Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

[cwgator]

Hey Guys,

 

I'm gonna be in the area the week of January 3-9 and wanted to stop by the park one day but had a few questions. Is the park normally busy during this time of year? If so, which day of the week would be the best day to visit? I'm a little worried that the park hours for every day that week are only 10am-6pm and that I'm not gonna have enough time to enjoy the park. Also, the park still has their list of 2015 scheduled attraction closures on their website and not their 2016 list, does anyone know if they've released this information yet? I'd like to dodge closures for any major attractions if possible. Thanks.

 

The park should not be very busy at all, except perhaps Saturdays in January. I usually go on New Year's Day and the park is usually dead the first half of the day but I've never seen it get to crazy waits. Most rides will be a walk on. Cheetah Hunt will be a walk on if you head to it as soon as the rope drops but will still swell to the 30-60 minute range soon after mainly because the majority still heads that direction. One day is all you need for the rides , but I recommend 2 days if you fully want to enjoy the park to see some shows and all the animals.

[jedimaster1227]

TBH, Dragon fire grill has some good choices. It's only place in the park where you can get Asian AND tex-mex!. Plus, a show and AC!

 

I still haven't had the chance to eat at Dragon Fire Grill, but I did walk through. It definitely looked like a nice selection... I'm just hard pressed to go for anything besides Crown Colony Restaurant (when it is open) or the ribs at Zambia Smokehouse... Because it is all so good! But I'll definitely have to give Dragon Fire Grill a shot in the near future.

[DJeXeL]

^Wanted to thank you for the recommendation of the Crown Colony restaurant. the food was excellent and my girlfriend and I were able to get Craft Beer flights so all was well.

[jedimaster1227]

^Fantastic to hear! Your timing was great as the venue is now seasonal and only open for limited spans of time. Glad you were able to try it out during your visit and that you enjoyed it so much!

[scottm1023]

Hey Guys,

 

I'm gonna be in the area the week of January 3-9 and wanted to stop by the park one day but had a few questions. Is the park normally busy during this time of year? If so, which day of the week would be the best day to visit? I'm a little worried that the park hours for every day that week are only 10am-6pm and that I'm not gonna have enough time to enjoy the park. Also, the park still has their list of 2015 scheduled attraction closures on their website and not their 2016 list, does anyone know if they've released this information yet? I'd like to dodge closures for any major attractions if possible. Thanks.

 

The park should not be very busy at all, except perhaps Saturdays in January. I usually go on New Year's Day and the park is usually dead the first half of the day but I've never seen it get to crazy waits. Most rides will be a walk on. Cheetah Hunt will be a walk on if you head to it as soon as the rope drops but will still swell to the 30-60 minute range soon after mainly because the majority still heads that direction. One day is all you need for the rides , but I recommend 2 days if you fully want to enjoy the park to see some shows and all the animals.

 

I'd love to do two days, but unfortunately we're staying in Cape Coral the whole week, and the two hour drive isn't something we wanna do twice that week.

[Guy T. Koepp]

I will have to try the Crown Colony Restaurant the next time I visit. Sound great.

[Themonerd]

TBH, Dragon fire grill has some good choices. It's only place in the park where you can get Asian AND tex-mex!. Plus, a show and AC!

 

I still haven't had the chance to eat at Dragon Fire Grill, but I did walk through. It definitely looked like a nice selection... I'm just hard pressed to go for anything besides Crown Colony Restaurant (when it is open) or the ribs at Zambia Smokehouse... Because it is all so good! But I'll definitely have to give Dragon Fire Grill a shot in the near future.

 

 

You realize they ribs there that, are just as good as the ones in Zambia?

[mmkaycomputer]

Pardon my tourist query (or any obviousness my research failed to unearth), but we're going to BGT either this Friday or Saturday—I say either because we originally were going to go Friday to beat crowds and get discounts, but it looks like rain (and some level of wind) is likely happening until 10 am, with "a chance of rain" predicted through 1-2 pm. I know rides can/will close during inclement weather, so we fear losing anywhere between a couple to five hours of the day—or, worse, the park announcing it won't open or closing early after we've prepaid our weekday tickets. That said, we're also not afraid to brave a little wet if it's not gonna rain for too long, and it's possible we might not even get to the park until around noon anyway.

 

My question: Would you chance going Friday, or would you recommend just opting for Saturday? And if Saturday, would the crowds be bad enough that we'd likely need/should get Quick Queue? We don't care much about the shows or seeing the holiday decor—we are going almost exclusively for the thrills. But we don't want to wait an hour for everything, either. Thank you in advance!

