thrillseeker4552

Looks amazing, thanks for all the photos. Can't wait to visit at the end of the month. This is my first Boysenberry Festival since... 2017 I think? And the park hasn't had one since 2019 (well, a proper one with rides open, etc.) so I'm sure they're thrilled about it too!

I kinda assumed this ride would never operate again and they would quietly close it but glad to see it may open! I'm not a big fan of these rides but anything to take in more crowds and add to the park's capacity sounds good to me. I really, really want this park to get a Screamin' Swing or a Giant Discovery - they could really use some help in the flat rides department now that Iron Gwazi is open and their coaster lineup is perfectly topped off for the time being. And neither of these flats exist anywhere in Florida.

Busch Gardens' social media has been awesome lately, whoever is running that should get a raise. They are engaging and fun but still tasteful. Very happy to see this rumor get shut down. Screamscape really is clowning right now after both the Ride of Steel and Kumba removal rumors both being shut down by their respective parks because they spread so much.

It makes perfect sense that Kumba may be reaching the end of its service life. It has to be the most cycled B&M at this point. It is starting its 30th year of year-round operations in a harsh climate. Like others, when the time comes, I really hope the park does a partial or full track/train replacement ala Hulk, Nemesis, etc. Kumba is so well-integrated in the landscape and pathways and is better than most, if not all, B&M loopers built in the last decade. They just replaced a few sections of track on SheiKra (and it rides very well in that area now), so I hope this shows the park's willingness to repair and replace track on their aging steel coasters. One rough spot I could see them doing this for is the valley between the MCBR and the first corkscrew. Other than that the entire coaster is smooth, but of course I don't know how much maintenance and wear/tear there is behind the scenes that we can't notice from riding. Fingers crossed. I always take Screamscape with a grain of salt because they are definitely not always right, but they are also not always wrong either.

I mean, to be fair, all Free Spins have trims in those locations. The ride was also running in freezing temperatures and empty in some cases. I don't think it will be quite as slow under normal conditions versus what we're seeing now.

I'll be here for the first time on April 9th and 10th - after *almost* visiting in 2019 but opting to wait for Pantheon instead. Didn't think it'd be 3 years... Fingers crossed the rest of the coasters (or major ones at least) open by then. It is a weekend during one of their spring break weeks but given how the park is operating now I am not holding out hope for everything to be perfect.

I am curious to see Iron Gwazi's crowds and popularity once it officially opens. I went today and, despite being open for all passholders (which has to be a large portion of guests, right?), Iron Gwazi was a consistent 15-20 minute wait all day. The capacity is "acceptable" but not THAT good, I was expecting huge crowds today with it being much more widely accessible now that it was a few weeks ago, but it wasn't very crowded at all. I wanted to go one last time during previews because I assumed it would turn into a mess of people once it opens to the public but perhaps all the nerds and coaster geeks and thrillseeking families who want to ride it have already ridden it, and anybody else from here on out is just a casual guest who may just see it as another ride rather in the park and not totally flock to it. It was actually pretty genius on SeaWorld/Busch's part to do these very extended and tiered previews (yes, they delayed it 2 years... but give credit where credit is due I suppose). I'm sure it will cut opening day crowds and hype by a LOT and make it much more manageable.

^Very cool about the magnets! I didn't know that. This looks like a wonderful addition to the park. Screamin' Swings are fantastic flat rides (and high capacity) and I firmly believe they are an excellent addition to any park.

^I think you said it perfectly. I went for the first "real" public day (the first Platinum day on the 13th) and it was a ZOO of people. The line was monstrous. I came back days later and it was 10-20 minutes at most. I definitely didn't regret going on "opening" day but, I can't say it was super enjoyable either. It didn't help that the park had two of their major attractions closed for refurbishment anyway so even more people didn't care about exploring around the park and they just stuck by Gwazi. I had this situation with Velocicoaster's opening last summer. I was vacationing with my family and the only way we could fit in Universal was to go on June 10th (VC's opening day), or about a week later on the 18th. We opted for the 18th instead and I am so glad we did. It was obviously crowded but the initial "I gotta be first!" hype that I saw on social media had worn down by then and it was perfectly enjoyable and less crowded (for Universal's standards). So yeah, if you wanna ride Iron Gwazi on opening day, by all means do it because it's a freakin' awesome ride. But like @jedimaster1227said, get there way way early if you must.

They are checking each person's pass. If one person does not have the necessary pass, even if the rest of their group does, they are unable to ride. The park has, however, been more lax with the operating hours for Gwazi. The previews were initially advertised as 12pm to 6pm but they have been opening it with the park and taking it to park close on some days, if not most days. But if you do not have the necessary pass I would not expect to be able to ride. No word on if they are doing public soft opening days like VC but I doubt it since these previews have extended a month long and been very popular. I would not set any expectations for it. I would definitely try to get Fun Cards and go on the Fun Card days if you want to guarantee a ride.

I feel like if Dragster were to get removed, hypothetically, it would be because of the almost 2 decades of horrible reliability and terrible uptime and, presumably, extremely high maintenance costs rather than as a result of this single incident alone. I say close the ride, send all the trains and parts to Knott's, and replace with a 500-foot poler coaster. (kidding of course, but, I mean, I also wouldn't mind this...)

