Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

[robbalvey]

Today I was invited out to Busch Gardens Tampa to get on the "Scream Cam" for one of their new Howl-O-Scream Mazes "Death Water Bayou!"

 

This is a Louisiana-themed mazes filled with voodoo and spooky characters! Kinda felt like Deliverance meets Princess & The Frog. It was both scary and "pretty" in that sense that the maze was beautiful! Anyway, onto a couple of photos and my Scream Cam video!

 

Check it out! New Howl-O-Scream Maze! Death Water Bayou!

I'm getting all suited up for the Scream Cam!

The Voodoo Queen gave me back my voodoo doll so I can torture myself!

On another note, Voodoo Doll LOVES that Busch parks now server Coca-Cola!

[ernierocker]

"They're screaming at me, it is like being at home with my wife."

 

[SuperShawn]

^

 

How great and creepy that they all got your name before you went in. Really adds to the scare factor.

[SharkTums]

^&^^The best part about that quote was I was standing right there watching him on video live as he went through. That commend definitely got the best response from the crew!

[Nrthwnd]

New maze for 2014!

 

"Robb's Personal Hell"

 

("It's like being at home with the wife")

 

[Thri!!er]

I have absolutely no experiences with that horror-stuff-events, but this video teached me very well, Robb -- thanks a lot for that pretty cool vid and the pics too of course. Very interesting for me just to see and "feel a little bit". Thanks again!

[Meteornotes]

Best Scream Cam EVER. That was amazing.

 

dt

[Stu K]

Enjoyed that,4 weeks tomorrow for us. I was disappointed by no craps or even a holy crap in my pants lol. Please tell me there are more Nurses this year.

 

Stu K

[Erik Johnson]

I was able to attend this evening for opening night. Overall the crowds were pretty light with the longest wait time listed being about 15 minutes long. Platinum pass holders get in free for both the first Friday and Saturday night. I went ahead and did the Fright Feast. This includes fast pass entry to all the mazes until 8:30 (which we were able to do all 7 before that time). They also opened the mazes about 15 minutes early as an extra perk. I always like HOS. The scare actors really seem to be into thier roles, and the houses seem to be heavily populated with them. Overall I thought the houses were quite good. There was only one real scare zone this year. They had a few groups of wandering zombies, but it did not seem to be as many as there were in 2011. Overall I thought it was a prety solid event, but I do not think it was quite as good as the last one I went to in 2011 (TPR's Busch Bash). Anyways, want to see a few pictures?

The 13th year for Howl-O-Scream.

Death Water Bayou was the best of the bunch of the new houses this year.

The entrance into the house was quite detailed.

The Vampire Casino was redressed to Warewolves this year.

This us the front of the house.

The third and final new maze this year was The Basement.

It was themed to cannibalism.

Did someone ask about the Naughty Nurses? Fiends was the show that played during Fright Feast this year.

Pain Lane was the only scare zone that I saw this year.

If clowns frighten you, you may want to avoid this one.

I suspect that this maybe the last year for the Poe one.

I think that the facade is quite impressive.

This years's map.

Edited September 28, 2013 by Erik Johnson

[Mrlittle]

I really enjoyed HOS last year. I would of loved to go this year. It sounds like this year is another great HOS event in Tampa.

[Stu K]

Yey More nurses and fright feast booked! 4 weeks today! Thanks for pics

 

Stu K

[cfc]

"Robb's Personal Hell" would probably involve a Pepsi factory at Magic Mountain that morphs into Fuji Q and exits into a zomble-filled Golden Corral.

 

Nice photos, Erik. The Nevermore "House of Usher" facade is pretty cool, and the Naughty Nurses are better rhan the magic show I saw there a few years ago.

Edited September 28, 2013 by cfc

[jray21]

"Robb's Personal Hell" would probably involve a Pepsi factory at Magic Mountain that morphs into Fuji Q and exits into a medal wearing zomble-filled Golden Corral on a Carnival Cruise ship

 

Fixed.

[Cyrbuzz]

Did anyone read the latest on a possible Gwazi replacement? At Screamscape they reported that members of the parks ride engineering team made a trip to Canada's Wonderland to look over their big steel coasters. Could this be a Giga coaster in the works for Busch Gardens Tampa? Any thoughts on this rumor? This would be amazing if they put a Giga in Florida. I remember a lot of debate of building anything over 200ft. at any Florida park. The soon to be opened Falcon's Fury is said to be over 300ft. so maybe a Giga coaster is not so far fetched.

[jjune4991]

When I worked there, I heard that Falcon's Fury was a test for the 300ft. threshold. We'll see if they try to best it again.

[The Yeti]

BUT BGT HAS A 200 FT HEiGhT LiMit!

