rcrider4

It would normally be here http://seaworldparks.com/en/buschgardens-tampa/attractions/exclusive-park-experiences/ but it's not currently available.

Yeah Busch calls them uplift wheels. It's not a slip of the tongue.

Nothing more than "2016" so far. No full POV yet. Just the teaser video with clips of the ride. I have read both 2 elevator lifts as well as one elevator lift and one traditional lift. Not sure which is right.

That was actually an interview with Travis Claytor, a park spokesperson, not Mark Rose.

Hope, sadly Akbar has been sitting empty since it was shut down, being used only during Howl-O-Scream as one of the houses.

Where is everybody getting an indoor section from looking at the plans? All I see is an indoor queue and station, followed by heading outside for the ride. That's what lines up with the plans to me

Scarabs would be a plausible theme. My mind also wandered to a Cobra theme, but after thinking on it for a few seconds...I highly doubt it. I think it would be really cool if they built mock pyramids and had the course interact heavily with that. I've heard Cobra themed going around also, so I wouldn't be surprised.

^^lol but I don't think they could get away with that quite so easily being open year round.

It's definitely something with a track to it. The rumor is a Mack Spinning coaster.

It has been since 1989. Not exactly news. Nope. I don't understand why, but they have never ran in anything but a 1 train operation. They do have 2 trains, and every once in a while the second train will be sitting on the storage track, but mostly it is away in maintenance somewhere. Yep, you definitely didn't get to ride Gwazi if you think that

Going by the past few days, busy, but not summer busy. Don't ride Cheetah Hunt until after 2-3pm and you should be fine with everything else.

Looks like the rest of the slides in your photos got a new coat of paint too. Good thing, don't want the older slides looking too bad compared to the new one

Because unless there is an event, the default park hours are 10-6 on weekdays and 10-7 on weekends. Summer Nights doesn't start until June 27th, so until then, they just stick to their default hours. Summer Nights used to start at the beginning of June, but starting last year, I'm guessing due to the cutbacks, they pushed the starting date back.

Sadly, Fun Spot just removed their Air Race to make way for a new attraction last month. I was really looking forward to riding it last month, but when I got there, they were already in the process of disassembling it.

If on a weekday while school is in, you should have no problem doing everything multiple times. On a weekend, it depends on if there are any events, like the upcoming Food & Wine festival. For the coasters, unless you are there before opening and run to it, ride Cheetah Hunt in the middle of the day around 2:30-3:00. Everyone goes there first and last, so to avoid the crowd, go in the middle of the day. Everything else is mostly steady throughout the day. Animals are just exhibits with no line, so do them whenever you want. For food, there is a pizza and pasta buffet just west of Gwazi that is a good deal if you are a big eater. Zagora Cafe has a nice array of sandwiches and such. Zambia Smokehouse is where you want to go if you want anything BBQ. It is absolutely amazing, the best place to eat in the park, but it is a little bit pricier. As for shows, Iceploration is definitely worth a watch, as is Opening Night Critters. The MoTown show at Marrakesh Theater is good, but only if you have time to spare. Madagascar is only good if you have small children. Same with Sesame Street.

Phoenix is in its yearly maintenance right now

Yep. It is slightly different in layout than Water Country's due to differing dimensions though. The Pantopia Grill, being rebranded the Dragonfire Grill, is also under construction to become a more food court-esque option, like Expedition Cafe at SeaWorld.

The train varies even throughout the day, but it shouldn't be more than 30-45 minutes between trains. Tidal wave gets you pretty wet, while on Congo it ranges from not a drop to absolutely soaking wet. There is a gift shop next to Congo that sells ponchos, and I believe there is one by Tidal Wave also, but with the prices you pay for it, I highly recommend buying them outside of the park. They usually come in packages small enough to fit into even a large pocket. You are going during the off season while school is in on a weekday. You should have absolutely no problem with lines and will be able to do everything multiple times. Don't worry about planning it and just do what you feel like doing. There are healthier options such as flatbreads and salads at almost all of the restraints there. You should have no problem finding healthier options for food. Iceploration and Opening Night Critters are wonderful shows that you should definitely see. Madagascar is OK if you have kids with you, but don't make a point to see it if you don't. As for animals, you should have no problem having enough for time for all of the rides and the animals. If you get there around opening and head straight to the animal care center in Nairobi, there might be a procedure going on there. There isn't always something going on, but if there is, it's almost guaranteed to happen around 10:30-11:30am.

Not exactly a theme park, but I went to the FL State Fair this year on Student Day, and I will never do that again. The kids started doing something called "wilding" which is where they stampede around the fair and start major fights (it has a lot of gang activity in it). They were yelling, fist fighting, throwing cinder blocks at people (no, I'm not kidding there), stealing prizes from the games hosts. They shut down the fair early and the place was crawling with police ejecting and arresting people, but they were massively overwhelmed. Getting out of there was one of the scariest situations I have ever been in. Of course we were in the back of the fair when this started so we had to go through the entire place to get to our exit. Here is a local news story about it that shows some clips of the beginnings of it when they were just stampeding. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

By living in Florida But really, the only time I have ever gone to BGT when it was really cold was this year on New Years. It was 50° and sprinkling all day, though never enough to shut anything down. It was pretty cold being damp and going on a ride, but just closing up the drawstring on my jacket was enough to make it bearable. Plus the fact there was only 200-300 people in the whole park meant there was no lines for anything.

The layout is slightly altered from the Virginia one, but yeah, it is the same basic ride.

So excited. Adventure Island has been neglected for so long.

Please tell me that this means that Adventure Island is finally getting something new. It's been almost 9 years since they have added anything. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

Does anyone here know if Busch Gardens employees get free parking when they go to SeaWorld's other parks? I know they get free admission, but I can't find anything about parking.

Not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, I probably wasn't going to pay the extra money to go, after all, I didn't in the past, but I also think that having it be included in normal admission will make it a lot more crowded.