by Gami1986

Created on: April 30, 2008   Last Updated: April 18, 2011

Well having wanted to visit Busch Gardens on a number of occasions and unfortunately not being given the chance, I felt I had to visit the place during my recent visit to Florida. I had always heard mix reactions about the theme park, some complimenting it, whilst other simply saying it was not there thing. Nevertheless, I was still determined to visit it, at least once to squash the rumors and determine for myself whether this place was thumbs up or thumbs down.

History of Bush Gardens Africa (Tampa Bay):

Bush Gardens is the name of two of the biggest theme parks in America, one in Tampa Bay, Florida, and the other one in Williamsburg, Virginia. Bush Gardens is currently owned by Busch Entertainment Corporation.
Busch Gardens Africa was first opened in 1959, and was a 340 acre African themed, safari park. The park was originally free for all guests as it was linked to the Anheuser-Busch brewery located on the site. The idea was that guests would first be able to see wild animals, before entering the main beer manufacturing plant. However, during the 1970s the manufacturing plant closed down, and the company decided to pay more attention to the African theme park itself, made it more exotic and entertaining and started charging guests to enter the park. The parks mixture of fun rides, family friendly environment, exotic scenery and animal has bought millions of visitors to the gardens each year.

Ticket Prices:

Like most theme parks in Florida, a ticket varies in price, and can come with additional features. You have the option of buying a singular ticket, or a double ticket that allows you access into Busch Gardens and another theme park close by.

Currently ticket prices just for Busch Gardens are $50 for children (3-9), and $63 for adults. However, we booked our tickets online and thus were able to save on average $9.
We had some time in Florida, and thus decided to buy a dual ticket, which allowed us into two theme parks the other one being "Wet n Wild". We paid $102 for both passes, and again ordered them online.

I would recommend buying them online, not only do you save money, but Busch Gardens is extremely busy all year round and waiting to buy a ticket could waste precious time inside the park. Ordering online, will fast track you to a separate admissions area, which is much quicker.
(http://www.buschgardens.com/BGT/out_of_s tate_visitors.aspx)

The Theme Park:

The park is open from 09:30 in the morning till 19:00 in the evening, which is plenty of time to explore

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