Welcome to our Busch Gardens Tampa Crowd Calendar page, with a monthly look at estimated crowd levels, park hours, and general tips on crowds throughout the year.
Our crowd calendar for Busch Gardens Tampa is meant as a guide and is only an estimate of anticipated crowd levels. The calendar does not take into account weather, which can have an impact on attendance since most of the attractions at Busch Gardens Tampa are outdoors. Please verify operating hours directly with the park before you visit, as they can change without notice.
General Crowd Info
Saturdays are usually the busiest day of the week at Busch Gardens Tampa. Sundays, holiday weeks, and event days also tend to draw in larger crowds than weekdays through the rest of the year. On those days, avoid arriving at the park between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Instead, arrive earlier (lots open about 30 minutes before the park opens) or come mid-afternoon and you won’t spend as much time waiting in line to enter.
Mid-week visits, regardless of the season, typically have lower crowds than the surrounding weekends. The summer season, spring break, and the weeks around Christmas are generally the busiest times of the year. Winter, late spring, and fall weekdays typically have the lowest crowds.
Because most of the attractions at Busch Gardens Tampa are outdoors, a day with extended inclement weather will often reduce crowd levels. It’s worth keeping an eye on the weather in the days leading up to your visit – a few rainy days in a row will often mean the following day (especially if it’s a Saturday) could end up being busier than usual as guests who put off their visit all come on the same fair weather day.
January 2026 Crowd Calendar
The new year at Busch Gardens Tampa begins with the end of Christmas Town. Expect higher crowds through the first weekend of January as local schools remain on holiday break, and the end of the Christmas travel season wraps up before tourists head home.
Moving beyond the first weekend and the end of Christmas Town, crowds should be light to moderate for most of the remainder of the month. Weekdays with 6 p.m. closings should be especially light with crowds, even with the Real Music Series. Many of the guests who visit for Real Music Series will see shows and view the animals, but most won’t be in line for the park’s thrill rides. Weekends will see more moderate crowds, with a spike in the middle of the month with Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Weekend.
Mardi Gras is scheduled to begin on January 24, but as of this update (1/1/2026), specifics of the event have not been released. It will almost certainly take place on Saturdays & Sundays, but we’ll need to wait for the park to announce details to see if it will also run on Fridays or other weekdays.
See any attraction closures on the park’s mobile app during park hours.