Busch Gardens Tampa Announces Menu for their Inaugural Food & Wine Festival

With just a little over a month to go, the folks at Busch Gardens Tampa have announced not only the menu for their first ever Food & Wine Festival, but also a few more details about the event as a whole.

Interestingly enough, from what I can tell anyway, this isn't like the event that takes place at their sister park in Virginia and is set up very differently. While I thought they would've gone with dishes from Africa, they've chosen to keep things relatively safe and made this more of a local affair it would seem.

The food cabins will not be spread out throughout the park either, instead located with Gwazi Park and feature 9 cabins, and over 50 wines and 50 craft brews.

In addition to the food, there will be the concerts, which we've already talked about and tons of other events going on too. Like what, you ask? Well, here's a little rundown of a few other things you can expect to see:

Wine Glass performers (music with wine glasses!), Wine and Beer experts on hand to help educate on the libations on hand, Professional Foodies to help talk about flavors of the food and other good stuff, Harp and Cellists providing music throughout the day, up close time with various animals in the park at the Conservation Cabin and of course some Festival games like wine cork tossing, corn-hole and others.

It's an interesting departure from things, that we're used to at least, and our whole crew is looking forward to experiencing just what they'll bring to the table. So, what can you expect in the way of food from this year's inaugural event? Look no further, we've got the full menu right here for you to look over and see what's what and where to find it.

First stop? The Gourmet Lodge.

Gourmet Lodge:

Deconstructed Duck Confit
with Crispy Fried Wontons, Orange Salsa & Microgreens

Smoked Beef Brisket
with Cheddar & Smoked Gouda Potato Au Gratin

Venison Chili
with Roasted Corn, Black Beans & Lime Sour Cream

Wine
Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Alexander Valley Zinfandel

Beer
Sierra Nevada Torpedo
Cigar City Cubano Style Espresso

March Concert Lineup Announced for Busch Gardens Tampa's First Food & Wine Festival

It looks like more and more things are getting in order for Busch Gardens Tampa's first Food & Wine Festival that's coming to the park starting on March 7th and runs through April 26th.

While we don't have any details on the menu that will be featured, they have just released the list of musical performances that will be held on weekend nights during the run of the event.

Right now we only know of who will be performing during the month of March, but stay tuned as I'm sure more will be announced in the next few weeks. So, who's going to be there? Look no further!

• Saturday, March 7 - Gavin DeGraw
• Sunday, March 8 - Fifth Harmony
• Saturday, March 14 - Kool & The Gang
• Sunday, March 15 - Boys Like Girls
• Saturday, March 21 - Kenny Rogers
• Sunday, March 22 - Pentatonix
• Saturday, March 28 - Steven Curtis Chapman
• Sunday, March 29 - El Gran Combo

Definitely an interesting and eclectic mix of great performers and gives a little something for everyone at the same time. Going to have to keep an eye out to see who they add for the April dates of the events. As soon as we know we'll give you all the details!

Stay tuned for more info out of Busch Gardens Tampa, right here or follow us on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr and Facebook for all the latest and be sure to keep an eye out for our live coverage and review of the event when we visit in March!

Busch Gardens Tampa Announces 2015's Special Event Line Up

Well, can't let SeaWorld have all the fun in 2015 and Busch Gardens Tampa has their own unique and interesting line up for the new year that they've also just released.

A couple of things you'll notice are no longer being offered, but it seems that those are happening at SeaWorld this year instead. So, with that, let's get on with what folks have to look forward to in 2015!

First up is the return of the Real Music Festival that will start on January 5th and runs every Friday-Monday until March 6th. The annual music festival features a band coming in for each weekend, giving folks plenty of time to see the ones they're interested in over their four night runs. So, what's this year's line up look like? Glad ya asked, here's the rundown:

Jan. 5-9: Cornell Gunter’s Coasters
Jan. 12-16: The Grass Roots
Jan. 19-23: Herman’s Hermits w/ Peter Noone
Jan. 26-30: The Diamonds
Feb. 2-6: Fernando Varela
Feb. 9-13: Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
Feb. 16-20: Ricky Nelson Remembered, Featuring: Matthew & Gunnar Nelson
Feb. 23-27: Shirley Jones
Mar. 2-6: Exile & Juice Newton

Following the success of sister park, Busch Garden Williamsburg's Food & Wine Festival, it looks like the folks down in Tampa are gearing up for their own in 2015 and most notably, this does replace both Bands, Brew and BBQ and La viva Musica. Yes, it takes up that much time.

Starting on the weekend of March 7th and 8th, the park's very own Food & Wine Festival will run every weekend until April 26th. However, don't think the music is gone as they will have bands on nearly every weekend of the event.

Right now we only know of one that is scheduled, Pentatonix on March 22nd, but as soon as we get the rest we'll definitely let ya know.

Following Food & Wine, things quiet down again before Busch Gardens takes to the night once again as they bring back their Summer Nights event which starts on June 27th and runs through August 26th.