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Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

p. 375: Phoenix Rising family inverted coaster announced for 2024!

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Guest Services was able to print a wallet sized card for me. There are also kiosks outside the park that are supposed to print them as well but they don’t seem to work. I stopped there first to print out my single ride Quick Queue. One kiosk was turned off, the second one wouldn’t scan the barcode and third one didn’t print anything. 

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Great discussion, thanks for the info! We are staying at the new hotel right across the street so parking isn't an issue since they have a shuttle.

Hilariously a Lyft seems like the best stress free way to get to our Universal Loews hotel from BGT. It's only $94! A car rental starts as low as $85 haha.

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This may make me a bad poster.

But they lost me and 3 additional admissions for the Gwazi fiasco. We booked flights 4 months ago and we are still going to Tampa cause we have a place there. But they don't seem to care.

 

Busch is expensive and doesn't want to open their new ride. So I'll see them next year I guess.

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yeah!  without Iron Gwazi that park just SUCKS. . . no reason to go at all.

Girl Reaction GIF

 

FFS - I went to TDS knowing that Journey was down for refurb. . but I didn't boycott the park because of that.  

 

Instead I just enjoyed what was up and running in a spectacular park.

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^^I don't know how you can call the Gwazi thing a 'fiasco'?  I mean, this whole pandemic all park operations have been a mess and a guess at best so it doesn't seem fair to call out BGT specifically.   How can they open a brand new ride when they wouldn't be able to accommodate everyone who would want to ride it and it would make the park a mess?  I'm cutting them a little slack. Especially compared to some parks that can barely still operate normal hours with not even all of their rides/food. 

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2 hours ago, monotone said:

But they lost me and 3 additional admissions for the Gwazi fiasco. We booked flights 4 months ago and we are still going to Tampa cause we have a place there. But they don't seem to care.

You're correct. They don't care. Survival during the pandemic seemed to be more of a priority. SEAS' stock is up 330% since my purchase during the crash in March, and it's at an all time high.

Kudos to them for coming out ahead. Keep your 4 tickets.

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4 hours ago, monotone said:

This may make me a bad poster.

But they lost me and 3 additional admissions for the Gwazi fiasco. We booked flights 4 months ago and we are still going to Tampa cause we have a place there. But they don't seem to care.

 

Busch is expensive and doesn't want to open their new ride. So I'll see them next year I guess.

I mean, no...they or any park does not care about you lol or me or any one. Its bad enough enthusiasts already think parks do/should cater to us but what, like if you as an individual write them they will buck their entire policy for you? Believe me, I wish!! I also am shelving my BGT plans bc Iron Gwazi is not likely to be open and I agree, having been there not too long ago Im not willing to spend the extra $ of (pricy) park, extra travel, place to stay etc  BUT that's just how it goes....much as I wish I could say "Open Iron Gwazi otherwise I am not going!" and they would listen.......I think our 5 tickets are not exactly enough to sway them. I'm disappointed too but like, cmon man lol

EDIT: I re-read your post. You're still going to Tampa? Oh, see I was going there just for BGT, I was gunna tack it on to my visit to Tallahassee so its easy for me to shelve esp as I went to the park in 2018. If you're still going to be in Tampa....not gunna lie, should prob still go lol Still a nice park and wonderful experience, if you're still in Tampa, just do it. Like I went to Cedar Point and had the **** luck of Maverick being closed for those few weeks while they removed the barrel roll, likewise my first trip to SFMM X2 was down and others have gone to CP or DW multiple times and failed to get on TTD or LR. Sometimes we gotta suck it up and dont have the chance to save our $ you should either go OR be thankful you can save your $ on the tix...

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If I ran a theme park I would not open a major new ride right now. Either you cap capacity and reduce potential returns or you have a huge crowd and when pictures of that crowd go viral you have a huge PR problem. It sucks, but I get it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Alright, I am going to be *that* person who asks for advice on how to hit the rides and navigate the park for the first time.

We are going on Wednesday and Thursday, June 9th and 10th. It is our first time at the park. I am familiar with the coaster collection, but not necessarily the park layout and where crowds head first. Is it best to go straight to Cheetah Hunt and Cobra's Curse at opening, since I assume those have pretty low capacity? Or do those lines die down later in the day and we should start in the back? Any advice is appreciated. I guess whether Iron Gwazi is open might affect things too, but honestly, I don't expect it to be open by then. Also, since the 10th is Velocicoaster's opening day, I am hoping everybody and their mom is at Universal that day to alleviate crowds at other parks. Or maybe that won't even make a difference since we're out in Tampa?

