Busch Gardens Tampa - 12/11/23 - With Iron Gwazi!

[Gazza]

Busch Gardens Tampa - 12/11/23

https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/busch-gardens-tampa

(Plenty of photos)

 

3rd time back to this park, which remains one of the best rounded in the US, with pretty decent theming, impressive coasters and a good collection of Animal exhibits too. Perhaps the one thing that has gone backwards is the operations. Previously Busch parks were usually pretty rock solid with operations, but this time around you'd encounter one train ops and sluggish speeds which kind of surprised me! 

Arriving at the Moroccan themed entrance:

Its right there next to the entrance, so of course I started off with Iron Gwazi

Wow, what to say, this ride is crazy. More intense than my previous favourite, Hakugei, but IMO more imaginative than Steel Vengeance.

Pretty wild how they have made a hypercoaster out of what was once a pair of 28m high dueling coasters, and it almost looks bodgy how they have added extra steel tubes to hold up the ride.

Once the muck around of the loading is done, a steel drop and turn out of the station leads to the huge lift. The first drop is out of control, being slightly steeper than vertical, a true freefall. From there you come up and up onto a huge outward banked hill, down and around an up to another apex, followed by a roll that spirals towards the ground. The pace continues with a quick flick into an overbanked turn, and then an element I wasn't really aware of, a drawn wave turn that crosses over the front of the station.

The rest of the ride is a bit lower (relatively), banking and dipping around, really throwing you out of your seat.  Frequently you look at the messed up looking track ahead and wonder how on earth the train is going to get through it with the speed it is carrying, but somehow does.

The finale really shines, with a zero g stall, and then an airtime hill where it has double humps at the top, perhaps the most agressive airtime in the ride. A couple of turns later and you hit the brakes with plenty of speed.

So there you have it, its neck and neck between this and Velocicoaster.

Continuing around the park, I grabbed a ride on Tigris, another one of those Premier SkyRocket coasters.

Turns out I've been on half of the ones operating worldwide, Ill recycle my review from the one at Sarkanniemi:

A punchy launch, really fast vertical twist, good pop of airtime as you transition at the top, then a fun heartline roll. The 2nd half rapidly picks up speed as you dive down again, with more air in the non inverted loop. So despite looking quite simplistic from the outside, it's  quite forceful and varied. I disagree that it is anything like Buzzsaw.

Continuing around, it was time for Falcons Fury

Along with Ikaros, would be my favourite dark ride. There's nothing like being slowly rotated to face the ground, and then freefalling, seeing it rush up towards you.

It was telling though that it was virtually a walk on all day. They probably overbuilt the thing, with capacity for 32 people, so would take time to actually get enough passengers to cycle it.

 

I had hoped to ride the new Serengeti Flyer, but every time I went by it was closed, and I don't recall seeing it operate all day. 

The other new coaster I had to ride was Cobras Curse, a unique Mack Spinning coaster with short little 2 car trains where everyone faces the same way. Also had a nifty conveyor belt loading system (Wouldn't it be great if Scooby got this!)

The queue goes through a well themed queue with an archeological exploration theme.

The ride has a vertical lift like scooby in front of a giant cobra statue, with some cringe audio, but what was interesting was they figured out a way to keep the platform level as it ascends (though it does shake a bit as a result).

It's a ride of 3 parts. The first third is forwards with a first drop and couple of quick turns. The next third is backwards around a couple of helices, and the final 3rd has actual spinning, through 3 horseshoe turns in a row.

I think it must have the energy efficiency of a brick though, its a large drop, but it seems to run out of momentum after a few turns. There's a 2nd lift to give it a bit more height, but even after that its slowing down by the end.

 

The ride does look great, and integrates well with the theming, but perhaps a bit mid overall.

By that point I was just about around the park so it was time for a few re-rides on some old favourites, starting with Montu

Get out there and ride some of these older B&Ms, they really keep their pace up, and alternate between hard pulling inversion and hard pulling turns. Montu is extra interesting, with a few elements sunk into trenches, themed like Egyptian ruins.

Cheetah Hunt

So it wasn't until it was pointed out to me that the first element is supposed to be like a giant tree that a cheetah is jumping in and out of. I think maybe at the early stages it was meant to be an actual themed tree, but of course the reality of budgets means it is what it is.

A decent launch coaster, but perhaps a bit more drawn out and less intense than the others, since a lot of the ride is this big long run with shallow drops in and out of trenches, though there is a slalom, barrell roll and airtime hill towards the back of the layout that amp it up a bit.. I think the likes of Taiga, Toutatis, and even our Superman Escape eclipse it.

SheiKra

Was my favourite in the park last time, and probably still is, with its huge scale, hang time through the elements, and just the sense of fun with such a large group of riders screaming together in the front row, with kids on the ground being soaked by the water splash.

Kumba

Still holds up, with its non stop elements perfectly sequenced to flow into each other, and runs pretty well still.

Scorpion

Another ride type you should get out and see while you can are these old schwarzkopf looping coasters. They were ahead of their time, with fun well designed layout and lots of intensity. Always wondered why Arrow sold more rides than these guys. There are plenty of bad arrows, but no bad Schwarzkopfs.

 

Serengeti Express Train

One thing I have never done until now. It's quite a long ride, and the only way to really see the animals on the open range section up close (Rhino Rally is long gone, and I wasn't gonna fork out for one of the safari tour feeding experiences)

 

 

As the day wound to a close I checked out a few of the Animal exhibits, wish I had allowed more time for them, since they are genuinely excellent, and typically slightly off the main paths which makes them a quiet escape.

And a couple of night rides on Iron Gwazi, fully warmed up. Wahooo!

And a few more photos....

 

 

 

Edited January 29 by Gazza

[downunder]

Back row late at night (during Howl O Scream) on Iron Gwazi blew my mind.

Personally I think the Premier Sky Rockets are vastly superior to sky loops like Buzzsaw.

They don't make B & Ms like Montu and Kumba anymore. Arguably (as sum of all parts) the best coaster line up in Florida, and one of the best in America.

[Dean Barnett]

The fact that Veloci and Iron Gwazi are like an hour drive away from each other is such a treat.

[REGIE]

Iron Gwazi Is such a beautiful looking coaster.  It's unique shape is unreal.