Ultimate Dance-Off On National Dance Day Overview

This evening Busch Gardens hosted their first ever Ultimate Dance-Off in honor of National Dance Day. The Dance-Off featured this summer's previous Dance Challenge winners. 
The Dance-Off was full of excitement as the M.C got the crowd wild up for the Challenge. Constants from the past months of Summer Nights came together and danced like they never have before! Pumping up the audience with music like the Party Rock Anthem and the Cupid Shuffle, the crowd was very engaged in the event.
Each of the constants had their time in the spotlight then the audience chose their favorites by a round of applause. The winner of the Ultimate Dance-Off was Umarin Patamasank. He is 16 years old and from Plant City, Florida! He won a Cheetah Hunt gift bag and 4 tickets to SeaWorld in Orlando.
Surprise appearances included the Party Starters and Cookie Monster who danced away to the Cupid Shuffle to lead into Kinetix. 
Thanks to everyone at Busch Gardens for an awesome night and be sure to check out Summer Nights running through August 14th! Check out pictures of the Ultimate Dance-Off below and be sure to watch next weeks Orlando Attractions Magazine The Show for video! 

Howl-O-Scream 2011 Website Update #2 & Another Commercial Screenshot

Early this morning the Howl-O-Scream's website was updated for a second time. This time is was a minor update but the new tagline reads:

"The garden is blooming, the garden does grow. But under the moon, evil begins to show."

The new graphics show a whole lot of red roses with eyes in the center similar to the one on Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Howl-O-Scream site. The face of the statue is now looking down and there is an arm now creeping out of the roses reaching for the doors. The eyes of the statue above the door are now red.

Later this afternoon HOSInsider posted another screenshot of this year's commercial and it features a girl, who looks to be an employee at the park, scared with a zombie lurching behind her with it's hand covering her face. Check it out:

 Look for the full site to be live within a few weeks and keep checking back here for all the latest news about this years Howl-O-Scream. Visit: http://seaworldparks.com/howloscream_com_2011 to view all this and more about this year's Howl-O-Scream.

Busch Gardens Tampa Celebrates National Dance Day With The Ultimate Dance-Off

The Dizzy Feet Foundation has declared the last Saturday in July National Dance Day. National Dance day encourages people of all ages to get up and get moving! Busch Gardens Tampa will be celebrating by hosting the “Ultimate National Dance Day Dance-off” featuring this summer’s previous Summer Nights Dance Challenge winners. 

The contestants will square off in a freestyle competition, and the audience will pick the Ultimate Winner. The winning guest will also have the chance to dance alongside the party starters and join in line dances such as the “Electric Slide” and “Cupid Shuffle.”

It will take place this Saturday, June 30th at 8:30pm. It will be right before Kinetix in Gwazi Park. Check out www.BuschGardensTampaBlog.com every day this week to see whose moves are being featured. Check back here on Saturday night for coverage of this event. 

Howl-O-Scream 2011 Dates Announced

While tickets don't go on sale for a couple more weeks, we have the dates for this year's Howl-O-Scream event. You can experience all the thrills and chills this year on:

September 23rd-24th

September 29th-October 1st

October 6th-8th

October 13th-15th

October 20th-22nd

&

October 27th-29th

Stay tuned for more information on this years Howl-O-Scream event! 

New Crown Colony Market Serving Up Pizza, Sandwiches and More!

Recently, The Crown Market opened on the 2nd floor of the Crown Colony. It is located next to the Crown Pub. It serves up Grab-N-Go options including Pizza, Sandwiches, Gluten-Free options, and bottled beverages. The variety includes pizza, turkey wraps, gluten-free snack packs, fruit, chips, "The Tampa Sandwich", & more! 
It is a quick option and pretty delicious too. We tried the pizza combo which came with a side of Pub chips. The pizza was like the pizza that is also in the Crown Pub and Garden Gate Cafe which is very flavorful, the Pub chips are also good and are a great crunchy snack. We will be back again soon to try "The Tampa Sandwich" which is similar to a Cuban Sandwich and the gluten-free snacks. Check out pictures of the new area and the food below:

Howl-O-Scream 2011 To Feature 3 New Houses & Commercial Screenshot

HOSInsider is at it again. Recently HOSInsider replied to my comment on Twitter about the website going live and spilled the beans on how many new houses they are having this year at Howl-O-Scream. They said:

Yep - the August site will have info on all of the houses... the 2 new ones I've told you about... as well as the 1 I haven't.