We plan on staying open-to-close both days (10am-10pm). We definitely wanna hit all the coasters and major rides, but are there any shows/exhibits that are *must see*? Same goes for food. We plan on getting the all-day dining plan both days. Thanks in advance!

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Two full days at this park is a ton of time to go at a very leisurely pace.

You don't need any strategy at all but yes, optimal strategy is probably Cheetah Hunt > Cobra's Curse > Scorpion and then just do whatever. In reality I would do Cheetah Hunt > Cobra's Curse > Montu since it's right there and will be a walk-on > Falcon's Fury if it's open so you can ride it before it breaks > Scorpion and then do whatever.

Also, keep an eye on the Quick Queue prices. They tend to be cheap at this park. Even if they're higher now they may drop day-of, and I'd even check on the booth by the entrance because sometimes their prices don't match the website anyway.

If you have two full days just do every exhibit, they're all good. Also look into some behind-the-scenes animal tours. Some are shockingly cheap.

My best advice is not to zig-zag, this park is a giant massive loop so just hit things as you come to them.

Other random tips:

- Take the train from the Nairobi Train Station to see the animals.

- Back row, closest to the unload side is the magic seat on Kumba.

- Back row, closest to the load side is the magic seat on Montu.

- The queue for Stanley Falls is the 7th layer of hell if the switchbacks are open and it's worth buying Quick Queue for that ride alone if it's hot, which it will be.

My only other advice is that as much as I love this place I'm not entirely sure you need two full 10-10 days unless you just really want to take it easy and I'd probably recommend spending that second day at an Orlando park.

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4 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

Other random tips:

- Take the train from the Nairobi Train Station to see the animals.

 

The train ride is great but take a look when you get there to see if they're still loading every other row. Usually the train seats a ton of people and you only have to wait for the next train to arrive, but during Spring Break this year they were loading every other row and a small que just outside the train station building ended up being about 3 cycles due to the seating. Just a heads up, we ended wait about an hour thinking it was only going to be maybe 15 minutes.

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@coasterbillWe do like to take our time and not be rushed when visiting parks. I just asked about strategy since we probably will not be buying Quick Queue if we have two full days at the park, unless it is shockingly cheap one of those days. This is mostly for my family, trying to ride everything and see everything. I will be living in Florida and this will be my new home park, so I plan on coming back often.

We have ample time at the Orlando parks both before and after BGT, so we're just going to spend both days here and have some fun. It has been a huge bucket list park for me and my dad (who is almost as coaster nerdy as me), so we figured two full days into our schedule - just to account for any ride closures due to storms, absolutely insane crowds (we are expecting it to be very busy), etc.

Thanks for the tips!

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@thrillseeker4552I've only ever been to the park once, but my similar experience as a first-time may be helpful to you.  Going on weekdays will definitely be to your advantage, like I did...granted mine was in the middle of February when I'm sure the park was less busy, but that still helps.

1.  I would recommend hitting Cheetah Chase early in the day, especially if you won't have Quick-Queue.  I can't comment on Cobra's Curse since I skipped it (I can't stomach spinning coasters), but Cheetah was one of the few places that the QQ actually helped.  From there, I'd recommend Sand Serpent (since it's a Wild Mouse it doesn't have the best capacity), Tigris, and Falcon's Fury as other lower-capacity rides.  I'd also try to hit the flume earlier in the day before it gets too hot, and the rapids if they're your thing.

2.  Whatever you do, print out the park map before you go.  When I went, there were no printed maps available at the park and their app's map is HORRIBLE.  You will need it, because I found the layout very confusing.  All of the foliage makes things harder to see and can make navigating a pain; there are also a couple of paths to get from A to B where one is much longer than the other.

3.  I didn't take in any actual animal shows, but there should be plenty available.  Even without them, you can see a lot just wandering around.  The train ride also provides good views of animals on one of the routes (can't remember which one, I wanna say it's if you get on at the Nairobi station).

4.  Do not skip the pretzels from Twisted Tails Pretzels (near Scorpion and Falcon's Fury).  Sweet, buttery goodness.

5. With two full days, you should have plenty of time to do everything, even if crowds are pretty bad.  While some of the rides here are truly awesome and should not be skipped (Kumba, Cheetah, Scorpion, Falcon's Fury*), there really aren't a LOT of rides.

*Probably Montu too, but it was broken while I was there.

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don't miss the trails with the hippos and other animals that runs pretty much from just past Cheetah Hunt, back to over where the Excursions meet up are (close to the train station).

there are several animal walk thru areas that are worth your time, if you like that kinda stuff (we do). . in particular the kangaroos/Wallaby walk thru.

the times we've been, we hit Cheetah Hunt, then Cobra's Curse. . then we hop on Skyride (shares station with Cheetah Hunt) to go across the park to get to Scorpion & Falcon's Fury, and everything else in that area, then continuing on in the circular pattern starting with Kumba.

