YoshiFan

It's bad when even non enthusiasts notice so many things wrong. The latest money grab is Kumba and soon to be Iron Gwazi and Sheikra have switched to a new on ride photo provider, if you bought the annual photo key or it came with the annual pass, those rides are no longer part of photo key and cost $5 each for a digital copy.

I definitely agree. I visited the park on the Friday later in the day. Sky Ride and Carousel are closed for annual maintenance. Falcon's Fury has been closed for weeks but may have reopened since then (the app shows a 5 minute wait but it isn't accurate with closed and open rides). That left the train, Serengeti Flyer and bumper cars as the only non coaster rides open while I was at the park. The rapids are open but close at 4, 2 hours before the park closes for the day. Same with the new Wild Oasis area, closed at 4. You would think that with the log flume closed, they would keep the 1 water ride they have open until at least 5 or even closing time. In addition to Iron Gwazi running 1 train, Sheikra was also running 1 train even with the wait up to 70 minutes earlier. The computer systems were also down meaning no way to get Busch Bucks or any other rewards that can't be accessed on your phone. They tried the mandatory lockers earlier last week at Iron Gwazi and it didn't go so well with not enough lockers. When I walked past the ride when leaving the park, they had the old loose article policy signs out and the metal detector was off to the side near the entrance but not in use. Even with the operational issues, for a 75 minute visit and being able to ride Kumba twice, Phoenix Rising twice and Sheikra (Quick Queue) is still good. I stayed in the back of the park because Howl O Scream visitors were allowed in at that point and the rides in the front of the park had longer lines.

There is a rumor that Iron Gwazi is getting metal detectors. Unfortunately that means having to pay $4 for a 2 hour locker or $12 for an all day moveable locker unless they unexpectedly make the lockers free.

Yeah, I guess it was just wishful thinking. Kumba is finally re-opening after being closed for over 10 months. Pass member previews start tomorrow and opens to everyone else on Saturday. From the e-mail the park sent out: " Be the First to Ride – Kumba Returns! Wednesday - Friday, Sept. 24–26 Ride Kumba before the public re-opening on September 27! FREE Ride Photo for all Pass Members Platinum Pass Members skip the line with Quick Queue access"

I'm going to be cautiously optimistic although not having too much of an expectation for how good it might be. Another dark ride will be good for something else to do when it rains.

I agree. Iron Gwazi has been getting up to 2 hour waits on the weekend because of the 1 train operation. I thought the whole point of having 3 trains when the ride can only run 2 is so 2 are always available while 1 is undergoing maintenance. The thing I find interesting is they trying to save money wherever possible with the cutting hours, closing rides, 1 train on too many coasters yet they are giving out park spending money like crazy. This month alone there has been $40 in Busch Bucks and $30 in Island Bucks for Adventure Island. That's in addition to similar amounts of park spending money the past few months and over the summer they were giving 2 bonus guest tickets out almost every week. I'd rather see less Busch Bucks and extra guest tickets and instead see better operations. I guess they expect people to spend more with the Busch Bucks and guests with the bonus tickets will buy food and merchandise. I wouldn't mind seeing that happen, at least an annual pass would be a lot less than the current costs.

Cheetah Hunt reopened today.

I visited the park on Tuesday to get my final flume rides in. Even with the ride closing, it wasn't more than a 5 minute wait. I was planning on getting more than 3 rides in but I was soaked and had enough after that. I will miss the ride as it's my favorite non coaster ride in the park and hope a new water ride is added. With tidal wave removed around 8 years ago and now the flume going, 1 water ride is not enough for a park in Florida. Sheikra was closed and the person at the entrance said it was unlikely to open the rest of the day. It's been having some more downtime than usual over the past week. Cobra's Curse was only running 3 trains. The posted wait was 5 minutes but it was probably closer to 20 with the line barely moving. Not that 20 minutes is bad for Cobra's Curse but it was the same 2 weeks ago with a 10 minute posted wait and probably a 30 minute actual wait so I would not trust the wait time sign (that could also be said for most rides in the park). Iron Gwazi is running 1 train and had a posted 45 minute wait 15 minutes before closing. I didn't wait as I was concerned by the time I exited the ride, the stores would be closed and I had another $20 in Busch Bucks to spend. From the Sky Ride, you can see 1 of Cheetah Hunt's trains stuck on the MCBR. It had been like that for a while but supposedly was moved yesterday. 2 of the kids rides that were removed from Pantopia for Phoenix Rising are being re-installed where the RC boats and monster trucks were, next to the bumper cars.

