Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

[DoinItForTheFame]

So as far as I'm aware...Gwazi is still sitting there...any trucks, boats, or other activity seen near that ride?

 

Just give up now!! #It'llNeverOpen

[thrillrider]

I viewed a picture of a RMC truck parked near the coaster, but it looks photo shopped.

[diamondzznspurs]

I went last Friday for the first time and wow I absolutely loved Howl O Scream! The weather did not cooperate but I didn't let that stop me from having a great time. I was really bummed that my first time going to Florida in October and I wasn't able to go to Universal HHN, but this event was soooo good. The crowds were not bad but I also did the 5 hour mega tour which gave us a tour guide, front of the line for the houses and rides, drinks, reserved seating at Fiends and a photo. Now that I've been spoiled by this I will never want to do it any other way. My favorite house was Motel Hell and outdoor area was the playground. Busch Gardens really did a class act with this event. Our tour guide told us that Gwazi was not going to be taken down as it would cost more to do that than just leave it standing. She said there was talk of a new coaster in 2018 but I take that with a grain of salt. My husband and I are doing Halloweekends at Cedar Point the end of the month but after this event I doubt it will compare.

[coasterbill]

My husband and I are doing Halloweekends at Cedar Point the end of the month but after this event I doubt it will compare.

 

It won't, just ride the rides and ignore the haunt. I agree, Howl O Scream is amazing.

[anonymouscactus]

I've had some decent experiences at the Cedar Point haunt. It's pretty hit or miss from house to house and year to year. I have always gone Sundays when there are no lines, so unfortunately the scare zones and spooky atmosphere is not there so I don't really know what night time is like, but some actors were really into it and make the houses enjoyable. You are right that it's not on the same level as HOS, but it's way better than a lot of other park offerings.

[CoasterGoddess]

I went last Friday for the first time and wow I absolutely loved Howl O Scream! The weather did not cooperate but I didn't let that stop me from having a great time. I was really bummed that my first time going to Florida in October and I wasn't able to go to Universal HHN, but this event was soooo good. The crowds were not bad but I also did the 5 hour mega tour which gave us a tour guide, front of the line for the houses and rides, drinks, reserved seating at Fiends and a photo. Now that I've been spoiled by this I will never want to do it any other way. My favorite house was Motel Hell and outdoor area was the playground. Busch Gardens really did a class act with this event. Our tour guide told us that Gwazi was not going to be taken down as it would cost more to do that than just leave it standing. She said there was talk of a new coaster in 2018 but I take that with a grain of salt. My husband and I are doing Halloweekends at Cedar Point the end of the month but after this event I doubt it will compare.

 

Howl-O-Scream is under-rated for sure! In my opinion it's much scarier and overall better than Halloween Horror Nights. The biggest, and probably only negative is HOS don't have the money that HHN has to make as many house with expensive details. But HOS, unlike HHN, don't have security in every room telling you to move along and hurry you through their houses and thus ruining the scare factor. Also, HHN is always a conga line and never a break between guest unlike HOS.

I talked with a friend who visited HHN last weekend and they weren't happy with it. Said he spent a lot of money and didn't get to go through their 2 best houses as the lines were over 3 hours for their best houses.

Howl-O-Scream, for many of us Floridians know is cheaper, less crowded, scarier, and more fun.

Glad you got to experience it. No word on Gwazi, but wood don't weather good in Florida. I think it'd cost too much to take apart a weather damaged (?) ride and ship it and attempt to assemble it back together and hope it runs well. I think maybe... firewood? Sad.

[B&MIntaminGCI]

What are the best seats for each coaster? I'm going to try and ride everything as much as possible, but I'd at least like to get the best seat on Montu, Kumba, Sheikra and Cheetah Hunt

[I love pie]

^Front for Montu (but most people say that the back is best) and Cheetah Hunt, back for Sheikra and Kumba.

[coasterbill]

What are the best seats for each coaster? I'm going to try and ride everything as much as possible, but I'd at least like to get the best seat on Montu, Kumba, Sheikra and Cheetah Hunt

 

Back row for Montu, front row for Sheikra and on Kumba the back row, right seat (closest to the unload platform) is absolutely the magic seat. Seriously... take notes on the Kumba magic seat. There will be a test later.