-- not sure if skyride is operating due to covid tho. . .

we've been a couple of times (multi day trips) and Montu never had a line - unless Cobra's Curse breaks down (and then that whole queue goes directly next door to Montu).  Otherwise, it was a station wait to ride every time.

the Cheetah Run exhibition is really good - they do it once a day, in the mornings usually. . . so make time to do that (tho realize that the crowd stopping to watch that *isn't* lining up in Cobra's Curse queue 😛    for us, it's worth it to see the Cheetah Run "show" - it's only ~15 minutes, so we make a point to do that when we go.

likely won't be back to BGT until 2022-2023. .but at least Iron Gwazi will be open by then

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27 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

Oops. Good call on Sand Serpent. I literally forgot that it existed.

I mean. .it's  a wild mouse.

with a line that moves like a snail.

I think we've ridden it once over the 5-6 days we spent in the park over the years.

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2 hours ago, bert425 said:

I mean. .it's  a wild mouse.

with a line that moves like a snail.

I think we've ridden it once over the 5-6 days we spent in the park over the years.

Sand Serpent was definitely a one and done for us as well.  Especially since it broke down and left us baking in the hot August sun for about 15-20 minutes.  The park did give us single-use QQ's for the breakdown, which enabled us to get another ride on Cobra's Curse with no waiting (it was still fairly new and had an hour wait).

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1 hour ago, bert425 said:

 not sure if skyride is operating due to covid tho. . .

Yeah, it’s been closed for budget since the park reopened last year. 

I mean “because of Covid” as they say. They run the one at their San Diego park but though so I guess they just don’t care if their west coast guests die of covid by riding the best ride for social distancing ever invented. 🤷‍♂️ 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has announced that Howl-O-Scream will return in 2021 with two new houses, scare zones, roaming hoardes and two shows!

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https://buschgardens.com/tampa/events/howl-o-scream/

TERRIFYING HAUNTED HOUSES ARE BACK WITH A VENGEANCE FOR MORE FRIGHT-FILLED NIGHTS

Tampa’s premier Halloween event returns earlier than ever for 28 killer nights with scare zones and haunted houses, including two ALL-NEW haunted house experiences.

Fear returns to its most immersive form with the return of iconic horror-filled haunted houses to terrify guests at Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream, Tampa Bay’s BIGGEST haunt event. Park guests will find nowhere to hide as zombies, deranged clowns, werewolves and new surprises stalk their prey throughout eight scare zones, and unpredictable roaming hordes lurk in the darkness. Beyond the haunts, killer entertainment can be found on stage with “Fiends!” returning to the Festival Field and last year’s best-kept-secret “The Rolling Bones” performing electrifying rock covers at Dragon Fire Grill. 

Howl-O-Scream is intended for a mature audience. This event contains intense adult content such as violence, gore, and blood. Howl-O-Scream 2021 is a separately-ticketed night event. No costumes are allowed.

*Event dates and details subject to change and/or cancellation without prior notice.

SELECT NIGHTS

September 10th - October 31st 

EVENT HOURS

Fridays & Saturdays - 7:00 PM - 1:00 AM 

Thursdays & Sundays - 7:00 PM - 12:00 AM 

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5 HAUNTED HOUSES 

Dark minds have been brewing new ways to terrify those brave enough to enter two all-new haunted houses. Plus, three fan-favorite frights will come back from the dead to consume guests with fear in all-new ways. Beware! Even the most experienced Howl-O-Scream fans will encounter unexpected fears and frights throughout the night.

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8 SCARE ZONES & UNPREDICTABLE HORDES 

The scares are everywhere as new terrors lurk in every corner of the park. With eight frightful zones, guests will experience screams & scares at any moment. Plus, with roaming hordes and a new unmarked zone, frights await at every twist and turn.

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2 FAN-FAVORITE SHOWS

The raunchy monster dance party, Fiends,  will return to its spacious outdoor venue for more devilish antics from Dr. Freakenstein and his gang of ghouls. Plus, guests fuel up on a pre-fear feast with the return of the The Rolling Bones. This skeleton band lights up Dragon Fire Grill with live performances and epic covers classic rock anthems.

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PULSE-POUNDING ATTRACTIONS 

With exhilarating coasters and thrilling attractions, guests can take on their favorite rides in the dark in between the frights and scares of Howl-O-Scream. Bring your fears to new heights on Falcon's Fury & SheiKra, then let the adrenaline rush as you launch into the shadows of Cheetah Hunt & Tigris.

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