Busch Gardens and SeaWorld gives free tickets to veterans and 3 guests
Posted by Hartsvillemom.com on Friday, June 29, 2018
Every year, between Memorial Day and Independence Day (July 4th), Busch Gardens parks and Sea World parks give veterans and their 3 guests free admission through their Waves of Honor program. This year, we were able to utilize it at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay!
It's a 7.5 hour drive from where we live but I think it's worth the trip if you can afford paying for the hotel stay. Our sons are 4 and 2 so it took us about 9 hours with all the stops. We spent 4 nights at the Courtyard near Busch Gardens and watched for the rain forecast. We decided to go to Busch Gardens on a Monday to avoid the weekend crowd. It was the best decision for a late June summer trip with 2 little ones. My favorite section of the park was the kids section called Sesame Street! Yes, it is themed after the sweet kid's show on TV.
Busch Gardens is also like a zoo on top of being an amusement park. There were animals all around the park that you can go visit and it's not an extra cost. It's all inclusive and at one park! The king of the jungle was taking a nap during the hot day when we came to visit him.
What also made me excited was that Busch Gardens (own by Anheuser-Busch) brought back their free 2 beers for anyone over 21 at the park if they go to the designated restaurant for that. While we were there, we could choose between 2: Three Daughters beer or their famous beer, Bud Light.
If your party has a wheelchair or a double wide stroller, there is a short line on the farthest right at Zone C, where you get your bags checked before entering Busch Gardens. Look for that sign! We didn't realize that until we got closer to the security check.
During our Tampa Bay trip, we also went to Dinosaur World, which was about a 30 minute drive from our hotel. Children 2 and under are free and if you can find a $2 off coupon from the rack card area at the hotel, get it! They let you use that one coupon for up to 4 adults. If your kids love dinosaurs, then definitely come here!
Try to find the dinosaur dig section of Dinosaur World. It has bleachers and is well shaded! It was a great break for us.
This is the view of the entrance from the playground at Dinosaur World. They have a really large playground as you enter and I saw someone having a birthday party in that area.
Here's another picture of inside of Dinosaur World
On the second day of our trip, we decided to go to Clearwater Beach since it was only a 30 minute drive from our hotel as well. The beach was so clean and beautiful with white sand! See the picture I took from my phone below. We couldn't find free parking so get ready to shell out $16 for 2 hours.
You know you can't leave without trying an ethnic food item! We splurged at Bobacup in Tampa, FL with taro boba and royal boba plus about 6 flavors of mocha ice cream! You'll have to try them out! It's a very cute shop.
It's a 7.5 hour drive from where we live but I think it's worth the trip if you can afford paying for the hotel stay. Our sons are 4 and 2 so it took us about 9 hours with all the stops. We spent 4 nights at the Courtyard near Busch Gardens and watched for the rain forecast. We decided to go to Busch Gardens on a Monday to avoid the weekend crowd. It was the best decision for a late June summer trip with 2 little ones. My favorite section of the park was the kids section called Sesame Street! Yes, it is themed after the sweet kid's show on TV.
Busch Gardens is also like a zoo on top of being an amusement park. There were animals all around the park that you can go visit and it's not an extra cost. It's all inclusive and at one park! The king of the jungle was taking a nap during the hot day when we came to visit him.
What also made me excited was that Busch Gardens (own by Anheuser-Busch) brought back their free 2 beers for anyone over 21 at the park if they go to the designated restaurant for that. While we were there, we could choose between 2: Three Daughters beer or their famous beer, Bud Light.
If your party has a wheelchair or a double wide stroller, there is a short line on the farthest right at Zone C, where you get your bags checked before entering Busch Gardens. Look for that sign! We didn't realize that until we got closer to the security check.
During our Tampa Bay trip, we also went to Dinosaur World, which was about a 30 minute drive from our hotel. Children 2 and under are free and if you can find a $2 off coupon from the rack card area at the hotel, get it! They let you use that one coupon for up to 4 adults. If your kids love dinosaurs, then definitely come here!
Try to find the dinosaur dig section of Dinosaur World. It has bleachers and is well shaded! It was a great break for us.
This is the view of the entrance from the playground at Dinosaur World. They have a really large playground as you enter and I saw someone having a birthday party in that area.
Here's another picture of inside of Dinosaur World
On the second day of our trip, we decided to go to Clearwater Beach since it was only a 30 minute drive from our hotel as well. The beach was so clean and beautiful with white sand! See the picture I took from my phone below. We couldn't find free parking so get ready to shell out $16 for 2 hours.
You know you can't leave without trying an ethnic food item! We splurged at Bobacup in Tampa, FL with taro boba and royal boba plus about 6 flavors of mocha ice cream! You'll have to try them out! It's a very cute shop.
As a veteran's wife whose husband works in the nuclear field, moving every several years seems to be part of our life path. We have lived in Hartsville, among many other cities.
Getting acclimated to a new town means starting over each time for us and to help myself and my family, I do a lot of research on things to do and have compiled everything I've experienced in Hartsville here on HartsvilleMom.com. I hope this will help you too.
