Busch Gardens Tampa
vs
Six Flags Darien Lake

Busch Gardens Tampa and Six Flags Darien Lake queue about the same on a typical day - 22 minutes against 22 minutes across 10 and 13 tracked rides. Pick on travel time or on which rides you actually want.

See both right now Compare other parks

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 Six Flags Darien Lake compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	Busch Gardens TampaUnited States	Six Flags Darien LakeUnited States
Average wait per ride	22 min	22 min
Rides with recorded waits	10	13 (best of the two)
Longest typical queue	Cheetah Hunt46 min	Brain Drain51 min
Shortest typical queue	Air Grover6 min	Boomerang8 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	62%	67% (best of the two)

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 Six Flags Darien Lake compared on live queue times
Right now	Busch Gardens TampaUnited States	Six Flags Darien LakeUnited 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 Six Flags Darien Lake queue about the same on a typical day - 22 minutes against 22 minutes across 10 and 13 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 22 minutes a ride
Cheetah Hunt is on your list - it is Busch Gardens Tampa's longest typical queue at about 46 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 Six Flags Darien Lake if…

Queue length will not decide it: both parks average around 22 minutes a ride
You want more to do: 13 rides here have recorded wait data against 10 at Busch Gardens Tampa
You would rather not find rides shut: Six Flags Darien Lake's rides run 67% of opening hours against 62% at Busch Gardens Tampa
Brain Drain is on your list - it is Six Flags Darien Lake's longest typical queue at about 51 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Six Flags Darien Lake'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

Six Flags Darien Lake

Six Flags Darien Lake sits in Darien Center, New York, between Buffalo and Rochester. The coaster line-up includes Ride of Steel (a 208-foot hyper coaster from Intamin), Tantrum (a 98-foot Eurofighter), Motocoaster launched coaster, Predator wooden coaster, and the classic Viper stand-up. A Hurricane Harbor water park and a camping resort operate on the same property.

Western New York school holidays, US summer weekends and the Fright Fest event drive Darien Lake's peak crowds. Weekdays in May, September and early October stay dramatically quieter. Check live wait times for Ride of Steel and Tantrum on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a midweek visit - many rides run near walk-on levels on quieter mornings.

Six Flags Darien Lake live queue times

05 · Questions

Busch Gardens Tampa or Six Flags Darien Lake?

Which is better, Busch Gardens Tampa or Six Flags Darien Lake?

On queues there is nothing in it: both average about 22 minutes a ride on a typical day. Busch Gardens Tampa has 10 rides with recorded waits against 13 at Six Flags Darien Lake. Six Flags Darien Lake also runs its rides more reliably - 67% of opening hours against 62%. So pick on travel time, or on which park has the rides you actually want.

Which has shorter queues, Busch Gardens Tampa or Six Flags Darien Lake?

They are level. Busch Gardens Tampa averages 22 minutes a ride on a typical day and Six Flags Darien Lake averages 22 - close enough that the day you pick matters more than the park. See Busch Gardens Tampa best time to visit and Six Flags Darien Lake best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Busch Gardens Tampa and Six Flags Darien Lake 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 Six Flags Darien Lake for the full ride lists.

Is Busch Gardens Tampa bigger than Six Flags Darien Lake?

By rides we track waits for, Six Flags Darien Lake is the bigger day out: 13 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 Six Flags Darien Lake calendar Compare other parks