Photos of Busch Gardens Tampa
On November 16th, 2025, I would have the opprotunity to revisit Busch Gardens Tampa for the first time since 2024. With this being our third park on our IAAPA 2025 trip, we would have a rather smooth day at BGT.
We woke up at 4am in Atlanta, to begin our drive down to Tampa. After a stop at Bucc-ee's for breakfast, we had a smooth drive down I-75 to Tampa, and made it to the park by 1pm.
After getting our tickets taken care of, and sending everyone else their Quick Queues, we would begin our day with Falcon's Fury. This drop tower is unique, as it faces you straight down before dropping you, like Siren's Curse but its just a drop tower. It freaked Abi, Luke, and Josh out a lot, and I do not blame them, since it IS over 300ft tall. After we rode Phoenix Rising, which is the first B&M Family Invert in the United States, with the only other at the time being The Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf's Revenge at Busch Garden's Williamsburg.
We followed with 2 laps on Kumba, the sitdown looper by B&M. It was so good, and I genuinely think it may be my favorite coaster by B&M other than Shambhala. We also rode Tigris twice following, than got lunch. Lunch was good, and included with my ticket, so that was nice. After lunch we rode Sheikra, and it was a nice relaxing ride on the first B&M Dive Machine in the United States. We would follow with Iron Gwazi (which is NOT better than Steel Vengeance or ArieForce One), and we got 3 laps during our day. We took a break from the thrills on Air Grover, which was one of the three missing credits I had at the park from my 2024 visit.
We would go to the front of the park and took a few laps on Cobra's Curse and Montu. I love Montu, and it is my favorite invert I have ever ridden. Cobra's Curse was also good, but kinda weird. We got dinner up in the front of the park, and it was ok. The pizza was good, but the garlic knots were mid at best. After dinner we would go around and get rerides on various rides, including Kumba, Gwazi, and Montu.
We would leave just after close, and went on our drive to Orlando for the Expo. The park is an alright park, but it needs better management. The food was ok, but slow. The merch was ok, but nothing really stood out to me. The rides could be ran better, because the ops were so slow. I like the park, but I won't return anytime soon since they made Iron Gwazi an upcharge, and the management needs improvement. I've attached some photos below, so feel free to take a look.