Busch Gardens Mardi Gras 2025: Everything we loved (and ate)
We visited the 2025 Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Mardi Gras celebration. Of course, we ate beignets, but what else did we do? And did the Busch Gardens Mardi Gras beignets make our best or worst list of food choices?
Mardi Gras season at Busch Gardens began on Jan. 11, 2025 and runs every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through March 2. Also, with the Martin Luther King holiday, Mardi Gras happens on Monday, Jan. 20. On those days, the event starts at noon (according to the Busch Gardens website) and runs until the theme park closes. All Mardi Gras activities, such as the parade and bands, are included with theme park admission.
Where do the Mardi Gras Busch Gardens activities happen in the theme park?
The Mardi Gras festivities take place in the Bird Gardens area, where most of the food aspects of Busch Gardens festivals occur. Guests looking to start their day enjoying the Mardi Gras fun will enter the theme park and turn left toward Zagora Café and Iron Gwazi. Across from Iron Gwazi, guests will see a cabin selling Mardi Gras beverages like “Hurricanes.” They will also notice some Mardi Gras props and photo opportunities when traveling in this direction.
Once guests pass that park area, they will see festival cabins selling Mardi Gras food and beverages. They should make note that a pathway near the Coke Canopy leads to two more food and beverage cabins.
Mardi Gras Parade
For many guests, the highlight of this event involves the parade. Busch Gardens kicks off its Mardi Gras season several weeks before the celebration starts at Universal Orlando Resort. That means Busch Gardens offers the first Florida theme park Mardi Gras parade of 2025. Guests will see entertainers, stilt walkers, and musicians during the parade. The route starts near Zagora Café, a quick-service restaurant that participates in all-day dining and sits near the front of the theme park. The parade route travels to the left side of the theme park to the Bird Gardens and the Coke Canopy.
The parade happens several times each day of the Mardi Gras celebration. Based on our visits, we suggest waiting for the parade near the Coke Canopy and the food and beverage cabins. This allows guests to get a good view of the parade coming toward them and be ready for the bead throwing. The Busch Gardens Mardi Gras parade does not compare to the larger scope of other theme park parades, but it makes a nice touch with this setting.
Family-friendly bead throwing
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Mardi Gras activities, including bead throwing, qualify as family-friendly activities. Speaking of bead throwing, any Mardi Gras celebration involves beads. Following the parades, some performers move to the “Bead Balcony.” From there, they throw beads at the crowd below. This activity continues to be fun for the entire family. This also serves as a primary reason we suggest waiting for the parade to arrive at the Coke Canopy area since the Bead Balcony is nearby, allowing guests to prepare for bead throwing.
Photo by Jon Self
The Busch Gardens ambassadors make a special effort to ensure children receive beads from the balcony. During our visits to Mardi Gras celebrations here, we enjoyed seeing the care shown for the kids.
Also, at scheduled times during the day, a Mardi Gras jazz band, Brass Animals, plays concerts in the Coke Canopy area. On the Opening Day of the Mardi Gras event, they played at 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, and 7:15 p.m. The Real Music Series is also happening at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay for those looking for more live music.
Busch Gardens Mardi Gras food
As you might expect, we came to Mardi Gras for the food. The Mardi Gras food menus should satisfy rice lovers. Unless it is a dessert, every food item served at the Mardi Gras cabins contained rice except one. We have no problem with this, but that aspect became very recognizable during our visit on the Opening Day of Mardi Gras.
Even though the theme park website indicates that the Mardi Gras cabins open at noon daily, that is inaccurate. We found many signs indicating that the cabins would open at 2 p.m. on Fridays. Guests should plan for this if visiting on a Friday.
Of course, any celebration like this will have plenty of alcoholic beverage options. We chose to skip those, being on the clock and all. Still, the list of food options looks like this:
- Mardi Gras “King Cake style” Beignet – Drizzles of kiwi-lime, mango, and blackberry sauces to celebrate the colors of Mardi Gras
- Bourbon Street Beignet – Assorted berries macerated in a sweet bourbon
- Shrimp Creole with Rice – Shrimp simmered in butter with garlic, holy trinity (onions, red bell peppers, celery), Worcestershire sauce, tomatoes, tabasco
- Crawfish Etouffee with Rice – Crawfish simmered in a sauce with the holy trinity (onions, green bell peppers, celery) and tomatoes, thickened with a blond roux served over rice
- Cajun Rice – Black beans, tomatoes, Beyond Burger meat, holy trinity (onions, green bell peppers, celery), garlic, cumin, cinnamon, rice, Cajun seasoning
- Andouille Sausage Po’ Boy – Andouille sausage, caramelized onions, Cajun ketchup, served on a soft roll
- Banana Foster Crepe a’ la mode -Sliced bananas, caramel, dark rum topped with vanilla soft serve
- Strawberry Crepe a’ la mode – Strawberries, strawberry glaze topped with vanilla soft serve
Mardi Gras food & beverage sampler lanyards
Following a typical food festival pattern at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, guests can buy sampler lanyards that entitle them to five Mardi Gras food and beverage samples at a lower price than buying items individually from each cabin. Guests can purchase a five-item sampler lanyard for the Mardi Gras event for $40. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay pass members can buy a six-item sampler lanyard for the same price.
Best Busch Gardens Mardi Gras food
On Opening Day, we tried all the Busch Gardens Mardi Gras food. As our group discussed, food quality may increase or decrease as the event progresses. Our ranking will be based on our Opening-Day experience and how we think these food items will taste as the event continues. Based on that, we felt two items qualified as the best. Beignet fans will be disappointed since the two offerings did not make the best list. Still, they did not make the worst list either. Note: the baby and other items on the King Cake”beignet” are plastic; please do not eat them!
Best: Shrimp creole with rice
Our group agreed that the best-tasting food at the Mardi Gras cabins was the shrimp creole with rice. Though we suggest mixing the rice and components up before eating, the flavor offered deserves merit. The shrimp used this year exceeded the quality of the shrimp from last year’s event. The overall dish presented some depth of flavor. We were also impressed with how this dish held the heat as we ate it.
Best: Crepes?
Though we wouldn’t define the crepes as authentic, they make solid sweet treats for your day at Busch Gardens. The banana foster crepe a’ la mode and the strawberry crepe a’ la mode were improvements over the crepes from last year’s event. Guests should think of them as ice cream sundaes with a very thin crepe base on the bottom of the bowl.
Worst Busch Gardens Mardi Gras food
To our disappointment, the vegan menu item at this event did not work as well as others. The Cajun rice offered a smaller portion size than the other two rice-based dishes. In addition, our group found the seasoning was simply trying to cover up the alt-meat instead of enhancing it. We had high hopes for this dish, but we would suggest ordering something else.
Mardi Gras
The Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Mardi Gras event is lovely and family-friendly for theme park fans. The parade, food and beverage cabins, bands, and bead throwing make for a pleasant day. Also, all the activities can be done in one afternoon, creating a relaxing theme park outing. We plan to attend this event a few more times this year before it ends on March 2. Please visit the official Busch Gardens website for more information about Mardi Gras at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
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