The History of Busch Gardens

1959: Opening

• The original Busch Gardens opened in 1959 as a hospitality center for the Tampa Anheuser-Busch brewery. Visitors could visit the gardens for free and watch a trained bird show after touring and enjoying a free beer at the brewery.

1960s: # 1 in Florida

• Before Disney World opened in 1971, Busch Gardens was Florida's number one tourist attraction. During this decade, the park adopted the African wildlife theme and expanded to include the 80-acre "Serengeti Plain," complete with a monorail to take visitors across to The Old Swiss House restaurant, the second oldest fixture of the park.

1970s: Expansion

• The Williamsburg, Virginia, park opened in 1975, under the name "The Old Country." This park embraced a European theme with the Oktoberfest show and the Loch Ness Monster roller coaster as some of its first attractions.

  Busch Gardens, Tampa, rapidly expanded to compete with Disney World. The Moroccan Village, Congo and African Queen Boat ride were added.

  Other short-lived parks were added in Houston and Van Nuys, CA.

1980s: SeaWorld Acquired

• In 1989, Busch Gardens paid $1.1 billion for the four SeaWorld parks and its other owned attractions. In Tampa, Adventure Island water park opened and Bengal tigers were added in the Congo section. Italy was added as the newest country in Williamsburg, along with new rides that included the Big Bad Wolf roller coaster and Roman Rapids.

1990s: Parks Move Away from Beer

• In response to consumer groups, Busch Gardens reduced the size of free beers at parks, including at the small brewery inside SeaWorld, and pulled much of the beer-related merchandise from SeaWorld gift shops. The brewery at the Tampa park closed in 1995, but beer was still sold in the parks.

  New attractions in Tampa included: the Myombi Reserve--a 3-acre enclosure for gorillas and chimps; Kumba--the largest steel roller coaster in the Southeastern U.S.; and a new area, Egypt, opened with Montu--the world's largest inverted roller coaster.

  Williamsburg added Alpengeist and Apollo's Chariot roller coasters.

2000s: Howl-O-Scream

• The popular Howl-O-Scream Halloween event began frightening visitors during this decade at both Tampa and Williamsburg. The diving roller coaster SheiKra was added in Tampa along with the Jungala area. In Williamsburg, the new country Ireland opened, along with Jack Hanna's Wild Reserve, the Griffon roller coaster and the Curse of DarKastle ride.

2009: Sold

• Anheuser-Busch's new owners, InBev, sold all of the Busch Gardens and SeaWorld parks to Blackstone Investment Group for $2.7 billion. Blackstone, a New York based investment firm, also owns pieces of Universal Orlando, Merlin Entertainment, and Hilton Hotels. Anheuser-Busch beer would still be sold inside the parks and the name would remain unchanged, but the famous Clydesdale's would no longer be a permanent attraction at the Busch Gardens parks.