Busch Gardens Tampa

We really enjoyed the zoo and rides at Busch Gardens and its a wonderful family experience, however, this time we attended the Ice Skating event and were very disappointed. The brochure reads that is is a celebration of music and dance and it looks very family friendly. Several of the songs included seductive dancing with minimal clothing and song lyrics about sex and even women undressing from their robes to show lingerie beneath. I had my husband and young son with me and wish there had been some notice of the raunchy atmosphere of the show on the brochure. It felt more like a nightclub than a family friendly theme park ice skating show....

months waited
no follow up calls
informed rep. that originally helped was fired
the poorest customer service ever experienced
original refund date issued: November 5th.
advised to take into concern the holidays
never received follow up from amusement park
followed up only to hear that the rep. that help me and my spouse originally was "fired"
rep. only had knowledge of previous notation which did not indicate much
reps. did not want to disclose there names
supervisor finally assisted with no explanation as to why the delay has taken so long with out any explanation.
were instructed to simply wait but when its time to purchase a ticket it almost happens instantly.

Dining pass was not what we were told it would be :( what a waste of money. False advertising, regret this decision and feel ripped off.
We were told "buy the dining pass, super quick and easy..." needless to say we waited in line for an hour to get a pop. Then tried to get a meal :( the line was even longer, terrible experience considering we saved for years to go on vacation and it will be some time before we can go again. I attached a picture of our wristbands, please look up all of our use :(

The worst experience ever happened on Monday the 30th of December!
VERY UNPROFESSIONAL AND UNACCEPTABLE!!
It all started when we arrived to the park and getting ready to park our car and right at the entrance we were told that I cant park in the preferred parking as it's being used for handicap and am a platinum pass member and this is one of my benefits that I pay for and they denied it on Monday giving us this excuse which doesnt make sense and when I asked if we can still drive down there to check if there is any open spaces they said no they won't let you in and they forced us to park at the very front of the park and on top of that they made us walk all the way to the 2nd tram station because the 1st one was closed although the park was at full operation they even had the over flow parking at adventure island and yet they where not staffed enough or able to handle such a busy day with a high demand.

As we started walking towards the tram station we saw lots of open spots to park closer the the station to be precise we spotted about 30 to 40 open spots and they are telling people that you cant park back there and denying us our benefits. it was really frustrating and very disappointing as my mom has some permanent back injuries and she cant walk long distances very well and therefore we always park close to the tram station or main entrance.

The main event that shocked us all and left us speechless happened while leaving the park and as we get ready to take the tram heading back to the parking lot and as we assumed that all stations will be open that the tram will stop at all stations going back until they reach the 2nd park also to bear in mind that guests have parked all the way up until the 2nd park so logically they would have to drop them in order so they can get their cars. the tram moves from the park entrance and no word was said by the tram controller or driver as they usually do so there was no communication what so ever and the tram stops at the 1st station and then he takes off towards the the 2nd park and still no announcements made to the guests on board of the tram. the tram skips the 2nd station and at this point we were really shocked that this have happened we tried to grab the drivers attention or the controller but they denied to stop and we kept telling them that we parked upfront by the entrance and that we need to get off to get to our car and right at the intersection between the 2 parks the tram stops before crossing and we tried to get off they came running and told us no you cant get off here it's a safety issue and they held us against our will on a public property which is very unacceptable because this was a public street and not a private property. we were forced on the tram again and were promised that the driver will stop at the 1st station on the way back so we wait until he drives all the way to the 2nd park and turns back and we are preparing ourselves to get off at the 1st station as we head back but it never happened the driver kept going all the way to the park entrance again and we had to wait our turn again to head back to the parking lots, about 20 mins were wasted in such a process. worst experience ever and worst customer service!

I use to love Bush Gardens-when I first went -I was greeted by people who represented their counntry, Italy Spain, China etc and each place had their own food to sell-I was about 26, also they had Sea world I could watch that or a country show with singers and dancers now at 60 -there is nothing but hot rides.
What happened???