Wow, I didn't even know this park operated in February. Glad everyone seems to be OK despite being an uncomfortable few hours for them.

Iron Gwazi here too! I can't get enough of the ride and plan on being back on Friday.

I can proudly say it is Iron Gwazi. And that's coming from a die-hard Intamin fanboy with Velocicoaster a couple hours away. Gwazi is the absolute perfect balance of everything. It has impressive stats, is perfectly smooth, has a diverse variety of elements that are intense but not over-the-top and repetitive like Steel Vengeance. It never loses its pace and it ends with a bang. There isn't a dead spot or MCBR on the ride and it is the perfect length. It comes in strong with impressive positive (!!!) and negative Gs, but neither are so insane or in such strong quantities where the ride becomes difficult to re-ride. I will say that Velocicoaster is a very close second, but the slightly "meandering" first half is what keeps it behind. Gwazi is just packed full throughout the whole ride and is truly RMC's best work in my opinion.

^I had the same way of thinking. Favorite launch coaster overall is Velocicoaster, and it's not even close. My favorite single launch is Xcelerator's and always will be until I ride one of those crazy S&S ones.

I really love Premier's coasters, they are always forceful and unique and fun, but their modern trains are just ass. With or without the comfort collars. If it was a 2" bump or something then fine, but jumping up 6" immediately after touting the ride as a family coaster is just unfortunate. I would be very upset too.

Surprised there isn't more discussion on ^this. That 48" height requirement was one of their biggest, if not their biggest, marketing points. That's a huge bummer.

^Great to hear! I am hoping to make it back to the park on Friday with lower crowds (at least lower than what they were on Sunday). It is the first day for Gold pass members but I can't imagine it will have the same kind of rush as the first day of Platinum did.

^Haha yep, I stood in line and waited that one out until finally riding a little after 6pm (my third ride). That wind closure was definitely strange. Obviously it's more windy 206 feet in the air than on the ground but if they're running Falcon's Fury it makes you raise an eyebrow.

Got 3 rides on Iron Gwazi today. This thing is amazing. Yeah, it has the great airtime we expect from RMC, but I was actually very surprised by the ride's positive Gs too. I greyed out at the bottom of the first drop every time, and there are some other sweeping turns on the ride that really press you into your seat (something that a lot of RMCs don't have). The layout flows perfectly and there are no dead spots and I honestly have no complaints about the ride at all. It is my new favorite RMC, a top 5 coaster, and a WONDERFUL addition to the park. Also, for reference, I waited through the entire queue (started where the lockers are) and it took me 90 minutes, no breakdowns either and fairly regular operations with two trains. Fairly slow dispatches but they were regular. I'm sure this ride will pull quite the line, since it was a complete clusterf*ck this morning when it opened, so I'm storing that info in my head for what's a 90 minute wait haha.

Looking to visit for the first time the last week of March (it would be Sunday and Monday). I know Lightning Rod is always a crapshoot and is completely unpredictable, but how is the rest of the park in the first few weeks of opening, in terms of operations, crowds, etc.? If anyone has hotel recommendations in the area that are affordable please advise as well. I'll have my own car so I'd be willing to stay a good distance away from the park too if it's significantly cheaper.

Doesn't it have something to do with Sansei owning both S&S and Vekoma, with S&S handling the coasters over here and Vekoma for the ones in Europe/Asia? I thought I read that somewhere but it could be a load of crap too. I'd love to see a new gen Vekoma here. Lots of parks could use a modern, unique traditional sit-down looper.

Anyone have a hotel recommendation near Busch Gardens Williamsburg? I am also debating if I should drive there (from central Florida) or fly. A few weeks ago I saw direct Frontier flights from MCO to Norfolk, VA for under $100 but checking now, they have tripled or quadrupled in price. I'm going in mid-April. If I fly it would probably be an extended-weekend thing, if I drive I would probably make close to a week out of it. Just wondering if anyone else has thoughts or recommendations for staying in the area. Whether I drive or fly, I will either have my car or a rental car so I'm mainly looking for affordability/quality rather than immediate location near the park.

Managed to get 3 rides on Ice Breaker today - in the front, middle, and back. I will say that all seats have strong airtime. I think I preferred the front seat almost only because of the step-up into the top hat (VERY strong airtime), but the back was better for the spike and the pull down the top hat. I would say the back half of the layout is pretty similar in all seats. The turnaround is quite good too. It's a fun ride that fits very well into the park's lineup. I personally still prefer all 3 B&Ms in the park but Ice Breaker is a pretty high-thrill family coaster, I think it will surprise a lot of people who don't know much about the ride. They were also pumping out trains pretty well. Not perfect but it has a much better capacity than the single-train Sky Rocket IIs. The line was always moving at a pretty steady pace, and at least from my observations it is quite reliable too - no breakdowns that I noticed for the several hours I was in the area waiting/riding. Happy to finally have this open and if nothing else, it also looks great and is fun to watch.

This perfectly summarizes my feelings about Steel Vengeance. I enjoy the ride but... yeah... ^this captures it perfectly. Luckily Iron Gwazi doesn't seem to "try too hard" like Steel Vengeance and ends after an appropriate amount of elements (a good variety, too) rather than the buckbuckbuckbuck of SV. I honestly think I will prefer Gwazi based on what I know about its layout but we'll see in 2 weeks!