 

Screamscape didn't really list it as a Gwazi replacement rumor, but the time frame listed makes sense. I really think Gwazi was truly great when it opened, but was disappointing when it stopped dueling and then got rough. I was also disappointed with the turnout with the refurb/Millennium Flyer trains, and at this point it does makes sense to me that they would get rid of it (though that pre-lift hill section will always be great). I would rather see them add an Intamin or RMC wooden coaster than maybe any giga coaster, as a wooden coaster still seems unique for any Busch park at the moment.

 

I haven't ridden Leviathan yet, but based on reviews of peoples' opinions which I respect - and if Busch Gardens reps were at Canada's Wonderland doing any sort of surveying - I hope BGT was learning how not to build their own B&M giga coaster. I would really love to see B&M build a kick ass giga coaster, but I'm really hoping that any BGT reps surveying at CW were a little put off by Leviathan and would look to Intamin for something different. If they were there though, I have a feeling that they would have already made up their mind with B&M.

 

Falcon's Fury just sounds like Insanity, and I am so excited. I'm still more surprised at the fact that that this drop tower may reach 300 feet (not to mention the tilting seats) than any rumors of a giga coater at BGT.

[jarmor]

Just an fyi...your HOS ticket gets you into the park at 5 so you can get some quick rides/food in and not have to pay park admission...

[2012jarrett]

Potentially booking flights for our trip tomorrow. However, despite the fact that I'm sometimes the weatherman of the group on trips I take, I have proven that I have NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING when I try to find hurricane info online. Help? I would like to know what the situation will be like on the 31st through the 2nd. Accuweather says it's clear on the app but I don't think it takes hurricanes into account that far out.

 

Also, how stingy are they on wind? I hear that everything goes down if it rains, but does wind ever shut anything down? I got a Cedar Point trip in May borked due to lake effect wind shutting down everything (had to walk past an empty GateKeeper all day! It was torture!) and I don't want to go if it's going to be shut down due to wind.

 

Back to the park in general, after Gwazi gets relocated to the great theme park in the sky, I'd say an Intamin winged outer seats could take its place. Apollo's Chariot has no sister coaster and if I recall correctly, Skyrush went up over some pretty hard terrain. If one of those can stand over a floody creek like that, building one over flat Florida terrain would probably cause no trouble at all. Maybe give it more of a "dark" theme and theme it to a type of African bat, and maybe give it some kind of dark ritual feel in the area around it? After Cheetah Hunt got its act together, I could see BGT opting for a more extreme one. I could see this happening as soon as 2016.

[AndrewRnR]

^If I knew if there would be a hurricane or what the weather would be during that time frame I would be quite rich! All kidding aside while it falls in hurricane season I wouldn't worry about it. Most of the country seems to have this myth that Florida is always under a hurricane watch - I've been here 6 years and have never had a hurricane hit (as I like to say more hurricanes have hit NYC in the last 6 years than Florida) It is usually even more rare for Tampa.

 

The "good" thing about hurricanes is they don't just pop up - you'll know a few days out, if not more, so if there was one coming you'll be able to rearrange accordingly. I certainly wouldn't hold off on booking for fear of one - most travel companies are pretty good about letting you rearrange if an area goes under a hurricane watch.

[2012jarrett]

^If I knew if there would be a hurricane or what the weather would be during that time frame I would be quite rich! All kidding aside while it falls in hurricane season I wouldn't worry about it. Most of the country seems to have this myth that Florida is always under a hurricane watch - I've been here 6 years and have never had a hurricane hit (as I like to say more hurricanes have hit NYC in the last 6 years than Florida) It is usually even more rare for Tampa.

 

The "good" thing about hurricanes is they don't just pop up - you'll know a few days out, if not more, so if there was one coming you'll be able to rearrange accordingly. I certainly wouldn't hold off on booking for fear of one - most travel companies are pretty good about letting you rearrange if an area goes under a hurricane watch.

I wasn't sure how long it took to form/hit. My dad said it took about a week to form and a week to hit, so we should be fine. I bet we'd know about it, but if nothing forms this week I bet we're fine.

 

We're booking flights ourselves through United and staying at a Courtyard, so I'll have to check their policies. We're using frequent flyer miles and hotel points, so it's all free, technically. And while a hurricane might not pose an issue, a tropical storm/depression/thunderstorm/squall/monsoon/waterspout/that weird phenomenon where it rains animals/running of the pygmy goats (okay, it's an issue, but not a weather related one. ) might, so anything that could become anything I want to avoid. But thanks for the help! If I'm in a risky mood tomorrow I might bite the bullet and do it.

 

And if I got hit in the face with a fish falling from the sky on Cheetah Hunt it would make my season ten times better.

