United States
Florida (FL)
Tampa
Things to Do in Tampa
Busch Gardens

Busch Gardens, Tampa: Hours, Address, Busch Gardens Reviews: 4/5

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Busch Gardens

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Busch Gardens
4
18,001
#1 of 195 things to do in Tampa
Amusement & Theme Parks
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10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
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About
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is the ultimate family adventure, combining world-class thrill rides, live entertainment and more than 12,000 animals. Challenge a 335-foot drop tower, Falcon's Fury, or race like a cheetah on Cheetah Hunt. Busch Gardens' newest attraction, Cobra's Curse puts a spin on family thrills with this one-of-a-kind spin coaster.
Suggested duration
More than 3 hours
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Admission tickets
from $48.39
All you need to step foot in the door.
Full view
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Top ways to experience Busch Gardens and nearby attractions

The area
Address
Best nearby
Restaurants
413 within 3 miles
Zambia Smokehouse
158
0.3 mi$$ - $$$ • American • Barbecue
Crown Colony House Restaurant
191
0.1 mi$$ - $$$ • American
Zeko's Mediterranean Grill
136
0.4 mi$ • Quick Bites • Fast Food • Mediterranean
Dragon Fire
82
485 ft$$ - $$$ • Italian • American • Asian
Sultan's Sweet's
26
0.1 mi$
Lynx Frozen Treats
2
0.3 miFast Food
Bengal Bistro
3
0.3 mi
Taras Roti Shop
30
0.3 mi$ • Caribbean
Pegasus Lounge
3
0.3 mi
Burger King
69
0.4 mi$ • Fast Food
See all
Attractions
69 within 6 miles
Yuengling Brewery
375
0.8 miBreweries
Adventure Island
1,152
0.6 miWater Parks
Lettuce Lake Regional Park
1,075
Parks
Hillsborough River
219
2 miBodies of Water • Forests
TECO Line Streetcar System
469
Trams
ZooTampa at Lowry Park
3,992
Zoos
Museum of Science and Industry
1,276
1.5 miScience Museums
Lowry Park
205
Parks
University of South Florida Botanical Gardens, Tampa
97
1.3 miGardens
Ybor City Museum State Park
168
History Museums
See all
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
4.0
18,001 reviews
Excellent
10,377
Very good
4,358
Average
1,574
Poor
783
Terrible
912
Mark C
Tampa, FL15 contributions
Wonderful place in Tampa
Great place. We bought a season ticket. Prices are so much better than other mid-Florida resorts and the experience is great for kids and for adults. They have a companion park in Adventure island and the season pass works for both. Food is good, fairly priced (nothing is cheap in Florida parks)--the BBQ is excellent. Rides are fun, from simple ones for seniors and kids to aggressive ones for teens. They also have special events periodically. Restrooms are clean and lots of them, a train goes all around the park, but there is lots of walking. Parking is a bit expensive, but well laid out. Altogether a super experience and we'll do it again next year.
Written August 17, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Time4Adventure14
Memphis, TN1 contribution
AMAZING CUSTOMER SERVICE
We visited with our family of 5 over the past weekend on 8/13/2022. It was amazing. We had a fantastic time and a huge shout-out to Jennifer at ticket windows who helped us with all of our difficult comments and concerns. We pre-purchased tickets online and were confused about how to use them. My husband is always on business so we figured we would take this time and visit Busch Gardens since neither one of us had been since we were kids. Jennifer was able to help us get our all-day dining worked out, also our safari wow what an experience yes it was on the pricey side but so worth the extra money. Thank you Busch gardens for giving us the chance to enjoy ourselves on a beautiful day.
Written August 17, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Romfordalan
Chelmsford, UK55 contributions
Great Park, Iron Gwazi Add-on is a rip off
Family
This park has great rides, with several new ones since my last (pre-covid) visit.

The animals break up the rides. Quick Queue here (and at it’s sister park at Seaworld) really does save huge amounts of time. You can also use your refill cup from here at Sea World - obviously paying the $5.99 for a new day’s refills.

