Gwazi is reliable but has extremely slow operations. Despite this , the ride is very intense and not very repeatable for most people, so wait times are normally around 30-45 minutes even on fairly busy days. Busch Gardens doesn't have a hotel, but they partner with some of the hotels in the area. If you want to stay for more than 1 night, I strongly recommend getting a hotel away from BGT as the area consists of one of Tampa Bay's most dilapidated areas, and USF's campus. YBor city area is nice if the downtown scene is your thing. If you don't mind an extra 20-30 mins drive there are tons of nice places to stay in Pinellas County on the Gulf, such as Clearwater, St Pete, Treasure Island. They're all slightly different flavors of beach town. North of clearwater there's Dunedin which mostly has boutique hotels, but has a great downtown area and is similar to Williamsburg in scale if you don't wanna stay in an urban area. If you happen to fly in to Orlando (BGT is less than 2 hours from MCO, traffic permitting) Lakeland has plenty of options and will be about the half way point. Be sure to Check flights to SFB and PIE airports as well if you don't mind flying with Allegiant, just don't forget to account for bags.
As for the Park, There are only a few rides that hold long lines. Cheetah Hunt will always be at least 45min, normally 90mins from 11am onwards. Cobras Curse can sometimes hold a line. The line for Scorpion moves very slow but isn't terrible most days. Generally speaking, just start with Cheetah Hunt , then CC, and probably knock out montu while you're there, and then move on towards pantopia and do a lap of the park. You could also either start with Gwazi then do Cheetah Hunt, or go to Gwazi after you get through the Egypt coasters and loop the park that way. Either way, you should be able to finish all the coasters in a couple to a few hours. The Flume will frequently get insane lines and doesn't even come close to getting you wet, skip it unless it's a very short wait. The rapids ride is quite short as far as they go and the majority of water comes from a single feature that may or may not hit all guests. It can be fun but unsurprisingly, often commands a long wait.
Other Parks wise, some of my favorite parks in no particular order include Hershey, Knoebels, Silver Dollar City, Knotts Berry Farm, Carowinds, Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Universal Orlando. I guess I'd also throw the Disneyland CA parks in there too but I get the feeling you weren't looking to spend 200+/day for what is definitely a less coaster centric experience.
