Busch Gardens

This Busch Gardens logo has been in use since July 13, 2003.

Busch Gardens is the name of two amusement parks in the United States, owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a division of Blackstone Group. One of the parks is in Williamsburg, Virginia, and the other is in Tampa, Florida. There was also previously Busch Gardens parks in Pasadena, California (1905–1937), Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California (1964–1979) and Houston, Texas (1971–1973). Busch Gardens parks were initially developed as marketing vehicles for Anheuser-Busch and featured hospitality houses with samples of Anheuser-Busch products. They also included stables that housed many of the company's Clydesdale horses, which have been associated with Anheuser-Busch since 1933. Eventually, rides and attractions were added to the parks and over time were developed into full theme parks while still promoting Anheuser-Busch. Busch Entertainment Corporation, now called SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, was created as a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch Companies, an American brewing company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, to run the various parks in 1959.

Acquisition by Blackstone Group

On October 7, 2009 it was announced that Anheuser-Busch InBev had sold all Busch Properties to The Blackstone Group for $2.7 billion. This sale includes all Busch Entertainment properties. One of the deals in the contract was that the Clydesdales at the parks be removed, as the breed of horse is associated with the Anheuser-Busch brand. In addition, the Busch Entertainment Company division that owned all of the Worlds of Discovery parks (including Busch Gardens) was renamed SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, officially marking the finalized purchase had succeeded on December 3, 2009.

Locations

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

Main article: Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

SheiKra was the first "dive machine" roller coaster in the United States

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, Jungala, Sand Serpent, Congo River Rapids, Tanganyika Tidal Wave, Stanley Falls, Serengeti Railway, Phoenix, also a new Sesame Street, and SheiKra also a new roller coaster called "Cheetah Hunt" and a new cheetah enclosure., 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 to the east of Tampa.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Main article: Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Busch Gardens Williamsburg opened May 5, 1975. With its European theme, the park was originally tagged "The Old Country." Attractions at this park include The Curse of DarKastle, Alpengeist, Escape from Pompeii, Apollo's Chariot, Loch Ness Monster, and Griffon. Added in 2007, the Griffon coaster has bragging rights as the tallest dive coaster in the U.S. The park is divided into seven sections, each themed to a different European country. On July 25, 2009, Busch Gardens announced that the Big Bad Wolf roller coaster would be retired September 7, 2009, after 25 years of operation due to its "meeting the end of its service life." and will be replaced with a New Multiple Launch Coaster that is set to open in 2012. Newly added in 2009 was "Christmas Town," A Christmas Celebration, with many themed holiday attractions and shows with 5 million lights and a 50' Light Animated Christmas Tree. Also in 2010, the 3-D ride Corkscrew Hill was replaced by Europe in the Air. Also New for 2010 was illumiNights: A Busch Garden Encore, with many Mini nightly country shows and nightly fireworks set to a special soundtrack which is available during the special event in many gift shops. In 2010, Busch Gardens announced a drop tower called the Mäch Tower which was set to open in late Spring 2011 but was delayed due to train problems from Italy and opened in August 2011. On September 17, 2011, more information was given on the new multi-launching roller coaster called Verbolten that will open in spring of 2012 in the old Big Bad Wolf location.

Former parks

Busch Gardens in California

Long before the other Busch Gardens parks, Adolphus Busch, cofounder of Anheuser-Busch, had his winter home in Pasadena, California. The wealthy easterner took advantage of the area’s mild climate and established the first Busch Gardens in 1906. When Busch died (1913) in his native Germany, his wife offered the property to the city of Pasadena as a park, which the city refused.

In the 1930s, the 36-acre (150,000 m²) 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 opened a more modern version of Busch Gardens at this site in 1966 that included boat rides, a monorail and free beer. The 17-acre (69,000 m²) amusement park was renamed Busch Bird Sanctuary in 1977 and closed two years later.

Houston

Houston’s Busch Gardens opened in May 1971 and was closed within two years. It was located adjacent to the Anheuser-Busch brewery, which opened in 1966. The 40-acre (160,000 m²) park had an Asian theme except for an ice cave with a temperature controlled environment for several varieties of penguins, polar bears and sea lions.

Unbuilt parks

Busch Gardens Dubai

Busch Entertainment Corporation had plans to open a new park in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 2012. It was going to be placed on a man-made island shaped like Shamu in Dubai with SeaWorld, Discovery Cove, and Aquatica also being built on that island. The Dubai park would have added on a 3rd park to the Busch Gardens brand. The plans are now shelved because of financial issues. On February 4, 2009, Busch Entertainment announced that the Dubai plans have been canceled due to the global recession.

Free beer

SeaWorld and Busch Gardens owner Anheuser-Busch InBev announced that the long tradition of offering free beer samples in their Hospitality Centers and Brewmaster Clubs would come to an end in the parks. Beer will continue to be sold in the parks. The change was made so a buyer would not have to pay Anheuser Busch large fees and costs to run a program that is sponsored and run by another company. In doing this it made it easier for parent company Anheuser Busch InBev to sell the division. Also announced was that workers will not get two cases of beer a month for free, which they would receive under old parent; Anheuser-Busch.

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
  • SeaWorld Ohio, 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, near Philadelphia.
  • A second Sesame Place formerly operated in Texas.
• Water Parks: Adventure Island in Tampa, Florida; Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Virginia; and Aquatica in Orlando, Florida.
• 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.

External links

• Official website
• Fan websites:
  • Roller coaster database entries for Tampa and Williamsburg
  • Busch Gardens Escape (unofficial fansite)
  • Busch Gardens Tampa Guide (unofficial fansite)
  • BGWFans.com (unofficial fansite)
  • History of Busch Gardens, The Beginning
  • History of Busch Gardens, Tampa
  • History of Busch Gardens, Williamsburg