What happened to Busch Gardens Tampa? transcript

So, I was over at Busch Gardens Tampa yesterday, and I'm going to tell you a little bit about my day because it's going to set up basically everything we're talking about in this video. It's a Saturday in mid-June. It's peak tourist season. The kids are off school, and thousands of families from up north are heading to Florida for their summer vacation. And a lot of them are going to end up right here spending a day at Busch Gardens.

[music] And when they get here, here's what they find. $42 for standard parking. The popular roller coaster Cheetah Hunt was down. The drop tower Falcon's Fury was down. And the classical old water ride Congo River Rapids was also down. Which combined with the recent permanent closure of Stanley Falls, the old log flume ride, means Busch Gardens currently has zero working water rides in Tampa in summer during peak season.

Now, I want to be really clear about something up front. I am not here to dunk on this park in this video. I'm not here to give a scathing review and tell you not to come. I actually really love Busch Gardens, and that is why [music] I'm doing this. I've been an annual pass holder here for years. My kids practically grew up coming to this park. We've made a lot of memories just heading over here on a Friday night to ride some roller coasters in the summer, go to Halloween Scream in the fall, and that's why I'm making this video.

[music] Because what I saw yesterday didn't make me think this park sucks. It made me think >> [music] >> something is wrong here, and I think I know what it is. So, let's talk about Busch Gardens, what it was, what happened to it, and because I can't help myself, what I would do to fix it if someone handed me the keys and an unlimited budget for the day. And remember, this isn't supposed to be a roast. This is coming from a place of love, of genuine concern.

Think of this more like an intervention. So, Busch Gardens, have a seat because we need to talk. The roots of this place go all the way back to 1959 when it opened as a small bird sanctuary and botanical garden right next to the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Get it? Busch Gardens. Just a nice little stop for people touring the brewery, and it started as one of those classic retro Florida attractions, and over the decades it grew into one of the most respected zoos in the country with one of the best roller coaster lineups in America.

And that lineup is honestly no joke. Montu, SheiKra, Kumba, Cheetah Hunt, Cobra's Curse, and in 2022 the crown jewel of the park, Iron Gwazi, a hybrid coaster that is rated as one of the best roller coasters on the entire planet by people who actually know what they're talking about. This is a ride you'll consistently see near the top of those best roller coasters in the world lists. And here's a hot take I'll stand behind.

I actually think Busch Gardens is a better animal park than Disney's Animal Kingdom. I know that's a big claim, but hear me out. At Animal Kingdom the animals are largely tucked behind attractions. One of the big attractions over there is the Kilimanjaro Safari, which is a great ride, but you're experiencing the animals from a jeep ride on a timed tour you need to wait in line for. At Busch Gardens the animals are just kind of there.

They're all around. You walk through them. You explore and find them. The Serengeti plain stretches out in front of you. You can stop at the kangaroo exhibit and actually interact with them. The bird aviary puts you right in the middle of it all. You've got the hippos, the rhinos just hanging out by the train tracks. There's an accessibility to the animals here that I think Animal Kingdom actually doesn't match, and it doesn't cost you another upcharge.

It's just part of the park. For a huge chunk of this park's history it was owned by Anheuser-Busch, and this wasn't just another business unit to AB. It was a showcase. It had their name right on it. Their famous Clydesdales lived here. It was in a very real sense a love letter from a beer company to its customers. But, Anheuser-Busch wasn't a theme park company. They were a beer company that ran a theme park, [music] and they put a lot of care into the operations of this place.

They really put a lot of effort into keeping this place pristine and beautiful because it was a reflection of them as a company and a way to market themselves. They even used to famously give away free beer in the Hospitality House. That building was part of the original Busch Gardens, and it's still here today, but it's been renamed to the Springs Tap Room. Now, before we go any further, I want to address something because I know it's going to come up in the comments, no matter what I say.

Some people describe this park as dirty and run-down or maybe kind of falling apart. And those comments, [music] I don't really think are fair. Personally, I just didn't see it. I walked the whole park yesterday specifically looking for this, and is there a bit of litter here and there? Sure. But, show me a busy theme park in June that doesn't have a stray napkin somewhere. But, I did see cleanup crews actively working all day.

The landscaping is still gorgeous. The theme looks maintained. Nothing about the park screams neglect. I didn't see anything and think, "Yeah, yeesh, this could really use a fresh coat of paint." So, I want to separate two things really clearly for the rest of the video. The park looks fine. The park runs really badly. Those are two very different problems, and only one of them is a subject of this video. So, if the park looks fine, but runs badly, what changed?

