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Busch Gardens Tampa closed Monday due to storm

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Published: August 26, 2012 at 6:22 PM
Busch Gardens Tampa announced Sunday that it would be closed on Monday, August 27, due to the anticipated arrival in the area of storms associated with Tropical Storm Isaac.

Isaac's getting more than the usual level of attention for a Tropical Storm since arrival in the Gulf of Mexico coincides with the planned Republican Party political convention this week, also in Tampa.

Forecast cone

The current forecast cone for Isaac has the storm hitting land just east of New Orleans sometime later Tuesday or early Wednesday. But many parts of Florida will be getting tropical storm-force winds on Monday.* (Monday Update: Or not. But SeaWorld Orlando's announced that it's closing at 4 pm today, due to rain in Orlando.)

Busch Gardens says that it plans to reopen at 10 am on Tuesday. No other parks have announced any closures due to the storm. Florida residents and visitors are invited to check in, in the comments.

Readers' Opinions

From Richard Faraci on August 26, 2012 at 6:50 PM
I can't believe parks will be open during this, and I may just take advantage of the short lines tomorrow!
From Karly Tenney on August 26, 2012 at 6:54 PM
I don't blame BGT for shutting down. Tampa is one of the main places for issac to target. It would be a bad choice for them to not shut down, because they couldn't run anything anyway and no guests would probably show up.
From 98.154.240.41 on August 27, 2012 at 5:21 AM
I have the image in my head of showing up to the Busch Gardens Tampa parking lot on Monday, completely empty, and a la Clark Griswold announcing to my son... "First Ones here, I'll race you." Only to be told by a 5 foot tall moose that they're closed.
From Mike Gallagher on August 27, 2012 at 8:09 AM
LOL! Good one, Anonymous Poster 98....
From Tony Duda on August 27, 2012 at 9:02 AM
The Tampa Bay area is having fairly nice weather today (Monday), go figure.
From 97.100.147.202 on August 27, 2012 at 9:40 AM
Aquatica closed as well.
From Iris Hernandez on August 27, 2012 at 11:44 AM
Aquatica is also closed today....although they decided to keep it closed at the scheduled 10am open time. In my opinion, being an employee there, they should've made that call last night and not have me drive all the way out there to then turn around and go home. C'est la vie :) Still love them though :)
From Dominick D on August 27, 2012 at 11:46 AM
The funny part is everything at WDW and Universal is a 15 minute or less wait right now. Again, everything at WDW and Universal is a 15 minute or less wait right now.
From Daniel Etcheberry on August 27, 2012 at 4:03 PM
Busch Gardens has been open with worse weather. There was some rain today, and not much wind. Prevention is good though.
From 66.87.123.86 on August 27, 2012 at 4:09 PM
Wet N Wild and Blizzard Beach were also closed...as well as Aquatica and Busch...and Sea Worlds early closure.
From Andy Milito on August 27, 2012 at 5:37 PM
Better safe than sorry.

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