Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

[Projektion]

There's that one U coaster in china (I think it was china) that seemed to improve on the design a little bit, so who knows.

[Jonathan15]

All I can say is that we're not going to see Topper Track for Gwazi.

 

Anyway, you all are saying 2016 and 2018 for years of new coasters?

[rcjp]

There's that one U coaster in china (I think it was china) that seemed to improve on the design a little bit, so who knows.

Yeah but I wonder if that was only for that special case with the seats facing both ways. Still, just the fact that it has lapbars would make roughness a smaller problem (although those looks just like skyrush's terrible restraints)

[Projektion]

True, but the fact that coaster exists kind of shows that Intamin are at least willing to try again with the wingrider design, instead of just abandoning it as a failure.

[rcjp]

^I don't think they ever abandoned it as a failure, especially given that FB has decent reviews despite its roughness, but probably there weren't' many parks interested in that model. Doesn't intamin consider skyrush a wing coaster?

[Jonathan15]

Anyway, I'm not entirely sure what to expect for 2015/2016, but I'm sure BGT is way ahead of us and has it all planned.

 

One thing for sure is that they will probably never go with Intamin after Falcons Fury or Cheetah Hunt's malfunctions.

[aCoasterStory]

I'm pretty sure Skyrush is an Intamin Mega-Lite, not a wing rider.

 

Per Wikipedia, "Skyrush is an Intamin prototype Wing Coaster with winged seating", whereas Furius Baco is listed as an "Accelerator Coaster" but its seating "arrangement has now been commonly dubbed as 'wing rider' trains."

 

Per the Intamin website, however, Furius Baco is shown as a "Wing Rider Coaster"; Skyrush is shown as a "Wing Coaster".

 

 

For what it's worth, though, I highly doubt Busch Gardens would get either.

[CPSFMMCW]

In my opinion, a wing seating is just too similar to Sheikra. Whatever BGT should get, it should be something new. A giga/hyper would fit the bill, as would a GOOD wooden coaster.

[coasterchitchat]

I have a feeling that Busch Gardens doesn't want to deal with wooden coasters anymore. They let Gwazi go in horrible condition when they could've retracked.

[aCoasterStory]

I have a feeling that Busch Gardens doesn't want to deal with wooden coasters anymore. They let Gwazi go in horrible condition when they could've retracked.

 

I'm willing to bet that the park had no idea quite how expensive it would be to properly maintain 2 wooden coasters that operate year-round. From what I can remember from my coaster experience tour last year, they really aren't sufficiently staffed to handle the one side of Gwazi that's still operating, much less both. And then you have to factor in the extensive damage that the PTC trains did that really isn't going to be fixed without essentially a complete retracking.

 

What sucks is that a large wooden coaster (or pair of them) is actually a perfect fit for the park's coaster lineup. Even as bad as it is, I still see the lines for Gwazi hit 60min quite a bit (though a lot of that has to do with slow dispatches and the 25% of capacity reserved for Quick Queue).

 

And as much as I'd love to see Iron Gwazi, I think a complete retrack with Topper Track would be the better solution for the ride lineup.

[Jcoaster]

One thing is for sure, we can all agree that something needs to be done with Gwazi in the upcoming years. The decision that makes sense is that the park management will do whatever is the most cost efficient. If they do nothing and let it sit with one side operating while adding a new coaster it isn't the end of the world, things could be worse.

[scbt]

I doubt that any park would be able to do the amount of upkeep needed to keep a ride like Gwazi running at top form year round in one of the most hostile climates around.

[Her0ofLime]

As I said earlier, while it is a Multi-Million dollar theme park, Busch Gardens has a budget. While great for us coaster enthusiasts, an Intamin Mega-Lite won't really impress the GP, but a dueling RMC wooden coaster with a one train upside down/one train right side up high five element will. The GP to coaster enthusiast ratio is about 99% to 1%, so I think a Mega Lite would be pretty much out of the question, unless Busch Gardens really wants to lose money.

Plus, a dueling RMC would be amazing.

(plus a high five element like that would be amazing)

(please consider this idea RMC)

[rcjp]

^An upside down high-five element would be tricky because as one train would be higher up than the other it would be going slower. However I suppose that could be solved by having one train go faster than the other before hitting the element.

[Jcoaster]

It might be cheaper and better for the budget of the park if they just tore down Gwazi and went the route of building a RMC ibox original. "Iron Lion" would fit just fine since this is after all an African themed park. The Tiger theme always seemed a bit out of place.

[aCoasterStory]

It might be cheaper and better for the budget of the park if they just tore down Gwazi and went the route of building a RMC ibox original. "Iron Lion" would fit just fine since this is after all an African themed park. The Tiger theme always seemed a bit out of place.

 

As much as BGT is an "Africa"-themed park, it has a bunch of stuff that isn't African. I'm sure there are more, but the whole Jungala section isn't African (orangutans & tigers), plus you have the kangaroos & alligators, and then the elephants they have are Asian elephants--not African.

[Jonathan15]

Apparently you all ignored me. There is absolutely no way BGT will dish out that much money to fund a deteriorating coaster. I like the ideas, but let's get real here.