The answer is ownership, and the story of how Busch Gardens changed hands is frankly a pretty wild ride all on its own. For 50 years, Anheuser-Busch owned this place. They even bought SeaWorld in 1989. Then in 2008, Belgian brewing giant InBev bought Anheuser-Busch itself, and InBev did not want to be in the theme park business. They They to focus on the beer. So, in October 2009, Anheuser-Busch InBev sold off their entire theme park division.

Bush Gardens, SeaWorld, all of it, to the Blackstone Group, a private equity firm, for about $2.7 billion. And this is the moment where everything shifts. >> [music] >> The moment where Bush Gardens stops being a brand's love letter to its fans, a theme park operated with real intention and care, and becomes just another financial asset on a private equity firm's balance sheet. Blackstone took the company public in 2013, now named SeaWorld Entertainment, but just a few months later, the documentary Blackfish came out, and SeaWorld's reputation took a massive beating that it arguably never really fully recovered from.

By 2017, Blackstone sold all its remaining shares to a Chinese conglomerate, which defaulted on loans 2 years later and had to surrender the shares entirely. Eventually, the company restructured around an investment firm called Hill Path Capital, and in February 2024, SeaWorld Entertainment, as the company was known, rebranded entirely to United Parks and Resorts. New name, new PR strategy, but basically the same ownership structure that's been in place since 2009.

And okay, I want you to remember something because I think it's the most important sentence in this entire video. Private equity kills everything. I don't say that lightly. I don't say that just about Bush Gardens. I say it because once you start noticing this pattern, you will see it everywhere. Private equity buys a beloved brand, and now, instead of it being owned and managed by the people who built something from the ground up, people who care about the experience, it's now being run by people with no real ties to the company.

It's being run by MBAs on Wall Street. The goal now is to squeeze as much value out of the property as possible. So, they cut costs, labor, ingredients, maintenance, quality, training, >> [music] >> they raise prices, and a few years later the thing you loved is technically still open, but it's worse and more expensive, and everybody can feel it. The goal becomes make sure this place is now just good enough. Not great, not terrible, just good enough.

Good enough for people to still show up, good enough for people to spend money, but never any better than that. Not really offering the same experience as before. And we see this in the restaurant world all the time. If you ever notice one of your favorite restaurant chain suddenly has started spiraling in quality, take a look at who owns the company now. When you start to see shrinking portions, simplified menus, cheaper ingredients, poorer customer service, all while those prices keep on climbing up, it's often one of these private equity groups at work.

Theme parks and restaurants are different industries, but ownership is running the same playbook. Extract value first, worry about the product later. And Busch Gardens has lived through basically the entire arc of this playbook. Blackstone, a defaulted Chinese conglomerate, now Hillpath. The names keep changing, the fundamental relationship, financial owner first, theme park second, hasn't. And that brings us to the part that makes this so frustrating.

United Parks is not a mom and pop company barely scraping by. This is a major public company. In 2025, its parks hosted about 21.2 million guests and brought in about 1.7 billion dollars in revenue. Now, to be fair, those numbers were softer than the year before. Attendance was down, revenue was down, net income was down. The company itself acknowledged that execution had been less than optimal. So, I don't want to pretend this is a company printing money with no challenges.

But, here's where guests start to feel the squeeze. United Parks has been reporting softer results this year. Attendance is down, revenue is down, bigger net losses in early 2026. But, at the same time, in-park spending per guest has hit a record high. So, from the guest side, it kind of goes like this. Fewer people are coming through the gates, but the people who do still show up are being asked to spend [music] more money once they're inside.

Fewer people, more money per guest. More money for parking, more money for food, more for lockers, more for all the add-ons. So, does this prove that every little problem at Busch Gardens is the result of corporate penny-pinching? Well, no. Rides do age, and parts can be hard to source. Staffing is complicated. The Florida weather is brutal on everything, and safety needs to come first. But, when guests see headliner rides down, really slow operations, expensive food, high-priced parking, and fewer included experiences, it becomes really easy to understand why some people feel like the park is being squeezed.

[music] And that is the bigger issue here. The park still has greatness, but too often the guest experience feels like it's being managed around extraction instead of real hospitality. And that's a very different feeling from the Busch Gardens people fell in love with. This isn't a company that can't afford to run Busch Gardens properly. It's [music] a company that is kind of choosing not to, because right now they see the experience is just good enough.