I called to get information on their passes and the customer representative specifically told me that I could order passes for myself and my boyfriend and call back later to separate our accounts and payment information. My boyfriend did not have a debit card at the time and the representative assured me that I would be able to remove him from my account and put his card in his name so he is financially responsible for the contract.
When we broke up and my ex refused to pay for his portion they would not allow me to remove him from my account or transfer his account to him even after I told them that their representative is the one who told me I could.. otherwise I would have waited until he had a card to purchase the pass. They refused to let me change the name of the person on the second pass and basically said tough luck you have to pay for his pass so he can continue going and if you dont you will be liable for the money.

this is *** and you need to be very careful when getting a pass from this theme park. they have zero customer service and they auto-renew contracts that cost over $500.

I had temp custody of my grandsons. Was undervthe understanding that when they moved to wyoming with their father I could cancel their membership..
I called and added my grandsons 2 mi Busch Garden passes. Was under the understanding that they could be removed if I did not keep them in florida. They moved to their dads in wyoming court ordered. Now busch gardens doea not want to yake them off my pass. I pay 80.32 a month and my phone number is *** This took place on nov 22. 2019..

I was lied to by your guest services in park who told me that as a season pass holder who paid the past year in full that I would be able to switch to easy pay as a gold pass member and cancel whenever without penalty during the 2nd year which you currently offer to easy pay season pass holders the 2nd year of membership. Unlike insurance companies you offer no discount to those who pay in full compared to paying monthly and instead penalize the paid in full members who switch to easy pay the 2nd year because we cant cancel whenever and if we do we get penalized for it!! This is ridiculous and its the opposite of what you should be trying to do. Youre basically giving an incentive to those who pay month to month versus those who pay in full for a season pass. So ill be reporting you to consumer affairs and the Revdex.com and also writing a blog about this which has 400,000 current subscribers. I also wont ever be coming to busch garden's pr sea world again after being lied to by your guest services Department in Busch Gardens Tampa if this is not rectified.

Staff Being rude and disrespectful.
10/19/2019 Williamsburg Busch Gardens.howl-o-scream .. my mother and I took my kids to howl-o- scream , who are 6 and 11. It was a Saturday it was so packed bout time we finally got it the lines was long and the first ride I took my kids on . Staff there was fighting with guess and using profanity . It was like the young lady that work there was frustrated And taking her angry out on guest . My kids was so scared from the guest and working arguing They wanted to go home when we just got there . It was so sad they couldn't even enjoy they self because of the staff there . Please train your staff better with handling situations .and this happen Saturday and today Monday and my kids are still shaking up because of it and don't want to come back and we love this place it's so sad .

My Busch Gardens Annual Quick Que pass shows used/invalid. Told it's an IT issue. A new Quick Que pass has to be reissued with every visit to the park
In May, 2019, I purchased a Busch Gardens Annual Quick Que pass *** addition to my Annual Gold Pass park admission. The Quick Que pass *** supposed to allow front of the line access to all of the major rides at Busch Gardens.

Everything had been working great until about a month or so ago. One day I went to Busch Gardens and much to my surprise, I was told that my Annual Quick Que pass was no longer valid. It showed that it had already been used and that I was no longer able to use it for the rides. I informed the ride operator that I had purchased my pass (at that time) less than 60 days ago and showed them my receipt. The ride operator then told me that I would have to walk all the way back to the front of the park to have the issue resolved. So, upon walking to the front of the park, I stood in line to speak to someone about the issue and see what could be done to get this taken care of. The guest services representative told me that a lot of people have been having the same problem and that it is an IT issue. She then reissued me a new Annual Quick Que pass and assured me that this would resolve the issue. However, on my very next visit, the same thing happened again. So, back to the front of the park I went. And once again I was told that it is an IT issue and they reissued me another new Annual Quick Que pass.

