The SeaWorld Busch Gardens Platinum card is really one of the best values going for theme park membership. This is my review and how you can save money, with a catch. Busch Gardens is owned by SeaWorld Entertainment and you get unlimited access to any of SeaWorld Entertainment’s 11 great theme/water parks across the country, free preferred parking, free photos for the year, a daily free quick queue, a bunch of free guest tickets and a ton of other perks. 

With reserved show seating, pass member lounges, special entrances and special events, you really do feel like a VIP. If you basically only go to one park it might be overkill, but if you like to travel to several parks throughout the year the value can be tremendous. In 2023 we used ours at SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica, Busch Gardens Wiliamsburg, Busch Gardens Tampa and SeaWorld San Antonio.

One of the biggest things to consider with a Platinum Pass is which park is your “home” park. This is the park where you’ll get your best benefits. You’ll get free admission, parking and food/merchandise and basic discounts at all the 11 SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks, but things like free daily quick queues, free friend tickets, free animal experience, quick queue discounts, monthly bonus offers, etc. will only be valid at your home park. The price of the platinum pass also varies park to park. This is your opportunity to save a bunch of money on your platinum membership, but with a huge caveat. For example the standard price of a Platinum membership at Busch Gardens Tampa is $456 while the same Platinum Membership at SeaWorld San Diego is $309 and SeaWorld San Antonio is only $239. Note that you can buy your membership online anywhere and do not have to visit your home park first to activate it. The big caveat is that if you live in say Florida and buy a San Antonio platinum Pass to use both SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa, you’ll save $200+, get free preferred parking and get in the gate at any of the 11 parks, however you won’t get free friend tickets, a free daily quick queue or a ton of other benefits at any of the parks closest to you. You’ll only get those extra platinum perks if/when you ever make your way to San Antonio.

So my advice is if you live locally and generally visit one park, it probably makes sense to pay up and get the platinum pass for the park nearest you as your home park. You could also look at a lower level pass just for that location, however, between the extra friend tickets, quick queue and other discounts the platinum pass is still probably be worth it. Busch Gardens is also great at surprising its home park members with perks throughout the year such as free bonus tickets, bonus bucks, Christmas ornaments and tons of other cool stuff and it would suck to miss out on all that. You can see everything you get below just for the month of January 2024 for ANY pass that calls Busch Gardens Tampa its home park. In my opinion this is the feature that sets Busch Gardens apart for having one of the best passes. However, if you don’t have a geographical home park or might visit several parks for a few days each throughout the year, then buying a Platinum pass out of the cheapest park could make sense. 

I’ve had a bunch of different theme park passes and memberships and I have to say the Platinum Pass felt the most exclusive with the most day to day benefits of the ones I’ve had. The daily quick queue is awesome as is the annual Photo Key, however I really like the monthly perks and bonuses the most. It really creates a reason to return to the park and makes me feel valued. Most any season pass will have free friend tickets, free parking and a food discount, but these monthly benefits are a strong differentiating factor. They have web series called “The First Drop” that talks about these benefits and other behind the scenes park info. Another thing to be on the lookout for are specials around the holidays, especially Thanksgiving (Black Friday and Cyber Monday). You’ll often see the passes discounted 25% on these sales and I’ve gotten discounted Platinum passes as low as ~$170 from SeaWorld San Antonio. The great thing is there are so many different pass choices for SeaWorld and Busch Gardens from a bare bones local fun card to platinum pass good across the country, so pick what works for you and have fun!