SeaWorld, Busch Gardens raise ticket prices

In a late response to recent price hikes from area competitors Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World, the Busch-owned SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay saw $3 price increases take effect Friday, raising a single-day ticket for each park to $67.95 and $64.95, respectively. The price increases are part of a revamped ticket lineup that makes way for the company's Aquatica water park, opening near SeaWorld next spring. The SeaWorld multi-park tickets start with a SeaWorld/Aquatica ticket for $89.95. Various other packages combine SeaWorld with the two parks in Tampa, Busch Gardens or the Adventure Island water park, or with the high-end Discovery Cove resort park in Orlando. For $339, someone can go to four parks — Discovery Cove, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica. "It's common sense that all the theme parks in Central Florida obviously give you better value, the more parks you actually purchase," said Joe Couceiro, corporate vice president and chief marketing officer of Busch Entertainment.

In addition to the pricing changes, all Busch Entertainment-owned parks received a new name, and will now be known as "Worlds of Discovery" instead of Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks.""It's an identity more than a name. It's what we're all about. It's what we do better than anyone else," Couceiro said. "All of our parks are about discovery: the discovery of the connection of the world to the sea at SeaWorld, or the discovery of coming face to face with a white tiger at Busch Gardens. . . . We want to make sure there is a meaning to a visit to our parks."