoe,” who was absolutely amazing. Her interaction with my three kids was so memorable—she made their pre-meeting with Santa magical and even more exciting. Santa was also incredibly kind, truly the best Santa we’ve met so far. He took his time talking with the kids, and they genuinely had a wonderful experience.

For those visiting Busch Gardens with kids, I highly recommend including the North Pole in your trip.

It’s a cool place but way too many people. Flash pass is priority and for two people it’s $500 plus for tickets and flash pass. Ridiculous. There needs to be a new plague to lower the population because you can’t enjoy a thing anymore with how many people there is today.

the rides were mediocre, definitely don’t recommend the summer, the lines were so long. But, the quality of Busch gardens has gone down, first they have annoying covers of music,and now they’re using AI in shows! They used ai backgrounds,there was culture aproprayion and the story line made NO sense. And get this, I had this soviner cup and it was 99xents to refill for the day, now it’s 10 dollars and you need a sticker?! How do you go from 0,99 to 10.00! Food was overpriced, half a pizza costed 10 dollars and it wasn’t even that good. We went for a show at the dragon grill pub and the musicians didn’t show up??? It’s a bit disappointing. It was better back then.
It’s really overpriced which is upsetting
Oh and they have fireworks AND drones every night for the summer?! That’s so horrible for the ebvirminet ?!
Now if you’re really going here’s my tips I guess.
Sometimes if you’re about to go on a ride and it gets canceled you MAY be able to get a quick que pass—don’t ruin this for us. Do not abuse this
Near the Peguins if you walk ahead behind the tank they’re alligators, up head you’ll see a cage and like an animal thingy, I recommend visiting it.
Rides like cobras curse/tigris aren’t really worth the wait, they’re really short rides and often have very long wait times.
Cheetah hunt is the longest ride but long line
Iron gwazi has such a long line too
I definitely recommend Montu
If you go early in the morning/not on break they’ll barley be lines
On summer nights at like 8-9 the rides will have less wait times
Saringettir flyer made me feel dizzy also the restraints are a bit vineveing
Definitely bring something to entertain you in line
Uuuh
Sky ride is nice I dont know if I’d pay 10 dollars though
Go to the shows? I think that’s all I have to say uhh….yeah ?

Staff unhelpful. High number of kiosks were closed.
Park was quiet so rides were short waits but the whole place looks tired and dirty.

We visited Busch Gardens Tampa last Friday with our kids, arriving early and hoping for a great day. I’ve been coming to this park since I was a child, so it was especially disappointing to see how far it has fallen. It was my stepchildren’s first visit—and unfortunately, they said they never want to return.

The ride lines were outrageous. Congo River Rapids had a two-hour wait, largely because they were only using one bay for loading and unloading. Same situation with the flume ride. Operational cuts like this are clearly doubling the wait times, and guests are the ones paying for it—literally and figuratively.

The landscaping was in poor condition, and the park overall looked dirty. Walkways desperately need pressure washing, and the Sesame Street area—once a magical place when it was Dragon Land in my childhood—is now full of worn-down patches, chipped paint, and fading colors. It felt more neglected than family-friendly.

We stopped by the Nairobi Preserve, which I used to love as a kid to see the gorillas. Now it’s covered in bird droppings and surrounded by unsightly chain-link fencing. The rainforest misters that used to give the area its charm and immersive feel? Gone.

To top it off, we waited 50 minutes for lunch at the Smokehouse because only one of the three ordering lines was open—on Easter weekend, no less.

I wish I could say this was just an off day, but the overall condition and management of the park point to a bigger issue. Sadly, we won’t be going back. It’s just not the same place anymore.

Over half the rides were closed or broken down. Made the line ups for remaining rides, massive! Quick queue won't help you much, either. Plus side, food was pretty good. Overall this place is just a money grab!!

Hadn’t been for over ten years and I was really excited to spend the day at Busch Gardens with my partner for Valentines Day.

We purchased our tickets online around 4 days in advance and stayed at a hotel near by.

Fortunately we didn’t have to pay for parking as the hotel offered a free shuttle service.

The park has gone down hill since the last time I remember being there and seems more intent on extorting money from people than providing a memorable and enjoyable day out.

Around 40% of the rides that we wanted to experience were closed and had been closed for some time. Had this been disclosed on the website prior to our visit, we would have chosen to go on a different date. Incredibly disappointing.

They don’t allow you to take your own food into the park as then, they wouldn’t be able to hang you out to dry with their massively over the top food prices in the park. 2 pretzels and 2 soft drinks - almost $50!!!! I expect to pay more at a theme park but the prices here are on another level.

It was bad enough that most things were closed, but then the prices of food and drinks on top just left us feeling robbed. We left early.

An absolutely shocking experience and I would never, ever go back to this park.

Fantastic day out. Something for everyone. Minimal queues which is great in the heat. Rides were brilliant, lots of animals to see.
Friendly staff who were informative.
We spent all day there and needed longer so will definitely be back!
A few rides weren't running but didn't spoil the day - something to look forward to next time
We would recommend the dinner pass.

We recently visited the Busch Gardens Tampa, Florida location, attracted by their end-of-summer “buy one ticket, get one free” promotion. Upon arrival, we immediately noticed the nearly empty parking lot and a lack of visitors. Our first experience of price gouging occurred at the gate, a ridiculous $35 plus tax parking fee! We were parking our own car, and the park isn’t responsible for anything that happens to it.

After squeezing into a tight parking space, an old tram picked us up. Trust me when I say the tram was old, beat-up, and extremely worn down, torn and broken in multiple places, and worst of all, it shook terribly. At this point, our suspicions about Busch Gardens were already being confirmed.

Once inside the park, we noticed that the majority of areas looked worn-out and abandoned. Many sidewalks were covered in mold, fences were old and some broken, and we even saw weeds growing from the roof of one of the attractions. Some areas had been heavily painted in bright colors, clearly to conceal how aged and deteriorated they were.

We stopped at one of the few food concession stands that were open and purchased two bottles of water and one pretzel. This was our second price gouging experience, $20.10 for two small bottles of Dasani water and a salty pretzel. Total ripoff! I checked the price of a 24-pack of Dasani water at Target, and it’s $5.29. Busch Gardens is charging $6.33 for just one bottle or $5.29 if you buy two!

