YoshiFan

Some bad news for anyone visiting the park soon, Iron Gwazi has been closed all day and is now listed on the website as temporarily closed. They typically don't add a ride to the closure list online if it is only closed for something like a day. https://buschgardens.com/tampa/park-info/ride-attraction-schedule/

Wait until the afternoon to ride Iron Gwazi. Everyone goes to Iron Gwazi first and the line can be around an hour for most of the morning. By around 12:30 - 1:00 on weekdays, people have moved to other areas of the park and Iron Gwazi will be a 5 - 10 minute wait.

I took some pictures of the construction when I was at the park yesterday

Looking forward to seeing the show return. Hollywood Studios doesn't feel the same without it. For the days I don't see Fantasmic, I also hope it will take people away from the ride lines towards the end of the night. When I last visited 2 weeks ago, even smaller rides like Alien Swirling Saucers had a posted 50 minute wait at some parts of the day and more popular rides like Rock N Roller Coaster were up to 100 minutes (single rider took 20).

I’m going to be cautiously optimistic for this coaster. The only standup I have ridden is Green Lantern that I did not like but given B&M’s reputation and it being over 20 years since their last standup, I am expecting this to be much more comfortable to ride.

I don’t think I have ever seen Trailblazer with a 2 1/2 hour wait before.

As expected, the park will be closed Wednesday and Thursday and possibly Friday too (part of the e-mail says Friday, the other part does not). “ BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA BAY WILL BE CLOSED WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28 – FRIDAY, SEPT. 30 Dear Pass Member, Due to Hurricane Ian, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay will be closed Wednesday, Sept. 28 & Thursday, Sept. 29. Please stay tuned to our social media channels for updates. Annual Pass members’ guest tickets with an expiration date of Sept. 30 will be extended through Oct. 16. “ I hope anyone in the path of the hurricane remains safe.

If you can fit on everything at Hersheypark, I think you should be able to fit on everything at BGT. Fahrenheit is probably more restrictive than anything at BGT with how Hershey keeps shortening the belts. I haven't been there myself but the Sunken Gardens are supposed to be good. https://www.stpete.org/visitors/sunken_gardens.php I'm not sure about the food, I usually go to Wawa on the way home. Supposedly there is a wall around the ride. I don't think it will be reopening anytime soon but I hope I am wrong.

It was supposed to reopen in late summer but then they cancelled that because it would have to close again because of Screamin’ Swing construction. I wouldn’t be surprised if it never reopens considering the staffing it requires and so many parks getting rid of them over the last few years. I plan to marathon a lot once the weather gets cooler. After 3 rides on Iron Gwazi, 1 on Cheetah Hunt, Montu and Cobra’s Curse combined with the heat index just under 110 degrees, I had enough.

The water park is probably going to be jammed all 3 days if the weather is good. I visited on Labor Day 3 or 4 years ago and the main and overflow lots were full and cars were parked on the grass.

This was Iron Gwazi's station at around 1:00 today. Yeah I know local schools are in session but it's still amazing to see the trains going out with so many empty rows on a new RMC. Also merchandise now has a 5% surcharge. A few months ago they added the surcharge to food and drinks.

Last year Friday was moderate crowds (58%), Saturday was crowded (84%) https://queue-times.com/en-US/parks/24/calendar/2022/11 I went on Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend last year and waits for rides like Kumba and Montu were 20-30 minutes, rides like Cheetah Hunt and Cobra’s Curse had longer lines.

Shows did return but they aren’t every day especially during the week and during the slow times of the year. Today for example there is just a Sesame Street show. The lack of indoor attractions is frustrating. I was there weeks ago try to get a few rides in during a short visit. It never rained but there was thunder and lightning and the rides were closed for over an hour. I ended up sitting under cover just outside Iron Gwazi’s entrance until it reopened. A dark ride or enclosed flat ride/coaster would be a good addition.

Probably not much of a surprise but Falcon’s Fury is temporarily closed again. Also Sheikra is going to be closed from November 1st-December 22nd. I wasn’t expecting that long of a closure after it was already closed for a month earlier this year.

I would think it would have to be Candymonium but that is just a guess. It would likely be one of the coasters that operates during Christmas Candylane with all those extra operating days. Wild Mouse, Laff Trakk are low capacity and sooperdooperLooper usually goes to 1 train during that event, same with Wildcat.

Just a warning for anyone going to the park and getting there in the morning. Apparently there is only 1 security screening area opening, no trams running and it's causing 2+ hour waits to get in. This has been happening multiple times in the past week. Thread from reddit: https://reddit.com/r/BuschGardensTampa/comments/vv4zt4/line_to_get_inside_of_the_park/ Seeing those pictures makes me glad I almost always visit later in the afternoon or early evening when there is no line to enter. Also Cobra's Curse has been closed since at least Thursday.

If you want to ride most of the coasters and the water rides multiple times it might be worth it. Otherwise you can probably get away without it. For the most part, the only coasters with consistently more than a 20-30 minute wait on summer weekdays have been Iron Gwazi, Cheetah Hunt, Cobra’s Curse and Montu (later in the day the wait drops for Montu). The log flume and rapids also get long waits. Even if you buy Quick Queue with the Iron Gwazi add on, that only gives you 1 ride for that coaster. Something else to keep in mind is a storm could close the rides for a while and that would give you less time to use Quick Queue but it clears out the crowds. Last week the rides were closed for at least 90 minutes in the late afternoon because of lightning nearby even though it never rained. When the rides reopened, I waited 5-10 minutes for everything except the flume that looked like around a 20-30 minute wait (I used my Platinum single use Quick Queue there).

Iron Gwazi 3 days ago

I wouldn't expect it to open anytime soon. I was there on Thursday and this is the sign at the ride entrance:

Hurricane at Fun Spot Kissimmee

Great report and pictures. I used to visit Dutch Wonderland once every few years when I was a kid. It's interesting to see what rides are still there or changed like the antique cars that used to be towards the front of the park near the monorail station. The $65 price is really surprising. I know it's going to be more expensive compared to when I used to go there but it's really gone up a lot since then. I remember they used to offer a wrist band for unlimited rides or a gate price of around $10 and you got some punch card listed with all the rides listed. You got 5 rides included and then after that, there was a charge per ride, most under $1, some like Sky Princess were a little more and then you turned in the card at the exit and paid for anything past the 5 rides.

Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom on Sunday

At that point, I’d rather see 2 trains on a Cheetah Hunt since I hate waiting on the brakes in the sun when they double stack. A 40 minute wait for 3 switchbacks at Iron Gwazi is terrible. During previews, I waited 25 minutes with the station full but that was with 4 people checking restraints. I have only seen that once or twice since the ride opened to the public.

If this new coaster has a 54" height requirement, that will make it 5 coasters with that requirement. I know that Ice Breaker was supposed to be the coaster for a lower thrill level but with that also at 54" now, they really could use something a step up from the kiddie coaster but not too intense with a 42" or 48" height requirement (besides Journey to Atlantis).

Dorney hasn’t allowed multiple laps on their lazy rivers since I started visiting the water park (2008) with the rare time you get someone who will says you can stay. I guess similar to their coaster re-ride policy where I have been allowed a re-ride a few times total in 15 years of having a pass (I stopped asking but will re-ride when offered).