All right, but let's get back to my day at the park, because this is where all that corporate money stuff stops being abstract and starts looking like an expensive, frustrating day at what should be one of America's premier theme parks. First off, three major attractions down. Let's talk about them one by one. Cheetah Hunt has reportedly been down for months. This isn't a one-day hiccup. That stuff happens, but this has been down for months.

And Cheetah Hunt is one of the most beloved roller coasters in the entire park. It's fast, it's smooth, it's a crowd-pleaser. It has those incredible moments hugging the ground and shooting through canyons, and it's just gone right now, out of commission for an extended stretch during the busiest time of the year. Falcon's Fury, the drop tower that also serves as this kind of beacon for the park, you can see it from miles around, it's one of the scariest rides on the planet, also down on my visit.

Another headliner, another gap in the lineup. And then there's Congo River Rapids, down for extended maintenance, too. On its own, that's a normal thing that happens at theme parks, but to make it so much worse, Stanley Falls, the park's log flume, was recently closed permanently to make room for another new attraction. That's great, and we can't wait to see what's coming, but that means on the day I visited Busch Gardens, a park in Tampa, Florida, in the summer, where it was 93° had zero functioning water ride attractions.

And Congo River being down hits another category, too. >> [music] >> It's one of the small number of rides in this park that kind of works for everyone. Grandparents, parents, little kids, teenagers, Congo River is a ride a whole family can do together. And that's a category Busch Gardens is already pretty thin on, and we're going to get back to that. And look, if you're thinking, "Okay, but rides go down for maintenance sometimes.

That's just part of life." Sure, of course they do. Except this isn't really new. Kumba, one of the most iconic coasters in this entire park, closed back in November 2024, >> [music] >> and it just kind of sat there not running, collecting dust for nearly a year. And here's where it gets kind of interesting. About a year before Kumba closed, back in November 2023, [music] a sinkhole opened up in the backstage area near, guess where?

Congo River Rapids, and swallowed 2.5 million gallons of wastewater. It made the news, it was a real environmental story. And when Kumba went dark almost exactly a year later, [music] some fans out there started connecting the dots on social media and on Reddit, wondering out loud whether the ground issues from the sinkhole had spread, whether Kumba's foundation was compromised, and whether that was the real reason it wasn't coming back.

And Busch Gardens stayed pretty silent on this, which led to all kinds of online speculation. The speculation got loud enough that the park's own president had to step in and personally reassure pass members it was just a mechanical issue and that Kumba was eventually coming back. And it finally did. It finally reopened in September of 2025, almost a full year after shutting down, just sitting there in the back of the park.

So, when I say three major rides are down at one time, I'm not describing a fluke. This is kind of a pattern. And this isn't just my less than perfect day, either. Guest reports on social media and sites like Tripadvisor describe a pattern across the park. Roller coasters running a single train when they should be running at least two, which doubles wait times. App wait times that don't match reality. Animal habitats sitting empty with no explanation.

I personally seen ride dispatch times on Iron Gwazi as long as 5 minutes between sending out a new train. 5 minutes. That's kind of unacceptable. And frequent guests point the same root cause over and over, understaffing. Not just the people you see working in the park and greeting you at the gate, keeping the place clean, operating the rides, but the skilled maintenance teams behind the scenes who keep everything up and running smoothly. >> [music] >> And when you don't invest in that team, this is what it looks like.

Broken rides stacking up faster than they can be fixed. And here's a slightly different kind of criticism, and it's one I've been thinking a little bit about. My family usually also holds a pass to either Disney or Universal. We kind of swap back and forth between the years. [music] And there's something about Busch Gardens that's just a little off, vibes-wise. It's hard to put it into words. The park can be genuinely gorgeous in parts.

It's a great zoo. The roller coasters are world-class, but the energy of the place feels a bit lower than it should. And here's what I keep coming back to. Think about Epcot, specifically the World Showcase. [music] You go to Epcot, you could ride zero rides and still have an amazing day because of the food, the drinks, the live entertainment, the street performers, the just generally alive feeling of walking around.

Epcot is what I call a vibes park. The vibes of that park do a lot to make sure you have a great time even if you never go on a single ride. And Busch Gardens, I think, has every ingredient to do that. The African themeing, the gardens, the animal exhibits, the history, this place could absolutely be a vibes park, too. Somewhere you go just to be, even on a day you don't ride a single roller coaster. Right now, it isn't quite that, but it is so close.

And I think that's actually one of the most exciting opportunities here. But, more on that later. First, let's talk about the money because this is where my private equity kills everything stuff comes from. Start with the small stuff that adds up. Rising prices combined with lower quality. Busch Gardens and SeaWorld are constantly being criticized online for food that somehow manages to be more expensive than its Orlando competitors, Disney and Universal, while also being a lot worse.