 

I don't have a strong preference on the other coasters.

[diamondzznspurs]

I think best seats are pretty subjective, I am a front row person as I like my rides smooth. What I did notice was just how smooth the coasters were compared to my home parks of Kings Island and Cedar Point. It occurred to me that the difference is probably the cold weather we experience up here compared to Florida.

 

I heard the same thing about HHN, I would be pissed to be rushed thru a house. I have to say that I had scares numerous times and I don't scare easily but we were allowed to walk at our own pace and the scares were plenty, at least with my group they held people back to create gaps. I did like going in first as opposed to last in the group as you see the scares in the back more.

 

As for Cedar Point we are mainly going for the coasters. We had gone in July when they had a water main break that was a disaster, so we are going back on the park. We will probably buy front of the line passes for the houses either Friday night or Sunday. We have fast lane passes to use one day which will probably be Saturday and early admission for 2 days so I'm expecting a pretty good trip, the Halloween part is just an added bonus.

[coasterbill]

I think best seats are pretty subjective

 

Not on Kumba, back row far side or GTFO.

[diamondzznspurs]

Unfortunately that was the one coaster I didn't get to ride. We never made it over there during the day and at night it was down, although I kept seeing wait times for it, so I'm not sure if our tour guide had wrong information or what. But I had such a wonderful time that I have to bring my husband back, maybe next Halloween.

[anonymouscactus]

We will probably buy front of the line passes for the houses either Friday night or Sunday. We have fast lane passes to use one day which will probably be Saturday and early admission for 2 days so I'm expecting a pretty good trip, the Halloween part is just an added bonus.

 

For Cedar Point, definitely wait until you get there and judge the lines for the haunt passes. On Sundays (albeit I always go earlier in the season) the past 3 years the absolute longest I've ever had to wait was 10-15 minutes for a house. Obviously your milage may vary, but just an observation -- I can see them selling out on a Saturday, but not on a Friday or Sunday.

Edited October 6, 2016 by anonymouscactus

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

I'm definitely a back row person, I prefer back on everything except maybe Cheetah Hunt. Kumba, back right. Sheikra...I still prefer back right. Montu... not sure if I had a preference for right or left, maybe back right as well? Cheetah Hunt...I always sat in the back, but partially because I didn't want to wait for the front.

[coasterbill]

Yeah I don't remember if I liked the right or left better on Montu either but I love that pretzel in the back row. Holy hell...

[viking86]

^I swear, that batwing in the backseat was trying to take my face off!!

[B&MIntaminGCI]

I think best seats are pretty subjective

 

Not on Kumba, back row far side or GTFO.

 

Same seat as Nitro's hot seat for me as well. This is good to know.

 

I heard BGT is basically like Dorney with no lines, so I'm definitely going to try and do a front/back ride on at LEAST Kumba, Montu, Sheikra and Cheetah Hunt.

 

Sheikra is going to break my Dive machine virginity and I'm excited

[diamondzznspurs]

Thanks for the tip. We are going to wait to see what the weather is like since we are going the last weekend. I know we are going to buy the passes so we can get in the skeleton key rooms, just will not pay for that on Saturday, hoping for Fri night, I know we will purchase online before we get to the park because it is cheaper.

[SFOG1991]

I'll be at the park Saturday night and MAYBE Sunday for the first half of the day.

 

I've been to BGT many times but never during their haunt event, so I'm looking for any tips!

 

How crowded will it be Saturday night and Sunday morning/early afternoon?

 

I am usually more interested in riding coasters at night than doing haunts, but based on people's reviews here, I am starting to want to do the haunts. If I am there both days I will probably do at least some haunts.

 

If I get the front of line pass for haunts and coasters, would it be realistic to do all the haunts and one front of line access to each of the six rides included and still have a decent amount of time to hit my favorite coasters again? (suggesting I don't go back on Sunday). Does front of the line access to coasters assign seats? I don't want to be stuck in the middle of trains, but I don't mind back if front is off limits.

