Sea World or Busch Gardens for a half day?

I'm currently planning our vacation for next year and thought about changing it up a little bit. We'll have a half day free after our arrival - what would be the best choice between these two options? We'll drive down on Friday, arrive Saturday either late morning or early afternoon, depending on traffic, and have the rest of the day. I wanted to do something new and different (so no Universal or DTD).

When you say you will arrive Saturday morning/afternoon, I assume you mean arriving in Orlando? Busch Gardens is approximately 1.5 hours from Orlando. Unless you have already accounted for that, I would definitely pick SeaWorld just to save that extra 3 hours in a car and enjoy yourself at a fun park.

JaxDad said:

When you say you will arrive Saturday morning/afternoon, I assume you mean arriving in Orlando? Busch Gardens is approximately 1.5 hours from Orlando. Unless you have already accounted for that, I would definitely pick SeaWorld just to save that extra 3 hours in a car and enjoy yourself at a fun park.

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It would really depend on the destination for the day - we would be driving and our route would only be about 15 more minutes if we went to Tampa for the day instead of arriving in Orlando early. But because it would be an extra hour and a half at the end of the day to get to Orlando, I am leaning toward Sea World for that reason.

If it's not going to be that much of a difference in time to get to the parks then I would base my decision on how much you like coasters and what month you plan to visit,Busch Gardens being the park with the most coasters in Florida would be my decision if you do like the thrill rides and are not going at a busy time.Sea World is building a new coaster but they're still behind in the thrill rides category but it has more shows which are spaced out throughout the day making them hard to do in 1/2 a day.I would also consider what date you will be visiting,if it's not a busy day I would probably go with Busch Gardens simply because on days with light crowds the waits are not that bad for the rides,you'd be amazed how many you can ride in just a couple of hours.At Sea World on the other hand the lines can be a bit longer even on days with low crowds and more importantly if you were planning to do the shows it would be hard to try to fit them in in just a half day visit.Sea World is always going to require pretty much a full day in my book if you want to do several shows and the rides.BG is more rides based with Sea World being more show based so you would probably get a lot done if the lines are short at BG.Being in Tampa the lines will never be as long as the Orlando parks,you will be going on a Saturday so you will get weekend crowds that are bigger than a Tuesday crowd.I would say I would base my decision on what date you're going,if it's a low crowd month go with BG,if not then SW and try to do the most you can,there's less rides to do but you won't get most of the shows and attractions done in 1/2 a day.Based on your kids age the coasters may not be what you plan to do at the park,in that instance also go with SW as both parks have a section for rides for kids.

We visited both a few weeks ago. We enjoyed both but all in my party agree next time we would probably just do Sea World.

Thank you! I'm leaning toward Sea World now .

I'm not sure my pocket book could stand the single day admission price for 1/2 a day. I understand wanted to do something different but that is a lot of money for 1/2 a day. I might be more inclined to check out Orlando Science Center, Crayola Experience, Maybe Legoland (because you could likely find a get a kid free ticket or another discounted ticket). I think Aquatica is also an interesting park and could be good for a 1/2 day in the afternoon. Good luck planning.

momto2js said:

I'm not sure my pocket book could stand the single day admission price for 1/2 a day. I understand wanted to do something different but that is a lot of money for 1/2 a day. I might be more inclined to check out Orlando Science Center, Crayola Experience, Maybe Legoland (because you could likely find a get a kid free ticket or another discounted ticket). I think Aquatica is also an interesting park and could be good for a 1/2 day in the afternoon. Good luck planning.

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The Science Center often closes at 5 and is geared towards younger kids. The Crayola Experience closes at 8 and is geared to the ten and under crowd (I have an annual pass, my daughter loves it, but she's almost 2). Legoland is great for the 3-9 set.

Water Parks are good half day parks.