Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Waves of Honor Program

What is this program about?

Waves of Honor Complimentary Admission is a tribute to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces including active duty military, reserve soldiers, airmen, Marines, sailors and Coast Guardsmen.

What does it include?

Waves of Honor complimentary admission permits any U.S. active duty military, activated or drilling reservist, or National Guardsman to one complimentary admission per year to either SeaWorld®, Busch Gardens®, or Sesame Place® for military personnel and as many as three direct dependents. The offer is valid for one park and one visit only.

Do military retirees or civilians working for the Department of Defense qualify?

 Only U.S. active duty military qualify for the Waves of Honor complimentary admission.

Do reservists and National Guardsmen qualify?

Certainly. All activated or drilling members of the reserves and National Guard are eligible for the Active Duty offer.

Note: Members of the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR) are eligible for the Veteran ticket offer (when available).

You offer a total of four free tickets. What if there are more people in my family?

You may purchase additional tickets by visiting a base MWR office.

My spouse is serving overseas. Can dependents visit the park without their service member?

Yes. You need to verify the active duty members military status using Troop ID online. While, spouses & family members of military personnel can create a Troop ID, the complimentary/discounted tickets are only accessible to those accounts verified as a service member, veteran, or retiree. Once verified you can print out up to three direct dependent single day admission tickets.

But I am a single parent serving overseas. My children are living with a relative. How can my kids visit?

The primary caregiver should contact the Guest Relations Department of the park they'd like to visit. They will make accommodations for minor dependents. Proof of military status and deployment is required.

I am service member from an Allied country, does this program apply to me?

No. The Waves of Honor Program only applies to U.S. military members.

What is Troop ID?

Troop ID is a credential issued by ID.me that allows verified members of the military community (e.g. Active Duty, Veterans, Retirees, Military Spouses and Military Family Members) to access programs intended exclusively for members of the military community. Please note that our brand partners may only accept certain subsegments of the military community for any particular offer. By way of example an "Active Duty" Troop ID holder may be eligible for certain offers while a "Military Family" Troop ID holder may not be eligible for that same offer.

What if I am having trouble validating my status with Troop ID?

Which internet browser versions does Troop ID support?

Troop ID supports Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer 9 and later versions.

Can I exchange or trade-up my item for a pass?

Please review the terms for each offer.  In most cases, this promotional product cannot be exchanged or transferred, unless explicitly stated.

During Checkout for *my* ticket, it says "guest name" – does this mean I can bring an extra guest with me?

We apologize for any confusion here: No. As our special guest, this is meant to YOUR name that will appear on your ticket.

Certain promotions may also have options for dependent tickets – however, you will select a quantity for these & be prompted for each additional guest name as separate entries during checkout.

I've logged in successfully and see your "offers" page -- but there are no offers there?

This could be a few different issues:

  1. You took advantage of the promotion already at some point in the past year and will be able to once again in the next period, please see the promotion details for more information.

    NOTE: If you are merely trying to find your tickets from your earlier purchase, you should have them in email, or alternatively by logging into the account you ordered from last time (IF you created a password/account). Otherwise, you can contact us to look up your order & resend.


  2. We may be experiencing an error in our link with id.me.Please try again in 30 minutes and if still unable, use our contact us form to give us as much details as you can!

  3. We might have made a mistake!  Please contact us as above with your details (affiliation, offer, id.me email, browser, and any other relevant details to help us assist).

After logging in with the id.me system, I'm seeing the login page for the park, instead of my offers, do I need to login here too?

This most often happens for one of three reasons:


  1. You are accessing a different offer than id.me has you qualified for (for instance, you're accessing the "Active Duty" offer page, when id.me has you registered as a Veteran or Retiree. Id.me can assist in this case. Their verification support website is: https://help.id.me/hc/en-us/articles/202858654-Verification-assistance-general-support
  2. You started your process somewhere other than the park offer page to verify with id.me (either on their site, or on an external page). You must start your journey by using the buttons on the offer page on the park site that you want to access offers for.

  3. You have other id.me tabs or are logged into the park site already. The easiest way to continue is to open a single "incognito" window on your browser (In Chrome: Control+Shift+N; in Safari: the "Private" tab) - then come back to the park offer page & try verifying with id.me through the links again.

Who else can I bring – what if they're not immediate family?

Each offer page has individual terms for that offer; please read the details for each for eligibility requirements about the offer for which you're eligible.  Every attendee will need a ticket/card, so be sure you have the correct quantity selected to account for every member of your party!

HELP! I accidentally got my tickets for the wrong park/location. How do I fix it?

Don't worry!  You can still visit the park you like - you'll just need to stop at a ticket window first. As long as your ticket has not been used, one of our ambassadors will be able to exchange it for you.

  • Disclaimers

    Valid U.S. military identification reflecting active status or dependent ID required for offer and must match the name on the eTicket. Inactive, standby and retired reserve members, military retirees, U.S. Merchant Marine and civilian Department of Defense workers are ineligible for the program. Blackout dates may apply. SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment reserves the right to terminate the program. Non-transferrable and non-refundable. Not for sale. Not valid at Discovery Cove, Aquatica Orlando, Aquatica San Antonio, Aquatica San Diego, Water Country USA, or Adventure Island. Offer not valid for separate ticketed events including Christmas Town at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Not valid with any other discounts, offers and has no upgrade value. Limit one complimentary admission per year, per person to one park. This offer is available to active military members from the U.S. only. Offer expires December 31, 2021.