One gripe about the experience is that the unlimited Quick Queue did not come with Iron Gwazi - that was an additional $20 for only one go on Iron Gwazi.
Written August 17, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Ky Matthews
20 contributions
Great coasters but nasty facilities
The rides are fun but mainly catered to teens and adults. There aren’t many children rides. The restrooms were filthy throughout the park.
Written August 14, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Aimee
Manchester, UK66 contributions
Great rides
The rollercoasters are brilliant! And it’s nice to see all the animals as we walk around the park. The first time we visited on our holiday at the start of August the park was so busy, assuming this is because the Florida schools hadn’t gone back yet? We got to go on 5 rides in 8 hours!!! They sell so many fast track passes so that the regular line basically gets put on hold. The wait time stated outside the ride ends up being nearly double due to the amount of fast track guests they let through. There were ride closers throughout the day, not necessarily from the weather but from rides breaking. We queued for StanleyFalls Log Flume for just under 2 hours, we got right to the front of the queue for them to close the ride, not telling us what was going on or why? The locker expired after 2 hours, which ultimately made us leave the queue as we were worried about our belongings. However, the second day we returned, reluctantly after our first visit, the park was very quiet and we got on every single ride, much better. Only one lane/cart going on rides at a time, leading to again wait times out-waying the time stated outside the ride. Understaffed still from covid? They could do with some more refill machines around the park. The free coach that dropped off and picked from Icon Park Orlando was great, the driver was very friendly and informative. There was also free wifi throughout the park.
Written August 14, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Z1515
1 contribution
Don’t buy tickets online.
Couples
We bought our tickets buy one get one free on the Buschgardens website. After purchasing the tickets they were delivered via email quickly which was nice. We got to the park paid for parking and went to entrance. We pulled our tickets over email and it said on the ticket specifically to go directly to the front gate. So we did they scanned our tickets and said they were inactive and told us we had to go back to ticketing to get them activated. We waited at ticketing for about 25-30 minutes and got help from someone there that seemed like they had no idea what they were doing. Nothing against her probably just a lack of training. The overall experience inside the park was ok not many snack vendors open and food was mostly via mobile order only. Was pretty disappointed In the overall experience.
Written August 13, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Priscilla l
Warsaw, VA3 contributions
I will never return again. A waste of money
Family
More help is needed here for the prices that people pay, if they want to see more than one show without it being closed and not have to wait 40 minutes with and elderly person and no seats to sit while you wait inside the station area
Written August 11, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
BuschGardensTPA
Thank you for sharing your feedback about your recent visit to Busch Gardens Tampa. We are disappointed that you did not find value in your visit. We regret to read about your experience with trying to see some of our shows. We recommend checking our park hours and showtimes on our website or our mobile app. We offer show guides at our Adventure Outpost at the front of the park. -MK
Written August 14, 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
johnathonc7
Canvey Island, UK13 contributions
Great coasters, shame about the rest!
Family
We visited today, a family of two adults and two teenage children. Having visited on two occasions previously pre-pandemic and the park being the highlight of our orlando holiday hopes were high, which is why i am so disappointed writing this review!

The positives, it goes without saying that the coasters themselves are truly first class! Iron Gwazi is one of the best coasters in the USA at the moment and the rest of the line up offers something for every coaster enthusiast young and old. For this reason it's wrong to give the park less than two stars.

Unfortunately there were so many negatives beyond the coasters and all areas have gone down hill since the pandemic struck.

Firstly, the cost! To visit with a day ticket requires a small mortgage with tickets costing more than disney or universal. Once in the park the nickel and diming is awful. Quick queues, a must if you are to get on a reasonable number of rides due to the shoddy operations, $50 per person. All day dining, that'll be another $50 please, parking, standard is $30. All in thats almost $700 for a day out for a family of 4! The all day dining changes are also sneeky and worth noticing - previously good value at $35 per person where you could eat once an hour its now $50 to eat once every 90 minutes and also excludes drinks in between which were included before. Did I mention a bottle of disani is $4.50? Never did I think I'd be calling water in disney good value.