That's not just me saying that, that's what hundreds of online comments and reviews say. [music] But, yeah, it's also me saying that, too. Then there's the Skyride, this slow scenic aerial gondola ride over the park, and it's an additional $5 upcharge per person now. It's free if you have an annual pass, but it's such a strange decision to charge extra for this one particular ride. A ride that falls into that relatively rare category here. >> [music] >> A ride everybody can enjoy.

Toddlers, kids, parents, but this one's pay you all for some reason. But the single best example, the one I think perfectly captures everything wrong with this ownership model right now, is what's happening with Iron Gwazi. Here is what was happening all the time on this ride. People were losing their stuff. Hats, sunglasses, wallets, cell phones, you name it, people were losing it. There was even an incident where a girl was struck in the face by a cell phone that came loose during the ride.

Now, this is a real safety issue, and we can't blame them for taking that seriously. So, Busch Gardens responded by adding metal detectors and requiring [music] guests to store loose items in a locker before riding. Totally reasonable so far. We're on board with that. Here's where it goes wrong. The locker costs an extra $4, or $12 if you want a locker you can reuse all day. Universal Orlando has the exact same kind of requirement on roller coasters like the Incredible Hulk and the VelociCoaster.

Metal detectors, mandatory storage for loose items, but it's free because Universal understands if you're going to force someone to use a locker for safety reasons, charging them for the privilege is kind of crazy. But Busch Gardens knows Iron Gwazi is special. They caught lightning in a bottle with this one. It's a world-class bucket list coaster. >> [music] >> Genuinely one of the best roller coasters in the world.

So, they found a way to monetize it even more by adding an extra coin slot on the safety requirement. If you've ever wanted a single image that captures private equity kills everything, [music] it's an additional $4 fee to ride what many say is the best coaster in the world. And let's be honest, everybody is carrying a cell phone these days. So, that fee basically applies to everyone who wants to ride it. But while I'm picking on all these little upcharges and nickel-and-diming, I will be fair here and call out one thing that I think is kind of nice.

Busch Gardens has brought back one small but meaningful piece of its old Anheuser-Busch history, >> [music] >> the free beer samples. Guests 21 and up now can still get a free beer and pass members can even get two. Now, this is a small thing, but I think it does matter because it shows the park does understand its nostalgia a little bit and that they are listening to feedback. I get the feeling somebody in the marketing department was reading a lot of these negative social media comments and thought, "What's a little thing we can do to earn back some goodwill?" And they thought about that old free beer thing and thought, "You know what?

People like that. Let's bring that back." I just wish they showed that same thinking more often in the rest of the guest experience. All right, but enough whining and complaining. This is the fun part of the video. This is where I'm going to pretend someone handed me the keys to the kingdom, gave me an unlimited budget, and told me to just go crazy and fix this park. Kind of like playing RollerCoaster Tycoon with the unlimited money cheat code turned on and tell you what I would do if I could just point and click and fix everything that I think needs fixing.

Number one, just run the rides. Just operate the rides. I know that sounds almost stupidly simple, but it's the foundation of everything else here. Multi-train operations on Cheetah Hunt, Iron Gwazi, all the headliners. Properly staffed and funded maintenance teams. [music] You can't be charging premium prices for a discount experience when it's taking 5 minutes between dispatches and people are waiting an hour in line.

Give these ride ops teams enough people and training so operations can be smooth and efficient and you're not overburdening a skeleton crew of overwhelmed, burnt-out staff. Number one thing you got to do, guys. Number two, fix the water ride situation immediately. Stanley Falls is gone forever. Remember Tidal Wave? That's another one that got removed back in the day to make room for Tigris. >> [music] >> Congo River needs to come back reliably, but honestly, this is also a huge opportunity.

A brand new signature water attraction could be the literal symbol of a turnaround right here. The thing that says, "We heard you, and we're investing in big marquee rides again." Personally, I'd love to see something like a Mack Rides rocking boat attraction added here. That's a new water ride system that I think looks phenomenal and really fun, and has some great potential for some African adventure theme and if they could pull that off here.

Number three, and this is something I think gets overlooked a little bit. There is a massive age gap in this ride lineup. On one end, you've got the Sesame Street area. It's built for toddlers and really young kids. There's a few Dumbo style flying rides around the park, some bumper cars, and a carousel. And that's about it. On the other end of the spectrum, you've got the terrifying drop tower Falcon's Fury, when it's working.

