w. josh

No chase lights, Scott. And I think you're right about the tracks being combined - that's the story I've heard, anyway...

Just wanted to throw up a couple of photos and a brief review of DBH after my first (several) rides last night. It's taken me six years of living in Florida to actually get over to Ft. Lauderdale/Palm Beach/Miami/Dania/wherever the hell you want to consider this guy a part of, but a business trip finally gave me an excuse to get in a few rides. First the quick review: I corralled a coworker so as not to be Sad and Pathetic, got us hopelessly lost for a few minutes (Mapquest is teh suck), and then, finally found Boomer's smack dab in the middle of the ghetto. We bought the unlimited ride wristband - which has been raised, at least temporarily, to $12 - and spent the next hour or so getting in 7 rides (2 front, 2 middle, 3 back). All rides except the first were in the dark. Aaaand, I have a new favorite woodie. Considering my ride count, that doesn't mean much, but man, this thing is fun. Ridiculous airtime, pretty smooth (especially since the condition of the trains and general demeanor of the ride ops doesn't exactly scream "we heart maintenance!"), and one of the scariest headchopper effects I've ever experienced. Just an awesome ride. I didn't take too many photos - the general layout of the place really only allows for a couple of different angles, and I wanted to actually, you know, ride the damn thing - but the few I got are TPR EXCLUSIVE super-specials, so let's have at it: Wooden coaster, bug-attracting floodlights, and miniature golf - does the fun ever stop? Artsy structure shot. Blurry squiggly layout. Curvy turny thing. I'm awesome at naming elements. More lifthill for the fetishists... Shiny car + lifthill + dusk = hotness? Through the (Florida's scrubby little excuse for) trees! Yep, that's where we are.

As stated above: if you're in it for the coasters, BGA in a heartbeat. Montu, Kumba, and SheiKra are all world class rides, and there are, depending on your tastes, at least a couple of other worthy coasters (Scorpion, Cheetah Chase, and, if you hit them on a good day, the Gwazis). The zoo aspect has been toned down a little in the last few years - no more alligators under coasters - but is still a great selling point if you like that sort of thing. IoA is more of an all-around experience, though. Amazing theming, great variety of rides/shows, great food, and great rides, including two awesome water rides. It does tend to get incredibly crowded in the summer, though; much moreso than Busch Gardens, in my experience, and I really try to avoid Universal/IoA until the fall even though I live <2 hrs. away. If you're planning a one-time visit to the area in the summer, I'd honestly lean towards BGA - lighter crowds, better coasters, more shade, free booze if you're legal...for a spring/fall trip, I'd probably suggest IoA, or better yet, a couple of days (at least) split between Universal/IoA/Sea World.

I'm planning to hit DBH for the first time in a couple of weeks, as I've got a business trip to Ft. Lauderdale June 19-20. Looks awesome, especially since Gwazi's my only steady woodie fix here on the other coast. Quick question - the website says they're open until midnight on weekdays - can anyone say if they actually run the coaster that late? I probably won't be able to get there until 8-9 PM on Tuesday, and I'd like to get in a few rides...

Parks I've already hit this year: Sea World Orlando (2 trips) Universal/Islands of Adventure (4 trips) Busch Gardens Africa (2 trips) Cedar Point (the big vacation - first time) Plans for the rest of the year, other than a few more trips to BGA and IoA: Six Flags over Georgia (I grew up in GA but haven't been since the late 90's, so I've got Scorcher, Batman, Superman, and Goliath to pick up) Wild Aventures (yay credit whoring!) Animal Kingdom (for EE) And a business trip to Miami in a couple of weeks will include a trip to Boomers for Dania Beach Hurricane. 2007 is when the fun really starts, with SFMM, KBF, Disneyland/DCA, Dollywood, BGE, and PKD all on tap...

The lack of love for Kraken makes me a sad boy. I love Montu and SheiKra, I really like Hulk and Kumba, and I like RnR and Python: but just thinking of Kraken makes me feel funny in my bathing suit area...

Wait, SheiKra has no airtime? What the hell did I ride?! Seriously, though, I wonder if this is one of those definition-type things. Because I definitely got (what I would call) air on both vertical drops. Honestly, I would have said "no airtime" too until getting a back seat ride. There's a tremendous amount of airtime, especially on the second drop, in the back; but if you've only gotten rides in the front two rows, I don't know if you'd really notice.

There are a couple of SheiKra billboards on I-4 that now say "Busch Gardens Africa", actually, but other than that, yeah, everything still says "Tampa".