Now, after a total of 5 visits, and a total of 5 new Annual Quick Que passes having been reissued, I am beyond understanding how this can keep happening! It would seem to me that if this is an IT issue, it should have already been resolved. Instead it has been over 1 1/2 months and the issue still persists!

When a guest pays for an Annual Quick Que pass, we expect that it is valid for one year from the date of purchase, as advertised in the park and online. Instead, what we are now getting for the money that we have spent is that we have to stop what we are doing, walk all the way back to the front of the park, STAND IN LINE so that we can have our Annual Quick Pass reissued, and then do it all over again on our next visit.

On my most recent visit to Busch Gardens on 9/2/2019, I went to guest services first, just to have them scan my Annual Quick Que pass to see if it was working properly before trying to ride a ride. They scanned my pass and told me that everything looked fine and that I should have no problems. So, thinking that I had averted the aggravation of going to my first ride and finding out that My Annual Quick Que pass showed used and invalid again, I went in to the park and tried to ride a ride, only to find out that the ride's card reader showed my Annual Quick Que pass *** being used and invalid once again, and that I would have go back to where I had just been; the front of the park and have my Annual Quick Que pass reissued.

As you can well imagine, I have lost my patience with this whole situation! Every time that I have had my Annual Quick Que pass reissued, I have been told that the park staff was sending a notice to IT to look in to the issue. So yesterday, after my Annual Quick Que pass was reissued for the 5th time, I called corporate headquarters to express my frustration to them personally. They looked at my account but they could NOT find ANY messages from the park staff to the IT department about any issues. They also told me that this was the first time they were hearing about any such issues regarding problems with the Annual Quick Que passes. I do not know where the breakdown in communication is between the park staff and the IT department but there is obviously a problem here that needs to be resolved. I am sure that I am not the only one who has had enough of this situation. I do not think that it is asking too much to expect that my Annual Quick Que pass work properly, for 12 months from the date of purchase, as advertised. I think I can speak for everyone who has experienced this same problem: we want to have this situation resolved once and for all!

While riding the ride DaVinci's Cradle, I was told that the having my bag on the ride would be okay, however, my metal water bottle fell off
while riding on the DaVinci's cradle at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, I was told that having my bag would be okay. I understand that Busch Gardens has no responsibility for lost or damaged items, however I feel like in this situation, guest safety was not a priority, and I am very upset by this. when getting on the ride, I tried to give my bag to an attendant, but my lap bar was already down. I was told that it would be okay. during the ride, my bag opened, and everything spilled out. a metal water bottle fell out, nearly hitting people outside the ride in the line. the things were flying off the ride and I was putting my arms up to get the attendant to stop, and yelling to stop the ride. my things were flying around and off the ride, and there was no way that with many people in line and on the ride yelling to stop, they didn't notice. I am very upset as I feel that the attendant had little regard for guest safety. many people on the ride were putting their hands up, in an effort to get the attendant's attention so that they would stop the ride, but these efforts were failed. Once again, I feel like the attendants had little to no regard for guest safety in this situation

After they made a mistake by charging me, they want me to wait 30 days for a refund.
My annual pass was expiring 8/13/2019 so my last ACH payment was scheduled for 7/13/2019. I noticed a payment was pending in my bank account from them on 8/13/2019. I contacted them and explained the issue and the rep was very understanding and nice went ahead and cancelled the transaction. She even had me refresh my screen to make sure that Pending transaction was no longer showing under my Transaction History. It was not so I was happy. Well 2 days later that Pending transaction went through my bank account causing an overdraft fee. I contacted them again explaining what had happened. This rep wanted to tell me I have to wait 30 days for a refund!! I asked to speak to her Supervisor. He was no help at all. All he kept telling me was how their transactions are processed. I understood that aspect of it because I use to work in banking for 5 years. So when the first rep "cancelled" the transaction she literally deleted it on their end and didn't CANCEL the actual transaction. If a transaction is pending on your bank account and then cancelled before the hold is processed that transaction actually goes away and never gets processed. I was so irate!! So someone somewhere dropped the ball and never cancelled that transaction in which they were never suppose to take. The Supervisor tried telling me that after your contract is up it automatically rolls over and keeps charging you monthly. I told him when I checked in July (my last scheduled payment) it showed that my passes were expiring effective 8/13/2019 so why would I ever think they would still take my money?! If my passes are expired what would I be paying for? Expired passes can't use?!?! I was so frustrated that I got no where with even the Supervisor. At times during our conversation he would put me on Mute. At one point after there was a few second pause after I asked him a question I finally told him that he could take me off of Mute now and answer my question. Unfortunately due to this experience I don't believe I will ever again purchase Annual Passes from ANY of their amusement parks. This is sad for me considering we reside in FL and love our little weekend getaways but not anymore. Their customer service really sucks. So now I have to wait 30 days for them to fix a mistake they made. Absolutely ridiculous! Warning to all, they like to change their procedures without notifying you and they like to charge you for expired passes. BEWARE!

