YoshiFan

Small update from today. Everything was open except Kumba, Iron Gwazi and the rapids. The rapids reopened a few days ago but had a breakdown yesterday or Sunday and was closed all day today. Iron Gwazi has a sign at the entrance that the ride is closed for annual maintenance. Whether that is really true or it was just closed for the day is unkown as they sometimes leave those signs out for a temporary closure and there is no way to find out with the closed rides page removed. Sheikra was running 2 trains, rare for a day besides Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They also are being more strict about re-rides. You can re-ride once and then have to walk around even with rows going out completely empty. I noticed the same at SeaWorld earlier this year. I found out that the log flume and bumper cars close early when the park is open past 6. I knew they opened late but didn't know they closed early too. Platinum Passholders were supposed to get $20 in Busch Bucks this month. It was lowered to $10 after showing $20 as an April reward for months. That's not the first time they changed or removed a reward at the last minute, last summer there was a free guest ticket for Adventure Island in July that they also removed as a listed reward at the end of June.

Good to see a new coaster being added to the park. I hope that it can run 2 trains. I visited the park for the first time in January and was surprised how many low capacity attractions there are. It was a weekday and crowds were very light so it wasn't really an issue except for Pirate River Quest and Coast Guard Academy but on a crowded day it probably be frustrating.

I think they are trying to save money with cutbacks anywhere possible. They removed trams on weekdays a few months ago until they got so many complaints they brought them back. Most rides did not have anyone at the entrance since around September except during more crowded times. Scorpion closed 6 months ago and the train is still on the tracks. Park hours have been cut back with little to no notice. It's not much better at Adventure Island. Today 4 out of 9 slide towers were closed and some of the open slide towers had half the slides closed. They are selling Quick Queue but some of the Quick Queue lines are closed. They advertised they would be open year round and how the water is heated. I don't blame them for giving up on the idea of being open year round as the times I have been there in October and November, it was empty. Today the water was very cold and I'm guessing they are not heating the water to save money. They also ran out of the pass holder towel clips and it's the 3rd day of the season that they are open. On a more positive note, from the water park I could see Sheikra was testing. Serengeti Flyer was also using both swings, I haven't seen that in months. ^ I agree it can still be fun on a low crowd day. It is nice to be able to stop in for a 2 hours and get a bunch of coaster rides when everything is running.

When was it open? As the train passed the coaster today, the person at the microphone didn't say anything about Kumba (it was closed) compared to rides like Sheikra and the rapids where they stated they should be reopening again in the next few days. I hope it is open again but thought it hasn't reopened since being closed in November. In addition to removing the closed rides web page, the park also removed the closed rides board at the entrance. They say to check the app but it's not accurate at all. Iron Gwazi has been running 1 train and Cheetah Hunt has been closed on and off since Thursday or Friday. The Sky Ride also re-opened last week but was closed today due to wind. The parking lot wasn't that full but Cobra's Curse, Cheetah Hunt (when open) and Iron Gwazi all had long lines with the closures and other breakdowns. They at least were running 2 trains on Montu so that was a 5 minute wait most of the day.

Wow, that basically erases the annual pass discount for the lower tiers. Now with them being strict about combining SeaWorld Bucks as well, it makes it a lot more frustrating.

The park got rid of the updates for closed rides, with what is closed and scheduled to be closed: https://buschgardens.com/tampa/park-info/ride-attraction-schedule/ I guess they didn't want people to see that 40% of the non kids ride in the park are closed.

It's not open, the app is wrong as it often is unfortunately. It also shows the flume is open and that is closed. Right now the following are closed: Sheikra, Kumba, Cobra's Curse, Falcon's Fury, Skyride, Flume, Rapids. Falcon's Fury has been closed for around a week.

I agree, it gets frustrating to visit both parks because of the operations and lack of rides. I was recently looking at BGW's ride collection and saw they had almost twice as many rides (not counting kids rides) as BGT. BGT could use some flats and a dark ride to help spread out crowds. Kumba and Congo River Rapids are still closed and not supposed to be reopening anytime soon (rumor is Kumba has a broken lift motor and the rapids needs a new pump) and now Sheikra and the log flume are having their annual maintenance with both supposedly closed until March. Even with those 2 rides open until today, these past few weeks had some of the highest wait times ever for some coasters with Cheetah Hunt and Iron Gwazi both having up to 4 hour posted waits.

