Is Busch Gardens (Local) Trip Worth It for Spring Break? ($4,626) or Universal Trip for ($7,874/$6,074 w/ Points)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with PP - price out the premium hotels. You'll save on buying the express pass and Ubers, plus I think you get early entry. Three days at Busch Gardens is a lot. Another option would be to combine Busch Gardens and Florida by flying into Tampa instead and spending spring break there.

I grew up in Florida and I wouldn’t make a trip down to Tampa to go to that park. It’s more a big flat parking lot compared to the Virginia park and it's a day trip park. My family would drive from Orlando for the day (because annual passes that covered both Sea World and Busch Gardens used to be super cheap), do pretty much everything we wanted to do and drive back in one day.

[Anonymous]

Crowded but we had a good spring break to universal

[Anonymous]

Busch Gardens is a cheap trip. It is not like the Orlando parks so you don’t need all the extras. Where are you flying to? Sounds like you’re in DC, so it’s a 2-3 hour car ride that’s pretty easy. I’ve done it a bunch. You get one season pass (so parking is included) and then some one day tickets. I have no idea what an unlimited express pass is, but you don’t need it. You can buy some food in the park, but the meals aren’t all that so you eat offsite for dinner - many good options. Go to Colonial Williamsburg on another day. If you really enjoyed Busch Gardens, you go back a second day, but there really isn’t enough to do for three days.

You go to BG for a quick, cheap getaway.

[Anonymous]

I would look at Royal Caribbean.

[Anonymous]

Universal is much better than Busch Gardens, especially if you kids love Harry Potter. However, from what I’ve heard the crowds over Spring Break are pretty insane and can spoil the experience.

[Anonymous]

Florida will be warmer but it will be crowded as hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with PP - price out the premium hotels. You'll save on buying the express pass and Ubers, plus I think you get early entry. Three days at Busch Gardens is a lot. Another option would be to combine Busch Gardens and Florida by flying into Tampa instead and spending spring break there.

I grew up in Florida and I wouldn’t make a trip down to Tampa to go to that park. It’s more a big flat parking lot compared to the Virginia park and it's a day trip park. My family would drive from Orlando for the day (because annual passes that covered both Sea World and Busch Gardens used to be super cheap), do pretty much everything we wanted to do and drive back in one day.

I live in St Pete and there's so much to do in this area that'd be fun for a family. If you come down, go to the park for one day and go enjoy other stuff the rest of the time! If you absolutely need to spend all your time at parks, you can go over to Universal or Legoland or Disney or whatever for one day, too. But seriously, this area is gorgeous and full of fun stuff - you do not need to spend that kind of money to do nothing but parks.

[Anonymous]

I agree with others who state that you only need one day at BG. We went there two spring breaks ago (for the day) and after we paid for parking, the parking attendant handed us a slip of paper stating that a bunch of the roller coasters were closed due to the temperature (it was not that cold). Just keep in mind that this can happen in April. We went back in the fall and had a great time... but one day was all that was needed.

[Anonymous]

Busch Gardens is a one day type deal like Six Flags or Kings Dominion

[Anonymous]

If the question is about value, your scenario for Busch Gardens is all wrong. You don’t need 3 days to explore that park (unless you really love their roller coasters), you don’t need fast passes for more than one day, and you probably don’t need all you can eat dining every 90 minutes.

I just priced it out a package and it was < $1400 for 3 nights at Kingsmill and 3 days worth of park tickets with dining. Or $1800 for 3 nights at Kingsmill and unlimited visits to Busch Gardens (with 3 meals) and Colonial Williamsburg. How did you exceed $4000? Did you click every single option imaginable for add ons?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Busch Gardens is a one day type deal like Six Flags or Kings Dominion

OP here we want to do a 2 day trip somewhere but the bush garden hotel package adds in 3 days and it's cheaper than buying a 2 day ticket. For bush garden the expensive part is the express pass the hotel , food and add-ons which are the roller coaster behind the scenes your and wolf encounter are not that much. I was surprised about the cost and priced out other options and it seems that everything is around that much. I could try six flags but that seems like it would be a bad time .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We only ever get one hotel at most when we go to Busch Gardens and then we drive home after. I'm also surprised people get the dining plans too.

We just did 4 days in Universal and it was incredible. Instead of an air bnb, stay on site at their premium hotel and get the express passes for free.

I priced out the universal premium hotel with express pass and it added another 1k to the price instead of the Airbnb option, that was for one room and we usually get 2 rooms but preferably 3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Busch Gardens is a one day type deal like Six Flags or Kings Dominion

We did a trip to BG for fall break and hit KD on the way there. Get to KD in the morning, spend the day, drive to Williamsburg and spend the night. Do BG one day and colonial Williamsburg the next then drive home. You don’t need to stay at a hotel related to BG. You can just go and park. It’s not like Disney.

I would guess that the water rides won’t be open at BG in April so you really only need one day. It’s not that big.

[Anonymous]

Are these prices for real??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are these prices for real??

For Universal, yes.

For Busch Gardens, no. They are massively overpaying for add ons most people would never consider.