[Jcoaster]

It might be cheaper and better for the budget of the park if they just tore down Gwazi and went the route of building a RMC ibox original. "Iron Lion" would fit just fine since this is after all an African themed park. The Tiger theme always seemed a bit out of place.

 

As much as BGT is an "Africa"-themed park, it has a bunch of stuff that isn't African. I'm sure there are more, but the whole Jungala section isn't African (orangutans & tigers), plus you have the kangaroos & alligators, and then the elephants they have are Asian elephants--not African.

 

Yea i've been there and noticed it while I was there. I hate to nitpick, live animals are one thing. Theming is another.

[CPSFMMCW]

Apparently you all ignored me. There is absolutely no way BGT will dish out that much money to fund a deteriorating coaster. I like the ideas, but let's get real here.

I'm with you on this one. I think the park is aware at this point that that coaster is going down hill. I imagine the only reason they're keeping it around is because ITS A ROLLER COASTER. The GP will still ride it, and coaster enthusiasts who are looking for the credit will ride it. I think thats why its getting hour waits(as mentioned previously in this forum). But at some point, within a few years, I'm sure the park will announce its removal. I'm sure the park staff have already been discussing whether or not they should tear it out.

[Her0ofLime]

Apparently you all ignored me. There is absolutely no way BGT will dish out that much money to fund a deteriorating coaster. I like the ideas, but let's get real here.

Literally no one kept the idea of putting topper track on Gwazi.

Literally NO ONE.

[Jonathan15]

Literally no one kept the idea of putting topper track on Gwazi.

Literally NO ONE.

 

Well I'm glad someone has sense. Anyway, when Gwazi leaves for good, do you think we'll see a closing date on one of the support beams like Python?

[BGT-Bill]

As much as BGT is an "Africa"-themed park, it has a bunch of stuff that isn't African. I'm sure there are more, but the whole Jungala section isn't African (orangutans & tigers), plus you have the kangaroos & alligators, and then the elephants they have are Asian elephants--not African.

 

Pantopia is another prime example, as is Walkabout Way.

 

I spoke with Brian Morrow (Creative Director for SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment) about this earlier this year. He explained you'll see less and less emphasis on purely African theming moving forward, with more of a focus on world exploration, travel, and conservation as new attractions are added and areas are re-themed. It began with Jungala, and continues with Pantopia.

[chargersmichael]

As much as BGT is an "Africa"-themed park, it has a bunch of stuff that isn't African. I'm sure there are more, but the whole Jungala section isn't African (orangutans & tigers), plus you have the kangaroos & alligators, and then the elephants they have are Asian elephants--not African.

 

Pantopia is another prime example, as is Walkabout Way.

 

I spoke with Brian Morrow (Creative Director for SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment) about this earlier this year. He explained you'll see less and less emphasis on purely African theming moving forward, with more of a focus on world exploration, travel, and conservation as new attractions are added and areas are re-themed. It began with Jungala, and continues with Pantopia.

 

I don't like this. I really wish Busch Gardens would stick with an African theme. I didn't get the overhaul with Pantopia and I guess it makes sense now. Ugh.

 

What I think Busch Gardens needs is a complete redo of the Rhino Ralley to have a great adventure/storyline. Also, I feel like they need a new dark ride...not like Antarctica. They need one that is very good to draw attention to it.

[ScreaminNewEngland]

Apparently you all ignored me. There is absolutely no way BGT will dish out that much money to fund a deteriorating coaster. I like the ideas, but let's get real here.

I'm with you on this one. I think the park is aware at this point that that coaster is going down hill. I imagine the only reason they're keeping it around is because ITS A ROLLER COASTER. The GP will still ride it, and coaster enthusiasts who are looking for the credit will ride it. I think thats why its getting hour waits(as mentioned previously in this forum). But at some point, within a few years, I'm sure the park will announce its removal. I'm sure the park staff have already been discussing whether or not they should tear it out.

 

The only reason they're keeping it around for right now is because they have other projects to do first. They aren't going to spend money on demolishing gwazi and designing a new coaster while they are still building falcon's fury.

[jedimaster1227]

Apparently you all ignored me. There is absolutely no way BGT will dish out that much money to fund a deteriorating coaster. I like the ideas, but let's get real here.

 

Unless you're sitting in the board meetings where they've discussed their plans for Gwazi, how do you know for sure? Speculation is fine but there is no reason to accuse others of blatantly ignoring you.

 

Has Busch Gardens ever had to replace any parts of the Gwazi structure besides the track? To claim that the coaster itself is deteriorating is too broad a generalization. Sure the track is beat up and warped from years of PTC train abuse but do we have any confirmed way of knowing that the rest of the structure isn't viable enough to be re-utilized?

 

Do I believe that Gwazi will be saved? No. Do I know with certainty what Busch Gardens has in store for that plot of land. I don't know of anyone that does. We're free to speculate but until Busch Gardens announces something or we see a wrecking ball take down the structure, I'd imagine nothing is officially off of the table.

 

Remember when everyone was 100% certain that Cheetah Hunt was going to be called Cheetaka and the concept art files even were titled as such? The ride was announced with a totally different name and everyone that was 100% sure was proven 100% wrong. Let's take this a lesson and wait and see what happens--friendly speculation is welcome.

Edited July 16, 2014 by jedimaster1227