Busch Gardens Tampa Food & Wine Festival - ride, eat, drink and dance

Photo and video credits Doris Irizarry (photo & video reproductions prohibited)

Ride, eat, drink, and dance until dusk. It's kindo of what we did and you can too at Busch Gardens Tampa fourth annual Food & Wine Festival. The event kicks off yearly the first weekend in March and runs through to the end of April.

The weather has been splendid, believe it or not Tampa has had some cold weather lately. If you want to get more than your moneys worth of all that Busch Gardens has to offer from rides, animals, and shows, get to the park as soon as it opens. Parking is $20 at the park, Busch Gardens Tampa online parking is a few dollars cheaper. Even cheaper if you find an offsite parking within walking distance. I park at the same off site place for $5. Of course the all year pass members are all set when it comes to parking.

At noon the Food & Wine Festival opens up for guests to sample the select cuisine, wines, beers and cocktails of course at a cost. The best deal is to purchase a lanyard or pay per samples.

Photo credit Busch Gardens Tampa

These are the samples I tried:

Fried plantain cups filled with stewed chicken (tostones rellenos de pollo). A Hispanic myself that loves plantains I went for it. In addition, the plantain cup filled with chicken caught my eye but not my taste buds. The sauce just didn't blend well with the chicken.

Photo credit Busch Gardens Tampa

Gochujang Ribs in Korean barbecue sauce - the ribs smelled and looked delicious but I prefer my ribs well done so I took them home and cooked them a little more.

Lobster Tart with leeks & swiss cheese - did anyone say lobster? Yum, yum!

Bison Slider on a poppy seed roll with bacon and Sriracha Ketchup and blue lemonade - my favorite hands down! 

Photo and video credits Doris Irizarry (photo & video reproductions prohibited)

After a few samples, I was ready for live entertainment. Every year the line up is great. It is diverse - country, pop, soul, rock, Latin... I opted in for the latter. I was ready to sing and dance my heart away to one of the best female merengue music artists.

From the island of enchantment Puerto Rico, living in Orlando, Olga Tañon took the Food & Wine Festival stage located at Gwazi promptly at 7 p.m. An hour announced concert that turned into nearly two hours at the grace of Olga Tañon. 

 

A sensational show gal that offered her best past hits to her current chart toppers that includes reggaeton. Her phenomenal interaction with fans lead to inviting a fan to join her onstage, a fan that became popular all of a sudden. Pascuala, not only saw the show from the stage but was also gifted Olga's jacket that she wore for a portion of her performance.

 

What an amazing way to spend a weekend at Busch Gardens Tampa Food & Wine Festival. Check out the line up and additional information here.