Busch Gardens Tampa
Tampa, FL
SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment
---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----
(5/1/2025) Busch Gardens Tampa Prepares To Open Wild Oasis
(2/27/2025) Food & Wine Fest and Updated Concert Schedule
(2/11/2025) Busch Gardens Tampa Brings On New Park President
(2/5/2025) Food & Wine Fest and Concert Info
(2/2/2025) New Wild Oasis Details
(1/12/2025) Busch Gardens Tampa To Host Mardi Gras Celebration
 General Park News - (2/27/2025) Busch Gardens Tampa has announced new flavors and concerts for the 20225 Food & Wine Festival, starting March 7 and running Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through to May 18, 2025. “This year’s festival features bold new flavors from the Caribbean and India, alongside returning favorites from South America and Europe. Guests can savor all-new dishes like Smoked Jerk Chicken with Caribbean Rice, Chickpea Masala,
and Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice. Newly created sweet indulgences include warm bananas with rum and vanilla ice cream. Paired with wines, craft brews and cocktails, every bite is a delicious new adventure.” The list of concerts is as follows:
Mar. 7 - Montgomery Gentry featuring Eddie Montgomery
Mar. 8 - Starship featuring Mickey Thomas
Mar. 14 - Sister Hazel
Mar. 15 - Flo Rida
Mar. 21 - Joe Nichols
Mar. 22 - Luis Fonsi
Mar. 23 - The commodores
Mar. 28 - Easton Corbin & Matt Stell
Mar. 29 - Edwin McCain
Apr. 4 - Soulja Boy & Paul Wall
Apr. 5 - Village People
Apr. 12 - Michael Ray
Apr. 13 - Fuel & Lit
Apr. 19 - Plain White T’s
Apr. 26 - Blackberry Smoke
Apr. 27 - Mitchell Tenpenny & Graham Barham
May 3 - Third Eye Blind
May 4 - Robin Thicke
May 10 - Grand Funk Railroad
May 11 - TBA
May 16 - Hoobastank
May 17 - Justin Moore
(2/11/2025) Busch Gardens Tampa has named Jeff Davis as the new Park President. Davis comes to BGT after serving as Park President of SeaWorld San Antonio for the past year, and before that has worked for a variety of parks in a long career that has taken him through Rye Playland, Lake Compounce, Dorney Park, American Dream, and an amazing 19 years at Sesame Place.
(2/5/2025) Busch Gardens Tampa has released some new information about the upcoming Food & Wine Festival and Concert Series taking place Friday through Sundays from March 7 to May 18, 2025.
“This year’s festival will serve up all-new culinary creations influenced by the vibrant spices and bold flavors of the Caribbean and India, as well as feature returning fan-favorites spanning the cuisines of South America and Europe. With a diverse selection of dishes to pair with wines, craft brews and cocktails, every bite offers a delicious new adventure for food lovers to explore. The best way to savor the festival is with a festival sampler lanyard, allowing guests to enjoy multiple tastes throughout their visit.”
On the concert side of things, four acts have been listed so far:
March 15 - Flo Rida
March 22 - Louis Fonsi
April 27 - Mitchell Tenpenny
May 10 - Grand Funk Railroad
(1/12/2025) Busch Gardens Tampa will bring the spirit of the Big Easy to life with a special Mardi Gras celebration that will take place Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Jan. 11 through to March 2, 2025. The Mardi Gras event will feature music, food and beverages, along with a Mardi Gras style parade.
Visit the official park website for all the details.
(12/17/2024) Busch Gardens Tampa will host the park’s next Real Music concert series on select dates between Jan. 6 to Feb. 22, 2025. This year’s event will feature an assortment of Tribute artists performing music from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, with all concerts included with your regular park admission. This year’s acts include:
Kings of Queen - Jan. 6 to 11
Direct from Sweden - Jan. 13 to 18
Hotter Than July - Stevie Wonder Tribute - Jan. 20 to 25
Tapestry - The Carol King Song Book - Jan. 27 to Feb. 1
Steve Michaels as Elvis - Feb. 3 to 8
Magical Mystery Doors - Feb. 10 to 15
E5C4P3 - Journey Tribute - Feb. 17 to 22
(12/13/2024) According to a local news report, a pair of contractors have filed liens against Busch Gardens Tampa over unpaid construction bills worth over $3.1 million. One is claiming $3 million is owed for “demolition services”, while the other says they are still owed $100,000 for “ride erection services” that were completed in August, which sounds like it had something to do with the new Phoenix Rising coaster.
The $3 million lien for demolition however seems a little steep to me, especially if it was just to remove the former SandSerpent wild mouse style coaster. Then again, I’ve never paid to remove a ride before, so what do I know…
According to Dennis Spiegel of International Theme Park Services, he suspects there may be more to this story, and that perhaps the park is delaying the payments over issues of a job not completed to their specifications. This could also include a disagreement in the final sum the contractors may be trying to charge them.
(11/27/2024) According to the local news, Busch Gardens Tampa has lost a lawsuit filed by a family whose child was injured at the park in Sept. 2022. According to the article, the family turned down a $40,000 settlement offer and was awarded $8.15 million from the jury in the trial.