I have received a false information from Busch Garden´s customer service when I contracted the vacation package.
Before I contracted my vacation package with Busch Gardens I have sent the following email to customer service on May 15th 2019´s (look the 4 points asked):

...Good afternoon. I´m from *** and looking to visit Tampa for 3 days (June 30th/July 3rd) with my family (me, my wife, my daughter 9 years old, my boy 3 years old)
I want to ask the following point:

1)Kids free package: this one includes Hotel for 3 days for all our family (4 persons) +4 tickets to Busch Gardens and/ or Adventure Island for all our family (1 ticket for one day and other 1 ticket for second day, I can choose if I want to go to differents parks each day or repeat the same park at second day) + free parking on each park for two days?? Is correct?

2)Eat Free Vacation Package: this one includes Hotel for 3 days for all our family (4 persons) +4 tickets to Busch Gardens and/ or Adventure Island for all our family (1 ticket for one day and other 1 ticket for second day, I can choose if I want to go to differents parks each day or repeat the same park at second day) + free parking in each park for two days + free all day dining deal per person for boths parks: BuschGardens + Adventure Island for two days.? Is correct????

3)About free all day dining deal: include 1 entrée platter, side or dessert and soft drink or bottled water once per hour at any of the following locations: Zagora Café, Serengeti Overlook Café, Sheikra Eats, Bengal Bistro, Dragon Fire Grill and Zambia Smokehouse. That´s means only drink is 1 per hour , but not about meals. About meals is each time through the line.

4) can I enter with a Therm with mineral water for my childrens (like a Stanley therm, individual )?....

On May 17th, Mss Kimberley from customer service, answer me the follwing mail:

...Hi ***
Thank you for contacting SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment(r).

1. Yes, you may visit the same park or a different park.

2. Yes, you may visit the same park or different park and you will receive free parking at both park. The All Day Dining only applies to one park, the first park you visit. You may purchase an additional All Day for the additional visits.

3. The whole meal is once every 60 minutes. You may purchase drinks throughout the day, only the meal is every hour.

4. Yes, you may bring a thermos.

Again thank you for contacting us at SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment(r).

Best regards,
Kimberly
Guest Correspondence
3605 East Bougainvillea Ave
Tampa, FL 33612

........

Finally I decide to contracted the package # 1: "Kids free package" with booking confirmation # ***
The first day of my stay in Tampa,I have visited Busch gardens with no problem. The second day I want to enter to Adventure Island and not allowed me to enter with the ticket printed. so that, I have tried to call customer service but nobody answer me , so I sent an email. Wait few minutes and sent a second mail. Nobody answered. So that I have to paid the ticket again.
The following day I called to customer service from the hotel and the girl who answered the phone check during few minutes all the information and look that Mss Kimberley has got a mistake and give me a false information on point 1. She told me that Kimberley will send me an e mail soon and they will refund me the money.
Now they don´t want to refund me the money but nobody can answer me what they understand about my ask on point 1 and kimberley´s answer also about point 1.
I have all the proof by mail and it´s very clear.