Secondly, park operations. These were truly awful from having coasters operating at the lowest capacity (one train operation on kumba and montu) to over 3 minutes to dispatch trains on iron gwazi. Queues are awfully managed with no staff controlling the merge of quick queue and regular lines or batching riders on most coasters making boarding a virtual free for all and forcing trains to leave with seats empty on each row. What other theme park would do this? It makes for a stressful and frustrating guest experience that is unnecessary if the park just put an extra person in place to give operations a bit of order. As a result queues moved far slower than needed requiring the purchase of the quick queues, perhaps that's the ploy!

Thirdly, the park is looking run down in places (literally there are piles of rubbish that can be seen whilst riding scorpion), with theming broken or worn out. Staff morale and engagement also severely lacks, guests felt like an inconvenience and there was no positive energy. I appreciate its 100 degree summer temps in florida but if your two competitors up the road can do it then why can't busch?

Finally, and not something the park can directly control but worth considering if thinking if paying out and visiting, if there is lightning in the area then all operations stop. We lost 2.5 hours of park time due to storm activity. I accept that the park isn't responsible for weather but the offer of a free return ticket (with no recognition of the loss of value of quick queue as a result of ride down time) doesn't really cut it if visiting from out of state.

All in all, the experience made me feel like I'd been ripped off. I don't mind paying out if the experience merits it but at the moment operations are shickingly bad and the guest experience is poor. I'd say keep your money in your pocket and take another day at universal or disney world until things change here.
Written August 9, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
tamyball
United States60 contributions
Fun fun fun
This visit is always a pleasure. Every visit I discover new things, new attractions, it seems a different park in every visit. A lot of fun every where. Great experience for adults and kids, a great experience for all the family.
Written August 9, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
BuschGardensTPA
We are thrilled to read about your visits to our park and look forward to seeing you and your family again soon! -CL
Written August 14, 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
PaulHertsUK
Stevenage, UK6 contributions
Don’t bother!
We were really looking forward to our visit to Busch Gardens with the lure of numerous thrill rides. Pre-paid trip from UK including Quick Queue at great expense. Took an Uber from Universal Studios which cost around $80 each way.

The park has a few good rides but some of the big ones weren’t open including Falcons Fury and Cheetah Hunt which was extremely disappointing. The Skyline was also closed.

Don’t bother with the Quick Queue as park staff not trained in monitoring the lines so the queues merge without any supervision.

Rides closed at around 15:00 due to storms and didn’t reopen. No inside rides so the park cones to a complete stand still.

Food offerings poor - my burger and fries served at the Dragon’s Grill were cold!

Generally this is a poorly run out-dated theme park that feels very neglected and tired.

If you are staying at Universal or Disney I suggest that you don’t bother with this theme park as it doesn’t come close to anything in Orlando.

Underwhelming and not worth the money!
Written August 9, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
BuschGardensTPA
We sincerely regret to read about this visit and thank you for taking the time to reach out. We make every effort to let our guests know when our attractions will be down for maintenance by listing this information on our website, front gate, ticket windows and guest relations. Please be advised, our Quick Queue lines do remain separate from our standard queue lines from the beginning of our queue through loading onto the attraction. We apologize for any disappointment in our food selections at Dragon Fire Grill and have forwarded your feedback on to our culinary leadership team. Thank you again for providing this feedback. -CL
Written August 14, 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Busch Gardens
Busch Gardens is open:
  • Mon - Thu 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
  • Fri - Sun 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Buy tickets in advance on Tripadvisor. If you book with Tripadvisor, you can cancel at least 24 hours before the start date of your tour for a full refund.
Busch Gardens admission prices can vary. Entrance tickets currently cost $48.39, while a popular guided tour starts around $129.00 per person. See all 3 Busch Gardens tickets and tours on Tripadvisor
Busch Gardens can be crowded, so we recommend booking e-tickets ahead of time to secure your spot. If you book with Tripadvisor, you can cancel at least 24 hours before the start date of your tour for a full refund. See all 3 Busch Gardens tickets and tours on Tripadvisor