Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

[Mrlittle]

^ A Cheetah found your glasses

[Ed Farmer]

^ A Cheetah found your glasses [attachment=0]image.jpg[/attachment]

Careful, or someone might make a documentary about it.

[B&MBoy1982]

I went on the 13th and was in shorts. I took a sweat shirt in just in case, but for the most part, it was nice.

[CoasterGoddess]

Anyone know if they have changed the intended height of Falcon's Fury? The last couple times I heard comments from Busch Gardens they said "about 300ft" about Falcon's Fury, and not 335ft as they original promoted. With Kings Island Drop Tower at 315ft Falcon's Fury would not be the worlds tallest free standing drop ride if it's "about 300ft". Anyone know why Busch Gardens have been recently promoting Falcon's Fury as only "about 300ft"?

 

Also, it's about time they tear down Gwazi before injuries happen and they get sued. Gwazi was never half as fun as I would had hoped. I'm no fan of the dueling coasters. I would rather a park make one good/great coaster then two mediocre coasters in the space they have to work with. I would put up with the roughness on a wood coaster like Son Of Beast because that was a great monster coaster, but there is nothing special about Gwazi. It's just a rough, mediocre coaster that's not worth the rough ride. A wood coaster modeled after Texas Giant or the Iron Rattler would be a great replacement.

[CoasterGoddess]

Just found this video talking about Falcon's Fury.

 

[B&MBoy1982]

The tower itself will be 335 ft tall. The gondola will not reach 335 ft.

 

Kind of like how the Windseeker towers are 301 ft tall, however the swings are not at 301ft.

[DanTheBooker]

^I don't think you can exclusively blame the Florida Weather for Gwazi. Dania Beach Hurricane was great and smooth and had equally terrible Florida weather if not worse.

 

Agreed. I thought Gwazi's problems were mainly due to PTC trains. No?

[rcjp]

^^^I didn't know that the seats will return to their normal position before the ride hits the brakes, that's interesting. I'm guessing they might have done it to eliminate the need for some sort of leg restraints like on B&M flyers as, if properly restrained, riders can actually withstand more Gs in the "flying" position that if sitting upright.

[_koppen]

^ I think that there would be to much pressure on your body, from the contact points of the restraints, if the ride was braked in the face down position. It would cause some great pain for people who have a higher weight (and probably normal weight people as well).

 

The ride will hit a pre-brake section where the seats will start to flip back, and then the main brakes will start. So there won't be to much free falling on this tower, but I think the tilt system will more than make up for that. This will probably be the best drop tower in the world IMO.

 

Here is two photo where you can see the pre-brakes, as well as where the main brakes starts.

Source

Edited February 1, 2014 by _koppen

[B&MBoy1982]

They put the crown on today.

 

From a friends Facebook page.

[tarheel1231]

^Awesomesauce!

 

Looks kind of different from the renderings. Is there an orange cap going on it next?

[coasterfreak101]

Gorgeous.

[_koppen]

Looks kind of different from the renderings. Is there an orange cap going on it next?

 

Yes, it looks to be only the machinery up so far.

[Cyrbuzz]

I still can't get over the height of this thing. I've never been on any Intamin drop towers before and this is really getting me stoked. What's even better it's a first of its kind with 90 degree face down seating.

[Woodie Warrior]

The color scheme of the tower is beautiful

[Inukaza]

Went today, was topped off.

[djboss302]

That's awesome! I can't wait to possibly ride this in September!

[Cyrbuzz]

That is one awe inspiring tower they have there. I can't wait to get on this thing and freefall baby.

[cfc]

To quote Scorpio in Dirty Harry: "My--that's a big one."

[mike541x]

I'm not a fan of drop towers but this looks amazing. I can't wait to see this ride in action!

[_koppen]

It's done!

 

I think it looks awesome, yet a little bit weird, as I excepted the crown to be a lot wider than the tower.

Now a few weeks of electrical installation will follow, and then they will assemble the ride vehicle and then we will see some testing.

 

 

Source

[DanM64]

^That looks amazing! I love the color scheme, and it looks to be an awesome ride!

[TPDave]

when you see the catwalk at the top you get real perspective of how absolutely huge this thing is. As I've said before, this will be the first ride in about 10 years to genuinely scare the crap out of me!!

[Fooz]

It looks exactly like a giant mechanical pencil stuck in the ground.

[justint87]

This was taken yesterday. Just an idea of how tall it is seen from afar.