Kumba has been closed for a few weeks now, Montu and Cheetah Hunt are now on the closed rides list: https://buschgardens.com/tampa/park-info/ride-attraction-schedule/ To have 3 major coasters down right as it's about to be the most crowded time of the year is going to be interesting. That leaves a total of 10 rides open in the entire park that aren't kiddie rides. Unfortunately, they aren't adjusting operations to run the open rides at a higher capacity. There could have been more than a few hundred cars in the lot this afternoon yet Sheikra still was close to a 40 minute wait because they were only running 1 train.

Serengeti Flyer has re-opened. There was a sign at the train stations on Friday night that they are planning to re-open it soon as they are still dealing with damage from the hurricane. It was also a nice surprise to see the Skyride operating until park closing at 8:00. Usually it closes a few hours before the rest of the park. Montu and Sheikra were also running 2 trains, I can't remember the last time I saw Montu running 2 trains on a weekday.

If it is true, I'll miss Kingda Ka. I became an enthusiast towards the end of 2004 and was following the construction of the coaster. I thought it was amazing that the world's tallest and fastest coaster was going to be less than an hour away from me. It wasn't my favorite ride in the park but the launch was unlike anything else I had experienced. I may even be more disappointed about Zumanjaro likely being removed too. Of all the drop towers I have ridden, it's easily my favorite.

I still remember visiting in 2000 with my school. For some reason as part of a 3 day trip, they planned 8 hours at Animal Kingdom and only 4 hours at Epcot. With just the safari, Dinosaur, Kali River Rapids and the Discovery River boats, we ran out of rides to try very quickly. That visit always is in the back of my mind as it was my first impression of the park and even now, I rarely visit more than 4 times a year for half a day compared to visiting the 3 other parks around once a month each.

I went back today to get some more Scorpion rides in. I was surprised to see the park hours listed at the parking booths as 10 - 5. This is a recent change as it was showing closings at 6 recently. Now every Monday - Thursday in September and Monday - Wednesday in October have those hours. It's understandable as the park is empty on those days. Even with the heat index at around 100 degrees, the log flume was a complete walk on. I do feel bad for any people visiting for the day. Serengeti Flyer and Congo Rapids are closed with no reopening date listing. Iron Gwazi was closed all day with Sheikra also having some downtime. With the carousel and Skyride closing in the next few days for refurbishment, that leaves the train, log flume, bumper cars and Falcon's Fury as the only non coaster rides operating in the entire park.

BGT sent out an email today pushing back the closing date to September 8th. ”Good news, thrill seekers! There's even more time to enjoy the twists and turns of the iconic Scorpion roller coaster, because we've extended the closing date to Sept. 8, 2024. This unique coaster has been a fan favorite since 1980, and it’s your last chance to experience a piece of history. While we say goodbye to Scorpion, exciting new attractions are on the horizon.”

sooperdooperLooper is one of my favorite coasters at Hershey and I also really liked Laser at Dorney so when I moved from PA to FL, I was glad that Scorpion was here so I still could ride a Schwarzkopf looper frequently. It's sad to see it being removed. I agree less than 2 weeks notice is not good. For anyone non local, it doesn't give them much of a chance to get their final rides in.

I went to Busch Gardens yesterday to ride Phoenix Rising. I was able to get 1 ride before previews ended and then some more rides during Passport to Thrills. It's a mostly tame coaster as expected but in the back of the train, there were some more forces than I was expecting. There was a slight rattle but less noticeable than Penguin Trek's and didn't take anything away from the ride. I also thought it was better than the 2 Vekoma family inverted coasters I have ridden at Fun Spot Orlando and Kings Island with steeper banked turns on Phoenix Rising. They built a very small queue for the ride. It can hold around a 20 - 30 minute line at the most. There is only 1 train and slow dispatches with everyone from the previous ride needing to exit before the air gates open for the next train. Combined with this being one of only 2 coasters in the park without an inversion (besides the kids coaster), it's probably going to be very popular with long waits once it opens to the public. The Passport to Thrills party was also great other than them not letting people in until 6 when they originally stated you could check in at 5:30 which caused the line to go past Scorpion. They gave out first rider buttons (also available during previews), popcorn, drinks and a Phoenix Rising fanny pack that was originally supposed to be available for all pass members until the end of the month. There was also a DJ and free face painting.

