Busch Gardens
is the name of two amusement parks in the United States, and a planned amusement park in Dubai, owned and operated by Busch Entertainment Corporation, a division of Anheuser-Busch. One of the parks is in Williamsburg, Virginia, and the other is in Tampa, Florida. Both parks were renamed at the start of the 2006 season to reflect the themes used throughout the parks. There was also previously a Busch Gardens park in Pasadena, California (1905-1937) and Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California from (1964-1979) [1].
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BUSCH GARDENS TICKETS
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Locations
Busch Gardens Africa
Busch Gardens Africa, formerly known as Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, opened on
March 31,
1959, and has an
African theme. The park was originally tagged "The Dark Continent". The theme park is one of America's largest
zoological institutions, with more than 2,700 animals. Attractions include:
Rhino Rally
,
Montu
,
Kumba
,
Scorpion
,
Gwazi
,
Edge of Africa
, and
SheiKra
, a vertical dive coaster which opened in 2005. The theme park is some distance away from downtown, in central Tampa, near the limits of the City of
Temple Terrace
Busch Gardens Europe
Busch Gardens Europe, formerly known as Busch Gardens Williamsburg, opened on
May 5,
1975, and has a
European theme. The park was originally tagged "The Old Country". Attractions at this park include
Curse of DarKastle
,
Alpengeist,
Escape from Pompeii
,
Apollo's Chariot
,
Loch Ness Monster
,
Big Bad Wolf
, and, new for 2007,
Griffon. The new coaster has bragging rights in that it is the tallest dive coaster in the world. The park is divided into seven sections, each themed to a different European country.
Busch Gardens in California
Long before the Busch Gardens in Van Nuys,
Adolphus Busch, co-founder of
Anheuser-Busch, brewer of
Budweiser beer had his winter home in
Pasadena, California (1904). It was here that this wealthy easterner took full advantage of the area’s mild climate and established the first of a series of
Busch Gardens (1906). When Busch died (1913) at his Pasadena estate his wife generously offered the property to the City of Pasadena as a park, an offer the city inexplicably refused.
In the 1930s, the 36 acre land was subdivided. A number of films were made at the park, including "Frankenstein," "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and "Gone With the Wind."
In 1954, a new brewery was opened in Van Nuys. The company brought back a more modern version of Busch Gardens at its Van Nuys brewery in 1966, which included boat rides for visitors, a monorail and free beer. The 17 acre amusement park was renamed Busch Bird Sanctuary in 1977, but two years later, it was closed.
See also
Incidents at Busch parks
Anheuser-Busch owns several other parks:
- The SeaWorld parks in San Diego, California, San Antonio, Texas and Orlando, Florida
- *SeaWorld Orlando
- *SeaWorld San Diego
- *SeaWorld San Antonio
- *A fourth SeaWorld formerly operated in Ohio
- Discovery Cove, an exclusive, reservation-only park in Orlando
- Sesame Place, a children's play park themed after the long-running public broadcasting show Sesame Street
- *A second Sesame Place formerly operated in Texas.
- Water Parks: Adventure Island (waterpark), Water Country USA, and Aquatica.
- Grant's Farm, an animal reserve park in St. Louis, Missouri, on land formerly owned by Ulysses S. Grant. Home to some of the Budweiser Clydesdales.
References
- Anheuser-Busch has deep ties to Southern California