Tampa's Busch Gardens will get $40 million in improvements

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is about to get a $40 million upgrade.

The Busch Boulevard theme park announced the project Wednesday saying that the investment includes the opening of a new children’s area in May, new animal encounters, elevated dining, enhanced guest experiences and a major transformation of Adventure Island.

The work is being done under the park’s new president, Jeff Davis, who took over in February.

He is a 30-year industry veteran who came over from SeaWorld San Antonio, where he was the park's president. (SeaWorld and Busch Gardens are sister companies.)

Davis, in a statement, says the additions and improvements “will be made across our infrastructure, operations, staff recruiting, equipment, as well as adding to our aesthetics with more beautiful gardens and plant life.”

The changes coming to the park include:

• The opening of Wild Oasis at Jungala, a new kid-friendly area with animal encounters, rides and interactive play zones.
• New animal experiences and habitat improvements with capybaras, giant anteaters, squirrel monkeys and meerkats arriving this spring. The park has also upgraded animal habitats throughout including a new climbing structure for a new troop of chimpanzees, accessibility features to accommodate the geriatric, all-female Asian elephant herd and a new giraffe barn.
• A new executive chef, Lavon Smith, who brings a “new culinary vision” to the park. That includes menu offerings at full-service venues like the recently opened Treetop Kitchen.
• More year-round entertainment including a new nighttime spectacular, live shows and “new ways to enjoy” entertainment attractions like Rhythm of Nature — “the only year-round ice-skating show at a theme park in North America.”
• At Adventure Island there is a new interactive splash and play area called Castaway Falls with water elements and cascading slides. The park will detail more of the expected changes in the spring.

Busch Gardens is just off Interstate 275 in Tampa. The 300-acre urban theme park combines roller coasters, and other rides and entertainment, with 16,000 animals from across 200 species. It opened in 1959 next to an Anheuser-Busch brewery.

According to the research firm Statista, the park saw 4 million visitors in 2023.