Comments on: Busch Gardens (1971-1973)

By: Lynne

Lynne — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:50:10 +0000

I actually have video of Busch Gardens but unsure of the year. I am 44 years old so I’m not sure when the video was taken. My parents had a Super 8 camera and we have film of Busch Gardens bird show and some show with a monkey sliding out of a planet? Ok, i swear I’m not making this up! Anyway, I do remember the “strange smell” that emanated throughout the park. All in all, good memories!

By: Dave Miller

Dave Miller — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:01:35 +0000

We lived in Baytown so it was a short drive to take my two kids to Busch Gardens from 1971 to about 1976. After they cut it to just the bird show and the gardens we went 4-5 times a year. It was a nice free show and kept the kids happy for an afternoon, and i loved it too.

By: Dave Miller

Dave Miller — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:00:56 +0000

We lived in Baytown so it was a short drive to take my two kids to Busch Gardens from 1971 to about 1976. After they cut it to just the bird show and the gsrdens we went 4-5 times a year. It was a nice free show and kept the kids happy for an afternoon, and i loved it too.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 20:51:43 +0000

Wow! I live in Williamsburg and have visited both the local and the Tamp parks regularly. MI had never heard of the prior existence of a Houston Busch Gardens before. My daughter even works for AB and she never heard anything either. I even lived in Houston for several years and never heard of it being mentioned in any capacity. Maybe it was too much of an embarassment for the company to include it in their history?

By: Chad

Chad — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:28:26 +0000

I went there as a kid, and it definitely wasn’t 1972-3, as I was too young at the time. I think 1975-6 would have been about right, so maybe it operated in a lesser capacity (sans rhino’s, etc.). I do remember all of the birds.

By: Daisymac

Daisymac — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:38:51 +0000

Houstorian Tracey – Thanks for the congrats. I am sure this wasn’t a special event, because it was too spur of the moment. I have looked all over the internet and I can’t find anything else to back this up, but it was Busch Gardens, and it was 1976. A mystery, huh?

By: Houstorian Tracey

Houstorian Tracey — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:30:10 +0000

Daisymac – First, congratulations on 30+ years of marriage! The information regarding the closing date I’ve got was what I found in the newspaper articles cited. One article mentioned that the park would continue to be used as a sales promotion facility, which suggests to me that it could have continued to operate until 1976 in much the same form, though only used for special events. Perhaps you attended one of those?

By: Daisymac

Daisymac — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:17:48 +0000

This can’t be correct. My husband and I had our first date at Busch Gardens in June of 1976. (I didn’t even know him in 1972.) I remember the bird shows and then the tour of the brewery. At the end while munching a warm pretzel and having a bit of beer, I realized this was the “one.” We married a couple months later and are still together.

By: westres

westres — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:02:17 +0000

When I tell people there was a Busch Gardens here they rarely believe me. I remember going several times. Thanks for confirming my recollections!

By: JIm Smith

JIm Smith — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:12:09 +0000

This was one of a handful of open-air entertainment venues of my youth, that no longer exists. Others include SeaArama Marineworld (Galveston), Westbury Square (SW Houston, near Chimney Rock and Bellfort), and of course Astroworld.

It’s too bad that Busch Gardens wasn’t more successful. At least back in those “good-old days” people valued the importance of open-air, family-quality entertainment. In this modern age, kids are left to fend for themselves indoors, spending hours on the X-Box or on the Internet.

Thanks for posting this Busch Gardens article!