Busch Gardens debuts new animal show in Pantopia – Opening Night Critters

Even though the Falcon’s Fury ride at Busch Gardens isn’t ready yet, there’s more reasons to visit the new Pantopia area. The renovated Pantopia Theater is now home to a new live stage show called Opening Night Critters.

Featuring rescued domestic and exotic animals, including dogs, cats, birds, a horse and a kangaroo, among others, this theatrical tale follows a couple of stage hands as they find themselves in the spotlight as the human stars in an all-animal production.

The stage hands quickly discover that working with these animals isn’t as easy as they had originally thought. Try as they might, they can’t get their co-stars to cooperate and when nearly all hope is lost, their kindness and compassion is rewarded when everything falls into place for a special furry and feathered finale.

In addition to Opening Night Critters, guests can take advantage of extended park hours until 9 p.m., special entertainment, DJs, the acrobatics show Kinetix and fireworks every night during Summer Nights, happening through Aug. 17. Visit BuschGardensTampa.com for more information.