If you are headed down to the area this summer, there are some fantastic adventures to be had in this amusement park, so be sure to check out the whole thing. The place is really cool; there are a ton of fun rides and attractions and the atmosphere and just being there is really cool! It’s a great amusement park if you enjoy rides and roller coasters!   Here are the Top Five NOT to miss rides and attractions and also a couple of honorable mentions!

1. My favorite ride is the “Apollo’s Chariot”! I chose this ride because It’s a great roller coaster that is fun and enjoyable and doesn’t have any loops or any crazy things throughout the ride.  It is a really cool tall roller coaster which has a 210 ft drop and has tons of air time throughout the duration of the ride. The train traverses more than 4,882 feet of track in just two minutes and reaches a top speed of 73 mph! You also get a nice view of most of the park and it’s a really nice roller coaster to start with!

1. My second on this list is not a roller coaster but a drop ride called the “Mach Tower”! It’s a tall drop ride that comes in at a staggering 238 feet in the air and holds you up there for about 15-30 seconds before it releases and takes you back to earth. I remember standing in line watching the thing go up and was shocked that it was still going!. When I got in my seat I knew I had nowhere to go and was already on the ride. Once we got to the top we had a really good view of the entire park, including the parking lot, which was really cool until the ride dropped us back to the bottom. It was a really fun ride that got my heart racing, but it was definitely worth it!

1. Coming in at three I have “Verbolten” . It’s another really fun roller coaster, but not as tall or extreme as the other ones.  It’s still a really cool one. The ride is a race car and you sit in the seats and when you first go in this tunnel and all of a sudden the ride drops down completely to a certain height and then continues. Most of the time it’s a long wait for this ride because it’s a favorite in the park and it’s just a really fun and exciting ride to enjoy during your day at Busch Gardens. 

1. Coming in at four I have “Loch Ness Monster”. It’s another decent roller coaster that has a lot more action and loops with it, however, the reason I put it further down this list is because the seats were kind of small and even adults complained that the seats and seatbelts were very tight and squeezed and that you couldn’t really loosen them. So, the ride is a little uncomfortable, but I heard they changed the carts so maybe the ride is a little better now. Even if they haven’t, go on it anyway– the scenery is epic. You go through a few tunnels where it goes completely pitch black for some time, there are a few loops and then the ride hovers over the water. So, the ride is pretty awesome, just the seats brought this ride down a little. 

1. Lastly, coming in at number 5 I have another non-rollercoaster ride called “Finnegan’s Flyer” Now this might have some controversy with it because there are a lot of other really good rides here, but from my personal experience this ride to me was underrated. At first I thought it was just this simple swing that went a little over the edge of where it was built but I was wrong. The swing started gaining momentum and picking up speed and we were starting to get higher and higher. At one point it felt like we were going to fall over the edge with the speed and height we were reaching. So, I underestimated this ride and wanted to say it might not look like much, but if you have gone on this you know it’s actually pretty intense.  If you’re scared of heights, I don’t recommend this ride. 

Then I also have my two honorable mentions.  My first honorable mention is “The Griffon” which is probably the tallest and fastest ride they have. The only reason why I don’t have it in my top five is because when I went to Busch Gardens I wasn’t really into tall roller coasters just yet and didn’t want to go on this ride.  If I went back on this ride today I would probably have it at my number one.  My second and last honorable mention is “Tempesto” which is another fun ride with inversions and face turns at 63 mph with more inversions 154 feet in the air. Again, I was not brave enough to go on this ride either, but if I could go back for another visit, it would most definitely be up there on the list! .