In Parts 1 and 2 of the Busch parks we saw how amazingly successful the Tampa brewery tour and gardens was…and how unsuccessful the Los Angeles version turned out. But before the California property started giving the company fits, they had decided to keep the momentum going. Three years after the Los Angeles gardens debuted, Busch Gardens Houston was announced with great fanfare. Twenty-seven acres adjacent to the brewery was transformed by none other than Randall Duell and his in-demand band of designers.
Duell was beginning to rack up the projects at this time, with parks such as Magic Mountain (CA), Carowinds, Opryland, and others on the drawing boards. Six Flags Over Georgia and Astroworld had recently opened, and so Randall’s team set about applying their magic touch to Busch’s newest garden venture. The theme in Houston was “Far East meets West,” with appropriate architecture, landscaping, and animal selection.
Opening May 1971, the ornate Pagoda of Chin-wa-shwe towered over the small park which consisted of a few rides, footpaths, and a water-powered boat ride that floated leisurely throughout the grounds. A beautifully-detailed small scale train, the Orient Express, could be heard from all over as it chugged by Hidden Harbor, Sherpa Slide, and Rhino Land. More of a zoo than elaborate gardens, there were themed homes for Bengal tigers, polar bears, penguins, monkeys, and so on, and the Clydesdales could be seen lounging around their stables. And of course you could take in one of their now-standard bird shows before heading over for the brewery tour.
Houston was designed from the beginning as a gated park, so the opening season ticket charge was $2.25 for adults. It didn’t work. Nobody came, at least nowhere near the numbers predicted (and needed). Year two was no better, and so Busch decided to convert it to a promotional facility. It didn’t even last that long, closing for good after only two years. The extravagant cost of exotic animals combined with relatively little for guests to do just didn’t add up. Meanwhile the company was focusing most of their efforts on a sprawling expanse of property in the beautiful colonial region of Williamsburg, VA. More on that next time.
Here are a couple vintage newspaper ads; there are some very nice photos to be found around the web that show an overview of the park and what it was like. For more history of the Busch parks (and all the other regional theme parks) check out Imagineering an American Dreamscape.