Unfortunately with the closed rides page no longer being updated, we probably won’t know until it starts testing before opening. The page was really helpful as it had the closing and reopening dates for all planned closures. As of 6 days ago, outside the ride entrance there was a sign just stating it is closed for maintenance. Kumba should hopefully be open for your visit, it’s been testing a lot this week and there are rumors it may be open this weekend. Also unrelated to that but for you and anyone else visiting the rest of the year, you might want to check the operating calendar as hours were recently cut and could affect your visit. A lot of 5 pm closings in September, October and November. No more 8 pm weekday closings for Christmas Town in November and early December either. The water park also cut Monday’s in September other than Labor Day and is closing for the season the first week in October instead of the end of October.

Wasn’t Barnstormer recently reinstalled after being removed when Looney Tunes Seaport closed? I’m surprised about that and the log flume being removed after it just was refurbished.

Even though it’s disappointing to see something that was once including costing extra now, I much prefer this as an alternative to what some other parks do where they close the park at 5 or 6 and you can’t stay for the rides without an event ticket.

I never get food at the park unless there is a pass holder reward for a free item during a food festival but you may want to reconsider eating at the park. Dragon Fire Grill was shut down by the health department and the report is not good: https://www.myfloridalicense.com/inspectionDetail.asp?InspVisitID=10899193&id=6133177

It’s a shame to see HITP gone. It was always my favorite time of year to visit with the lights everywhere, most of the coasters open and lower crowds compared to Fright Fest. Christmas Candylane at Hershey was already very crowded and now I guess more people will be going there if they want to ride coasters in December.

It feels like it. other parks are having problems too. The new Expedition Odyssey at SeaWorld supposedly already had the air conditioning break a few weeks after opening. Wild Oasis had another delay with no new opening date announced. Iron Gwazi is running 1 train for now with the other 2 trains having maintenance done. Hours were cut again this week for both Busch Gardens and Adventure Island. Over in Adventure Island they didn't have enough tubes for the lazy river so they took the single tubes from Aruba Tuba and Calypso Coaster and moved them to the river (lazy river tubes are green, slide tubes are blue). That left about 10 double tubes in use for both slides. It's frustrating to see knowing how their parks used to be run. Now the parks feel like they are run like a bad Six Flags park but not at Six Flags prices.

If you have a trip planned this month, check the park hours before going. They cut hours for the 2nd time in the last 10 days or so. Every day in June was originally posted as the park closing at 10 pm. Then Monday - Thursday were changed to 8 pm closings. Today hours for Tuesday - Thursday for this week were cut back to 7 pm closings. I also think there is a good chance the hours for July will change soon as well with weekdays having a 9 pm closing instead of the 10 pm currently listed as for the past 2 or 3 years, they cut hours without much notice and last year they closed at 9 on weekdays in July. Wild Oasis also had it's opening day moved to June 11th with pass previews from the 6th to the 10th. Originally pass previews were supposed to start on May 30th. https://buschgardens.com/tampa/kid-friendly/wild-oasis/ On a more positive note, they are really generous with the rewards this month. There is a free stuffed animal worth $24.99 in the pass holder lounge until Thursday, a free cell phone fan, then Busch Bucks and 2 extra guest tickets later in the month. Over in Adventure Island, there is $10 Island Bucks/$20 Platinum Island Bucks.