I tried to buy online tickets from Busch Gardens. Service did not work and then they charged credit cards four times for tickets that were not used.
We tried to buy tickets at Busch Gardens online. The service did not work. We went through the process a few times on different cards to try to get it to work. But it did not. Ultimately we had to buy tickets at the kiosk. Yet, we noticed on our credit card bills we had been charged four additional times for tickets in excess of $1200. We called customer service and put in a queue with an hour long way. Gave number for call back. Still awaiting the call.

They advertise a $64.99 sale, charge my bank and no tickets Chat Serv take 3 hrs and say just wait, the delete comments on face book.
I ordered my tickets online 64.98 plus 9.99 convenience fee they charged my bank account and they do not deliver tickets. I called and had to wait over 3 hrs. They said I just have to wait for email or go to guest services at park. I don't live near the park. It's been 3 days, but they did charge my bank account. When I try to warn others not to buy the tickets on social media if they need them right away they hide my comments and any other comments about it and start the sale again. Very dishonest practice, what did I pay convenience fee for then, still 3 days later no tickets yet.

I applied for my 4yr old Autistic son to received the pre-school pass *** the year 2019. they could not see him in the system and denied pass.
I applied for my son to received the preschool pass for the 2019 year. I did the registration online months ago. I called today in order to verify the pass and he was not found in the system. since the promotion is already over now I was told that I needed to purchase a funticket or a day pass. I dont believe that it is fair that I registered my son months ago for a free pass and now have to pay 100-150 dollars for a one day park to park ticket. I have called 4 different times and cant even get someone in higher management to help me. im very disappointed because we bought 2 annual passes and been to howl o scream 4 yrs in a row to receive this type of customer service. my son is 4 and will be 5 in less than 6 months. they cant ever honor the pre school pass for the 4 months my son still has left before turning 5. icredible. with all the money busch gardens makes its riddiculous that they would be so difficult for a childrens pass. its almost as if I have to send a letter to anheiser busch himself.

Horrible racist, rude, disrespectful employees throughout the entre Park. They honestly do not even deserve one star but unfortunately I have to give them one to be able to submit my review. Disgusting place to visit what a shame.

Very frustrated with the customer service at Busch Gardens. I have made 4 calls to resolve this issue and still don't have a resolution.
On 3/21/19 I went on the Busch Gardens-Tampa website to purchase an annual Platinum pass for family coming down in June. I filled out all the information and when I got to the end, it wanted names for the pass, like I was buying the tickets today. I didn't want the passes for that day, so I called the Customer Service # X-XXX-XXX-XFUN, I spoke to a female,didn't write down her name. She told me to back out of the information on the computer and I could book the pass with her. I wanted to pay using the monthly payment plan. So I did. I gave her my information and she gave me a confirmation number-Order # XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. She told me not to accept the email information for the pass I started to book on line and it would cancel out. Well it did not, I got charged twice-$35.81 (monthly fee plus fees) as I thought I would. I called back on 3/28/19, spoke to Abdul, to let them know I had been double charged and to confirm I only wanted ONE pass. He told me to go back to the website and cancel the order for the one I did not want. The website is very confusing because it says to complete the order, for the one I didn't want-Order # XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX but when I click on it, there is no information there to cancel. So to avoid being charged a third time, I told him I wasn't going to click anymore boxes. They could do it on their end. I was told he would take care of it and issue the credit within 5-7 business days. I didn't think much about it after that because I trusted it would be done. However, I checked my account on 4/16/2019 and it still had not been done. I called and spoke with Rochelle, I explained the whole thing again and she assured me I would have the credit in 30 business days because they had to manually cancel the transaction and it would then go to the finance dept for the credit. So something that was supposed to be credited in 5-7 days is not going to take 30 because it wasn't done right! I was very upset and thought this process was ridiculous but what could I do? I waited the 30 days and on 5/18/19 there still was not credit so I called again and spoke with a supervisor Abigail a Supervisor. She put me on hold several times during this conversation to speak with someone else and all she could say was the credit would be issued in 5-7 business days but could take up to 30, the finance team would take care of it in less time than usual because of this issue. I asked for additional compensation, like free meal passes for 4 people, she refused saying I was already getting a refund. Well it's been 5 days, no resolution AGAIN! I am so beyond frustrated. I have family coming this Friday and I really wanted this to be a good first experience for them and I have such a sour taste in my mouth that I am not sure that will be possible at this time.