The injury was not ride related, but instead the child discovered an unlocked door into the Stanleyville Theater, entered and climbed onto the stage area where an acrobatic trampoline was set up. The child fell from the trampoline, suffered ‘blunt force trauma that lacerated his chin, liver, and right kidney, which resulted in the loss of his kidney function.” As a result, the child will have to “endure renal protective measures for the rest of his life”. However, the family was found to be subject to “comparative fault”, said to have contributed 35% of the injuries for their own action (or inaction) in this case, reducing the final lawsuit verdict down to $5.3 million.
(8/24/2024) Bad news from Busch Gardens Tampa shocked the coaster community yesterday when the park suddenly announced that you have only a matter of days left to ride Scorpion before they closed it for good on Labor Day, September 2nd.
For those who havn’t been, Scorpion is a classic Schwarzkopf looping coaster that opened way back in 1980 and has been thrilling guests for 44 years. It’s always disappointing to lose a beloved roller coaster, but even more unfortunate when a park doesn’t give enough warning time to allow fans from out of town to make a trip to ride it one last time. (Like, letting it run through to the end of Howl-O-Scream would have been a better way to handle this, but that’s just my take on it…)
It is worth mentioning that the announcement does tease that something new may be in the works, claiming that “this closure paves the way for future thrills.” The problem is that Scorpion is kind of land-locked where it is, with the train running directly behind it and then the equally ancient Stanly Log Flume (which probably should be retired as well) providing the only real possible place to expand and add a bigger ride. Having just opened the family friendly Phoenix Rising, the park really is due to add a bigger scale thrill ride of some kind.
So what will become of Scorpion? I’d guess that it would be heading to the scrap-pile, with maybe a piece or two saved for the National Roller Coaster Museum. Though I can’t help but think that Indiana Beach surely put the Scorpion trains to use on the All American Triple Loop as a replacement for the horrible trains they are using now, removing the problem of having OTS on a ride that wasn’t never meant to have it.
2025 - Wild Oasis - Confirmed - (5/1/2025) Busch Gardens Tampa says that they have welcomed several new animal species into the park ahead of the opening of the Wild Oasis at Jungala later this Spring. “The newly arrived species—including a giant anteater, capybaras, squirrel monkeys, and tropical birds—have come from AZA-accredited facilities across the country. They will reside in Habitat Hideaway, one of several exciting new areas in the all-new adventure realm.”
Passholders will be amongst the first to experience the new Wild Oasis area, and currently there is a 35% off special on tickets, Fun Cards and Annual Passes during the “Spring Spectacular Sale”. You can find out more about those special offers on the official website now through May 4th.
(2/2/2025) Busch Gardens Tampa has posted some new details about the upcoming Wild Oasis area of the park, complete with a new 35ft family drop tower ride experience called Tree top Drop. Other features of Wild Oasis include the Canopy Climb attraction, the Enchanted Falls splash pad, and Habitat Hideaway featuring capybaras, giant anteaters, squirrel monkeys and more.
As fans of the park may have guessed, the new Wild Oasis area comes as an updated mini zone within the park’s Jungala area, updating or replacing many older attractions that were once in this more guest interactive area of Jungala when it first opened.
(9/17/2024) Guests have been waiting for years for Busch Gardens Tampa to do something new with the Jungala area of the park. According to a new release from the park a new adventure zone called Wild Oasis will be added to Jungala in Spring 2025 that promises to blend rides within an immersive environment, along with encounters with wildlife.
“Wild Oasis is designed to ignite the imagination and engage all the senses, promising non-stop excitement for every member of the family. Prepare to be captivated by the sights and sounds of the rainforest, the rush of a newly reimagined drop tower featuring state-of-the-art digital and sound effects, an interactive water-play wonderland, and a multi-level climbing canopy. Plus, discover an all-new, multi-species animal habitat for up-close encounters with some of the world's most fascinating animals.”
???? - New Coaster / Project Halcyon - Speculation & Rumor - (7/21/2023) While I don’t really know what is going on yet, we’ve been told that the next big project for Busch Gardens Tampa is being called “Project Halcyon”. According to our source a work permit related to Project Halcyon mentions the construction of a new 70,000 sqft building. For comparison’s sake, I’m told that the structure at Busch Gardens Williamsburg used for DarKoaster (formerly the Curse of DarKastle ride) is about 40,000 sqft.
So while 40,000 is a bit small for an indoor coaster, 70,000 sqft would be a more appropriate size for a decent indoor coaster, or for a massive dark ride. We all know Busch Gardens Tampa could use a killer dark ride, but based on the company’s poor record of maintaining them for very long (RIP: DarKastle & Antarctica) so between the two I’m leaning towards this being a coaster.
However, one more item to consider. The name “Halcyon” may be a reference to the Greek goddess Halcyon, daughter of Aeolus, who was the ruler of the winds. Halcyon married a mortal King and as Greek stories tend to always do… their relationship ended in tragedy and death. In reaction to their love the two were resurrected as sea birds so they could live together once again by the beautiful seaside. So a project name that brings to mind flight and wind makes me wonder if this could be the company finally preparing to embrace the concept of adding a Flying Theater attraction.
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