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.
September 2024 Crowd Calendar
Summer is over and the Fall season arrives at Busch Gardens Tampa in September. While the weather won’t change much, the crowds will be much lower compared to the previous several months. This also means shorter hours, especially on weekdays. The park will have a “hard close” at 6 p.m. each Friday & Saturday as the separately ticketed Howl-O-Scream event occurs on those evenings. Family-friendly spooky fun is available on Saturdays & Sundays during the day with Halloween Harvest, the rebranded Spooktacular event.
Mid-week will offer the lowest crowds, but beyond Labor Day Monday, every weekday in September will have relatively low crowds. Weekends will be more moderate with Saturdays generally being the busiest day each week, but still not peak crowds like those seen over summer.
See any scheduled attraction closures on the park’s website.
Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Tampa also kicks off this month, running each Friday & Saturday evening from 7 p.m. to midnight. The haunt event is not included with regular day admission, and requires a separate ticket. Opening weekend does allow Florida Platinum Annual Pass Members free admission. Crowds at the event don’t usually kick in until October, so this month is a great time to visit for lower crowds. We strongly recommend the second weekend – along with lower crowds, visiting the second weekend also allows the scare actors and operations teams to make any needed adjustments from opening weekend.
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