On January 21, I made my first trip to Busch Gardens Tampa in roughly 15 years. I don’t remember the exact date I was last there, but if I recall correctly, Gwazi had just opened, and it was before I was bitten by the Coaster Bug, and I was too much of a chicken to ride big roller coasters like Kumba and Montu. All I remember from that day was Scorpion, the Schwarzkopf looping coaster that was my first “big” roller coaster, and the now-defunct Python, with its double Corkscrew inversion.
I was going to be in the Central Florida area for work, so I decided to come down a day early and visit the park.
How things change in 15 years.
We got to the park about 15 minutes before it opened, and there was a pretty large crowd (for a Tuesday) at the gates already. I was concerned that this would limit my ride time, but I later realized that the Busch Gardens Real Music Concert Series was hosting Chubby Checker at the park. After his first show at 11:30, the park seemed to empty out, aside from a few tour groups, resulting in a very enjoyable day.
I began my trip with the Intamin launched coaster, Cheetah Hunt. It was an excellent way to start the day. Featuring a LIM launch to a banked curve out of the station, the coaster then goes from 0-60 mph straight up to the top of the “Wind Catcher” Tower. After a slow and deliberate figure 8 at the top of the hill, the coaster plummets 130′ feet, and travels along the terrain, whipping around banked turns and through caverns. There is a zero-gravity heartline roll that is among the smoothest inversions I’ve ever experienced. Towards the end of the ride, the third and final LIM-launch takes riders up over a hill, creating some unbelievable air time. I rode Cheetah Hunt twice, and after those two rides, it’s made my personal top 10 list. Of the Intamin Launched Coasters I’ve been on, this is definitely my favorite.
After Cheetah Hunt, I made my way to the Timbuktu area of the park to talk with Kelly Heckinger, Marketing Coordinator for Media Relations, and Jeff Hornick, Director of Epic Attractions and Awesomeness, to talk with them about the new Pantopia area, and Falcon’s Fury drop ride. While the details of that interview will be covered soon on Coaster101, I can go ahead and talk about how progress towards transitioning Timbuktu to Pantopia is “full steam ahead,” and at 310′ feet tall (of a final ride height of 335′), the Falcon’s Fury tower is beyond impressive to see in person. Be on the lookout for our full interview with Jeff and Kelly next week.
After the interview, I decided to revisit the first roller coaster from my childhood, Scorpion. I didn’t remember much of it, other than the fact that it had a single loop. I was presently surprised at how smooth the nearly 35-year-old coaster was. The trains had a simple lap bar restraint, despite the inversion. It was a walk-on in every sense of the term- I walked through the queue, into the station, and got on the train while it was still in the station.
Next up was Montu, the B&M invert that opened in 1996, and still holds the (now-tied) record for inversions on an inverted coaster with 7. I’ve ridden two of the coasters that share this record with Montu; Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and Afterburn (Formerly Top Gun) at Carowinds. Of the 3, Montu packs the most punch, and features the most the best themed area (Alpengeist is a close second). One thing I had never experienced before on a roller coaster was a “Batwing” inversion, and I loved the positive G-forces at the bottom of the inversion. Montu was another coaster I rode twice in quick succession, and the 14 inversions back to back was enough to make me want to take a break.
I grabbed a quick lunch, and set out toward the other side of the park to ride Gwazi, Sheikra, and Kumba. Mother Nature had other plans, at least temporarily. A central Florida rain shower popped up after I finished eating, and while it seemed like an inconvenience at the time, I’m glad that it put an extra half hour between lunch, and my next roller coaster, Gwazi.
Gwazi is the GCI wooden racing coaster that no longer races. The tiger side has been closed for a long period of time, and it appears that there are no plans to reopen it any time soon. A pathway (I assume for Quick Queue) has been built over the track in the station for the Tiger side, and the lift chain on the Tiger side looks like it has seen better days. Regardless, I got in line for Gwazi right after the rain stopped, and was able to get into the front row of the coaster after a short wait. I’ll be the first to say that wooden roller coasters aren’t necessarily “my thing,” and I only really wanted to ride Gwazi just to say that I did it. There were several great drops, but as with most wooden roller coasters, I felt like I had been in a 10 round boxing match at the end of the ride.
My fifth coaster of the day was the B&M Dive Coaster, Sheikra. Its “sister” coaster, Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, is one of my favorite coasters of all time, and in talking with Kelly Heckinger earlier, she was curious to know my opinion on Sheikra after riding both. I must say, it’s a very close race as to which coaster is a better ride. Like Griffon, Sheikra was insanely smooth, and the first drop into the Immelman loop was great. The second vertical drop underground on Sheikra was better than the similar drop on Griffon, although the drop on Griffon goes into a second immelman, while Sheikra goes into an overbanked turn. Both coasters have a “splashdown” effect before the end of the ride. I’m not sure that I’m ready to declare a winner in the race yet, and Sheikra will join Griffon in my personal top-10. (And it will be somewhere near the top.)
Last but not least, I rode Kumba, another B&M roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa with 7 inversions, including the iconic interlocking corkscrews. Kumba is Busch Gardens’ second oldest coaster, and it still runs incredibly smooth after celebrating its 20th birthday last year. Compared to other B&M sit-down steel coasters with over-the-shoulder restraints I’ve ridden (The Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal Islands of Adventure comes to mind), Kumba was glass-smooth, and as my last coaster of the day, it was a very welcome ride, after 25 inversions throughout the day.
After my last ride, I made my way to the park exit, adding 5 new coaster credits for the day. I can’t wait to get back down to Tampa, to experience Cheetah Hunt, Sheikra, Falcon’s Fury and the rest of Busch Gardens Tampa again. Hopefully it doesn’t take another 15 years to get back down there.
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