I visited the most expensive theme park in the world. It was pretty nice, but I'd rather go to Disney World.

Located in Tampa, Florida, Busch Gardens opened to the public in 1959. According to ticket-price data gathered by The Family Vacation Guide in May 2022, Busch Gardens is the most expensive theme park in the world just above Disney World. 

A standard single-day ticket for Busch Gardens currently costs about $132.99, a few dollars more than what you'd typically pay at Disney World for a one-park, one-day ticket ($109). Prices for both parks regularly vary based on the season. 

Although I've been a Walt Disney World annual passholder for my whole life, I'd never been to its pricier Florida neighbor. 

Here's what my experience was like at Busch Gardens, from buying tickets to visiting the park. 

The Busch Gardens website was easy to navigate and the ticket-buying process was easy. It was much different from Disney World's complicated web of multi-park reservation systems and add-ons. 

Similar to Disney World, I had to select the exact day I planned to visit the park but Busch Gardens had plenty of availability. 

When I visited in August, Busch Gardens was running a buy-one-get-one-free deal, so two tickets only cost me $104.99, plus $30 for parking.

I live in Orlando, so we had to drive an hour to get to Busch Gardens.

The drive wasn't bad and, once we got to Tampa, the Busch Garden signs were easy to follow. We parked in the general lot, which seemed to be a bit far from the theme park itself.

Fortunately, similar to Disney World, Busch Gardens has a complimentary tram that drives visitors from the lot to the entrance of the park.  

Busch Gardens has tons of thrilling roller coasters so we ran straight to Iron Gwazi, one of the most popular rides.

Iron Gwazi has a 206-foot peak and reaches up to 76 mph speed. It was one of the most intense rides I have ever been on. After riding, I had to sit down and collect myself. 

We then rode some of the other rides: Cobra's Curse, a spin coaster; Kumba, a steel coaster; Montu, an inverted coaster; and SheiKra, a coaster with a 90-degree drop from 200 feet in the air.

Each coaster was so different from the others. If you are a thrill seeker like me you'd probably love this aspect of Busch Gardens.

It was almost impossible to compare these roller coasters to rides at Disney World — thrill levels as high as these can't be found at the Orlando park. 

The rides had relatively low wait times and the park as a whole did not seem very crowded. We went on all of the rides we wanted to go on and still had ample time to explore the park's other offerings.

At Disney World that isn't always possible, especially around this time of year (the end of August). Disney can get pretty crowded and many rides of its can have long wait times. 

As we wandered, we saw lions, tigers, giraffes, monkeys, birds, kangaroos, and more. There were over 200 species and 12,000 animals. They were so active, too.  

I was able to look at the animals without paying extra, but Busch Gardens offers special add-ons where you can get closer to them, like a safari where you can feed giraffes or an experience where you can encounter a sloth. Add-on prices seemed to range from $30 to $70 per experience. 

We skipped the add-ons so we could experience only what the standard Busch Gardens ticket will get you, but we'd definitely try them in the future.

We saw signs for various Busch Gardens shows like Cirque X-Scream, a performance with stunts and aerial tricks, and Turn It Up!, an ice-skating event, but they were not being offered when we visited. 

I was surprised there weren't more shows. We visited the park toward the end of August, but I guess we missed peak season. 

We met the characters afterward, too.

After seeing the many shows, musical performances, and parades offered at Disney World, I was a bit underwhelmed by Busch Gardens.

Busch Gardens didn't only have your standard theme-park fare of chicken fingers, burgers, and pizza. There were plenty of food offerings throughout the entire park and I appreciated the wide variety of cuisines.

It had five standard restaurants — one is the popular chain Chick-fil-a — plus other quick-bite and beverage stands. 

We tried some Asian food at Dragon Fire Grill and a pulled-pork sandwich at the Zambia Smokehouse.

We were sadly disappointed with what we got at both eateries — we felt the quality of what we ordered could've been better. The pulled-pork sandwich fell apart as we ate it and tasted greasy. We thought the dish from Dragon Fire Grill seemed kind of dry. 

We paid around $30 for each of these meals which we thought was expensive for only one dish.

Throughout the park, there were a lot of specialty ice-cream choices, which we also appreciated. The ice-cream floats were our favorite food purchase of the day. 

I had a really great time at Busch Gardens and was especially impressed by its roller coasters, as that is something that Disney World lacks. It was thrilling to ride something that got my adrenaline pumping.

But that's the only aspect of Busch Gardens that I enjoy more than Disney World.

In my opinion, Disney World has a lot more to offer its guests than Busch Gardens with its many rides, shows, and unique eateries. 

Disney World's tickets feel like a better deal even though they aren't much cheaper than the ones at Busch Gardens and, in many cases, are even pricier if you want to visit more than one of its parks or get add-ons. Plus, unlike Disney World, the Tampa park regularly offers ticket deals and discounts.

For me, Busch Gardens was only worth the price because I got one free ticket through a temporary deal. I'd totally visit again but only if there's another deal that gets me two tickets for under $150.