We continued walking through the park and noticed the lack of activities, visitors, and that most rides were out of service or shut down. Employment opportunity signs were scattered throughout the park. Busch Gardens has clearly been neglected, and it shows. The more we looked, the more broken, rusted, outdated, and worn-down everything appeared.

After two hours of walking the entire park, we left. We wouldn’t return even if it were free as this place is depressing, and the price gouging seems like their only lifeline. The entire park needs a serious overhaul and is likely headed toward closure.

We bought the ticket, parking, quick que and the dining package in advance. The park opened at 9 and none of the food opened until 11:30 if they opened at all. When the food did open, people waited over an hour for the food. They were not prepared and people were held hostage by the lack of communication. The quick doesn’t cover all the rides. Do not recommend buying any upgrades if you are going to visit. None of it is worth it. Eat before you go and make the most of the park with minimal expectations.

I am writing to formally express my profound disappointment with the service my group received during our school trip to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay on November 21, 2025, and to request a refund for the three chaperone tickets our school was required to pay for due to errors made by your team.

Prior to our visit, I contacted Busch Gardens directly to ensure all necessary steps were taken for a smooth check-in. Unfortunately, the representative I spoke with instructed me to complete the wrong form, which set off a chain of preventable issues upon our arrival.

When we arrived at the park, the problems began immediately:

Incorrect Order Date:
Our order was inexplicably dated November 14, despite our documented request and confirmation being issued for November 21. This discrepancy created confusion and delayed our group’s entry.

Chaperone Tickets Omitted:
Although our group clearly registered as a high school—supported by our tax-exempt paperwork and a check issued directly from Coral Reef Senior High School—our order did not include the three complimentary chaperone tickets normally provided for youth groups. I was told this mistake occurred because the “wrong form” had been submitted, despite the contact information, tax status, and payment source clearly indicating a school group.

Resolution Delays and Incorrect Guidance:
I spent over an hour at the Will Call center attempting to resolve a situation that was caused by Busch Gardens’ own misinformation. Ultimately, I was told that my only option was to pay out-of-pocket for the three chaperone tickets, and that Group Sales would “send the credit back to the school” afterward.

Contradictory Information from Group Sales Management:
After ensuring our students were safely inside the park, I spoke with William, who identified himself as a Group Sales Manager. He stated that because the chaperone tickets had now been used, “there is nothing that can be done.” When I asked to speak with a supervisor, I was told she declined to speak with me and that I should “contact guest relations.”
This experience was incredibly disheartening. The lack of care, accountability, and basic customer service displayed throughout this process is unacceptable—especially for a school group entrusted with the safety and well-being of students.

Given the circumstances—and the fact that the errors originated entirely from Busch Gardens—I am respectfully requesting a refund for the cost of the three chaperone admissions that we were forced to purchase due to staff miscommunication and procedural errors.

Meh, don't do the all day dining.
It only appears to about 4 sit down restaurants. No snack shacks. You have to wait 90 min between meals. No refunds. Waste of money and time. Staff was not nice. Not mean, just not nice. For the money spent, totally not worth the experience. San Diego zoo and Disney much better.

I had a very disappointing experience with this company. I purchased a ticket online at 10:00 PM and was issued a same-day ticket, which was unusable since the park was already closed. I immediately called customer service, and instead of correcting the issue, they made another mistake by reissuing a ticket for December, which made no sense given that I was trying to visit that same week.

When I arrived at the park, I was told the tickets were invalid, and I was forced to purchase a new one on the spot just to be allowed in.

Not only was this an inconvenience and an added cost, but the customer service offered no real help in resolving the issue. The lack of accountability and poor handling of the situation left a really bad impression.

I hope they improve their system and customer support because this kind of experience is unacceptable.

A total rip off! This is the second time we went with family. Once this past December to see the holiday displays and then again yesterday. There are definitely some problems with the operations of the park as both times 40-50% of the rides were shut down. The water attractions were also shut down causing disappointment especially for the kids. Due to this, the rides that were operating were so overcrowded with an average wait of 75 minutes. Totally unacceptable and I felt badly for those who spent their money to enter this park only to find half the park's rides were closed. In addition, the cost of food items in the park are absolutely ridiculous! Snacks such as popcorn and pretzels were over $10 each! The kids were hungry and the only place we found where we could get in cost us $60 for two hamburgers and cold fries. Help at the venue was virtually non-existent. Condiment stations were not re-stocked and napkins were nowhere to be found. The quality of the food was unlike Bush Gardens Williamsburg. Totally disgusting! With restaurants having such long wait times and unable to handle the crowds, it was better to leave the park and eat elsewhere. That's it! I will never step foot in a Bush Gardens park again. Don't waste your money and time. That goes for both Tampa and Williamsburg locations. They are total tourist traps!

I'd wished I'd read reviews on Busch Gardens before visiting for the first time in 10 years. There's a reason for the continuing poor reviews for here - they are true and accurate! Having visited florida just over a year ago for the first time since covid, we were amazed just how bad disney had gotten (ruined fast pass, poor staff and service etc). This visiting though we decided to try universal, sea world and busch Gardens. Where Universal seems to have gotten things right by comparison to Disney, the likes of Busch Gardens have just gotten everything completely wrong. Firstly, they had the highest of parking charges - $40 for the day. Alarm bells should've been ringing at this but we still paid and entered. Next, the single file queue to enter....even with pre-purchased tickets. Took ages to get in. Once in, we couldn't believe the cost of things. It's very apparent that busch Gardens must be struggling for visitor numbers, so their response? Charge extortionate prices on everything. Pretzel? $10.99 plus tax. Small dipping dots? $11+tax again. Everything was just ridiculously priced. Hardly anyone in there was buying anything. No surprise really. Next issue, hard to find staff. Next issue is lots of rides not running. Animal enclosures looking tired and not fit for purpose. I do have some concerns for the animals wellbeing after visiting. The overall park is clearly on the decline and I wouldn't be surprised if it's not in business in a couple of years time. Please don't waste you money. If, like us, you have fond memories of this place, don't ruin them by visiting again. Just remember how good it was and save yourself precious time and money