Got charged twice.I had old passes that was out of date due to non payment. I paid for new tickets,they made me pay for the old ones too. She hung up
I purchased tickets on 8/25/18. For My daughter, her dad and I. My banking acct. got compromised. Later on in that year. The acct was cancelled. I thought the tickets got cancelled too. I went to purchase to purchase a gold member pass on Friday 5/18/19 for just me. At the end of the processing screen it says to enter a guest name. I enter *** name. Some how the tickets ended up in *** name. ( I saw the confirmation ticket with his name on it ) I call them soon as it came in to my email and told them what happened. The nice lady switched it over to my name( resend the ticket with my name on it) And said since it comes with two guest passes. I can just bring them two along with me and add them along on a later date. We get to the park. Have issues at the kiosk. Because the ticket she was supposed to have fixed didn't go through and the ticket I had on my phone had my name on it but I'm the computer it had ***. So we go to the gate. They send *** (the other pass holder in). And said you already have tickets and need to pay, you have three tickets on there. He says ok and pay the 205 and change that was required to enter the gate. They tell him they need to use a guest pass for *** ( I don't understand why becuase *** has her own ticket with her name on it. which her dad just paid the past due balance on) we go into the park. Already frustrated because it took so long with them. He told me had to pay the overdue balance (which I understand ) I ask why didn't they take into consideration that I paid 80 dollars on Friday and subtract it off. I stated I will call them tomorrow. Let's just have fun. I call them and ask them to cancel the one purchased on Friday since *** paid He over due balance on previous acct. and they used that ticket to get in. I call today ( the next day ) the auto voice said it'll be a 40 min wait. So they'll call me back . A lady called me and I sat on the phone for an hour and a half with a lady who didn't need understand me. She kept telling me the park used the wrong ticket. Instead of them using the pass that had three tickets on it. They used the tickets that was purchased on Friday and put *** name on it. Because they said they needed to use a guest pass for our daughter. (I don't understand why would my daughter need a guest pass when she already have a pass with her name on it). I asked her why and they said because that was the one most recent. I said how when he just paid money on the last one. Shouldn't that be more recent. The lady told me it was because they needed to get my daughter in. I keep telling her that my daughter had her own pass. Once they seen we had two accounts they should've cancelled the new one I paid 80 for on Friday. But instead they use the new acct to swipe *** in. Now they're stating I can't get a refund because the Park people used he wrong ticket. Her words not mine. So you're telling me I can't get my money back because of their mistake?! . I ask to speak to a supervisor she places me on another long hold. The supervisor was very short and snappy with me. She said she wasn't giving me my money back because he swiped the card to get in. When that's the card they gave him. I ask her to speak to someone else. Maybe a different supervisor. And she told me no. That she could handle it. I again ask her to speak to someone else and then she hangs up on me. I need to speak with the general manager this is unacceptable, rude , and down right unfair!

We came to the park and the parking was completely full it took us 45 min to park and another 45 min to get to the park because all the trolleys were so full. upon entering the park we tried to get on a ride. we stood in line for 45 min to an hour and the ride was closed. we went to go get food again waited in line for about an hour. after we ate we attempted to get on another ride which was also closed when we stood in line for 45 min. we also attempted to go to the elephant animal exhibit and we were there to late the people who were doing it were closing the doors. we did not get what we paid for and I would like a full refund. it was a very disappointing day and the whole family was exhausted and frustrated.
Product_Or_Service: tickets