Busch Gardens Tampa: Thrillography's Great Floridian Expedition Trip Report - Part III

Thrillography's crossing a big one off the bucket list today, guys!

Today we're visiting one of the country's most beloved regional parks: Busch Gardens Tampa!

Finally visiting Busch Gardens Tampa isn't the only reason why today is a momentous occasion! 

First coaster of the day? My 700th coaster!

It of course had to be Busch Gardens' resident Schwarzkopf looper, Scorpion!

Thank you to Kim Fowler for the pictures!

Not everyone in the park was as interested in running to this gem at rope drop as I was, but that just means more Scorpion for me!

Scorpion is a rare Schwarzkopf Silverarrow. It's essentially a smaller version of Colossus The Fire Dragon at Lagoon, but with one less loop. 

Falcon's Fury is Scorpion's new partner in crime!

300ft of face-first terror!

See the person in the exact center of this photo? That's Kim!

There she is on the far right, enjoying her favorite ride in the park.

Other Pantopia exploits include Phoenix, a custom Intamin Looping Starship.

As you can see, it has this cool boat thingy instead of a rocket.

Sand Serpent. Standard Mack Wild Mouse. Check.

Exquisite Von Roll Skyride. Check.

Kumba? No check! Getting some much-needed annual TLC. 

1st gen Intamin River Rapids! Check!

And, of course, Stanley Falls! Busch Gardens' wonderful Arrow Log Flume.

Feast your eyes upon the splendor!

AND! AAAAND! This! 

At this point I'd ridden 3 B&M Dive Machines; all of them on the smaller side. SheiKra would be my first large Dive Machine

It is sooooooo wonderful. 

Of course the front seat has a great view before the dive, but the airtime in the back seat is the real breadwinner here. 

Dive Machines were already my favorite style of B&M, and now I might have a new favorite!

The second dive and the water splash are great complements to the ride's more prominent first half.

Busch Gardens did a beautiful job with this ride. 

To me, it's a pity that a certain park in Ohio didn't install any kind of thematic elements to their Dive Machine. I think they're really what make SheiKra shine!

Rooster tail!

Parrot tail.

Hah! A coaster themed to aviation! Fancy that. :}

I guess you could say these beautiful topiaries are aviation-themed also!

Take a gander at this flamboyance of flamingos! <3

I find it awkward that Busch Gardens has an entire area of the park...

...filled with attractions...

...named for a ride that was retired a year ago. 

What Busch Gardens now lacks in wooden coasters they make up for in orchids. 

Cheetah Hunt is sneaking around in the canopy above.

I'm very impressed with Cheetah Hunt. Not only is it an outstanding terrain launch coaster in general, but somehow Busch Gardens managed to jam 4,400ft of coaster into fully developed regions of the park while making it seem like it's always been there. 

The first launch is more of a teaser, bringing the train from its large station (formerly special event space).

After wrapping around a tree, Cheetah Hunt is now position for its 2nd and most powerful launch.

I'm serious. How did all of this look before this coaster was here? How did they accomplish shoehorning in such a massive attraction!? 

Just past Cheetah Hunt is Busch's newest coaster, Cobra's Curse!

Cobra's Curse is Busch Gardens Tampa's most atmospherically detailed and mechanically complicated coaster. Everything looks great, and because it's a Mack it runs like clockwork!

The family-friendly Cobra's Curse is the perfect complement to the ass-kicking Montu. 

I don't want to give too much away, but Cobra's Curse is really something! It was marketed simply as a spinning coaster, but there's a lot more to it than that. 

Rounding out the day's coasters is this genre-defining legacy B&M invert.

Montu is one that people always talk about. In the U.S. it is the standard upon which all other inverted coasters are judged. 

I'm pleased to say that even after having ridden B&M's other most critically acclaimed inverts, Montu still blew me away.

Montu is literally perfect. At 20 years old, it's still about as good an invert as anyone could possibly hope for. 

Ironically, this isn't my first outstanding blue and yellow Egyptian-themed B&M invert. And, while OzIris at Parc Asterix has the same look as Montu, and while both coasters are equally brilliant, their layouts couldn't be more dissimilar. 

