RateItAll: The Opinion Network

This particular Busch Gardens location focuses on Africa; they might not have quantity (6 roller coasters, 2 water rides), but they certainly make up for it in quality.

ROLLER COASTERS: Best ride by far: the SheiKra, which is touted as one of the few "free fall" dive coasters (there's only four in the world that "make the cut" for this, the tallest being in the other Busch Gardens in VA); the ride itself is okay, it's the extended pause at the top of the coaster that freaks you out. The Gwazi is also a decent wooden coaster, decent ride length. The only one that doesn't really stand out is the Scorpion, which is a short, tight twisty ride (note: one of the few coasters I've seen that specifically say not to raise your arms during the ride, probably due to the close encounters with the support structure). The Montu and Kumba rides are okay. We skipped the Cheetah Chase.

ATTRACTIONS: The cool thing about the park is that it's half-zoo, half-park. There's a train ride that takes you around the park that goes through the "Serengeti Plain" area, where they have many African grazers and birds free-roaming( . . . that's where one guy decided to hop off the train to retrieve his cell phone. Idiot. The zebras ran away, but some rather pissed-off looking antelope-like animals came up rapidly towards the train. Good thing the rhinos were a little farther away, and thankfully they don't have great eyesight.) The habitats set up for the animals are beautiful and large, the animals actually seem pretty happy (the elephants seemed like they were having a good time; one was actually kinda dancing). The Bird Gardens were nice, but the little cup of nectar for the lorikeets was expensive ($3 a pop).). We caught the Chinese Acrobat show (good), and the "4D" Pirates movie (too lame for adults, yet due to the water and air effects, too scary for young kids.) And, of course, you get to see the Clydesdales, with the donkey featured in one of its commercials. Cute. For kids, they have this big Land of the Dragons section, which has huge play areas for kids to climb on. Then there's Rhino Rally, which is a jeep ride through the animal exhibits. Unfortunately, the water section of the ride was out of service at least twice during the day, and from what others have mentioned it may be a common occurrence.

FOOD: Expensive, but good. I'm not a big fan of what Florida's idea of "barbecue" is (dry, mostly riding on the seasonings for flavor rather than the meat), but even so the Zambia Smokehouse was good for what kind of food it was. Drinks were kind of expensive, and of limited variety: it was about six bucks for the modestly-sized refillable sports cup, but still $1.75 for a refill. You've got Pepsi products to choose from, as well as some Busch products (though beer and roller coasters don't seem like they ought to go together, I haven't seen anyone get sick, either).

SERVICE: Everyone working there seemed pretty happy, and not the "I'm-paid-to-be-happy" kind of "happy". At the very worst, one or two of the people were kind of apathetic, but at least it was polite. The ride lines were long but went very quickly due to the efficiency of the staff.

ATMOSPHERE: It's the kind of place that moms would probably go for (with the interesting topiaries and the waterfalls and landscaping and etc. To be fair, topiaries of butterflies and tigers are pretty impressive).

Overall, definitely a fun place, worth going. Probably should look for discounts; you can buy online for $51.95 for out of state visitors, there are better deals for Florida residents.

I really enjoyed this I think the main reason was we had a very large group therefore I could always go on a rollercoaster (which I love) with SOMEBODY and I got to have some free Michelob beer. It's really a beautiful park. My favorite rollercoaster was the wooden one. The only thing I didn't like was at the end of my day, the sky let loose with a lot of rain and was literally as high as my knee. Don't like being wet in regular clothes, but that wasn't the park's fault :)

Pretty good place, I went there when I was like 12 or so and again when I was like 25. The difference between those trips - when I was 25, after going to Busch Gardens, I went to another world-famous Tampa attraction called Mons Venus. Now Mons Venus is only a juice bar, but those of you who know about it love that place. Busch Gardens in FLA is a fun place - interesting how they take the 'Dark Continent' theme so far and have a place to see exotic animals. Really good rides for people of all ages and a lot of water rides which is nice since it is in the warm climate of Florida.