Have a Wild Birthday at Busch Gardens

Walt Disney World isn’t the only place in Orlando where you can get fun free treats on your birthday (read up on the What Will You Celebrate? promotion if you have no idea what we’re talking about). At Busch Gardens in Tampa, the park is now offering a free Serengeti Safari if you come to the park on your birthday. Great thrill rides, fun animal encounters, and a one-of-a-kind journey into the park’s animal habitats – what else could you ask for on your birthday? Except for cake, of course.

An up-close, 30-minute-long open-truck tour, the Serengeti Safari at Busch Gardens takes guests into the wild of the park’s 65-acre Serengeti Plain, where they’ll see some magnificent animals from a perspective most guests don’t get to enjoy. Safari riders will get nose-to-nose with a giraffe, learn a thing or two about zebras, and understand exotic species like bongo, eland, and ostrich. They’ll even get to hand-feed giraffes and antelopes. Guests are guided on their trek into the wild by a Zoo Educator, who’ll help bring them closer to the wildlife while sharing their seemingly infinite knowledge.

Normally, the Serengeti Safari at Busch Gardens is only available with an extra fee of $33.99. But from now through the end of the year, if you come to Busch Gardens on your birthday, you can explore the Serengeti Plain for free! Simply visit the Adventure Tour Center located in the Moroccan Village area of the park to reserve your safari expedition.

If you plan on taking advantage of this great offer, be sure to bring proof of your birth date to the park in the form of a valid driver’s license, government-issued ID, or an original or certified copy of a birth certificate. The offer is valid for the birthday adventurer only, who must be five years of age or older to participate, and it doesn’t include free admission to Busch Gardens, which is still required.
Incidentally, this free birthday Safari is being offered in honor of Busch Gardens’ 50th anniversary. To kick off a year-long celebration of 50 years of fun, the park is also hosting Summer Nights at Busch Gardens, a summer-long series of nightly parties filled with entertainment, music, and food. Busch Gardens has also opened a brand-new exhibit dedicated to the history of the park, featuring a historical photo timeline and artifact displays including vintage uniforms, classic coaster cars, ride designs, and more.

To join in on the celebrations and to take advantage of a free Serengeti Safari if your birthday’s coming up soon, plan a trip to the wildest theme park in Tampa. Take a look at discount Busch Gardens tickets on DWTickets.com and have fun safari-ing!

Busch Gardens Celebrates 50 Years with Extra Summer Fun

As we’ve previously reported, Busch Gardens is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion, the park will be pulling out all the stops this summer with extended hours, special entertainment, and festive food and drink every night. Summer Nights at Busch Gardens will heat up Tampa Bay every evening from June 6 through August 16, and it’s sure to be the best event of the season as the park marks half a century of providing family adventures.

The fun kicks off this Saturday, June 6, with music from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s performed by original artists in Gwazi Park. The night will be capped by a spectacular fireworks display. Then on July 3, guests will be able to groove to David Cassidy in Concert, while the 4th of July features Starship and Mickey Thomas, along with another amazing fireworks show.

On every night in between this Saturday and the festivities in July and thereafter, Busch Gardens will also feature Darren Romeo, the voice of magic, presented by master magicians Siegfried and Roy. Romeo will thrill the crowds with his captivating mix of magic and music in the Moroccan Palace. Meanwhile, at the Marrakesh Theater, Jeff Civillico will present his amazing blend of comedy, juggling, balancing, athleticism, and audience participation. And every night, an infectious new dance choreographed expressly for park guests will keep the energy in the park amped, while DJs spin party songs from four different spots throughout Busch Gardens.

While guests enjoy the hot tunes, fun shows, and the thrill of riding their favorite coasters in the dark, they can also visit the new exhibit honoring Busch Gardens’ 50th birthday. Hundreds of items, including photos, souvenirs, and artifacts, are on display, along with a 70-foot timeline marking milestones from the park’s humble beginnings as a bird garden and brewery tour, all the way to its present day status as a world-renowned adventure park. The exhibit is located between the Crown Colony House Restaurant and the Clydesdale Hamlet and is open during regular park hours.

While normal park hours usually end at 7 pm, during Summer Nights at Busch Gardens, the park will be open until 9 pm Sundays through Thursdays and until 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Best yet, all these extra hours of fun and excitement are included with regular Busch Gardens admission, making it one of the summer’s hottest deals.

So if you love the atmosphere of a high-energy street party, check out discount Busch Gardens tickets on DWTickets.com to get your pass to summertime dancing, music, and partying at the hottest theme park in Tampa, Florida.

