Log In · Register
Fresh off its triumphant preview debut of its Iron Gwazi hybrid coaster, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is our Theme Park of the Week.
Busch Gardens is the oldest of Central Florida's major theme parks, having first opened officially June 1, 1959. It takes its name from the original "Busch Gardens" that the Busch family operated around its Pasadena, California winter home from 1906 to 1938: A visit to the original Busch Gardens.
Busch Gardens is no longer affiliated with the Anheuser-Busch company, which sold the Busch Gardens and SeaWorld theme parks after InBev bought the brewer in 2008. Now part of an independent SeaWorld Entertainment, Busch Gardens uses its name under license.
And that name has changed over the years. Not the "Busch Gardens" part, but the rest of the park's name. From 1976 through sometime in the 1990s (does anyone remember the exact date? I can't find it), the park went by the unfortunate name "Busch Gardens - The Dark Continent" in reference to its lands' African themes. (The European-themed Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia went by "Busch Gardens - The Old Country" during the same period. Because all theme park fans are of European ancestry, right? Sigh.) The Florida park reverted to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay for a decade, before adopting the Busch Gardens Africa name in 2006. That lasted for two years before the park again went back to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
While we might argue whether Central Florida has become the world's roller coaster capital, for years Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has served as the coaster capital of Central Florida. Now featuring 10 roller coasters, Busch Gardens has grown from its humble beginning as a tropical garden next to a brewery tour.
For its first decade, Busch Gardens operated with free admission, but the park started charging for entry in 1970, just before the opening of the Walt Disney World Resort up the road near Orlando in 1971. With Disney bringing more theme park fans to Florida, Busch Gardens responded with its first thrill ride, Stanley Falls Flume, in 1973 and roller coaster, Python, in 1976. Python closed in 2006, leaving 1980's Schwarzkopf silver arrow, Scorpion, as the oldest operating coaster in the park.
Iron Gwazi opens officially to the public on March 11. Beyond that Rocky Mountain Construction coaster, the Intamin blitz Cheetah Hunt topped our Theme Park Insider reader survey last year as their favorite coaster in the park.
Next up was the Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster Montu, followed by the Bolliger & Mabillard dive coaster Sheikra and the Mack Rides spinning coaster Cobra's Curse.
You can find our complete list of coaster rankings on our Busch Gardens Tampa Bay page.
And for discounted tickets to the park, including "Choose Your Adventure" combo tickets with SeaWorld Orlando, please visit our travel partner's Busch Gardens Tampa Bay tickets page.
* * *
We wanted you to read this article before we make our newsletter pitch, unlike so many other websites. If you appreciate that - and our approach to covering theme park, travel, and entertainment news - please sign up for our free, three-times-a-week email newsletter. Thank you.
And it's still a great park. Just needs to add a dark ride or simulator for when lightning rolls in and everything shuts down.
Ah, lightning. One of the reasons why Florida doesn’t have that Giga yet.
Lightning must be the reason why we don’t have the 450ft Starflyer, and the 430ft drop tower then? :)
I can’t see it being at SeaWorld, so Busch is really the only place. It’s never going to be a Cedar Point, but with a giga in its portfolio, Busch could become a stand alone coaster destination, instead of a park that tourists visit for a day, while staying in Orlando.
Pay per ride attractions can run much lower capacities than “regular” theme park attractions. Parks want bigger hourly usage than that.
The higher you go, the longer you have to be down when there is lightning in the area, due to an expanded danger radius. So that becomes a trade off in the design process, along with cost. Eventually, someone might decide a Giga is worth the downtime trade off. But until now, Florida parks have not needed a Giga to drive attendance.
The roadside attractions, however, need the height to literally stand out from the competition in the area, and just to covert a few riders per hour to make money.
Only been there once, a school trip in 1994 but a fun spot, always wanted to go back.
Interesting debate on the lightning given videos of places like, say, Six Flags Great America with so many towers, etc when a nasty storm rolls in. That can be damn scary.
I agree with the attendance for BGT, but again, it's almost all tourist driven. The vast majority going there, have no clue what an RMC or B&M are, and they don't care .... rightly so, in their world they just to want ride the coaster, and have fun.
But what will it take to turn BGT into a CP, or, dare I say, a Six Flags?? A park that coaster enthusiasts, like us, will go out of their way for to visit. Sure BGT has a good lineup of coasters, but does adding Gwazi make it a great lineup?? Will a giga, do that anyway?? It also needs more than coasters, a Pandemonium wouldn't go amiss either.