If I could give 0 out of 5 I would. Visited Busch gardens in August with my family, we had booked the Serengeti safari where you feed the giraffes, unfortunately due to weather (which cannot be helped) our tour at 1:30 couldn’t go ahead, we was offered to come back at 3:30 to try again. We went back at this time and again due to weather we couldn’t go out, now it was very disappointing but arguably it can’t be helped with the weather. Now this is when the issue with guest services went rapidly downhill, the tour guide told us we could either come back again later or have a refund, we opted for the refund and he (I think his name was Kyle and he was new) told us we didn’t need to do anything as it would just automatically get refunded. So by the time we left the park at 7 we still hadn’t had a refund so we went to guest services on the way out and told them the situation who then assured us again that a refund would just happen it’s all in the notes etc, she gave us an email address to email (BGA.GuestInformation@seaworld.com) if the refund hadn’t come through in the next day or so. It has been 3 weeks and still no refund which we was told we would get seeing as the tour didn’t go ahead, I emailed this email I was given by the guest services lady on the way out last week and got the usual bs response about we are busy and will get back to you asap, a week later from sending the email and nothing! Terrible terrible poor
customer services!! There’s no live chat or anything and with me being in the UK I can’t just call the number on the website and you would think seeing as they provide you an email address to contact them on the website they would actually respond! Avoid going here!!

Our day started with a non-existent parking guidance system which guided us to a parking area after an hour of waiting for the proud price of 31 USD. As fast as the entrance was, everything else was slow. Numerous attractions and restaurants were closed, leading to hopeless overloading of attractions (not under 90 minutes) and gastronomy. In addition, a high proportion of pay to use. Prices for Fast Lane were not an option as they would have tripled the ticket price.

If you have children under the age of twelve go to the zoo, Disney, Sea World, Discovery Cove! Busch Gargens as very few Animals, Limited Staff at every location, lack of knowledge by the staff. Food lines and very long and poorly managed. If the let you in for free you would still spend 200.00 a person per day. Everything is an additional charge! You buy a fast pass for 150 and it does not work in the small children's area! Terrible experience! My grand children ask me never to take them back again after spending 1500.00 for a day for five people and two children! It took one hour to park after paying g 60.00 dollars to get special parking.8

Do not sign up fpr EZ Pass. you will never be able to cancel it. It is virtually impossible. The app just say error even after uninstalling app and reinstalling. Changing password and checking it is the correct email. I called 3 times. Each time I was on hold for over an hour and the a recording saying technical difficulties comes on and hangs up. No response to email and no call backs.

First line of the day, 30 minutes just to pay $40 to park my car. Bought dining plan, $60, only able to use it once (for $14 pretzel) due to crowding at restaurants. Waited in line 1 hour at Sheikra Eats and never got my food, lost $20 because paid for an extra meal for my child. They stopped selling food but no employees were telling us if we would get our food or not, this was at 3pm. Rode only Sky Ride and Phoenix Rising and left, couldn’t take the crowds anymore and lies about ride wait times! Paid $50 for the photos package and only got one picture of us riding Phoenix Rising. It was a TERRIBLE day. They need to sell only a set number of tickets like Discovery Cove does because they certainly couldn’t handle the load of people that were there today!!

It was already a wonderful park! It has the finest and most radical Russian mountains but is well abandoned. No one organizes the queues of toys that end up lasting longer than necessary. Many attractions when I went, were closed. Half the park closed over the day pq broke. Even the food tents were not all open. The package with food eh super valid but only had a restaurant serving. It was very frustrating because we have been other times and it is a delicious radical Russian mountains. But is well abandoned

5 roller coaster not working, water rides all closed except the log ride which was a 2 hour wait. $40 to park. I have been to other amusement parks in the country that are much better run. Don’t waste your time and money.

This place was a disaster. Starting with a terrible main entrance that had traffic backed up for hours. Then when we made it in the park, many of the rides weren't operating, which ment the ones that were working had ridiculous wait times. The short ones were 90mins, most were over 3 hours. The restaurants were in the same shape, it seemed like 1/2 were closed, and the ones that were opened were often out of food, and the waits were hours long. We were within a block of the park at 9:30am. Didn't reach the park till 11:00, we then ate and rode our fist ride. By that time it was 2:00pm. We rode one more ride at 4:00, saw it would take another 2 hours to eat anywhere and decided to call it quits. We will never waste our money there again!

Tried to attend the 2/12/25 music at the Stanlyville Theater. I walked from the Handicapped parking lot to the side of the theater but because of my heart condition had become short of breath and light headed. I tried to reach a bench where my husband was sitting but was told by Bush employee , V, that I had to walk around the path and up the hill to where the line was formed. I explained to her that I had a heart condition and needed to sit down. She repeatedl yelled at me that I need to walk around to the farthest path to the bench I felt increasing dizzy and loosened the retractable belt on the stanchion so I could reach the bench. She called security and even though I explained what happened they told me I had to leave the park. What was I supposed to do.? Collapse on the pavement!! Possible fall and hit my head or break a bone. I'm 82 years old and don't break the rules on purpose but I was treated without empathy or consideration by Bush Gardens employees.. They did escort me in a wheel chair to the parking lot.I wasted my money on the days excursion.and was treated very shabbily. Seniors or anyone who may need some consideration do not attentd Bush Gardens Tampa.

Busch Gardens overall was a great amusement park experience. Our only con is the wait times for our all day dining options and the limited options available. To get a soda with our package could take up to 30 min plus. The ice show was a neat experience, the rides were great, and food when we got it was tasty!

I used to visit Florida quite a bit in the late 80’s and throughout the 90’s with my parents, and from 94ish onwards we would split our two weeks with one in Orlando and one in Tampa.

With Tampa we would relax on the beach, but would visit Bush Gardens quite a lot.

25 years since my last visit and I was taking my family to Orlando, and through the Orlando Discovery Card, we got Bush Gardens included also.

While we were staying in Orlando, I did set a day aside for a trip down to Tampa for Bush Gardens, and the 1.5 hour drive down was not all that bad.

A lot has changed since my last visit, but it was a great day out which my two young daughters loved.

A mix of theme park meets zoo, and it was great to go on the train that goes around the park and to see some of the animals up close.