Montu, Cheetah Hunt, Cobra's Curse, Kumba, and SheiKra love to dive over and under midways with the help of strategically placed network tunnels.

***RAWR***

Angry cobra does not like when his sleep is disturbed!

Crowd reactions on Cobra's Curse are Grade-A entertainment. 

Here's Montu with the element that changed the roller coaster industry forever: the Immelmann! 

Yes! This now ubiquitous coaster maneuver is now 20 years old!

With all of Busch Gardens' (operating) coasters squared away, it's time for another ride on the Sky Ride!

Cheetah is hot on our tails!

Cheetah Hunt's convoluted far turnaround in the depths of a river valley is courtesy of Rhino Rally, a Vekoma Safari Adventure ride (the only one ever built), which opened in 2001 and featured a unique water ride sequence. The safari rovers would attempt to cross a bridge over troubled water, only to have it break away mid-crossing, which would send safari-goers on a float down the river. 

Rhino Rally's river sequence was incredible, but plagued with mechanical headaches. The Rhino Rally drivers often had to bypass the river ride portion for weeks at a time while it underwent extensive maintenance. Cheetah Hunt permanently replaced the troubled sequence in 2010, and the rest of Rhino Rally retired in 2014.

Majestic Egypt off in the distance.

Aww...

The massive shuttered Gwazi is pitiful. 

Beneath us is the extensive entrails of the equally massive, equally pitiful, and equally shuttered Rhino Rally.

Fans of Busch Gardens Williamsburg may remember Sand Serpent as Wild Maus (or Wild Izzy if you went to the park in 1996; the name was part of a promotion for the Atlanta Olympics, for which Anheuser Busch was a sponsor). 

Another Cheetah cometh!

The mighty hawk SheiKra is poised to strike prey!

Now this is something I always knew existed but had never seen before: a half-way station on a sky ride! Passengers enter and exit the station with the help of ride operators  (like any sky ride), only there's no disembarking. Just be sure to greet your ride operator as you pass through! :}

Stanley Falls is a perfect little flume. Up until this year, Busch Gardens was also home to the Tanganyika Tidal Wave – an extended shoot-the-chute ride made from a retrofitted Jungle Cruise-style ride. 

Tidal Wave is just to the right of Stanley Falls, but not photographed here because it looks all sad n' stuff. 

That's three massive attractions that are all dormant. Two years ago, all of these rides were still operational to some degree. Between the abandoned attractions, incredible heat, and noticeable lack of non-coasters rides, I'm feeling a lot of Six Flags Magic Mountain parallels here. 

The similarities aren't all bad, though. Both parks have stellar steel coaster collections. I'd say Busch Gardens is a cut above Magic Mountain in terms of atmosphere. Plus there's cute animals here!

 Sand Serpent came to Busch Gardens in 2004 as "Cheetah Chase" but was renamed in 2010 to avoid confusion with Cheetah Hunt.

By a crazy stroke of luck, I managed to get 66% of the park's flat rides in one picture. 

Rhino Rally station. :{

Here comes Cheetah to cheer us up!

Busch Gardens couldn't resist putting in at least one inversion. 

*GROWL*

Watch out for that sky ride car, Cheetah!

Walked through some of the animal exhibits. For some reason I thought they would be nicer...? Prettier? Cleaner? I don't know. They get the job done, I guess. 

Hip.

Al.

Liz.

FAL!!!!!

The elephants here look cute and happy.

After a few more various re-rides and a surprise thunder storm, Kim and I decided to call it a day.

Thanks for the great time, Busch Gardens! Let's do it again soon when Kumba is open. ;}

This concludes the non-Disney portion of the Great Floridian Expedition. In fact, these two days of parks didn't come together until less than 24 hours before they came to be! 


Thank you to Kim and Jonathan for making these first two days of Florida coasters amazing! Also thanks to my work for allowing me the opportunity to snag three days off before my eight-day vacation! x}


Starting tomorrow, Hurricane Thrillography makes landfall on the Happiest Place on Earth, Walt Disney World! Get ready for a bonafide onslaught of Disney magic! <3