Busch Gardens Summer Nights festival runs every year from May 28th to Sept 6th. For over 100…read morenights, guests can stay late 10AM to 10PM and safely enjoy rollercoasters, live music, live shows, new summer drinks, new summer foods, and more!
The All-New "Spark! Night-time Spectacular", starting at 9:15PM, features an explosive array of fireworks combined with lasers, water elements, and pyrotechnics. Due to popular demand, "Spark!" can be enjoyed every night, including weekday nights, until August 8th. After August 8th, "Spark!" will run every Friday - Sunday night until September 6th, including Labor Day. The "Spark!" fireworks show is nowhere near as good as Disney's Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, or Hollywood Studios. There aren't as many fireworks and there is no storyline or characters, just music. 6/10
The July 4th weekend edition of the "Spark!" fireworks show had more fireworks and was better than the typical "Spark!" Fireworks show. 6.6/10
The All-New Cirque Electric Show runs Friday - Monday at the Stanleyville Theater and features an All-New acrobatic stunt show with daring airborne aerialists, stunning displays of balance and strength, and a fascinating act on wheels that cannot be missed! 10/10
The Returning Favorite, "Turn It Up!" Ice Skating Show runs Thursday - Monday at the Moroccan Palace Theater and is an award-winning show which celebrates skating with contemporary performances, aerial moments, and eclectic pop music. 9/10
As the sun goes down, electric summer vibes amp up on the Festival Field by the Iron Gwazi Rollercoaster, Cheetah Hunt Plaza by the Cheetah Hunt Rollercoaster, and Stanleyville Plaza by the Tigris Rollercoaster. There is an open-air dance party with DJs, dancing, and endless energy to build the excitement before "Spark!" ignites the sky.
Specialty summer menu items are located at the Stanleyville Plaza, Cheetah Hunt Plaza, Festival Pathway, and other select locations around the park. Adults can indulge in New glow-in-the-dark summer cocktails.
The Loaded Chicken on a Stick came with Crispy Chicken Breast, Shredded Cheese, Chives, Smokey Ranch Drizzle 7/10
The Loaded Corn Dog Bites came with Shredded Cheese, Crispy Jalapeños, Tomato, Corn Chips, Smokey House Sauce. 7/10
The Grilled Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich came with Grilled Onions, Peppers, Zapp's Chips and not enough cheese 6/10
The Grilled Italian Sausage Sandwich came with Grilled Onions, Peppers, Zapp's Chips 8/10
The Teriyaki Pineapple Bowls came with Grilled Shrimp or Chicken, Fresh Cut Pineapple, Fried Rice, Roasted Vegetables 8/10
The Summer Sweet Dough Delights, also known as New Orleans style Beignets, come with Chocolate or Woodford Bourbon Caramel and have been at every Busch Gardens Festival so they must be popular 7/10
The Summer Apple Sour frozen cocktail came with Tito's Vodka, Granny Smith Apple, Lemon, Lime and had a nice tart flavor. 9/10
The Blue Lagoon frozen cocktail came with Reyka Vodka, Blue Raspberry, Lemon, Lime. 8/10
The Spark The Night frozen cocktail came with Flor De Caña Rum, Red Passion Fruit, Pineapple Juice, Orange Juice, Lemon, Lime. 7/10
Busch Gardens decided to scatter the Summer Nights food options throughout the entire park instead of having everything by the Festival pathway which can be good or bad for those that like walking a lot or don't. Personally, I'd rather have all the food options all in one spot which makes it easier to decide on what to eat. After all the food options at Food & Wine Festival, the food options at Summer Nights were incredibly underwhelming. Busch Gardens Management recently added more food options to supplement the serious lack of food options available but still did not add any international or exotic options other than boring American food you could find anywhere. My favorite part of Summer Nights is the return of the shows and the ability to be in the park later!
I hope Busch Gardens Management would add more colored lights to illuminate the park, more international menu items, bring back shows to the Dragon Fire Grill, bring back the Summer Nights big name concerts, and bring back the exotic Hawaiian, Fiesta, and African Village theming and foods! Summer Nights is my least favorite festival out of all the Busch Gardens festivals because of the lack of Theming and unimpressive boring food options. In 2017, Busch Gardens Summer Nights did a great job with tropical Hawaiian, Fiesta, and African Village Theming and foods but has really scaled back the Summer Nights event in recent years. With the Florida summer heat, it's usually too hot to go to Busch Gardens until 5pm and it rains a lot in the afternoons so I don't go to Busch Gardens as much during the summer.