I recently got back from a week long spring break trip in Orlando and on one day, I drove to Tampa and took my cousin to Busch Gardens. We really enjoyed this park together in 2018 even though we don't do the coasters anymore. We then especially enjoyed feeding the birds and going to the shows. Food didn't seem that out of line then in 2018 either -- theme park prices, but not that outrageous.
Fast forward to last week. With the bird flu all the aviaries which were our favorite were closed. Also, although the sister park SeaWorld has three big shows going, there were no shows at the Busch Gardens at all on the day we visited. And then the one meal we had there (A soft drink, a bottled water, a salad with chicken, a bacon cheeseburger combo, and a salad (cousin intended it to be a side salad) were what we ordered) and our total cost was $54. At least the salads had nice fresh ingredients and tasted good. But OMG - this was my highest priced meal per person on my entire trip.
The park does have some nice animal exhibits, but my cousin was not really that interested in seeing the larger animals and if you exclude the birds, small animal exhibits (kangaroos - nice little exhibit -- penguins (not much of an exhibit and dirty windows making it hard to see) are about it. We did the safari train, the bumper car ride, and visited the smaller animal exhibits mentioned.
Next time I visit my cousin, we'll check out the Florida aquarium one day and the Lowery Park zoo another day. We made the best of our day (park mostly a backdrop for visiting), but for the price of admission, parking, and food I was super disappointed.
I will say that I did not do advanced research, and I blame myself for that. I assumed that since shows were open at SeaWorld they would be open here too. And the bird flu is not something Busch Gardens has control over. Just saying that if you aren't going for the thrill rides, my personal recommendation would be to give Busch Gardens a skip at this time unless things change. I doubt we'll go back to this park again.
The park just had a run down feel too after visiting SeaWorld and Epcot in Orlando.