The two new houses he was referring to are the Poe house and the vampires in Vegas house. The third is yet to be announced but we are guessing it is gonna be based off of this years theme since we don't have a house for that yet. 

This morning, HOSInsider teased us with our first screenshot of this year's Howl-O-Scream commercial. Here it is:

Looks like a flesh eating zombie to me. Stay tuned for more information on Howl-O-Scream 2011.

Morocco Opening 15 Minutes Before Park Opening

Recently, Busch Gardens Tampa started testing something new. They have started letting guests into the Morocco area of the park at 15 minutes before park opening. During that time you can get some breakfast at Zagora Cafe or  pick up some Starbucks coffee and pastries in Sultan's Sweets.
This is just a test but it is working out very well and I experienced this early opening of Morocco this morning. It was well organized and helped the flow of the morning crowds. Right when the let us over into the Crossroads of Culture we headed straight to Cheetah Hunt and got to ride front row without waiting at all! We will keep you updated on this new opening time. Stay tuned for more information on this.

Howl-O-Scream 2011 Theme: "The Dark Side Of The Gardens"

For the first time in Howl-O-Scream history, Busch Gardens Tampa and Busch Gardens Williamsburg will have the same theme for their events. It is called "The Darkside of the Gardens", and our event is infested with zombies! Here is what our buddy HOSInsider had to say today: 

So I told you that zombies at BGT was only half the story... and here is the other half: for the first time in HOS history, BOTH BG parks will present "The Dark Side of the Gardens" this fall. Now we all know what kind of monsters live in the gardens of Williamsburg... werewolves, scarecrows, and evil, twisted pumpkins. But in the Dark Side of the Gardens of Tampa... Zombies live here.

The teaser site also reads:

“The dark side of the garden is still this night but something waits in the shadows, just out of sight.”

It seems as if we will have the same general theme but still have our unique twists on it. While it hasn't been confirmed, it also seems like there may be more to this theme than just zombies as the creative folks at Howl-O-Scream always have a good twist on the classics. 
Stay tuned for more information and visit  http://seaworldparks.com/howloscream_com_2011 for the teaser page for this year's Howl-O-Scream!  The dates for the event were also announced, it will run from September 23rd through October 29th. 

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay to Host First Ever 12th Grade Grad Nite

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is excited to announce their first annual 12th Grade Grad Nite. Busch Gardens will offer this once-in-a-lifetime experience to graduating high school seniors to help celebrate their milestone.

Guests will have the opportunity to ride Busch Gardens’ newest roller coaster, Cheetah Hunt, in the dark and experience many of the other exciting attractions. The park will remain open after hours for graduating guests to enjoy live entertainment, world-class coasters in the dark, high-energy DJs and headline entertainment to be announced this fall!

• DATES: Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28, 2012
• ADMISSION: $54.99 + tax
• RESERVATIONS: Please email gradnite@buschgardens.com or call 1-866-781-1333

Busch Gardens will also host their fourth annual 8th Grade Grad Nite on May 4, 2012. Admission for the event is only $43.99 and includes dinner and all the excitement of Busch Gardens’ rides, DJs and entertainment, plus the newest mega-attraction Cheetah Hunt and more!

Admission to 8th Grade Grad Nite and the all new 12th Grade Grad Nite 2012 is limited, so make your reservations early. We will have extensive coverage of the event and hope to have the full headlining entertainment lineup sometime this Fall.