As part of our tickets we had the meal deal included, which was great as it probably saved us $400-500 when added up all we were buying throughout the day, and the food actually was very tasty (the Greek Gyros at the main entrance eating place were VERY good.

Ride lines were not actually all that long, as some of the more extreme rides we were straight on to them.

Only issue it takes only the slightest rumble of thunder in the distance to close the park down, and this happened around 3pm for us, but thankfully the park reopened after a hour and able to enjoy the rest of the day.

This is most certainly a park where you will do at least 30k in steps that day alone, as y the time 7pm came along we were completely shattered and it was a tough drive back to Orlando, where as I was fast asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow back at our accommodation.

All in all something very different from Universal and Disney and if you get the chance worth a visit.

Busch Gardens? Never again.

SeaWorld would never. I’ve been to plenty of theme parks in my life, and I’ve never had an experience as bad as this one. First off, the place was hot and I don’t mean just Florida heat. I mean no proper A/C anywhere. We were sweating bullets inside the restaurants like we were sitting in a sauna trying to eat.

Speaking of restaurants — the flies. Everywhere. Flying around, landing on food, in your face. It was disgusting. And let’s talk about the service. One cashier. One. Trying to check out what felt like a thousand people. The line wrapped, people were frustrated, and the staff looked just as miserable.

We tried to get a drink in one of the stores and they ran out of ice. Ice. How do you run out of ice at a theme park in Florida?! And instead of being able to just radio someone to fix it, the worker had to shut down the line and go get it herself. It was chaos.

This whole park felt like the carnival cruise of theme parks, and not even the regular one — the lemon package version. It was ghetto, poorly managed, and honestly just a mess. I spent good money thinking this would be a fun experience. Never again. I’ll pass. We went to SeaWorld the day before was a dream in comparison — clean, cool, well-run. Busch Gardens? Straight-up foolishness.

Busch Gardens is my family's favorite park. We came three years ago, and loved it then. This current visit was even better than remembered. Park was very clean, lines were non existent on most rides. We were able to walk on immediately on 9 rides, including several roller coasters.
We managed to get tickets on a flash sale on the park website. That certainly made for a great bargain. Food was great, and naturally more expensive than going to your local McDonald's.
It is hot during the month of June, but there is plenty of shady areas, air conditioned shops and misters all around the park.
We love Busch Gardens and the Tampa area. Hopefully, we will return one day.

Forget all the negativity. Visited this today and it was brilliant.. Ride queues all well managed with only one caster wasn’t running. Facilities all very clean maybe not as “new” as Disney or universal but no issues with them. Would 100% visit again, visiting with an 8 and 15 year old.

What a rip off! Parking was $43.00, tickets $80.00 each. How they can get away with charging exorbitant rates is mind boggling. Never again!

All the reviews say the same thing and they are right. I have never seen a group of employees who just don't give a F. We have visited Busch Gardens several times with the last time being in 2019. Back then the park was not that busy and lines for rides and food were reasonable. This time we had the all day food pass and two fast passes for the kids. Cheetah coaster had four hour wait and 90 minutes for fast pass. I wouldn't call that fast. I think Busch Gardens sells as many as they can. Also the fast pass wristband and the food wristband is the same so have to scan to tell. My son said the employees weren't checking so everyone just got in the fast pass line. What a horrible system and management is to blame on that. The food line was 1 hour and 20 minutes and we got in line at 2:30. I can understand it's a busy time but it's almost like Busch Gardens purposely staffs it bad so they don't have to feed as many people as everyone had already prepaid. There was four cashiers and they were just sitting there as one person could have done it. They had one person serving the food and very slow. The area for condiments didn't have napkins, forks, barbecue sauce or cups for the ketchup. I mentioned it to the person standing there and someone put napkins in but no forks. I asked on bbq sauce three times in 45 minutes and she said she told someone. Again the attitude is I don't give a F and it's everywhere. Food grades. Chicken Tenders and Fries good. Mozz sticks horrible, burger horrible. Tacos ok per my wife. I went and looked at United Parks and Resorts (the company who owns Busch Gardens) and profits and revenue are way up compared to last time so that should tell you what's going on. Also $5 per person for skyride now. I won't be back for at least five years. They have to fix their management systems.

We visited Dec 30-Jan 1 and had the worst theme park dining experience in 30 years. Multiple restaurants and snack windows were completely OUT of all food but when we found food it was not OK: hot dog buns were frozen, microwaved soft pretzels that got hard and dried out, hard/stale rolls for sandwiches, old salads sitting out for hours, dishes intended to be served hot were room temperature, random old fry in the middle of a baked bean serving we got, gross employee put his hand down his pants with a food prep glove on then made my sandwich. The rides and ambiance were great but food service was next level horrible. Bring your own food and don’t do all day dining as it’s a rip off when they don’t have anything or it’s filthy/old/gross.

one of my favourite places to visit whilst on holiday while in florida well worth the drive time from orlando to tampa.!!

we went there for 2 days, one was before Christmas which was better, at least we can play some rides, such as Iron Gwazi, Montu, Bumper car, Stanley Falls Flume, SheiKra, but we went there after Christmas and before the New year, it's super crowded, the "Cheetah Hunt" was 80-120 min wait before Christmas, but it was 3-4 hours wait after Christmas, so crazy!, the waiting time of every rides are doubled, you will get frustrated to spend so much time on waiting, we only played 2 rides (Cheetah Hunt and Phoenix rising) on that day due to super long waiting time, and we also didn't have time to see any shows there due to the super long waiting time for rides. Moreover, the skyride is not included in the tickets, need to pay extra for it. There are also some rides closed, some is temporarily closed due to technical issue, some is closed for all day long, such as Congo river rapids, maybe due to weather? the location of Busch garden is Tampa is so distant from the Seaworld and Aquatica, it's not convenient to go there to play although we have 14-days ticket pass which can go to these theme parks multiple times, as out hotel is located near the SeaWorld Orlando location.

5 attractions were closed, rode 2 rollercoaster for 140 dollars, the whole park is trashed and even the animals weren’t in their space

We purchased quick queue and the meal pass. Lines with quick queue were sometimes still an hour long, the food lines were an hour, one of the big rides was closed for maintenance for the day, and another ride was held up for technical difficulties for a good part of the day. It was ridiculous for the amount of money we spent for 5 people. I think they want the food lines to be long so you won’t be able to use the benefits. The positives were beautiful grounds and the food was good when you got to the front of the line. The ice show was good as well. They need to do a better job of limiting the quick queue numbers for sure.

