Serengeti Safari — Attraction in Tampa

If you’re considering visiting Busch Gardens Florida, do yourself a favor—don’t. We made the mistake of going there on the last weekend of 2024, and it was nothing short of a disaster. Honestly, if you’re planning a Florida trip, spend your precious time and money elsewhere—on literally any other park or even just lounging on a beach. Busch Gardens is an absolute waste of both.

Let’s talk about the Safari experience, which was, without a doubt, the most blatant rip-off imaginable. We booked the tickets on-site, thinking it would be a fun highlight of the day. Oh, how wrong we were. The staff at the Safari acted like professional con artists, eager to pounce on unsuspecting tourists. They rushed us through the ticketing process—no explanations, no conditions—just a quick “hand over your money” routine. Little did we know, they were fully aware that a storm was coming. But hey, why warn us when they can make a quick buck?

As soon as the Safari started, so did the rain. And by rain, I mean a torrential downpour. Did they care? Not one bit. They hurriedly snapped a couple of photos and rushed us back, the whole thing lasting about five miserable minutes. We barely saw any animals, and instead got completely soaked and shivering in the cold. And guess what? When we approached them for a refund, they treated us like garbage and kicked us out of the tent. No apology, no compensation—just utter indifference.

In the end, we were left drenched, humiliated, and $1000 poorer. If Busch Gardens is trying to set a record for the worst park experience ever, congratulations—they’ve nailed it. Avoid this place...

Do not plan on buying tickets just for the safari and going cause it is NOT an option and unfortunately on the website they are not clear about this. My husband and I bought 2 adult tickets for the safari online. We headed over there and parked very far away and then took a tram car to the main entrance and waited on a long line. Once we got to the ticket desk, we were told we needed to buy an additional 2 tickets for the park, which were priced at $140 each ($280 total). So now let me remind you, we already spent a $70 each ($140 total) for 2 tickets for the safari. And now on top of that, we were about to spend $280 to get into the park just to have access to the safari???? The website only stated on the order form/confirmation that this ticket is not for park admission, but we weren't planning on going to the park so that didn't matter to us. It did not say you need to buy 2 tickets to the park In order to have access to the safari. That's what it should've said, but they were very unclear about it. I would feel so bad to have somebody do the same thing we did, especially if they were with children, this would have been very upsetting time consuming and extremely costly for the entire family. And obviously we asked to get refunded and went home because we were not trying to spend $420 for 30 mins in a safari.... it just didn't make any sense.Thank god we only drove forty minutes away, so it wasn't that big of a deal for us but again I would hate for someone to experience what we did today so I just wanted to throw this out there and let...

Naturally the animal experience is a hefty price but it is very worth every penny for the lovely experience! Simply BEAUTIFUL feeding these creatures up close! So when a family of four is purchasing 4 SEPARATE Giraffe Feedings it is discouraging that the tour guide gave half the lettuce available for feeding for a separate party of just one adult and one child. Multiple times throughout the feeding from the start to the end the tour guide had preference for the other party of one parent and one child. Openly voiced “no wait” to my children when they extended their hands to receive a lettuce and openly turned around and gave the other party’s child the lettuce and said “you go first!” This was repeated when taking photos as well. Not to mention the tour guide spend most of the time speaking to the other party. Seemed like the tour guide was flirting and attracted to the other party’s adult which resulted in unfairness. Perhaps even family or friend. Perhaps two things could help this situation to ensure everyone is getting a fair amount worth their money. Putting in the cooler separate bins with the appropriate amount of lettuce inside for each person paying for the experience or If there is already a full family or four+ paying for the experience they should get the tour privately as it is a private tour to ensure there...