Busch Gardens Tampa
vs
Dorney Park

Busch Gardens Tampa and Dorney Park queue about the same on a typical day - 12 minutes against 13 minutes across 18 and 10 tracked rides. Pick on travel time or on which rides you actually want.

See both right now

01 · On a typical day

What you would normally queue.

Averages across recent weeks, so one broken ride or one wet Tuesday cannot decide it. This is the comparison to plan a trip on; the live figures below are the one to act on today.

Busch Gardens Tampa and Dorney Park compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	Busch Gardens TampaUnited States	Dorney ParkUnited States
Average wait per ride	12 min (best of the two)	13 min
Rides with recorded waits	18 (best of the two)	10
Longest typical queue	Cheetah Hunt24 min	Wild Mouse26 min
Shortest typical queue	Gwazi Gliders 5 min	Dominator Red8 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	77% (best of the two)	65%

Averaged across every ride at each park with recorded waits. A ride that never opened is left out, so a park is not flattered by counting a shut ride as a queue of zero.

02 · Right now

Both parks, this minute.

Live queue times at both parks. These fill in as soon as the page loads, and keep updating while you are here.

Busch Gardens Tampa and Dorney Park compared on live queue times
Right now	Busch Gardens TampaUnited States	Dorney ParkUnited States
Average wait right now	-	-
Rides open	-	-
Opening hours today	-	-
Longest queue	-	-
Shortest queue	-	-

These keep refreshing while this page is open. A closed park posts no waits, so its rows read as dashes rather than zeroes.

Verdict, on a typical day Busch Gardens Tampa and Dorney Park queue about the same on a typical day - 12 minutes against 13 minutes across 18 and 10 tracked rides. Pick on travel time or on which rides you actually want.

03 · Choosing

Which one is your day out.

Every line here is earned by one of the figures above - nothing is a generic sentence with a park name dropped into it.

Pick Busch Gardens Tampa if…

Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 12 minutes a ride
You want more to do: 18 rides here have recorded wait data against 10 at Dorney Park
You would rather not find rides shut: Busch Gardens Tampa's rides run 77% of opening hours against 65% at Dorney Park
Cheetah Hunt is on your list - it is Busch Gardens Tampa's longest typical queue at about 24 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Busch Gardens Tampa's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Dorney Park if…

Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 13 minutes a ride
Wild Mouse is on your list - it is Dorney Park's longest typical queue at about 26 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Dorney Park's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Busch Gardens Tampa

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay combines a full theme park with a 300-acre zoo, making it one of the largest combined attractions in the US. The coaster line-up is exceptional: Iron Gwazi (one of the world's top-rated roller coasters), SheiKra (a 200-foot dive coaster), Kumba, Montu (an inverted coaster), Cobra's Curse spinning coaster, and the classic Python. African animal exhibits include rhinos, giraffes and tigers.

Florida summer heat drives queue times into early mornings, while Howl-O-Scream, Christmas Town and US school holidays are the busiest periods. Weekdays in September, October and January stay dramatically calmer. Check live wait times for Iron Gwazi and SheiKra the moment you arrive, and use our crowd calendar to pick a midweek date for marathon coaster days.

Busch Gardens Tampa live queue times

Dorney Park

Dorney Park sits in Allentown, Pennsylvania, about 90 minutes north of Philadelphia. It's a mid-sized theme park with a strong coaster line-up for its size: Steel Force (a 200-foot hyper coaster), Talon (an inverted coaster), Hydra the Revenge (a floorless coaster), and Possessed. A Wildwater Kingdom water park is included with park admission during the summer season.

Dorney Park's season runs May to October, with peak crowds on summer weekends and during the Halloween Haunt. Weekdays in May, September and October are dramatically quieter. Check live queue times for Steel Force and Hydra on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a midweek visit - most of the coasters stay under 15 minutes of wait time on quieter days.

Dorney Park live queue times

05 · Questions

Busch Gardens Tampa or Dorney Park?

Which is better, Busch Gardens Tampa or Dorney Park?

On queues there is nothing in it: both average about 12 minutes a ride on a typical day. Busch Gardens Tampa has 18 rides with recorded waits against 10 at Dorney Park. Busch Gardens Tampa also runs its rides more reliably - 77% of opening hours against 65%. So pick on travel time, or on which park has the rides you actually want.

Which has shorter queues, Busch Gardens Tampa or Dorney Park?

They are level. Busch Gardens Tampa averages 12 minutes a ride on a typical day and Dorney Park averages 13 - close enough that the day you pick matters more than the park. See Busch Gardens Tampa best time to visit and Dorney Park best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Busch Gardens Tampa and Dorney Park in the same trip?

Yes - both parks are in United States, so a two-park trip is realistic over a long weekend. Split the days so you start at whichever opens earliest and drive to the other in the evening.

How many rides does each park have?

See the tables above for ride counts - or jump to Busch Gardens Tampa and Dorney Park for the full ride lists.

Is Busch Gardens Tampa bigger than Dorney Park?

By rides we track waits for, Busch Gardens Tampa is the bigger day out: 18 rides against 10. Acreage matters less than how many you can actually get on, which comes down to queues and opening hours.

Then pick
the quiet day.

Both parks have a crowd calendar with six weeks of forecast and the best day left to go.

Busch Gardens Tampa calendar Dorney Park calendar