Glory at the Gardens at Busch Gardens

In addition to being a super-fun theme park with adrenaline-rushing thrill rides, wild animal experiences, and other unique attractions, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is a great place to hear some great music. Recently, for example, the park hosted the Viva La Musica festival, which was a feast for the ears with a wide range of great Latin music. And before that, the Bud & BBQ festival lit up the park with some of today’s hottest country artists. Now, the park continues its dedication to great tunes with Glory at the Gardens, a Christian music series taking place May 9 and May 16.

A brand new event premiering at Busch Gardens Tampa, Glory at the Gardens will offer a jam-packed festival of music and fellowship set amid the thrills, animal encounters, and world-class entertainment of the park. Five concerts will take place each day with performances from the biggest names in contemporary Christian and Christian rock, including Dove Award winners and nominees.

On Saturday, May 9, Busch Gardens will welcome headlining performer Reliant K; there’ll also be performances by NEEDTO BREATHE, This Beautiful Republic, Worth Dying For, and Sanctus Real.

And on Saturday May 16, you can catch headliner Steven Curtis Chapman, along with other performing guests Matthew West, Brandon Heath, Sara Groves, and Joel Auge. On each day, Gwazi Park will open at noon with music, radio personalities, vendors, and food. Concerts start at 1 pm, and the headliner will perform at 4 pm.

If you really love Christian music and want to make an experience out of one of the Glory at the Gardens concerts, you might want to check out a Glory at the Gardens VIP Ticket. Separate from Busch Gardens admission, this ticket will get you front and center stage for the concerts in the “VIP Circle.” It also scores you a meal certificate redeemable at any one of Busch Gardens’ restaurants for an entrée, any one extra item like a side or dessert, and a beverage.

However, you can always score a great seat at the featured Glory at the Gardens concert by arriving early and staking your spot in Gwazi Park. No extra fee or ticket is necessary for attending the concerts; both days of concerts are included with regular admission to Busch Gardens. So if you’re a big fan of great music in a fun atmosphere, you won’t want to miss out this first-ever concert series at Busch Gardens. Check out Busch Gardens tickets at DWTickets.com now and get your access pass to Glory at the Gardens, which is sure to be the hottest Christian music series of the year in Orlando.

Busch Gardens: 50 Years of Thrills

On March 31, 1959, August A. Busch Jr. officially dedicated Busch Gardens, which was, at that time, an admission-free hospitality facility for the nearby Anheuser-Busch manufacturing plant. Fifty years later, the manufacturing plant has long since closed, but the hospitality facility has developed into a bustling Tampa theme park filled with exhilarating roller coasters, beautiful landscapes, and exotic animal experiences.

To mark its successful history, the park has opened an incredible new historical exhibit next to the Clydesdale Hamlet. In the exhibit, guests can browse various displays featuring hundreds of memorabilia items and photographs marking every major event and attraction at the park over the past fifty years. Among them is a 100-foot memory wall featuring a photograph of Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio taken the day she started work at the park’s Zagora Café, a photograph of the day dozens of couples got married as they rode Kumba, and opening day aerial photographs that show the abandoned Army airbase runways that today lurk hidden near Adventure Island.

The park put out a call among its staffers for people to bring in any memorabilia they had lying around, and employees responded in force. One accounting clerk brought in her old belly dancer costume from when she was a snake charmer at the park, while others brought in painted gremlins from the Gnome Village, which had been serving as doorstops in the corporate offices. Other items now on display were dug up from the park’s archives, including conceptual art of rides like Montu, which was initially planned to be a coaster built inside a giant Egyptian pyramid.

The search for memorabilia is still ongoing as the exhibit, which will be on display at least through the end of the year, expands; by this summer, it will include video anecdotes from park veterans and former executives.

The exhibit is certainly a valuable look at the history of a park that has grown to become one of Orlando’s most popular, with six roller coasters, 2,000 animals, and 3,000 employees running the operations. Among the attractions at the Africa-themed Busch Gardens Tampa are Sheikra, North America’s first dive coaster which sends riders 200 feet up, then 90 degrees straight down; Kumba, a breathtaking ride featuring a 135-foot drop, 360 degree spirals, and one of the world’s largest vertical loops; Montu, one of the tallest and longest inverted roller coasters in the world; Gwazi, a wooden coaster with two interwoven tracks; and the Scorpion, featuring a 60-foot drop and 360-degree loop at incredible speeds.

Busch Gardens also offers countless animal encounters, available in habitats like Serengeti Plain, featuring hundreds of exotic African animals; Myombe Reserve, a lush forest filled with gorillas and chimpanzees; the Bird Gardens, containing almost 500 tropical birds; and Lory Landing, a domed habitat showcasing a variety of brilliantly colored birds. These exciting habitats, along with shows, tours, and other experiences, ensure that Busch Gardens will be Florida favorite for yet another 50 years.