If anyone is planning on going to the park for Phoenix Rising's opening, I think the park put out the wrong date. Here is the post from the other day: I just got an e-mail from the park about the Passport to Thrills event and they list the previews as the following: "Saturday, 7/13: Platinum Pass Member Preview, 10-5pm Sunday, 7/14: Platinum and Gold Pass Member Preview (10am – 9pm) Monday, 7/15: Platinum, Gold, and Silver Pass Member Preview, (2pm-9pm) Tuesday, 7/16: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Pass Member Preview (2pm- 9pm) Wednesday, 7/17: All Pass Member and Fun Card Preview (10am- 9pm)" Based on that it doesn't seem like it is opening to everyone on the 14th.

There are reports that they keep changing the exit procedure for the ride. When I rode the coaster on Tuesday, they allowed everyone to go through an emergency exit that goes right outside. More recently, they are now forcing people to wait in line for the penguin exhibit after the ride and it is taking people up to 25 minutes to exit after waiting and walking through the exhibit. I hope they are just testing different policies and that won't be a permanent policy. Having to wait in line to exit each time you ride the coaster is going to be very frustrating.

I went to SeaWorld today for the first day of Platinum Pass previews. There are new kiosks at the park entrance that work much better than the old ones. The old ones always were out of service or freezing up. As with past previews, they were checking to make sure everyone entering the line had a Platinum Pass. The wait time sign was posting a 15 minute wait but it was a walk on unless you wanted the front or back rows. The queue starts outdoors but is mostly indoors which is a welcome addition with the air conditioning. The queue is themed well with some props and then there are stairs and a walkway over the track in the station. It reminded me a little of Kingda Ka's walkway entering and exiting the station. The first launch was good and the ride is mostly a lot of twists and turns without too many drops. The ride isn't forceful at all but I wasn't expecting it with it being marketed as a family coaster. The second launch is close to the end of the ride before a large banked turn. There was a little bit of a rattle but not too bad. Penguin Trek is a great addition to SeaWorld and really needed. The park has so many thrill coasters and something much tamer really adds some variety to their lineup. I think it's going to be very popular with it appealing to almost everyone, especially with the low height requirement of 42"

Penguin Trek is opening on July 7th Pass Previews start on July 2nd. The e-mail was just sent out with the dates for pass holders: https://www.wesh.com/article/seaworld-orlando-opening-date-penguin-trek/61195796 "Ready to be among the first to ride the ALL-NEW Penguin Trek? As a Pass Member, you can join us for previews from 8 a.m. – park close on select dates based on your tier: Platinum Pass Members: July 2–3 Platinum and Gold Pass Members: July 4 Platinum, Gold, and Silver Pass Members: July 5 Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Pass Members plus Fun Card holders: July 6" I'm hoping the previews wont be too crowded with it being a holiday week and schools on summer break. Ice Breaker and Pipeline were 5 minute waits for me during those previews but they were in the winter and spring on days when local schools were open.

Update from Thursday last week. With the track complete, it looks like they are working on the station building. The annual pass previews have been moved from May to June. I thought May was kind of optimistic. There is also a wall up heading into the Tree Top Trails are of Jungala. Also if anyone is planning to ride the Sky Ride when they visit, I suggest riding earlier in the day. When it first re-opened, it closed at 4 on Monday - Thursday when the park closes at 6. Then it changed to closing at 6 with the rest of the park. On Thursday, no times were listed and it was already closed for the day at 3:45. I guess now it closes whenever they feel like it (it didn't appear to be weather related).

Most (or maybe all?) of the track is in place. I couldn't get the best view or pictures as the Skyride was closed. They got a lot done in the 19 days since I was last there. It also looks like Pass Member previews will be next month according to the rewards page on the website.

Update from today: Crowds were surprisingly low for Spring Break. Most of the coasters were 10 - 20 minutes except Cheetah Hunt and Cobra's Curse.

There is finally some track in place I was wondering if I was going to be able to get this picture. The Sky Ride had just reopened after being closed because of the wind and the ride stopped right before this spot. After about a 15 minute delay because of technical difficulties, the ride started moving again because of and then the ride shut down for the day once everyone was unloaded from the ride. Sheikra was also back to running 1 train with probably a 30 - 40 minute wait.

After 2 weeks of being open, the Sky Ride is back on the closed rides page: https://buschgardens.com/tampa/park-info/ride-attraction-schedule/ It was running when I visited on Thursday but didn't get a chance to ride as it closes at 4 on Monday - Thursday. In addition Kumba had a sign at the entrance stating it's open from 11 - 5. I know it usually opened later than the rest of the park but the early closing is new.