Adventure Island
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Our take
By Matt Spaulding, Founder and writer
Adventure Island sits across N McKinley Drive from Busch Gardens, and despite sharing that corner of north Tampa it charges its own admission. Thirty acres hold ten slides. The headline is Vanish Point, where a trapdoor opens under your feet and drops you through a 70 foot tower into 425 feet of spiraling tube, with a 48 inch height minimum and a 300 pound cap. Around it are the 17,000 square foot Endless Surf wave pool, which rolls waves every ten minutes, the half mile Rambling Bayou lazy river, and Paradise Lagoon with a net climb and cliff jumps. Castaway Falls covers the younger kids with more than 100 play elements and three tipping buckets. The catch is the calendar. This is a seasonal park, open from around March into the fall and closed all winter, and the shoulder weeks at each end of the season run on select days rather than daily. Visitors who go on those quieter dates regularly report finding slides closed after paying full admission, sometimes most of them. Go on a July weekend and you get the opposite complaint: loungers and shade claimed by late morning, then long waits at the slide towers. Reviewers agree on the fix, which is being at the gate when it opens. Parking is charged separately from your ticket, and coolers have to stay in the picnic pavilions outside the front gate.
Quick facts
- How long
- 3 to 5 hours covers the slides and pools
- Season
- Spring through fall; closed winters, select days in shoulder months
- Best for
- Families and teens; 42 in for most slides, 48 in for the big four
- Getting there
- 10001 N McKinley Dr, across the street from Busch Gardens
- Parking
- Paid, sold separately from admission
- Included
- All ten slides, wave pool, lazy river; cabanas and lockers extra
Where it is
10001 N McKinley Dr, Tampa, FL 33612, across N McKinley Drive from Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
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How long do you need at Adventure Island?
Three to five hours is the usual visit. That is enough for the ten slides, a few laps of the half mile Rambling Bayou lazy river and some time in the Endless Surf wave pool. Families with small kids often stretch it to a full day because Castaway Falls and Shaka-Laka Shores hold them for hours.
When is Adventure Island open?
Spring through fall. It is a seasonal water park that opens around March and stays closed through the winter, and the shoulder weeks at each end of the season run on select days rather than daily. Check the park calendar for your exact date before you buy, because a Tuesday in March is a very different proposition from a Tuesday in July.
Is Adventure Island included with a Busch Gardens ticket?
No. It takes its own admission even though it sits directly across the street from Busch Gardens. Multi-park upgrades that add Busch Gardens, SeaWorld or Aquatica are sold alongside the water park ticket if you want more than one gate.
Is parking included with admission?
No. Parking is bought separately from your ticket. Annual pass members at the Silver level and above park free with their pass and a photo ID, but a one-day guest pays the lot rate on top of admission.
What is the best time of day to go?
Be at the gate when it opens. The recurring complaint in reviews is that loungers and shaded seating are gone by late morning on summer weekends and the slide towers back up, so the first hour is the calmest stretch of the day. Weekdays beat weekends, and the park can close its gates once it hits capacity on peak summer days.
How tall do you have to be for the slides?
42 inches for most of them and 48 inches for the four biggest. Aruba Tuba, Rapids Racer, Wahoo! Remix, Solar Vortex, Calypso Coaster and Riptide are 42 inch minimums. Vanish Point, Colossal Curl, Caribbean Corkscrew and Water Moccasin require 48 inches, and Vanish Point also caps riders at 300 pounds.
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