If you’ve never visited Busch Gardens, don’t wait until its next bicentennial; make some time to explore this beloved Tampa theme park during your next vacation, and save on your adventure by purchasing discount Busch Gardens tickets from DWTickets.com.

Stages are Burning up at Busch Gardens

If you love popular dance shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars, you’ll love the latest show heating up the dance floor at Busch Gardens Africa. Sixteen dancers from around the world will set the Desert Grille stage on fire when the park presents Let’s Dance featuring Burn the Floor. This exciting new dance show opened on January 12th and will be available until April 19th.

Set against a fast-paced soundtrack of familiar dance favorites, including “Do You Wanna Dance?” and “Turn the Beat Around,” Let’s Dance features popular dances as you’ve never seen them before. In a mini-version of their popular internationally touring show, dance troupe Burn the Floor offers a new twist on the Foxtrot, Tango, Rumba, Cha-cha, Jive, Swing, Mambo, and more.

Burn the Floor features incredible professional dancers with an amazing amount of talent and experience. The troupe is choreographed by one of Australia’s most successful dance couples, Jason Gilkison, who’s earned World, British, and International Champion titles. He was recently featured during the finals for So You Think You Can Dance and is currently working with a new reality TV competition, Superstars of Dance.

The dance troupe also features show managers and dancers Trent Whiddon and his partner, Gordana Grandosek, who hold several national and international dance championship titles. Grandosek recently placed second on the Slovenian version of Dancing with the Stars, and Whiddon was a featured professional on the Australian version of the show.

You can catch Let’s Dance featuring Burn the Floor everyday through April 19th in the park’s Timbuktu area; this hot contemporary ballroom dancing show is free with regular admission to Busch Gardens.

Let’s Dance is a sizzling new addition to Busch Gardens’ The Real Music Concert Series, which is back in the Stanleyville Theatre. After watching Burn the Floor spice things up on the dance floor, guests can catch an incredible lineup of bands performing from January 14th through March 21st. You’ll see performers like The Terry Myers Orchestra, The Osmond Brothers, The Monkeys lead singer Micky Dolenz, the Little River Band, and more. Concerts are every Wednesday through Saturday at 11:30 am, 1 pm, and 3:30 pm, and a different performer lights up the stage each week.

So be sure to pack some water when you heard over to Busch Gardens this January – with fiery dance performances and lots of toe-tapping music, this African theme park is sure to take you on one hot ride! And you’ll be able to jam to the tunes even harder when you save on discount Busch Gardens tickets at DWTickets.com.

April Events in Your Orlando Theme Parks

Spring is a great time to visit any of the Orlando theme parks. Live music, flower fests, and the best rides in the world are only some of the reasons to visit an Orlando theme park this month. And you can get all of the Orlando theme park tickets you need on the cheap right here and now.

Universal Studios Florida Brings Mardi Gras Gala to a Close
The months-long Mardi Gras celebration at Universal Studios will throw its final bead in April, and they saved some of the best bands for last. All you need is a bunch of friends and a bunch of Universal tickets and you can enjoy these live concerts:
Huey Lewis & the News on April 2
LL Cool J on April 12
Earth, Wind & Fire on April 15

Universal Studios Presents Grad Bash ‘08
The Universal Orlando Resort will greet graduates with exclusive celebrations at both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. This year’s party is on April 25 and 26. You need a special Universal ticket to attend, so make sure your school is on the list.

SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Present Viva La Musica
SeaWorld Orlando will be “spicing up your spring” with lively Latin entertainment:
Elvis Crespo on April 19
R.K.M & Ken-Y on April 26

Busch Gardens Tampa has some very vivacious acts of their own:
Andy Montañez on April 21
Oscar D’León on April 27

Viva La Musica at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens is a sizzling celebration of hot Hispanic culture. You just have to get your SeaWorld tickets or Busch Gardens tickets today and come salsa the night away.

Cypress Gardens Hosts the Charlie Daniel’s Volunteer Jam
The Star Haven Amphitheatre at Cypress Gardens will be singing and stomping to the music of Charlie Daniels and friends Shooter Jennings and .38 Special on April 19. Don’t miss this great concert event during Cypress Gardens’ Country Jamboree Weekend.

Concert admission is included with your Cypress Gardens ticket, so grab your Cypress Gardens tickets today, pack your lawn chairs and enjoy your country favorites!

April isn’t just the beginning of a new season at these great Orlando theme parks. It is a fresh chance to enjoy some of the best live entertainment in town. Go ahead and get your Orlando theme park tickets today and start singing along!