YoshiFan

Small park update, first the good news. Tigris has had its comfort collars removed. Like Ice Breaker, seat belts were added but it should be a much more comfortable ride now. Congo Rapids usually closes for annual maintenance around this time each year. It's still open for now and with the temperature getting up to 87 degrees today, it was nice to have it open. After some rides had 2 - 3 hour waits the past 2 weeks, with schools back open those same rides were back to being a walk on or 5 minute wait. Now for the other updates that aren't so good. Cheetah Hunt is still closed and now both Sheikra and Falcon's Fury are closed for annual maintenance. I know in a year round park rides are going to need to be closed at times but with the flume, Scorpion and Sand Serpent removed the past 3 years with only Phoenix Rising added, there is not a lot open. Cobra's Curse was down for most of the first half of the day and Serengeti Flyer having a breakdown, that left 10 rides open. Iron Gwazi added more lockers about 4 weeks ago. My last visit prior to today was the last day they weren't required. No phones, keys or other loose items can be taken on the ride. A 2 hour rental is $4, an all day moveable rental is $12. With rumors of both Sheikra and Tigris the next rides to get this policy, it's going to add up a lot for a frequent visitor. Some people think this is just a temporary fix and free lockers will be added eventually like Cedar Point did with Top Thrill 2 but I don't think that's happening. After the test in October, if they were going to add free lockers, they would have done it when new lockers were just added and not more pay ones. Taken during Christmas Town but I wanted to show the lights added to the Sky Ride cars. The lights are still there with the battery packs under the seats and hopefully they will be used all year. Unlike Scorpion that stood for around a year before being demolished, the flume is completely gone.

I’m happy to report Iron Gwazi is back to running 2 trains. Dispatches taking around 2 1/2 minutes and the park is more crowded than usual with a lot of school groups and it being the first day of Christmas Town. The wait is still only around 15 minutes.

Unfortunately no, I heard possibly not until December. One of the trains is taken apart right outside the work area under the brake run. I also forgot to mention that they are temporarily having everyone go through the Quick Queue entrance and then there is someone there directing people back to the main line if they don't have Quick Queue with the first part of the main queue closed off to have more lockers installed.

I stopped in for another short visit yesterday. Cheetah Hunt has been closed for over a week. The Sky Ride has reopened and the carousel's walls are down so it looks like that will be reopening soon as well. Iron Gwazi had 4 people checking restraints which really helped dispatches but unfortunately when I was about to ride, the train had a sensor issue with a restraint in another car and that shut down the ride for the rest of the day. Hopefully they keep 4 people checking restraints since it would have been less than a 15 minute wait if the ride had not broken down. Sheikra was also running 2 trains that was not expected. Not counting the time spent at Iron Gwazi without riding, in the last 70 minutes the park was open I was able to ride Sheikra twice, Kumba, Phoenix Rising, Sky Ride and Cobra's Curse. The tree is up ahead of Christmas Town starting next week. I'm looking forward to later closing times and Iron Gwazi night rides. The relocated kids rides were testing.

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.