[Philrad71]

^ Given the fact that you probably have a majority of people in Florida from the East Coast over there due to Hurricane Matthew, coupled with the fact that the weather doesn't look too bad for Saturday & Sunday, I would say to expect heavy crowds (obviously expect the worst on Saturday).

 

A friend of mine down that way said that it was damn near impossible to get a hotel in the Tampa area because of all the East Coast evacuees moving over to that side of the state in order to wait out the storm. Maybe you might get lucky and most will head home on Saturday/Sunday - if the weather clears.

[bert425]

I think best seats are pretty subjective

 

Not on Kumba, back row far side or GTFO.

 

Same seat as Nitro's hot seat for me as well. This is good to know.

 

I heard BGT is basically like Dorney with no lines, so I'm definitely going to try and do a front/back ride on at LEAST Kumba, Montu, Sheikra and Cheetah Hunt.

 

Sheikra is going to break my Dive machine virginity and I'm excited

 

Cheetah Hunt has lines. . . even if not busy, expect to wait at least 20 minutes.

 

and if Cobra's Curse goes down?. . Montu (right next door to it) gets SLAMMED. . but it was walk on when Cobra's Curse was running.

 

Sheikra & Kumba were walk ons on busy days when we were there.

[coasterbill]

Can someone please go to Busch Gardens tomorrow? I'd love a trip report. Initially I was shocked that they were planning to open but besides the wind the weather actually doesn't seem that terrible. I could see them being anywhere from dead to absolutely slammed with people who were planning to go to the other Florida parks.

 

With 27 MPH sustained winds I'd be curious what (if any) coasters they open though.

[SFOG1991]

^ Given the fact that you probably have a majority of people in Florida from the East Coast over there due to Hurricane Matthew, coupled with the fact that the weather doesn't look too bad for Saturday & Sunday, I would say to expect heavy crowds (obviously expect the worst on Saturday).

 

A friend of mine down that way said that it was damn near impossible to get a hotel in the Tampa area because of all the East Coast evacuees moving over to that side of the state in order to wait out the storm. Maybe you might get lucky and most will head home on Saturday/Sunday - if the weather clears.

Thank you for your input.

 

I am thinking it'll be pretty busy, but I was hoping the hurricane may distract people from going to the park even though it will have already passed most of Florida. I'm hoping anyone who went to west Florida will be on their way back home now, and maybe tourists that had the options to adjust travel plans won't be around this weekend. I am sure most of the crowd is local and it won't really make a difference, but I can buy the front of line pass if needed.

 

Luckily I already have a hotel in Tampa!

[iLax43]

I went to Howl-O-Scream last night for the first time, and it was definitely an experience. The original plan was to hit Horror Nights as is tradition, but with Universal closed we found an alternate. While we weren't at the park during normal hours, I can give some insight into the crowds. We got in with early admission around 5:30, and rode everything to our hearts content before 7:30 (i.e. Cobra's Curse at 15 minutes, Cheetah Hunt at 10, and all the B&M's were walk on.) 7:30 finally rolls around, and we hit the first house, Black Spot, because we just had gotten off a marathon of Sheikra. We walked directly in to the house, with nothing resembling a wait or anyone else with us. This was a pretty common theme throughout the night. Outside of Motel Hell and Circus of Superstition, we walked directly in to each house alone. Even then, our longest wait was legitimately three minutes for Motel. We waited 15 minutes for Falcon's Fury when it opened and that brought back some humility. All in all last night was amazing, and it was all due to Hurricane Matthew. To sum up the crowds, we were walk on front row of Montu at 11 and as we saw the parking lot ahead of us there couldn't have been more than 200 cars. It was dead. We felt the positive and negative effects of Matthew as we came from Jacksonville, but last night was beyond memorable. So while not a formal and all our Trip Report, I hope that works for you Coasterbill and anyone else wondering how it was!

[B&MIntaminGCI]

So we're going Wednesday, opening to close. Any tips for navigating the park? What to do first?

 

My goal is to try and get on the major four (Sheikra, Kumba, Montu, Cheetah Hunt) as much as possible in back/front both sides of the train.