Seems like project penguin is a definite go for SWO in 2023, so that raises the question .... what has BGT got in mind for next year?
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
玻璃钢生产厂家深圳商场美陈哪里有公园校园玻璃钢雕塑生产厂家河北玻璃钢雕塑摆件订购玻璃钢仿真人物雕塑图内乡玻璃钢雕塑设计定做校园玻璃钢雕塑厂家江西步行街玻璃钢雕塑销售电话赣州景观玻璃钢雕塑订做价格珠海校园玻璃钢雕塑制作南昌玻璃钢卡通老鼠雕塑巴音郭楞玻璃钢雕塑加工长岭玻璃钢花盆花器商场美陈落地湛江玻璃钢卡通雕塑加工厂家自己怎么做玻璃钢雕塑郑州欧式人物玻璃钢雕塑北京定制玻璃钢雕塑诚信企业推荐德州武城玻璃钢雕塑河西商场周年美陈卢湾区天桥梁玻璃钢花盆中山定制玻璃钢面包雕塑常州商场亮化美陈茂名玻璃钢卡通雕塑报价石家庄玻璃钢广场雕塑定制阿里玻璃钢雕塑厂家济南多彩玻璃钢雕塑仿真植物玻璃钢雕塑发光动物玻璃钢雕塑新密玻璃钢浮雕室外抽象雕塑珠海玻璃钢雕塑躺椅香港通过《维护国家安全条例》两大学生合买彩票中奖一人不认账让美丽中国“从细节出发”19岁小伙救下5人后溺亡 多方发声单亲妈妈陷入热恋 14岁儿子报警汪小菲曝离婚始末遭遇山火的松茸之乡雅江山火三名扑火人员牺牲系谣言何赛飞追着代拍打萧美琴窜访捷克 外交部回应卫健委通报少年有偿捐血浆16次猝死手机成瘾是影响睡眠质量重要因素高校汽车撞人致3死16伤 司机系学生315晚会后胖东来又人满为患了小米汽车超级工厂正式揭幕中国拥有亿元资产的家庭达13.3万户周杰伦一审败诉网易男孩8年未见母亲被告知被遗忘许家印被限制高消费饲养员用铁锨驱打大熊猫被辞退男子被猫抓伤后确诊“猫抓病”特朗普无法缴纳4.54亿美元罚金倪萍分享减重40斤方法联合利华开始重组张家界的山上“长”满了韩国人？张立群任西安交通大学校长杨倩无缘巴黎奥运“重生之我在北大当嫡校长”黑马情侣提车了专访95后高颜值猪保姆考生莫言也上北大硕士复试名单了网友洛杉矶偶遇贾玲专家建议不必谈骨泥色变沉迷短剧的人就像掉进了杀猪盘奥巴马现身唐宁街 黑色着装引猜测七年后宇文玥被薅头发捞上岸事业单位女子向同事水杯投不明物质凯特王妃现身！外出购物视频曝光河南驻马店通报西平中学跳楼事件王树国卸任西安交大校长 师生送别恒大被罚41.75亿到底怎么缴男子被流浪猫绊倒 投喂者赔24万房客欠租失踪 房东直发愁西双版纳热带植物园回应蜉蝣大爆发钱人豪晒法院裁定实锤抄袭外国人感慨凌晨的中国很安全胖东来员工每周单休无小长假白宫：哈马斯三号人物被杀测试车高速逃费 小米：已补缴老人退休金被冒领16年 金额超20万
It's slightly misleading to say Busch Gardens opened as a "theme park" in 1959 because, when it opened, it wasn't really themed and there wasn't much to see or do. It was basically a promotion for Busch's various brands of beer. I visited the park in the 1960's and remember it well and fondly.
Admission was free but parking was a whopping 50 cents. The park was comprised entirely of a self-guided tour of the brewery, a pavilion offering free samples of beer, a lush tropical garden and a parrot show. Later in the decade, Busch added African animals to the property that grazed on the land around the brewery. You could view the animals from a slow-moving monorail for an extra charge.
There's more info about Busch Gardens in the 1960's as well as pictures of the brewery tour, the animals and monorail here: http://bgthistory.com/attractions/defunct-attractions/anheuser-busch-brewery/ . (The photos are at the bottom of the page.)