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Did you guys attend the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Food & Wine Festival last weekend? Yes, the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Food & Wine Festival is back!
The festival debuted on March 9, 2024, and it’s running through May 19, 2024. It takes place on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. On Saturday and Sunday, the festivities begin at 12:00 PM and runs until the park closes. On Friday, the festivities start at 3:00 PM and runs until the park closes. Attendance is included in Busch Gardens theme park admission.
And it’s the best food and wine festival you’ll find in the Tampa Bay, Florida area. Not only does it have great food and wine, but there are also great concerts!
I’ll tell you about all of it. And then I’ll tell you how you can save money on a ticket!
Food & Drink
There will be marketplaces set up throughout the theme park where you’ll get to buy festival food and drinks. I’ll go over all the stations.
#1: South Africa Food
#2: South Africa Wine and Spirits
#3: Vineyard Marketplace
Instead of food and wine in this marketplace, you can purchase artisan crafts, home décor, and souvenirs.
#4: Argentina
#5: Chile
#6: New Zealand
#7: Australia
#8: Canada
- Beer
#12: Spain
#13: France
#14: Italy
#15: USA
#16: USA – Creamery
#17: Old World Wines, Flights & Snacks
Here you can get flights of four pours each of 1.25 ounces.
- Flight #1
- Celeste Verdejo (Spain)
- Aveleda Vinho Verde Alvarinho (Portugal)
- Gabbiano Pinot Grigo (Italy)
- Miraval Cotes de Provence (France)
- Flight #2
- Bouchard Aine & Fils Beaujoulais-Villages (France)
- Zoe Red (Greece)
- Bulgariana Danubian Plain Pinot Noir (Bulgaria)
- Scarpette Barbera Del Monferrato (Piedmont)
- Flight #3
- Castello del Trebbio Superiore (Tuscany)
- Cellers Can Blau Red Blend (Spain)
- Villa Matilde, Aglianico Rocco Dei Leonia (Italy)
- L’Orangeraie Syrah (Pays d’ Oc)
Food & Beverage Sampler
All those foods and drinks sound good to you? Then you really should consider purchasing a Food & Beverage Sampler! These have saved me money.
How it works is that you buy a food & beverage sampler for 10 or 15 items. Then you can use it throughout the festival (not just one day). You can save up to 50% by purchasing the sampler. Now, if you only buy a couple of items, it may not be worth it to you. But if you want to try multiple options, or you’ll be at the festival multiple days, then it makes sense to purchase the sampler. You can purchase the sampler here.
Concerts
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Food & Wine Festival’s concert lineup consists of a lot of different genres, from country music to pop to rock to Latin to R&B to classical music – and more!
These concerts are included in the cost of admission. But here’s a tip: if you really want to make sure you get a good seat for one or more of these concerts, then you really should consider purchasing a VIP Seating Package. That will get you exclusive seating for the concert. Plus you’ll get one free drink and access to a private VIP bar. You can book a VIP Seating Package here.
Musical artists coming to Busch Gardens Tampa for the concerts include:
Find out the full schedule for the concerts here.
Here’s the schedule
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Better Than Ezra with special guest Vertical Horizon
- Gavin DeGraw
- Flo Rida
- 38 Special
- Andy Grammer
- Hoobastank
- Owl City
- Boys Like Girls
- The Outlaws
- Mark Willis
- Grupo Niche
- Michael Ray
- Chris Lane
- Grupo Mania
Food & Wine Festival Guided Tour
Want a more VIP experience to the whole event? Then book a ticket for the Food & Wine Festival Guided Tour!
This is a VIP Guided group tour for up to ten guests per tour. It is a walking tour that can last up to three hours but is wheelchair accessible.
The tour also gets you bonuses like:
- Up to 5 food & drink items free
- Front of the line access to select popular roller coasters
- Reserved seating for the concerts
Food & Wine Festival VIP Package
Get the VIP Experience with the Food & Wine Festival VIP Package. It gets you the best seats for the concerts and a special entrance to the seating area.
You get one beverage certificate. You also get a a private bar experience!
Discount Tickets
So as I said earlier, admission to the event is included in a park ticket to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Which is great if you already have tickets to Busch Gardens. But if you don’t, luckily, there are a lot of great discounts going on right now if you book your ticket here.