I have visited Tampa Bay for the third time back in May 2018 and finally got the chance to visit Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.  It was also my second year in a row attending Sunset Music Festival and going on a cruise from Tampa Bay.  Busch Gardens opened in 1959 and is a 335 acre African themed animal theme park.  It features over 200 species of animals and is Tampa Bay’s largest zoo.  It is owned and operated by SeaWorld Entertainment and sees about 4.1 million visitors every year.

Getting There

My buddy and I stayed at Quality Inn & Conference Center which is about 4 KM (2.5 miles) from Busch Gardens.  We ate our free breakfast buffet before asking the hotel to call us an accessible taxi, we were then told that the hotel does offer a free shuttle to anywhere within a certain distance from the hotel.  They did not have an accessible shuttle but we were free to use the big shuttle van.  Instead of trying to get an accessible taxi, my buddy just helped me into the shuttle van so we could get on with our day.  The drive to Busch Gardens was less than 10 minutes so it wasn’t too far.

Busch Gardens

Busch Gardens did not offer free admission for companions of disabled guests but they did offer 50% off admission for disabled guests and 50% off admission to one accompanying guest (which is basically the same anyways).  At Guest Services which is located in Moroccan Village, we are informed about the Ride Accessibility Program (RAP), where we learn about the rules and accessibility of the rides and the park.  We are also told that we can get a virtual queue card where we get placed in a virtual queue and come back when it is our turn for the ride.

Busch Gardens is divided into 11 different themed areas: Morocco, Bird Gardens, Sesame Street Safari Of Fun, Stanleyville, Jungala, Congo, Pantopia, Nairobi, Egypt, Serengeti Plain and Edge Of Africa.

Attractions

We started in Morocco because the entrance is located here. This is where we saw alligators sunbathing in their coastal habitat, then saw gorillas at Myombe Reserve.  We skipped Sesame Street Safari Of Fun since that area is mostly for kids and headed right to Nairobi and saw some penguins at Penguin Point.

Also in Nairobi are snakes, flamingos, toucans and other birds at Animal Connections.  There are 5 elephants located here with one male elephant coming from my home city of Calgary in 2013.

Opening Night Critters

We then headed to Pantopia and at Pantopia Theater, we saw a 30 minute animal show called Opening Night Critters.  This show started in 2014 and ended in 2018 to make room for a new show in 2019 to celebrate Busch Gardens 60th anniversary.  Opening Night Critters features over 100 furry and feathered animals like dogs, cats, parrots and owls along with their human trainers perform a fun theatrical show.  There was even a chance to meet the critters and human trainers after the show.

After the show, we headed to Edge Of Africa to see lions and then to Serengeti Plain to see giraffes and zebras.  The exhibits looked quite large so all the animals got a lot of space to roam in a simulated natural environment.

Cobra’s Curse

It was time for us to head to Egypt area and go to Cobra’s Curse ride after putting our names on the virtual queue card.  I was planning to go on this spinning roller coaster but as I got a closer look at this ride, it seemed too dangerous for me to transfer to a seat.  Without having a hand grip to hold the handle bars and not being able to brace myself for the ride, we thought it would be better for my buddy to go alone.  I was ok with that because it was better to be safe.

After that, we saw hippos at Edge of Africa before heading to Walkabout Way in the Bird Gardens area.  There is an Australian outpost where kangaroos and wallabies hang out in the open and visitors can hand feed the animals.

Dinner

We then went to Stanleyville to look around a bit and had dinner at Zambia Smokehouse.  The smoke and smells from the open barbecue pit really made us hungry and wanting to eat their food.  We had a mixture of different kinds of barbecued meats and it was so worth it and delicious.

Afterwards, we went to Jungala to see some tigers at Tiger Trail.  This area features rope bridges and 3 levels of jungle life.  This is almost like a giant tree house as I could not get to see all the areas here because of ladders and bridges.  My buddy did have fun exploring Jungala though.  Orangutan Outpost is also located here which is a tree top observation platform.

Serengeti Express Train

Congo was the next area we checked out and we decided to get on the Serengeti Express.  This train had a wheelchair ramp and an accessible seating area on one of the cars of the train.  Besides the stop at Congo, there are also stops at Nairobi and Stanleyville.  This relaxing train ride gave us a great view of all the animals as it passed by Serengeti Plain.  We got off at Nairobi because that area is right beside Morocco where we wanted to see a live show before the park closes.

Turn It Up! The Hottest Show On Ice

Located in Moroccan Palace Theater, the 23 minute live Turn It Up! The Hottest Show On Ice is an award winning ice skating show.  Accessible seating is at the back as we got to see fast paced ice skating, impressive lighting and set designs with an upbeat fun music soundtrack.  Both of us really enjoyed this show as it was a great way to end the night.

Our full day at Busch Gardens was an amazing time.  Even though I only went on one ride, I still thought it was worth visiting for everything else.  We got to see a lot of animals, saw a great animal show, a fun ice skating show and got to spend a warm sunny day mostly outdoors.  Highly recommended.