Iron Gwazi, SheiKra, Montu, Kumba, full-on thrill coasters that a lot of kids aren't tall enough or brave enough for. >> [music] >> And in between those two ends, not a whole lot. There's a whole category of kid, too old for Sesame Street, not ready for a 200-ft drop, who doesn't have much to do here other than look at animals. And if your kid falls into that age bracket, Zoo Tampa is right around the corner, and it's a lot cheaper.

And to be fair, the park did recently add Phoenix Rising, a suspended family coaster that's exactly the kind of first big kid coaster that bridges the gap a little bit. It's a good ride for that age group, and it deserves credit for existing. But here's the thing, it's still a roller coaster. It adds to the coaster count when what the park really needs is something in a completely different category. A dark ride, a simulator, something you can do with your whole family regardless of age.

Phoenix Rising gets kids ready for the bigger rides, which is great, but it doesn't fix the variety problem. So, my fantasy addition is a themed dark ride. Something built around the park's African safari identity. Maybe a lost expedition through a hidden cave, a safari gone wrong, a state-of-the-art trackless ride with cool modern animatronics, indoors, air-conditioned, no height requirement, something a 6-year-old and a grandparent can ride together.

And it would be the kind of attraction you could advertise on billboards over in Orlando to lure some of those people down this way. And maybe let's even consider a flying theater. A Soarin-style flight over Africa could be incredible here. Imagine flying over the Serengeti, waterfalls, mountains, deserts, wildlife, all tied back to the park's original conservation message. That could be a perfect Busch Gardens attraction.

But it has to be done well because a great flying theater ride can be inspiring. A cheap flying theater ride feels like a mall simulator with a seatbelt. Number four, lean all the way hard into the vibes park identity. More live entertainment, street performers, pop-up entertainment, live bands playing in the bandshell, more animal educators, more life in the pathways. Maybe even add a parade. Would that be crazy? Expanded bars and lounges woven through the African marketplaces.

Make this a place where let's just walk around, grab a drink, and look at the animals. It's a great way to spend an afternoon. Let's just maybe not go too wild with the prices though, all right? I get it. It's a theme park and you're going to pay the theme park premium. But Busch Gardens right now takes a little too far on food and drink prices compared to the others. Let's dial back on that a bit. Number five, kill the locker tax, make Iron Gwazi lockers free the way Universal does it.

This one is cheap, won't really cost you much, and it would buy back an enormous amount of goodwill because it's the most visible, most discussed example of the nickel-and-diming that's been going on in this park. Number six, bring back the food, the real food, real sit-down dining, lots of good unique grab-and-go options tied to the park's world adventure theme, and maybe even drawing on Tampa's own food scene. Back in the day, this park had a reputation for some actually good food.

That reputation can be won back. But think about this. When was the last time you watched a YouTube video of a theme park vlogger going around Busch Gardens eating and drinking their way through the park, trying all the new food and seasonal desserts and cocktails? You haven't, have you? Exactly. But maybe one day you will. So, here's where I want to land this. Here's my final thoughts. I'm going to put on my dad hat right now and say, "Busch Gardens, I'm not mad at you.

I'm just disappointed." This isn't me slamming the park. This isn't me telling you not to go. This is me just telling you you could do so much better if you just put in a little bit of work. This park predates Disney World. It's a classic Florida attraction with history. And I'm definitely not mad at the people who work there and run the park every day because honestly, the park I walked through yesterday was clean. It was cared [music] for.

The animal keepers really care about the animals, and it's still a nice place to spend a day. The breakdown isn't happening on the ground in the park. It's happening several floors up in a corporate boardroom miles away where balance sheets matter more than anything else. The bones of this park are genuinely great. It's a pretty [music] park. Iron Gwazi is a world-class ride. The animal collection is one of the best in the country.

It just needs to stop asking how much more can we charge and start asking how do we make people fall in love with this place again? Because the bones are all there. The history, the setting, the animals, some of the best coasters in the world. Busch Gardens is not broken. The fans, myself included, are still showing up, still buying that annual pass year after year. But what happens when good enough just isn't good enough for most people anymore? >> [music] >> When more people decide not to renew those annual passes, to skip the drive down I-4 from Orlando to check this place out.

And I still think it's worth saving. It just needs someone to actually care. So, now I want to hear from you. If you could fix one thing in this park, [music] what would it be? The operations, the prices, the food, the ride lineup, maybe something else. Until the next one, please stay safe out there. Please be nice to each other, and I will see you around the Sunshine State.