Discounts, accessibility make Busch Gardens Tampa a good choice for visitors in a wheelchair

August 4, 2013, 5:48 PM · Busch Gardens Tampa is a good tourist destination if you are in a wheelchair. It is not hilly, and the pathways are wide. The admission ticket for the disabled (wheelchair or blind) is half the price of the regular one, but you have to ask for it at the park's front gate. The park's website does not offer this option. Being a theme park where most rides are not wheelchair accessible and they are difficult to transfer, it makes sense that they give a discount for the disabled.

Busch Gardens Tampa

There are two rides that you can take the wheelchair with you: one is the train ride around the park. The space for the wheelchair gives you the same good views of the animals at the Serengeti than the regular seats. For a closer look at the animals, take the Serengeti Safari; you go on an open air vehicle (that is wheelchair accessible) around the Serengeti Plain. You will have the opportunity to feed the giraffes. The Safari is not included in the park's admission.

The rest of the park offers other animals' exhibitions, live shows, and a 4D theater. All of them are wheelchair accessible. The tiger exhibition's best spots to see them very close through the domes are not wheelchair accessible. If going to Sesame Street Safari of Fun, be careful with the toddlers who love to get under the wheelchair; NEVER go backwards unless you are sure there is no toddler behind you.

Overall, Busch Gardens Tampa is a good destination for everyone.

Replies (3)

August 5, 2013 at 4:33 AM · Daniel, do they also rent ECVs? And when you say that most rides are not accessible, what exactly do you mean - that they're not accessible if you can't transfer?

And thank you for the article. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know until you read it. ;-)

August 5, 2013 at 9:01 AM · Mark, they rent ECVs for $45. About the rides, I mean what you said; they're not accessible if you can't transfer.
August 5, 2013 at 2:49 PM · I didn't know about these half priced tickets, may help a friend of mine. Thanks.

Busch Gardens has no "dark rides" that can accommodate wheelchairs/ECVs such as WDW's Haunted Mansion or Great Movie Ride. All rides are action rides i.e. coasters and water rides and small carney rides. The tiger area has one small, one person 'pop your head up through the floor' view spot enclosed by glass inside the habitat unaccessible to chair bound people. You have to climb down stairs then up a ladder to get to it. It is big enough that an adult can carry a small child up. Everywhere else is OK.

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