Avoid unless you have tolerance for extremely long lines.
The rides here are fun as in extreme coasters but the whole process of loading is extremely inefficient.
They let cars go with infilled seats. Roller coaster cars sit for in the station before being released. I also noticed that several of the rides are shut down without advanced warning so by the time you are at the park, the ride you want may not be running but you won’t know it until after you are here and the park has opened.
If you want to ride anything without at least a 60 minute wait, you must get here 45 minutes before the park opens so you can park, get on tram and then be one of the first ones in the park.
My hunch is that the park purposely does this to pressure you to buy the $196 quick passes. With quick passes, your wait time is cut from 2 hrs + to maybe a little over an hour.

Complete rip off! Half the park was closed, including four of the biggest rides. Not mentioned when we purchased the tickets and not mentioned when we spent another $200 on quick queue tickets, which was a waste of money as some much was closed.
For the rides we used the quick queue on it was pointless as the lines weren’t manned, therefore the standard line and quick queue lines just met in the middle with a free-for-all of people pushing though the queue gates.
The opens rides only operated one train per ride and loading people on was so slow.
All the food stands were shut all of the day.
ADVICE - Buy tickets on the day so you can see what rides are open. DON’T waste money on quick queue.

It's been 25 years since I had been to Busch Gardens and it will be the last. Only 3 roller coasters were working, the sky ride was closed for maintenance, the log flume ride didn't look like it had been used in years, the area where elephants could be seen was no longer there. Very few animals could be seen from the train ride. Even in the area where the children could play, rides were closed down. Food and drink prices were crazy high. The cost for standard parking is $35.00+tax and $45.00+tax preferred parking (you would pay that same price at Disney) We paid for a promo deal of $104.00 per person and what we got for it, should of only cost us $30.00. Busch Gardens is no longer a place to have a great time with family, now it's all about big business profit. VERY DISAPPOINTED.

Absolutely horrible. Understaffed restaurants, food kiosks unavailable throughout the day that have simple food like empanadas, hot dogs, coffee, wraps etc. making you wait on long restaurant food lines with overpriced food. While you wait in line for an hour to get food that you paid $60 for the all day adult plan you could’ve gone on at least one ride. Irately hungry and exhausted from ask the waiting you have nothing else to do but complain. The rides have long waits because some of them aren’t even running at full capacity, they are blocking the lanes. They should shut down this park and really do some better organizing of their facilities and rides to get a better flow. The maps to the park are few and far between. You start to follow an arrow and then it disappears to where you wanted to go, so you’re on a mystery trail walking around to just keep asking people if you’re going in the right direction. Just an overall disgusting experience even for 4 adults. Great Adventure over at least 15 years ago was better than this and I haven’t been to Busch Gardens since I was in my late teens or 20s.

Worst experience . Every worker there was rude . Food at almost every area was either out , disorganized , or burnt . Workers complaining in front of customers and threatening to quit because 1: they were already short staffed and 2: they were not given the tools and products that day for a successful pleasant day for them as workers as well as for the visitors that came to enjoy a day at the park. I’m trying to figure why by 1 pm they were sold out at many areas of items on a Saturday for people to eat and drink . The park and its facilities were filthy . A majority of rides were down and looked to have been down for a while as if completely out of commission . What rides were available were full of people of course and at an almost 200 min wait and quick pass was half that wait time so not real quick was it ? Bathrooms were in deplorable conditions . Then it started to rain and we decided to go try and see a show and try to regroup ourselves and mind you we hadn’t even been there a full hour yet ! Obviously can’t control the weather . The workers at the ice skating show decided to do a head count instead to see if they had enough seats ? Ummmm shouldn’t they know how many seats they have and just let people in until they met head count with their counter clickers they use like most parks do instead of EVERYONE being made to stand in the rain that didn’t need to that could have been let in and lines shortened ? Every ounce of the park seemed as if it was everyone’s first day running a park. Absolutely chaotic and disorganized . We have been to many parks and Busch Gardens Tampa and Sea World Orlando are just absolutely sad . These used to be the best parks back in the day . Vibrant , clean and full of happy people . We bought platinum passes yesterday since it was our first time back in over 20 yrs and we will not be back. Called customer service and they were the most unhelpful rude people ever and will not offer any discounts or refunds even though they could see the purchase was bought the day prior to the call. Even spoke to a manager and he said he would escalate about the concerns of the park but as it stands they do not do refunds . Basically said too bad . Do not spend the money . Please take your families anywhere else but Busch Gardens Tampa and Sea World Orlando . The roller coaster rides take over the animals space as they add more rides and half the rides are down anyways and literally nothing for smaller kids to do there and as they “expand” for rides the animals keep getting put in smaller enclosures with inadequate water and space to move . Every animal we did see in the short time there seemed in distressed and depressed. Just absolutely sad and unacceptable and the company should be ashamed of itself . If anything Tampa deserves a bigger and better Busch Gardens that has been kept up to date without scarification of the animals space as they do it or at the expense of hard working customers. Atleast Disney and Universal allow discounts or free day tickets when things go wrong and we are annual Pass holders . Busch Gardens allows nothing to make sure their customers are taken care of and happy at the end of the day especially platinum members at the tune of $338 .or any other annual membership passholder . It’s not like a one time ticket purchase and you can chalk it up to a “ won’t be back , won’t spend the money again “ and wash your hands of it . The entire area around it is run down as well so lots of money coming in but nothing being given back as far as the facility or community goes . Total money grab . Just shameful .

Really enjoyed the rides.
However really upset to see the animals in a state of apparent distress.
Elephants were rocking back and forwards which when you google it is not a good thing.

It was a horrible expirience, wating in line 90% of our time here. It seriously took 2,5 hours just to take one ride, and 1 hour to order food each time we had to eat. 0/10 experience, would not recommend!!