Rev Run Get's Tricky at Cheetah Hunt & Cheetah Run

Joseph “Rev. Run” Simmons, known for his influential hip hop group Run-D.M.C and his family’s MTV reality show Run’s House,recently visited Busch Gardens Tampa with his family. The group enjoyed Busch Gardens’ newest mega-attraction, Cheetah Hunt and then strolled around Cheetah Run to look at 7 of the 14 big cats on display.  They also took the little ones to Sesame Street's Safari of Fun to meet all the characters and enjoy Air Grover, the newest kiddie coaster at the park. Take a look at pictures of his day & video credit to Matt Marriot at Busch Gardens:

Howl-O-Scream 2011 to Feature New Vegas Inspired Vampire Themed House!

Today HOSInsider dropped another hint to what will be the ANOTHER new haunted house at this year's Howl-O-Scream on Facebook today. The hint reads:

"Okay - so take the two scariest things in the world that start with V (no, Vayne isn't one of them...) and put them together into one haunted house. What does that get you?"

 After multiple guesses from Facebook fans, HOSInsider confirmed my guess was right about vampires saying...

"You got the first part, Anthony and Jessica... get out the encyclopedia and start looking!" 

After that someone guessed Vampires and Vegas and they were correct! HOSInsider then elaborated and said:

 "There is a dark, seedy side there that I think is absolutely real-life terrifying!" "Or more specifically, a casino that sucks your blood AND your money…"

It looks like we are getting a casino themed vampire house this year! It seems like it will take the place of Taste of Blood. I like where this is going! Stay tuned for more information!

Christopher Cool Debuts His Straight Jacket Escape With 100 Ft. Of Chains!

This evening Christopher Cool, the street magic magician for Summer Nights, debuted his straight jacket escape with 100 feet of chains. This evening was his first performance of this new trick but it will continue nightly at 8PM in front of the Gwazi DJ booth. He regular shows featuring the tricks shown in our preview review of his show are at  4 & 5 PM in the front courtyard beside the park bench then 6 & 7PM in front of Sultan's Tent.

This straight jacket escape was fantastic and he brought in a huge crowd too. He picked two guys from the audience to help tie him up with chains and put on the straight jacket! Then he got himself out in a very short period of them! The crowd was very engaged in the show and everyone seemed to enjoy it a lot. Be sure to stop by on your way to see Kinetix which starts at 9 PM in Gwazi Field. Visit ChristopherCool.com which should go fully live in a few days! Check out pictures and video of his performance below:

Howl-O-Scream 2011 Hints Point to Edgar Allan Poe House

Today Howl-O-Scream Insider gave away another hint to this year's event to celebrate 44K Likes on Facebook. Shortly after a small hint, Insider gave out a HUGE hint as to what one of this year's new haunted houses will be based on. 

Insider said:

"THIS JUST IN! I just found out what one of the *new* haunted houses is for 2011, and it's going to be absolutely off the hook. Picture an experience inspired by some of the most psychologically thrilling stories of all time... a terrifying journey ripped from the pages of THE master of gothic horror. For true terror fans, it just doesn't GET anymore Halloween than that!!"

For me this screams Edgar Allan Poe. Many fans on Facebook replied with Poe and the Insider said:

"A couple of you have the right idea! Where's Annabel Lee when you need her for a tiebreaker?"

Annabel Lee was Poe's final short story but the short story that comes to mind for me is "The Fall of the House of Usher" which has more of a zombie esque to it. Though there are many other gothic horror masters out there so we can't be certain. Also Insider states that it is *one* of the new houses which means we will be having more than one new house! We will keep you updating next week when more information is released next week!

Kasi Wins National Poll for Cutest Zoo Baby

Busch Gardens Tampa is thrilled to announce that Kasi is the winner of the national BudgetTravel.com Poll for Cutest Zoo Baby. Thank you very much to all our fans and friends who voted for the adorable, four-month old baby cheetah. We agree, this zoo baby is about as cute as you can get! 

Busch Gardens Tampa not only has Kasi, the baby cheetah but also a baby aardvark. Check out a video of Kasi and Mtani in action below along with a video of the baby aardvark in action: