So we finally got the chance to visit Busch Gardens Tampa and midweek in February is definitely the way to go.
Most coasters were a walk on and we managed to hit Cheetah Hunt and Cobra's Curse right off the bat since we figured they would be the longest waits, but even later in the day, those would show as 20 minute waits. We loved our first time at the park, but it definitely seems like the park is in flux at the moment. The Sky Ride, which looks like it would have been awesome, sat closed, along with Kumba.
Sheikra was also closed, though they were working quite hard on it, with workers on cherry pickers and using cranes throughout the ride with others working and diligently repainting the ride.
It was tough seeing a Schwarzkopf beauty in Scorpion standing, but not operating, in the middle of the park. Though they say the ride is retired, it has sat there since its closure last September. Large portions of the back of the park are cordoned off. The train ride is currently a one way loop around the Serengeti Plain. Some of the animal enclosures are kind of depressing, including the kangaroos and the elephants, which I think could use significantly more natural space to move around.
With all of that said, it is still a lovely park and we had a great time. Most of the animal enclosures offer ample space and have thoughtful placement around the park for exciting and relaxing places to walk around. Montu, Cheetah Hunt, and Iron Gwazi are all excellent and top tier rides in my opinion, Tigris and Cobra's Curse are very good. and Phoenix Rising has a great layout, but would be way better without that newer B&M rattle. The brand new family invert feels terrific until the last part of the ride, where the vibration presents itself in feeling it reverberate almost vertically as opposed to side to side like you find on their wider tracked rides. Montu rode smooth as glass here in its 29th year. I am not sure what is going on with B&M since about Banshee, but that rattle is odd and headache inducing. They need to look at their older coasters and figure out what is going on with their new ones.
Montu is an absolute top tier ride. Every time I have stated that Alpengeist is my favorite invert, people usually state that Montu is their favorite. I finally rode Montu and was not disappointed. It is a fantastic and perfect ride. I still like Alpengeist a bit more, since I really love the high flying acrobatics of that ride, but Montu is the best of both worlds and feels like B&M hitting the next level on inverts after the construction of Raptor, improving upon the rougher spots that I still really enjoy, like the corkscrew after the MCBR of Raptor and instead having a beautiful little Batman style loop.
Montu is the natural progression after Raptor, with having more height and larger inversions and speed than the Batman clones, but still having some of the smaller and snappier elements and inversions, and it is just a terrific ride all around. My favorites list on inverts is now (all of which I love except for Banshee), off the top of my head of the ones I can think of riding:
1) Alpengeist
2) Montu
3) Afterburner
4) Raptor
5) Silver Bullet
6) Batman Clones
7) Talon
8) Great Bear
9) Both Dueling Dragons
...and the only one I don't really care for is Banshee because of its transitions being long and drawn out instead of snappy, and the vibration of the train through the course of the ride.
Montu is a terrific ride and my overall favorite coaster at the park. An absolutely perfect ride without a single complaint about it. The layout is relentless, intense, fast, and just an absolute onslaught of greatness. It rides smooth as butter, which is impressive after 29 years of service. I love how they created a bunch of underground areas like you are going down into a pyramid or temple. It adds so much to the ride having that kind of visual theming, something I would love to see more parks do to up the experiences of their rides. As far as any genre goes, I really feel like B&M inverts have the most consistently great quality of any of the genres of coasters. They are typically such a spectacular centerpiece of whatever midway they are. They are interactive between the riders and the guests on the midway. They are just visually spectacular in a way that no other ride really accomplishes. Their capacity is terrific with multiple train operations and adequately speedy ride operators. Inverts consistently have the highest seasonal rider throughput in any park they are installed in. I would love to see large custom inverts make a comeback again, especially in the Six Flags parks that have Batmans.
Cheetah Hunt is the first ride we rode as we entered the park, since we figured the line would be the longest later in the day, knowing how slow the throughput is on its closest Intamin launcher sibling, Maverick. It does not seem to have as slow a throughput as Maverick. Intamin appears to have improved upon that design in regards to efficiency with Cheetah Hunt. I would classify this coaster as a family launcher, especially when compared to the extreme intensity of other Intamin launchers of that era like Maverick and Storm Runner. Cheetah Hunt is an absolute blast. We laughed the whole time. Not intense, gentle elements, and really scenic. A smooth and graceful ride with several great pops of airtime. The limited intensity of this ride made the lousy old horse collar over-the-shoulder restraints not too uncomfortable, with minimal neck banging, though the ride would benefit with the newer style belt shoulder restraints they have added to Storm Runner and Maverick. Otherwise, I would say this is a perfect ride.
I love the first launch into that gentle overbanked turn and then that second launch into that spectacular set of turns at the top. As I look at RCDB, apparently that element is called a "Windcatcher Tower." I love it! High flying and slow maneuvers like that are something I really like on coasters.
You don't often see high flying elements like that, especially ones that go slow like that. It really builds anticipation and excitement on the ride. Then the rest of that layout is so much fun!
I really like where it goes down into the water. They took so much great care on this ride aesthetically in every way, right down to the large and shaded station that is kept cool, which was apparently repurposed from previous attractions. You just don't see huge signature stations like that anymore, especially ones that take cooling off from the heat into consideration. This is a perfect centerpiece coaster for the park. One that most guests can enjoy.
I really liked the signature 00s and early 10s signature Intamin, low to the ground set of zig zag urns like you see on both Maverick and El Toro. It goes through them more slowly so they are not quite as intense, but they are so much fun. The third launch section also seems to come out of nowhere. You seldom see such a large attraction get built gently enough to be a great family ride like this. I really feel like Busch Gardens and Intamin hit it out of the park with this one. Not many coasters come to mind when it comes to being both family coasters and large rides like this. I can think of rides that seem to have been unintentionally built as gentle family rides, like the latest generation of RMC single rails like Jersey Devil, but they are not nearly as smooth as Cheetah Hunt. Overall, this coaster is such a winner.
I don't usually buy into the hype that the RMC fanboys have, since most of their rides are generally a letdown for me, but Iron Gwazi is the exception. Just like Montu and Cheetah Hunt, this ride is pretty much perfect. The only complaint I have is the god awful trains and restraints that RMCs have. I saw several people get turned away from riding on each ride, and these were not large people. Their restraints are so miserably uncomfortable and not very accommodating for guests. When you have 2-3 people turned away from each ride, you have a problem. I do not understand how RMC built so many rides like this yet never worked on improving their lousy trains. Aside from this gripe, this ride has a perfect layout. This is something I have never said about an RMC before. The only RMCs that I really enjoyed are Twisted Colossus and Goliath at Six Flags Great America. I enjoy Steel Vengeance but there are numerous sections that are pretty uncomfortable and sections where the layout feels pretty uninspired.
This one, dare I say, is top tier. Mind blown. Pure perfection in a layout. Unlike Steel Vengeance, Iron Gwazi has airtime throughout the entire first drop in every row. The entire layout offers extreme airtime, with the best being in the backseat. The layout is relentless. No forceless inversions like every other RMC I have ridden. The zero g thing on this one is not boring like it is on most of their other installations. The second drop is probably my favorite element aside from the first drop on the ride. The sideways airtime hill is so sweet. Most elements provide terrific airtime and visuals. Most of the elements are high flying, which is what I like most about RMCs designs. What blew my mind the most about the ride were the abundant head and arm chopper elements with seemingly endless crossovers and additional wooden structure providing unexpected close interactions near the crests of hills.
Ridiculously tall, fast, and intense. It actually lived up to the hype in my opinion. It is my favorite of the RMC steel coasters, by far. I rode it in most rows with only the front row having a wait and the rest either being walk ons or re rides, which was the case for most of the rides on this visit. My first ride on the thing was a walk on for the backseat. This coaster blows away pretty much every RMC for me. Ranking is tough here. It is definitely top 15 ish. I clearly hold coasters like Fury 325, Magnum, Phantom, Superman at SFNE, Nitro, both Supermans at SFA and Darien, Alpengeist, Montu, Tatsu, and Lightning Run over it, but this is one heck of a coaster.
I am a definitely a fan of Premier Sky Rocket II models, so I naturally enjoyed Tigris. I really enjoy this fun design. I would love to see them create a custom extended layout of these, but as they are, they are like having a really fun flat ride. The new Premier custom launcher coming to Canada's Wonderland this year looks terrific. I think these Sky Rocket II coasters are so much fun. I would love to see more of them come around to some smaller parks, these and the S&S launched models like GaleForce at Playland's Castaway Cove in Ocean City, NJ. The footprints on these are really small and they pack in a lot of thrill into that.
Cobra's Curse is a really quirky coaster that is a ton of fun. Its placement along the Serengeti Plain gives awesome views of the animals. The elevator lift is disorienting, and the straight track sections are a ton of fun. Then it spins and locks you in backwards and then free spins.
It is a really fun ride and I would love to experience the other spinners that Mack has out there. I believe this is the second of their spinning designs that we have ridden after Shredder at Nickelodeon Universe in Jersey. The whole layout is so creative, fun, and thrilling. Such a thoughtful layout in a really tiny footprint Also, extra props to the park for creating an indoor queue with cooling aspects and displays. It is great to see parks take guest comfort into consideration in creating a place to stand that it out of the sun and heat.
As for the park's newest coaster, Phoenix Rising, I thought the layout was perfect. Zippy with cool elements that pack a lot of thrill for something labeled as a family coaster. The problem though, as mentioned earlier, is that it has that phantom rattle that newer B&Ms have had over the last 10 years or so. With the trains hanging from a single point on the train instead of being spread out, the rattle manifests itself in vertical manner in the last third of the ride's layout, and it is immediately headache inducing.
I do not know what the issue is here, but Montu, B&M's 29 year old invert across the park, is riding as smooth as a ride can possibly run, smooth as glass. This is a brand new ride and it is having the same problem many newer B&Ms have been having lately. I do not know if it is an issue with track fabrication, changes to trains, parts, wheels, or whatever, but something is not right here.
As far as highest quality steel coaster collection goes, Busch Gardens Tampa has to be in the conversation with a top three in steel coasters that tops most or all parks that I can think of.
