BGT and Sea World advice?
My family will be travelling on our quinquennial trip to Orlando on Tuesday. We will be staying at Saratoga Springs and reliably hitting up the Disney Parks. We are also planning a day Busch Gardens on Wednesday, Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, and Sea World on Friday. We may also hit up Aquatica Saturday morning depending on our luck with snagging Guardians reservations at Epcot the same day.
We have been to Sea World in San Diego and San Antonio but haven't been to the Orlando location. The last time I was at Busch Gardens was when Rhino Rally opened. We purchased the all day dining add-on for both parks, so we will be stuffing our faces with tons of mediocre food.
Any advice on ride strategy or places to eat at BGT or SWO?
If you are going on weekdays, even during summer vacation, you'll likely have no issue hitting all of the rides. Even Ice Breaker has been essentially a walk-on every time I have visited in the last few months. At BGT, don't follow the masses to Iron Gwazi when the park opens. It seems to quickly sport a 60-90 minute wait at park open, but it can drop to 15-30 minutes in the afternoon and stay that way for the rest of the day. I have a soft spot for the Stanley Falls flume, and I always try and get that done earlier in the day before the line fills up with overheated cranky guests.
Keep in mind that park operations have really tanked at both parks. Don't be surprised to see rides like Montu and Kumba only running one train at BGT with Mako, Manta, Kraken (and even Ice Breaker) doing the same at SWO. It can turn what should be walk ons into 20-30 minute station waits, but Quick Queue is pointless in these situations since that backup typically happens after the merge point. Then again, I typically avoid the parks in these swamp ass summer months, so there's a chance you'll luck out and get two train ops on more stuff than usual. I know if SWO has a posted opening time of 10, Mako will be the only coaster that opens at that time. Everything else will be 10:30 or 11. BGT is the same with some of the stuff in the back, including Kumba, but that park is so big it doesn't matter as much.
The quality of the food at these parks has gone from great to mediocre to Kinzel era Cedar Fair in the last decade. If you plan to eat at the parks, I suppose All Day Dining is worth it. But I would opt for something on I-Drive on SeaWorld day (Mellow Mushroom opened up right across the street a few years ago). BGT is in the middle of some weird stuff, and a harder park to get in and out of for a midday break. But Mel's is literally next door and with the current park offerings, 100% worth the trip out of the park. If the all day dining is already purchased, the Zambia Smokehouse next to Sheikra is the best option. For all of my trips into SWO for Mako marathons, I can't even remember the last time I ate at the park.
I wouldn't go as far as say Kinzel food. There are some good options at both parks in some cases if you are ok with skipping burgers. I found better than adequate Asian inspired food, for example. Good desserts too. The festival stuff isn't Epcot, but it's close. But I agree it's not close to what it used to be.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
People gotta eat, right?
We bought the all day dining for the three days of the SEAS parks for $160, including admission. For an extra $20 per day I felt it was worth it. If the entrees are crap I'll just eat dessert all day. I'm on vacation after all!
Second the smokehouse by Shakira. I think there's a similar place at Sea World also. Other than that, I don't recall anything noteworthy, but I also don't recall thinking that anything overly sucked either.
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