Unfortunately this park has serious flaws with their “Quick Queue” system and the consumer bears the financial burden of an additional expense that ultimately doesn’t improve your park experience. This park needs to adopt various “levels” that can be purchased at preset amounts. For example, how is the wait time the SAME for Quick Queue and Regular Queue for more popular rides like Tigris and SheiKra? We arrived at the park at almost 10am today and left shortly after 8pm and had really no opportunity to ride rides together as a family. Why has no investment been made by this park on any mid levels rides like a Scrambler or Himalaya style? Another major flaw is the all-day dining because unless you plan to eat at least two meals (ie lunch and dinner), financially your cost of having to wait in line for over an hour for food is more than the actual items you are able to purchase to eat given options are limited for all-day-dining eaters. One positive is that the park employees we interacted with all were warm and helpful. That at least lightened the mood during peak wait times for rides and food items today. We won’t be back here again and felt it was much more valuable to enjoy the Tampa Zoo and the Aquarium.

35 USD for car parking is just a RIPP OFF. If you then sit on the tram bringing you to the entrance you are forced to inhale the terrible diesel fumes from the tram engine. Security at park entry said alcohol is not allowed in the park so I said OK and agreed to take out the beer can in my back pack when entering the park. Later we experienced you can just buy beer in the park for 13,99 USD another RIPP OFF and security just telling lies to customers. Several attractions and restaurants closed the day of our visit. For lockers and Skyride additional money is asked : again RIPPING OFF off visitors. Elmo show was the only one on the day of our visit. Extremely poor storyline, not inspiring at all, Luckily the kids didn't notice. The seats in the Safari had sharp blisters of rust on them posing a huge risk for people and children getting hurt and getting a tetanus infection. Washrooms in the park are old and disgustingly dirty. Employees are not friendly and when they are it is pure fake you experience from there body language. Luckily this park takes better care of its animals then it does for its customers. Such a bad experience : we will never visit this park again and will everyone we know strongly advise not to do so. This thing should be closed immediately, can not understand Sea World group allows their customers to be ripped off this way.

This was my 8th visit to Busch Gardens Tampa and it will be my last, the place has deteriorated hugely since my last visit, we found it to be not very clean and some of the restrooms were filthy, most of the rides only work intermittently or not at all which is a shame because the rides are the only good thing left at this place, a lot of the staff weren’t interested and what few animals were on show were only on show until 4pm at which time most of the animal areas were closed off, we paid for a cup for unlimited refills but most of the machines were either not working or were only dispensing water! We went to guest services to ask for a refund as we’d only managed to get two refills all day and they initially agreed to this but then changed their minds and said the best they could do was to offer Us $10 park dollars! We declined this incredibly generous offer and told them we wouldn’t ever be returning at which point we left, we also spoke to an American couple who were annual pass holders who told us not to touch the food and that they wouldn’t be renewing their passes as it has deteriorated so much, my advice if you’re planning on going there it’s don’t, it’s terrible!

Flew from NYC with our 7YO. She loves water rides so we researched Busch Garden’s website what she could do, which rides she was tall enough for, etc. We ended up getting the fast pass on the assumption she’d want to do the water rides over and over. We got there, downloaded the app and navigated to the water rides. Turns out the rides have been closed for WEEKS. The app didn’t say closed — either didn’t give any time or said zero minute wait. (Other rides said closed). This is fraud by omission. No where posted on the website or app a known closure. We never even used the fast pass for ANY rides. The one ride we tried they didn’t accept it.

BG was more expensive than Disney and nowhere close to worth it. The staff members sided with us saying how they keep telling management ride status should be posted. If the rides broke down the same day, hey that happens. We get it. But scheduled to be down and you don’t offer that info up? I would have bought animal experiences instead. But instead they’ve alienated customers who will never ever come back and will never recommend to anyone else.

Oh and we stopped at a restaurant and they weren’t serving food! Just drinks. (!!!) They had a bunch of oranges and wouldn’t sell us one or put a slice in my daughter’s Shirley temple. I guess that makes sense??? She had a King’s Cake Donut for lunch instead which may have been the highlight of the day.

Nervous after reading reviews but we had a very enjoyable day at Busch gardens. One of the coasters was closed all day but we didn't miss anything else. We didn't have fast pass but the queues were up to 30 minute - quieter in the evening (one of the late opening days). We used all day dining and certainly got our money's worth (theme park food is so expensive!) It would be better if you could get snacks with it, the way some other parks do. If you're a thrill fan definitely worth a go, which rides are open seems to be a bit random though.

My family of 9 visited today. We bought the food package and we were excited. It was beyond disappointing. The first two rides we tried were closed (one opened later in the day but was up to a 150 minute wait at 3pm). The roller coaster we went on didn’t have pictures afterwards because of a malfunction that lasted all day for everyone. The restaurant we got in line for opened 15 minutes late and didn’t have food ready for another 15. The line for meal plan included restaurants was always over an hour. Employees were complaining in front of us, threatening to quit. Many were unfriendly. At least two other rides we tried were closed. Barely any animals out. I understand it was cold for Florida but when one family member waited an hour for coffee and still wasn’t at the front of the line, we gave up.

Overall it was clear there is terrible management. Lines for food would simply not move. It made no sense other than not enough workers/bad planning. Little kiosks would be out of pretzels and even out of bags of chips! We can’t wait over an hour for food and then wait two hours for a ride. Nope.

We got on all the rides we wanted but..

Groups of kids pushing in front of queues just to “get to their friends at the front!” It’s called a queue for a reason. Not only this, fast pass queues aren’t monitored so going under railings to get to front of the ride quickly in groups of maybe 20! Very understaffed in summer months! Quick queue passes not worth it don’t waste money, everyone pushes in anyway.

Went here thinking it would be similar to SeaWorld.Dont bother, half or more food& drink stalls closed. Animal enclosures way too small.hospital seems excellent.

The rides were really fun! I suggest sheikra for thriller riders and the pizza place was really good. I also suggest cobras curse for the tiny ones who like a little thrill.

It was seriously over crowded. It took 45 mins minimum to ride any rides, at lead a hour to get food. I guess that’s to be expected during summer but it was rather uncomfortable and not very enjoyable. Adults
where pushing children who were already loud and rowdy. The train ride is nice thought. However this isn’t on my list to return no time soon.

