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If you want to lower the cost of a Tampa vacation, one way to do it is to save money on your dining expenses.
And at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, the All Day Dining Deal is designed to do just that!
With the Busch Gardens All Day Dining Plan, you pay a set fee that covers your food and drink throughout the day. The idea is that it should be cheaper than paying out of pocket for all of your meals and snacks.
Of course, you may be wondering, is Busch Gardens All Day Dining worth it? Will it actually save money for my family?
Today, we’re going to go over what is included in All Day Dining at Busch Gardens Tampa. And then we’ll see once and for all if it’s actually worth the price!
How Does Busch Gardens All Day Dining Work?
So here’s how All Day Dining at Busch Gardens Tampa works.
With the All Day Dining deal, you’ll get a wristband you can wear. You’ll show your wristband when you go through the line as proof of your All Day Dining plan.
Every 90 minutes, you can get the following:
- 1 entree platter
- 1 dessert OR side
- 1 fountain soft drink
You can get this from one of the participating restaurants, which we’ll go over next.
What are the Busch Gardens Tampa All Day Dining participating restaurants?
The participating restaurants for the Busch Gardens Tampa All Day Dining deal are Dragon Fire Grill, Chick-fil-A, Oasis Pizza at Serengeti Overlook, Zagora Café, and Zambia Smokehouse.
Let’s take a look at each of those restaurants.
Dragon Fire Grill
Location: Pantopia
Cuisine: International
Type: Food Court
Seating: Indoor
Dragon Fire Grill is a market-style restaurant. The menu features Asian cuisine as well as burgers, pizza, and chicken platters.
Chick-fil-A
Location: Jungala
Cuisine: American
Type: Fast Casual
Seating: Outdoor
You may already be familiar with this popular fast food chain. Chick-fil-A offers delicious chicken sandwiches, waffle fries, chicken strips, and more. Please note that, like the rest of their locations, the restaurant is closed on Sundays.
Oasis Pizza at Serengeti Overlook
Location: Edge of Africa
Cuisine: American
Type: Counter Service
Seating: Indoor and Outdoor
At Oasis Pizza, you can enjoy a pizza fresh from the oven (cheese or pepperoni) or a garden salad. And don’t forget to take in some of the fantastic views from Serengeti Overlook after (or before) you eat.
Zagora Café
Location: Morocco
Cuisine: American
Although this restaurant is located at Morocco, the menu at the Zagora Café is full of American fare: chicken tenders, a bacon cheeseburger, an Impossible burger, and a garden salad.
Zambia Smokehouse
Location: Stanleyville
Cuisine: Barbecue
The delicious entrees at Zambia Smokehouse, like the Texas-style sliced brisket and the St. Louis ribs platter, are slow cooked with oak wood and hickory.
So now, the big question…
Is All Day Dining at Busch Gardens Tampa worth it?
Yes, Busch Gardens All Day Dining is worth it!
Here’s why.
Let’s say you decide to eat at Zagora Cafe.
Your choice of entree ranges in price from $12.99 (the garden salad) to $17.99 (the bacon cheeseburger with chips or the Impossible burger with waffle fries). For simplicity’s sake, we will not be including taxes in this example.
Example 1
Suppose you chose an entree that is in the middle of that price range: the cheeseburger with waffle fries for $15.99.
You also want a fountain soda, which is $5.49.
And you’d like the dessert listed on the dessert menu, a jumbo chocolate chip cookie for $6.99.
This comes to $15.99 + $5.49 + $6.99 = $28.47.
Now, let’s say that you like this meal so much that you have it (or something equivalent to it) for both lunch and dinner.
That comes to $28.47 + $28.47 = $56.94.
But the Busch Gardens Tampa All Day Dining Deal is only $49.99.
$56.94 (what you’d pay without All Day Dining) – $49.99 (cost of All Day Dining) = $6.95.
That means you’ve already saved $6.95!
And if you want to buy more – like, say, a mid-afternoon snack, or a mid-morning soda when it starts to get hot, that just makes the savings even greater.
Example 2
Just like before, let’s say you eat at Zagora Cafe for both lunch and dinner. But let’s say that you do order the least expensive entree, the garden salad at $12.99. And you also decide to get a dessert and a soft drink.
One meal would come to $12.99 + $5.49 + $6.99 = $25.47.
Two meals is $25.47 + $25.47 = $50.94.
$50.94 (what you’d pay without All Day Dining) – $49.99 (cost of All Day Dining) = $0.95.
It’s not much, but even with ordering the cheapest entree, you’d still save $0.95 by getting All Day Dining. And of course, anything else you get that day would just add to the savings.
When It’s Not Worth It
In both of our examples, you’ll eat two meals at Busch Gardens. But what if you’re only going to have one meal in the park? Maybe you’ll be spending just a half day at Busch Gardens. Or maybe you want to have one of your meals from a restaurant that’s not included in the All Day Dining Deal (such as Pantopia Drinks and Snacks).
Well, in Example 1, the estimated cost of an average meal was $28.47. But the All Day Dining price is $49.99.
$49.99 (cost of All Day Dining) – $28.47 (cost of one meal) = $21.52.
If you’re only eating one meal, then with All Day Dining you’ll be overpaying by around $21.52. If you will also be ordering more than $21.52 worth of snacks and soft drinks throughout the day, it would still be worth it. But otherwise, if you’ll only have one meal in the park, then you shouldn’t get the All Day Dining Deal.
Conclusion
The All Day Dining Deal at Busch Gardens Tampa is worth it for anyone who plans on having two meals in the park at the included restaurants. This is a great way to save money for yourself or for your family (since the savings definitely add up when it’s more than one person getting the All Day Dining Plan).
You can purchase the All Day Dining Deal here.
And if you’re looking for even more ways to save money on your Busch Gardens Tampa trip, you’re in luck!
You can currently save up to 60% on Busch Gardens Tampa tickets. You can even choose to add All-Day Dining to those tickets at a discounted rate, which means you save even more money!
