Should I Use Photo Key at Busch Gardens/ Sea World/ Aquatica

If you go on a lot of rides, Photo Key might be the way to go for you. You can get packages that include more than one park and it is convenient for getting your whole family in your vacation photos.

For me it wasn’t really worth buying the package.

At Aquatica I didn’t see photo ops on any of the rides and we only missed one or two. We did get our picture taken inside the main entrance. 

It was supposed to be in front of one of the animal sculptures but we weren’t lined up with it and so the background was of a crowd of people we do not know. The second place you can get pictures taken is at Roa’s Rapids. We went on this several times throughout the day as it was our favorite. A photographer showed up late in the afternoon and we tried two photographs. One had an unknown child in the front of it, the other was okay but not anything special. The photographer was standing in an area where the current is swift and there is nothing special in the background. With the foliage and water features you would think there would be a better spot to take a picture than in front of the blue and white tiles which makes it look like you are at any generic pool. I did buy the pictures so we could have them but they weren’t spectacular and it was much cheaper to buy the pictures than to buy the package. We also got three frames to go with them.

We didn’t do many rides at Busch Gardens. It was our first time there and I’m the only one who enjoys roller coasters so we spent all of our time looking at the animals. If you did the rides, the package might be of value to you. We had our picture taken just inside the entrance and I saw they were taking pictures in the bird enclosure. We went on the train and the Skyride, neither had photographs. 

We had bought the package to go feed the giraffes. You are allowed to take your camera in there but it was very crowded and so difficult to get a good picture. I did buy the package when we left – these pictures are not included in the Photo Key package. I was very disappointed with the pictures, we were in a hurry when I purchased them and didn’t realize that there were no pictures of any of us actually feeding the giraffe and the one picture that they organize  was of our family under the giraffe but we were not looking at the photographer. It was very disappointing. 

At Sea World we didn’t go the rides either – so if you do it might be worthwhile to buy the package. We did get our picture taken just inside the park and at one of the waterfalls. We tried to get our picture taken in the shark’s mouth but the system wasn’t working when we were there. That is three pictures total. 

We had signed up to do the Arctic Adventure and you are not allowed to take your cameras or phones in there – no photos allowed. The photographers here were actually very good and they got some awesome shots of our family. These photos are not included in the Photo Key either but they are for sale at the same area as all the other photos which is convenient. We really wanted the other pictures that were taken in the park and the cashier added the price of a second day of Photo Key to our Adventure photos so we could get both, which was really nice. This was the one park where I was impressed by the photographers.