There was a corporate event onsite which changed everything.
We watched the ice show which was very good, however, even though there was about 20 people in the theatre (maximum) they made us leave our stroller outside.
The Serengeti Express was nice and the parts if the Wild Oasis that were open were ok although the enclosures did seem quite small.
We spent two tiring hours walking around the park trying to find something to eat. Half our party are vegetarians. I realise that vegetarians are not well catered for in the USA, however if you are going to ban people from bring food in then you have to provide it for purchase. Nearly all the food outlets were closed! Apart from snacks like pretzels and candy floss, the only place to eat was Chick-fillet! So half our part had chicken burgers and the other half had waffle fries! Thankfully we had brought something for the toddler.
After our meagre - but VERY expensive lunch - we took turns in going on the River Rapids which was fun. It's a good job that we don't particularly like thrill rides because most of them were closed.
We made our way over to Sesame Street just as they put a sign up to close that! The park is supposed to close at 5pm but nearly everything, it seems, closes at 4pm or a bit earlier if the staff want. With nothing open and nothing for our toddler, we made our way towards the exit, after a disappointing day. We came across a ride that was a) open and b) our toddler could go on! There was a height restriction, but as one of our party is vertically challenged and slim, she was taking him on. He was 18 months old and only just walking the month before. He was so happy to be sitting there ready to go, when, they said he had to get off!!!! To be fair, they said SHE had to get off but that he could ride on his own! How crazy is that. They would have had an accident and law suit on their hands if he had because he could easily have wriggled out and would have fallen. We argued that the ride was "Kid Friendly" not "Kid Only". That the adult was the right height for the ride and weighed less than her granddaughter who would have been allowed on the ride. They were unrelenting as the sobbing toddler was taken away and his great aunties discussed it with the 'supervisor'. Rules is rules, even if those rules are not stated anywhere!
To add insult to injury, as we drove out of the car par, the park came to life with all of the rides that had been closed, suddenly bursting to life for the corporate event.
A very disappointing day. We felt cheated. If it is kids only it should say so. If they are closing things they should say so on their website so people won't waste their time and money on a disappointing day.

Very tired and dated park in need of a full relaunch. 1/2 the rides closed, rest of it run by what appears to be demoralised staff. Scruffy plan. Save your money and go elsewhere

Purchased fast queue tickets and didn’t have to use them because the lines were not that long but the problem is the time it takes between them loading is ridiculous. The time we went to use our fast pass we were told that coaster required an additional purchase. We waited in line for the Cheetah Hunt coaster for 20 minutes to only have it break down. We waited for another 49 minutes and decided to leave this park. Between the number of rides experiencing issues, food and beverage stands closed it was just frustrating. Like others we had an issue with our meal plan. We will stick with Hersheypark who knows how to run a park much more efficiently. This was a total disappointment for my teenage sons who preferred Sea World over this place.

At first, the parking lot was not opened until 9:50 a.m. So you are already late to the park. Normal parking costs (!!!) 40$! Then a lot of rides just weren't open. But I still paid him the full price. The rides that were open all had only one train on the track. The waiting times have been extended so extra!
The food is way too expensive. A small hot dog with a small pack of chips $11...

I can't recommend this park!

Our worst ever experience at Florida.

Arrived early, 9:15am to ‘try’ and beat the traffic and was waiting T the entrance for over an hour as they stop you to lay the 40 USD plus tax to park.

Massive queue for the train over to the entrance so we walked.

Entrance queue around 30 minutes.

First ride ‘Tigris’ said 45 minutes wait, this was in fact over 2 hours. We then came out and had paid for the dining option so decided to get food. Every place you could use this dining option had huge queues. We entered the queue, the smallest queue for food we could find, it took 2 hours to get our food. I must say the food was surprisingly tasty, no complaints here, other than no where to actually sit and eat it.

We didn’t get on any more rides as the queues were just too big and we could trust the quoted times.

Overall a very long expensive day for very little in return.

It’s definitely 1 star at best for us.

They are aware that locals are the people who go there. I appreciate the passholder benefits. That said, expand car booths and make sure each booth is fully staffed to move traffic. We waited over 50 minutes to park, and it was one person going back and forth from one lane to another. They need more security detectors to keep the lines down. The employees that work there are very patient and kind. Busch Gardens should hire more of them though and pay them well. There is a lot they can do for the customer experience to move lines more efficiently from parking to the tram (that doesn't run if it's thundering, so you get to walk to the car), to redeeming you Busch Bucks. It was just a lot of waiting because things could have been staffed better. Overall I do appreciate the benefits of being a local but if you're from out of town beware of the thunderstorms. You may get to ride absolutely nothing for hours because of isolated storms in the area and it will genuinely not be worth it.

Busch Gardens is always fun and price is fair. It’s not in the best neighborhood so just have to be careful where you stay at.

Totally awful! Worst experience of our life.
Very dangerous. The lines were so long and chaotic to get in that nobody was checking bags. Staff were rude and unhelpful. All around bad atmosphere that nobody wants to pay for. Feel sorry for the animals that can’t get out there!

Well I have never been to a more run down park and for $317 per couple don’t do it lots closed food don’t do we went out of park and went to kfc they changed $60 per food ticket most closed rides rubbish animals look out of condition

Compared to the other parks of Orlando gives the impression that this is to close. Poor power options, reluctant employees and infrastructure that clearly needs maintenance.

Could be a really nice park. All of the rides were working except one. You can tell the staff do not want to be there as most of them can’t give you any information or just bad attitudes. It is a very confusing park to navigate with not much signage. The parking fees and food prices are standard with most parks in Florida. We wanted to get the photo pass, but after spending the day there we didn’t see anyone taking pictures. The person at the picture booth advised they can’t even access most of the ride cameras. Hopefully the park will get back on track and improve. As for us. It’s a one and done.

Was really excited to go here but from walking in was really disappointed.
The place looks run down and concentrated more on the theme park rides.

The animals ( the few there are now) all look unhappy even though the areas for them are lovely. There are Brettwr wildlife parks in the UK now.

The sky ride you have to pay to go on if you do not have one of their passes 5 dollars per person. The only way to see the animals eg giraffes, zebra etc is on the little train. The train was the best part of the whole experience at least you saw a few animals.