[rcrider4]

Honestly, with Florida weather, you can't really predict the time rain will start or stop this far out. It will almost certainly be different by Thursday or Friday. I would wait until at least Thursday and look again. If it has pretty much no chance of rain after 2, go for Friday. School will be in and the rain will keep people away, so it will be pretty dead and you'll have no problem riding everything a couple times. If the rain chance gets worse, go for Saturday, as weather shuts down pretty much every ride in the park as everything is outdoors. It will be busier Saturday, but with the long Christmas Town hours, you'll have plenty of time to do all the rides as long as you get there near opening.

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

Honestly, they need to invest in some kind of indoor ride or dark ride. At least Seaworld has Turtle Trek (if you count that), Wild Arctic, and Antarctica. There's not much to do at BGT when it's raining except see the shows, but those fill up really fast.

[rcrider4]

Can't agree more. In fact, I'd love for them to build 2 or 3, as the line would be monstrous during rain if there was only one, and indoor rides would be very welcome in general due to the heat of Florida.

[VegasBaby]

Honestly, they need to invest in some kind of indoor ride or dark ride. At least Seaworld has Turtle Trek (if you count that), Wild Arctic, and Antarctica. There's not much to do at BGT when it's raining except see the shows, but those fill up really fast.

 

SWSD is getting a new dark ride, so I could see one at BGT in the near future, especially if the SWSD ride is a big success. State of the art dark rides are becoming more prevalent at parks, just look at CF with their Triotech rides and the SF Justice League rides.

[Skiebs]

The space for Gwazi and Gwazi Park is big enough for a roller coaster and an indoor ride, and they should use the old Ackbars Adventure Tours building for another indoor ride if the wanted to make the Egypt area even better

Edited December 18, 2015 by Skiebs

[jedimaster1227]

^The Akbar's Adventure Tours building is used seasonally for Howl-O-Scream as a house but isn't big enough to support another coaster... Plus there's one being built just opposite it. Three coasters in one land might be overkill.

 

As for Gwazi and Gwazi Park, that area is PRIME real estate for expansion... The biggest question is, what if anything from Gwazi will be salvaged in the process when they decide to use that space.

[Skiebs]

Yea, that's true. The problem with Busch Gardens is that there is so much space but its hard to tell if a building is unused, or for animals, Howl-O-Scream, or employee facilities.

[jedimaster1227]

^There's still plenty of land to build on if they wanted to... SeaWorld Orlando is using the retention pond land behind the Nautilus Theater for Mako, so it is always possible that Busch Gardens Tampa could do the same with theirs behind Kumba.

[Themonerd]

This talk about a dark ride is great and all, but what would you theme it to?

[I love pie]

This talk about a dark ride is great and all, but what would you theme it to?

I've always dreamed of a dark ride in the Egypt section of the park themed to Egyptian mythology.

[larrygator]

This talk about a dark ride is great and all, but what would you theme it to?

 

Something in Africa or possibly to animals!!!!!!!!!!

Just a wild generic guess there

Edited December 19, 2015 by larrygator

[Philrad71]

I'm gonna go with Bobono monkeys so parents would have to explain to their kids what the heck was going on - kinda like at the Columbus Zoo.

[Themonerd]

I'm gonna go with Bobono monkeys so parents would have to explain to their kids what the heck was going on - kinda like at the Columbus Zoo.

[jray21]

TBH, Dragon fire grill has some good choices. It's only place in the park where you can get Asian AND tex-mex!. Plus, a show and AC!

 

I still haven't had the chance to eat at Dragon Fire Grill, but I did walk through. It definitely looked like a nice selection... I'm just hard pressed to go for anything besides Crown Colony Restaurant (when it is open) or the ribs at Zambia Smokehouse... Because it is all so good! But I'll definitely have to give Dragon Fire Grill a shot in the near future.

 

Don't forget the Bacon Pretzels! Those are amazing!

[jedimaster1227]

^The Pretzel Bacon Fury is awesome!

[rcrider4]

I agree that it is really good, but I actually like the Pizza Pretzel even better.

[Themonerd]

TBH, Dragon fire grill has some good choices. It's only place in the park where you can get Asian AND tex-mex!. Plus, a show and AC!

 

I still haven't had the chance to eat at Dragon Fire Grill, but I did walk through. It definitely looked like a nice selection... I'm just hard pressed to go for anything besides Crown Colony Restaurant (when it is open) or the ribs at Zambia Smokehouse... Because it is all so good! But I'll definitely have to give Dragon Fire Grill a shot in the near future.

 

Don't forget the Bacon Pretzels! Those are amazing!

 

Those amazing things are right next door!