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Stanley Falls Flume Ride at Busch Gardens to Close Forever September 7, 2025

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Stanley Falls at Busch Gardens will close on September 7, 2025 to make room for a future attraction according to announcements from the park on its website and social media.

After more than 50 years of splashes, smiles, and summer memories, Stanley Falls Flume® is taking its final plunge on September 7, 2025. As one of the original rides from the park’s opening in 1973, this classic has been a fan favorite for generations. This is your last chance to ride before we say goodbye and make way for an exciting new future attraction! Come relive the fun and help us celebrate a true Busch Gardens legend.

https://buschgardens.com/tampa/rides/stanley-falls/
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Wild Oasis at Busch Gardens is Now Open!

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Entrance to Wild Oasis at Busch Gardens
Entrance to Wild Oasis at Busch Gardens (Courtesty of @SaxOnTracks)

Wild Oasis opened to the public on July 15, 2025 after a couple of delays, but appears to be worth the wait. This isn’t just a ride, but a whole new area or realm of the park located in Jungala. This area contains a family drop tower ride, climbing area, splash pad, interactive elements and a new animal habitat including Capybaras! I want to give a HUGE shout-out to @SaxOnTracks for the images in this article from the grand opening festivities, he’s a great follow for the latest happenings at Busch Gardens.

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Celebrate Friday the 13th at Busch Gardens with Lights-On Tours of the Stanglewood Estate Howl-O-Scream House!

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Stranglewood Estate Howl-O-Scream House at Busch Gardens Tampa

Howl-O-Scream doesn’t start until September, but Busch Gardens is using Friday the 13th to help promote this year’s event a few months in advance. In this case they’re having a faux realtor style “open house” for Stranglewood Estate which essentially amounts to a lights-on tour opportunity. The event is actually two days, running Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th. Halloween is big business at theme parks with year round planning for what are essentially several large extra attractions for those months. Tickets are already on sale for Howl-O-Scream 2025 at Busch Gardens Tampa and no doubt the goal of the June 13-14, 2025 event is to build excitement for this year’s event.

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Kumba’s Roar Returning to Busch Gardens Soon!

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Kumba at Busch Gardens
Kumba at Busch Gardens

Busch Gardens Tampa announced on its social media on April 21, 2025 that Kumba would be returning this summer! This announcement came on the rides 32nd birthday and it’s currently the oldest roller coaster at Busch Gardens. The ride’s future had been in doubt for just this reason after sitting idle for months with no official word from the park about its future. However, with this announcement it appears rumors of its demise were greatly exaggerated.

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Two Kiddie Rides Displaced by Phoenix Rising are Making a Comeback at Busch Gardens

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In a filing last week with the City of Tampa Bay it appears Busch Gardens is resurrecting two Kiddie rides that were removed back in 2023 from Pantopia to make room for Phoenix Rising. This is two of four working rides (five if you count the SBNO Phoenix Looping Starship) that were removed. The rides returning are the Busch Flyers and the Kiddie Train and they are going next to the the Ubanga Banga Bumper Cars in the spot currently occupied by the remote control boats and trucks.

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Sunset on the Serengeti is an Exclusive Evening Dinner Adventure at Busch Gardens Tampa

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Sunset on the Serengeti at Busch Gardens Tampa
Sunset on the Serengeti at Busch Gardens Tampa

Busch Gardens Tampa has begun offering a Sunset on the Serengeti adventure that is both an animal encounter and a dinner. The adventure begins promptly at 5:30pm with a guided safari experience at sunset followed by dinner and drinks at the park’s Treetop Kitchen. The experience is currently offered only on Saturdays and starts at $89.99/person, but this does include dinner, a cocktail and the animal encounter portion and park admission is NOT required to participate. The park describes the experience below:

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Hurricane Milton Closes Disney, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Other Florida Parks

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UPDATE 10/11/24: Most of the Orlando Area Parks including Disney, SeaWorld, Universal Studios, LEGOLAND and Fun Spot are set to reopen on Friday, October 11, 2024 (Fun Spot actually reopened at 3pm on Thursday). These parks sustained minimal to no damage. Busch Gardens in Tampa remains closed through Saturday, October 12, 2024 with the park asking guests to check its website for further updates. There is no word yet on any damage to the park itself, however there was extensive damage to the surrounding Tampa region.

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Wild Surge Rising? Busch Gardens Announces “Wild Oasis” Realm for 2025!

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Busch Gardens Tampa announced it will be opening a new area of the park called “Wild Oasis” in Spring of 2025. This appears to be a retheme of the old Tree Top Trail area in Jungala which by no means is a bad thing! We reported months ago about construction walls being up at Tree Top Trails with speculation of what was to come and now we know the reason. The area is set to be called a “realm” which is interesting and will contain climbing areas, water features, new animal habitats and a reimagined drop tower.

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Construction Walls in Jungala, Does this Mean Long Rumored Busch Gardens Giga is Coming?

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Work walls up at Jungala at Busch Gardens
Work walls in Jungala courtesy of /railfan_andrew
Jungala at Busch Gardens
Tree Top Trail signs removed courtesy of /railfan_andrew
Survey markers near Jungala at Busch Gardens
Survey markers in Jungala courtesy of /railfan_andrew

Update April 2025: So the construction walls ended up being for a new area of the park called Wild Oasis. It is sort of a reincarnation or Jungala complete with a new version of Wild Surge called Tree Top Drop. Is the Giga still coming? Maybe. The future of Kumba is still uncertain and there’s also the area of Scorpion that could be used as a station to have a Giga sprawl all over the park like Goliath does at Six Flags Over Georgia. We’ll have to stay tuned.

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