I expected to see flower displays and beautiful gardens - once again hugely disappointed

The food and drinks are overpriced- the Asian cuisine was ok but served on a plastic plate and small portion for 25 dollars including taxes.

My friend I went with as been several times in past years and she also said it was really poor now and such a shame as it used to be amazing. The staff mostly looked as unhappy as the animals

Would not visit again even though we bought an unlimited visit pass for 14 days.

We bought a 2 Park Pass with Parking & Dining for $637+ Dollars. Were never told, clearly, that we had only 14 days to visit the second park after the first visit. Called Busch Gardens Tampa today and spoke with a team member and a supervisor, who was adamant about us having to know about the 14 days. I requested to listen to the recording to which he said that this was impossible. How good does this do for the customer who clearly understood otherwise. The recordings are only for the protection of Busch Gardens. How do I even know it was even recorded. Are they the only ones to interpret the call. This seems unfair, arbitrary and, perhaps a bit dishonest.

Limited staff, several rides are not working, lack of training for all team members. Lack of happiness is evident in the park animals and staff.

We went through Busch Gardens primarily for the rides for the kids. On one ride they waited 1 hour due to the line. Then after that time they were told it was broken. They waited again. It started running but were told that it was broken again. We went to another ride which was broken when we got to it. So after being there 8 hours we got to go on two rides. We paid about $100 each. Bad day

I want to publicly share what happened to my family at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay on January 1st (New Year’s Day).

We purchased tickets that were marketed and sold as valid for TWO parks. The advertising clearly created the expectation that we would have access to both parks.
In reality, we were only allowed into ONE park and were REFUSED entry to the second park at the gate.

No prior notice.
No clear terms explained.
No warning about “restrictions” or “conditions” of this so-called promotion.

This is misleading and deceptive marketing.

If a ticket is NOT valid for two parks, do not advertise or sell it that way. If there are limitations, customers must be clearly informed before purchase, not after the money is taken and families are already at the entrance.

The worst part?
Ticket office management showed zero empathy and zero willingness to resolve the situation. We were standing there with our children on New Year’s Day — confused, upset, and crying — while staff simply repeated “no” without explanation or accountability.

This wasn’t just a mistake.
This was poor communication, dishonest marketing, and unacceptable customer service, especially from a company that promotes itself as family-friendly.

Our New Year’s holiday was completely ruined.
We will never return, and I strongly encourage other families to be extremely careful when buying tickets or “promotions” here. Ask for everything in writing — because what is advertised is NOT what you may actually receive.

Families deserve transparency, honesty, and respect. This experience delivered none of that.

I went on the day 24/01/2025 and to the unhappiness of my whole family several toys (considered the best) stopped.
Sheikra, Montu and kumba not working!!!
Besides toys and Russian mountain of water(because it was cold)...
If half of the park doesn't work, it's better not to open.

Another thing...the employees are extremely unhappy, especially those at the restaurant. they barely look at your face, respond sharply and unwillingly to all questions... should reassess the staff frame.

The park is beautiful, the Russian mountains are great, but the park's care is not good.
The bathrooms were dirty, the staff of the restaurants with their faces closed and the staff of the toys working with a lot of unwillingness.
Disorganized and tumultuous ranks.
The exchange time in Iron Gwazi, for example, exceeded 220 seconds in all the exchanges we witnessed.
It is lacking more staff to organize better.
And they could also offer free locker, as this delays the progress of the queues, since the employees let users come in with the bags and only when it comes in the cart is that they warn you can not take. This delays progress considerably.

Rides were great but what a miserable experience! The most unfriendly bordering on rude staff we have experienced We are a typical British family-very polite and friendly. Staff were either completely silent or responded with absolute disdain.
Finished off with an awful expensive in the Spring Tap Room cafe. Took 30 minutes to get 2 sandwiches. When we asked how much longer, we were told it hadn’t even been made yet in the most rudest attitude. The establishment was not busy, 4 families made up the entire clientele. I can safely say they I would never come back and warn other potential customer to after clear if you want a pleasant and fun time.

I’ve been coming to Busch Gardens for almost 20 years, and it’s so noticeable to see how far it’s fallen. You can clearly see the budget cuts across all the SeaWorld parks, but Busch Gardens seems to be feeling it the most.

After visiting during November 2024 and feeling this way then, I thought maybe it was a blip due to it being their busy season but it was even worse in October 2025.

The park is completely disorganised – no line management, chaotic queues, and constant queue jumping. People who paid for Quick Queue didn’t even get proper quick access and were just thrown in with the regular line. I’m so glad I didn’t waste my money on that.

The animals looked distressed and unwell, which was really upsetting to see. Some of the rollercoaster tracks even run right through animal enclosures — it must be terrifying for them. The whole park is in desperate need of upkeep and care.

To top it off, I overheard a team member on Montu tell their colleague they didn’t know what to do — exactly what you don’t want to hear before getting on a rollercoaster!

I’ve also never seen so many ride delays and closures. Multiple rides were closed, including newer ones.

Overall, Busch Gardens has completely lost its magic. While the rides have always been some of the best in Florida, it’s no longer the quality experience it once was, and I won’t be rushing back. I’d definitely recommend prioritising the SeaWorld coasters and a day at discovery cove over this.

Went to Bush gardens with friends while in tampa on vacation. We had a great time. It's very large park so be ready to walk a lot. Admission was not too bad, a lot less than some other theme type parks.

Was. Great day with the exception of going in June the birds are mating and most animals are given the option of being in or outside so of course on these hot days they were in and unseen.

This theme park puts our british theme parks to shame. Great range of roller coasters (and they were much more comfy and less migraine inducing than our ones across the pond), disability access pass/accessibility pass seems to work well despite being on an honour based system (may be a different story at busier times though) and to be honest most queues were empty apart from a few so it wasn't needed for 80% of the day. One thing I will say though is that there is not always staff to sign the RAP card nor let you through onto the ride if like we did on cheetah hunt, you come through the "quick queue" entrance but we just ended up walking through the barrier after coming back to it 3 times and it being near closing time.

There were some places to sit around the park but the park could do with a few more benches.
Overall very clean and visually appealing park, food and drink was not too overpriced, it was more expensive than it would be outside of a theme park but that is exactly what you expect.