[netdvn]

Weather really shouldn't be a huge issue in Florida. Most of the parks are prepped for anything major and minor storms/consistent rain will generally keep the tourists away giving you plenty of time for rerides. Worst case scenario would be all the coasters are down for lightning for most of the day, but you should just keep checking the weather the week you're going and on the day you're planning on hitting up the park.

 

Most of the parks should be undergoing Christmas prep, so it'll be an interesting time to visit.

[AndrewRnR]

We're booking flights ourselves through United and staying at a Courtyard, so I'll have to check their policies. We're using frequent flyer miles and hotel points, so it's all free, technically. And while a hurricane might not pose an issue, a tropical storm/depression/thunderstorm/squall/monsoon/waterspout/that weird phenomenon where it rains animals/running of the pygmy goats (okay, it's an issue, but not a weather related one. ) might, so anything that could become anything I want to avoid. But thanks for the help! If I'm in a risky mood tomorrow I might bite the bullet and do it.

 

Just book it - not a lot to risk. There is just as strong of a chance of crazy weather hitting you wherever you live than in Tampa. And tropical storm/depression is the same thing as a hurricane just weaker - you would know several days out. Thunderstorms happen anywhere and everywhere - and when they do in Florida it usually isn't an all day rain.

 

Don't stress too much over the weather - what happens, happens, you are booking a trip to one of the best parks in the country don't forget to enjoy it!

[2012jarrett]

We're booking flights ourselves through United and staying at a Courtyard, so I'll have to check their policies. We're using frequent flyer miles and hotel points, so it's all free, technically. And while a hurricane might not pose an issue, a tropical storm/depression/thunderstorm/squall/monsoon/waterspout/that weird phenomenon where it rains animals/running of the pygmy goats (okay, it's an issue, but not a weather related one. ) might, so anything that could become anything I want to avoid. But thanks for the help! If I'm in a risky mood tomorrow I might bite the bullet and do it.

 

Just book it - not a lot to risk. There is just as strong of a chance of crazy weather hitting you wherever you live than in Tampa. And tropical storm/depression is the same thing as a hurricane just weaker - you would know several days out. Thunderstorms happen anywhere and everywhere - and when they do in Florida it usually isn't an all day rain.

 

Don't stress too much over the weather - what happens, happens, you are booking a trip to one of the best parks in the country don't forget to enjoy it!

I'll enjoy it if we can go. I'd rather not go if we can't go to the park. I had to walk past GateKeeper for a whole day in May when we went because lake effect wind shut down all the big rides at CP and it was torture, I can't imagine doing it to the coaster that's been at the top of my bucket list for two years. Luckily the two below it (Outlaw Run and Skyrush respectively) should be easy, but I want this one off of it and we have our schedule built around the daily operation. I just want to know how soon we'll know if there will be a hurricane there. I'll probably book it anyway, though. I know you can't predict storms as soon, but I know you can predict tropical storms two weeks out.

 

Sorry for all the questions. I grew up in a somewhat landlocked state (Michigan; the Great Lakes aren't really counted as coastline) and Ohio. Closest run in we've had with a hurricane at a park was having to evacuate Kings Island before Hurricane Isaac showed up and caused a mass of a few hundred people to cram their way out the gates in thirty seconds.

[haydn12]

The chance of a hurricane this year is really low. This has been a really dead year. At this time there a no tropical cyclones in the Atlantic.

 

This year has been a very wet year for Florida. We were lucky when we went the first week of October as it didn't rain the whole 8 days we were there.

 

Busch Gardens is much different than Cedar Point as it's not sitting right on the water. I've never been there when anything was closed down except for a thunderstorm in the afternoon.

 

Jim

[2012jarrett]

The chance of a hurricane this year is really low. This has been a really dead year. At this time there a no tropical cyclones in the Atlantic.

 

This year has been a very wet year for Florida. We were lucky when we went the first week of October as it didn't rain the whole 8 days we were there.

 

Busch Gardens is much different than Cedar Point as it's not sitting right on the water. I've never been there when anything was closed down except for a thunderstorm in the afternoon.

 

Jim

Thanks! Accuweather says a 55% chance for rain and an afternoon thunderstorm for that day (though it hasn't been the best predictor for me in the past. It said our Dollywood trip would be a rainout this past August and I didn't need to take shelter once.) so sounds like Florida to me!

 

We're booked! And I ran around the kitchen and crashed into the island in excitement when I got a text while watching out puppy and she thinks I'm nuts now!

 

Thanks for all the help, guys! I'm psyched to go now!

 

One last question; which rides require you to get those metal boxes with combination locks on them to store your stuff? (Didn't say what they were exactly because it filters to lockers.)

 

And I'll gladly make a Falcon's Fury update down there! It's a ride I'd never ride but I'll update you with how it's going!