BG vs. AK

[JenniferFolsomCa]

I have been to both parks in past but it has been a long time (Ak in 2014 or so and BG in 2010 or so)! I was considering going to just Busch Gardens instead of AK. I know we will miss Everest, but wondering if the animal experiences/safari are similar? Has anyone compared the 2 recently?

What am I missing?

Pros for AK: Avatar rides if you like it (my kids never saw it and not a fan so figure I'm not missing much)
Everest, love that ride!
Safari (not sure how it compared to BG)

Pros for BG:
mostly expect the crowds to be WAY less and more thrill rides for my teenager. I can buy a pass that will let us make the lines even shorter and since we are going to Discovery Cove this trip, the extra cost to add this day is super cheap.


I am going to spend 2 days at MK, 1 at HS/EP and not sure of the water parks yet, but was considering this as an option.

Any thoughts?

Jenn

 

[Amelia :)]

There is no regular safari at BG anymore. You have to pay an additional fee to do the “Serengeti safari”, which is awesome btw, you get to feed a giraffe! But it’s about an extra $30 each. I do miss rhino ralley! Obviously they have awesome coasters (which my 9 year old loves!) Especially Sheikra and Cheetah hunt. But she also really loves Flight of Passage.
It’s a tough call, on overall experience, shows, food, theming, Pandora, AK is the clear winner. But if you have a coaster fan in your group, Busch gardens is hard to pass on.

 

[My3SweetSuns]

I’ve never seen Avatar and have no desire to, but Flight of Passage was AMAZING.

 

[CrazyHare]

I hated the part of Avatar I remember seeing. And I think I fell asleep because I only remember the first parts.
I loved Flight of Passage. And I hope I can convince my 5 year old to ride it with me. I know she would love it. But she freaked the last time because her glasses kept falling off.

 

[glocon]

If you feel like your family will enjoy the rides at BG more, that’s what I would do.
Or ask them and see what they think.

 

[CAS239]

Busch gardens doesn't hold a candle to animal kingdom as far animals go.

You'll only want to go to Busch Gardens if you want to ride the coasters. But with that said, I much prefer the coasters at Sea World personally.

 

[EdmondD]

In the last couple years I've been to WDW twice (once post-Avatar) and BG once. So I guess I have decent perspective.

I watched about 30 minutes of Avatar was bored stiff, but the land...man, Pandora is something else. So you'll miss that. And FoP is really good. And just in general, AK is a pretty amazing park.

BG is such a different animal (pardon the pun). But given that you're getting the Discovery Cove benefit and you've got a teenager, I'd actually maybe give the nod to BG. BG had one of the most unique thrill rides I've been on in a long time in Falcon's Fury. SheikRa was great, Cobra's Curse is new, and we just had a good time. Some animal viewing, but nothing like AK. But it was a lot of fun and we're glad we went (I was in Tampa for business so it was a no-brainer).

 

[holden]

I too fell asleep during the Avatar movie. However, FOP is awesome! Definitely a must for for my family. We also love EE.

I haven’t been to BG so I can’t comment on that.

 

[JenniferFolsomCa]

How funny! I really didn't appreciate Avatar (thought I was the only one on the Dis board thinking that way!) so figured the rides would be related to that and didn't care. If the rides are really worthwhile, might check it out. Are there more animals on the Safari ride at AK and you can see them up closer more than BG in how they view it. Sounds like maybe the train or tram, not a safari unless I want to fork out an extra $30pp. Hmm... decisions, decisions. Anyone care to comment on wait times? I always figure that AK would have longer waits for rides, but not sure if that is true. That was one of the factors for us. My hubby is not truly excited about Disney like the rest of us so trying to balance out our days a bit and find some different things to do...

 

[Amelia :)]

AK will 100% be busier, especially Pandora. We have done Busch Gardens the past two years, on a Monday in November. It was like a ghost town compared to Disney. It is great for kids who just want to do rollercoasters multiple times. Because it’s so much quieter, the opening hours are short, 10am-5pm when we were there (we actually left around 4pm). So we actually went back into Disney in the evenings (if that helps with your planning). You could easily do a load of Rollercoasters at BG, then head back for dinner a fatpass at Epcot for example.

 

[mshanson3121]

There is no regular safari at BG anymore. You have to pay an additional fee to do the “Serengeti safari”, which is awesome btw, you get to feed a giraffe! But it’s about an extra $30 each. I do miss rhino ralley! Obviously they have awesome coasters (which my 9 year old loves!) Especially Sheikra and Cheetah hunt. But she also really loves Flight of Passage.
It’s a tough call, on overall experience, shows, food, theming, Pandora, AK is the clear winner. But if you have a coaster fan in your group, Busch gardens is hard to pass on.

How does it compare as far as animals? Animals are the key for my son.

 

[Amelia :)]

How does it compare as far as animals? Animals are the key for my son.

All in all I do love AK a whole lot more. There seemed to be a much larger variety on the AK safari, and around AK in general. But feeding the giraffes was cool at BG. We always try and do both, but if I had to pick one AK.

 

[CAS239]

How does it compare as far as animals? Animals are the key for my son.

Honestly there's not that many animals at Busch gardens. It's cool to see the tigers, monkeys, and small penguin exhibit. But there's nothing like the AK safari or walking trails. You'll see way more animals at AK

I wouldn't go to Busch gardens if interested in animals..I would go to AK and Sea World. I'd go to Busch gardens if you want coasters

 

[cel_disney]

OP - since you are going to Discovery Cove - are you considering sea world? It would be a lot closer than BG and has amazing coasters and sea creatures!

 

[Dznefreek]

from BGT website:
Busch Gardens is home to more than 12,000 animals from 300 different species.
I don't believe DAK is anywhere near this.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I think the amount of animals at BG is pretty comparable to AK. I can, and have spent an entire day doing nothing but looking at the animals. It's much less crowded than any Disney park, and the food is decent. As others have said, there is no free safari anymore though. I'm not a huge coaster person but I love BG. I grew up about 20 minutes away and had season passes pretty much every year of teen/adult life until we moved to TX. We still go once or twice a year when we go on vacation to FL.

 

[CAS239]

from BGT website:
Busch Gardens is home to more than 12,000 animals from 300 different species.
I don't believe DAK is anywhere near this.

I've been quite a bit and they must've had around 11,500 animals either backstage or not out to view

The years I've been to Busch Gardens, I've never felt there's been more than a handful of animals to see.