Comedian and sportscaster Nick Bakay used to have a segment on ESPN called, “The Tale of the Tape”. In this segment he would humorously and in his words “scientifically” compare two things using “stats” like those compared for boxers prior to a fight. Sometimes the things were remotely related like “the Indy 500” versus “the Kentucky Derby” and other times they were totally unrelated like “Babe Ruth the player” vs. “Baby Ruth the candy bar”. Here’s an example of Nick comparing professional hockey and professional wrestling. So in the style of Nick Bakay we thought it would be fun to compare Busch Gardens to Disney. Here we go!

Busch Gardens vs. Disney — let’s see how they stack up at The Tale of the Tape…

Busch Gardens vs. Disney
Category	Busch Gardens Tampa	Disney Magic Kingdom	Advantage
Quickly Getting in the Park	Park, tram, walk, security, gate	Park, tram, security, walk, monorail/boat, walk, gate	Busch Gardens
Former Life of the Property	A brewery	A swamp	Busch Gardens
Signature Souvenir	Complimentary park map	Mouse ears	Disney
Free	Beer! 2 free beers for each adult in 2019	Buttons to wear on special occasions	Busch Gardens
Fireworks	Summer weekends and holidays only over a field next to a defunct roller coaster	Every night above a castle with music and projections that made my wife cry	Disney
Annual pass (out of state)	~$130/year with a handful of blackout dates	~$900/year	Busch Gardens
Hotels	4-story Hampton Inn across the street	4-star resorts on property	Disney
Soda	$15.99 all you can drink in a day and $0.99 refills after that	$3.50 each	Busch Gardens
PhotoPass	$60/year January special	$70/day which I believe is ~1/365th of a year	Busch Gardens
Rides may cause	Nausea: 17 roller coaster inversions by my count	Earworms: It’s a small world after all…	Push
Characters to meet	Elmo and his Sesame Street pals (and the carnival game workers)	Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Tigger, Pooh, etc. and Princesses	Disney
Train	Burns propane like a giant gas grill to make steam while traversing Sarengeti	A giant photo prop for 1-2 years while its tracks are rerouted for Tron	Busch Gardens
Newest Ride/Attraction	Cobra’s Curse (until Tigris opens later this year)	President Trump added to the Hall of Presidents	Busch Gardens

So, there you have it, it’s so simple when you break things down scientifically.  In this “I-4 battle for Florida theme park supremacy”, the advantage goes to Busch Gardens. In retrospect, it was obviously over at “free beer”. Until next time, this is BGT Safari reminding you the numbers never lie.

Also, if you liked our “Tale of the Tape” you should check out Nick’s book on Amazon!