Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

[Jcoaster]

Drachen Fire is never coming back, we all need to move on. Now back to BGT discussion, how much are they spending in expanding for the male elephants?

[netdvn]

Not so breaking news from Tampa. In response to Williamsburg toning their severed head props, Tampa follows suit. Only a matter of time before Sea World San Antonio does the same to their HOS.

 

Click for article

 

TAMPA — As Tampa’s Busch Gardens prepares to open this year’s Howl-O-Scream with a preview scheduled for next weekend, some of the more gruesome special effects, including any depictions of decapitations, are being taken down.

 

The decision came after the Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia, fielded complaints this week about a scene in one of its haunted houses that displayed severed heads.

 

The scene hit too close to home for some in light of the recent beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker by the terrorist Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

 

While both Busch Gardens parks put on a Howl-O-Scream every year, they are not the same and the depiction of severed heads in Williamsburg was not among displays at Busch Gardens in Tampa.

 

Still, some of the local displays were toned down a bit, Busch Gardens officials said.

 

“There were a couple of minor elements that were revised,” said spokesman Travis Claytor.

 

The theme parks in both locations released the same statement this week:

 

“Many of the scenes depicted at Busch Gardens’ Howl-O-Scream are graphic in nature, but they are fictional and are not intended to provide commentary on current world events. The props in this year’s event were designed and purchased several months ago. In light of recent events, some of these props have the unintended consequence of appearing insensitive and are being removed.”

 

This year’s version of Howl-O-Scream in Tampa is titled “Cursed” and will play over 18 selected nights in October.

 

It consists of eight haunted houses with different themes and names such as “The Basement,” “Blood Asylum” and “Zombie Mortuary.”

 

Besides the haunted houses, costumed fiends, monsters and murderers roam the walkways of the park, leaping out at visitors.

 

According to the Tampa Howl-O-Scream website, the event contains “intense adult content such as violence, gore and blood and is not intended for children.”

 

Does Uni still have the Governor's office in their Walking Dead maze? Hope their event doesn't get toned down like ours did.

[BlahBlahson]

^That "floating heads" scene is not represented in this year's maze.

[marth555]

Light Experiment Spoilers

http://instagram.com/p/tIXgHmsask/

[rcrider4]

Does anyone here know if Busch Gardens employees get free parking when they go to SeaWorld's other parks? I know they get free admission, but I can't find anything about parking.

[BlahBlahson]

Yes, you do. Every park in the chain. But not at Universal/Legoland so beware.

 

Source: Worked at Seaworld last year.

[robbalvey]

Bethany and I went down to Busch Gardens Tampa this morning and put her through Dead Fall at Howl-O-Scream on "Scream Cam!" She'd never done anything like this before and I think it turned out pretty great! lol Watch:

[cfc]

Great video--Bethany was a good subject for the Scream Cam. The house looks pretty elaborate, too (particularly the "boathouse" section).

[robbalvey]

I had a legit good time at Howl-O-Scream last night. A few things that I really appreciated at this event:

 

- Trying new things in the mazes like the laser guns. Even though they didn't really do much, it was just nice to see something different and the perception of being interactive was fun.

 

- None of the scares were "Press a button, wait for the audio cue, lunge out with audio, step back, reset" that we've seen so much lately, and is getting very old. (Please HOS - keep it this way!)

 

- Lots of random scare actors all over the park: In the bushes, in wheelchairs, inside ice cream vendors wagons, carrying fake babies, hell, there was even one in the SheiKra queue! Well done!

 

- Lots of photos ops with the monsters. Around the scare zones, at the show, even at the entrance or exits to the mazes. It's like the "get" that they want people to post pictures of the event on social media. I was even able to take pics inside the houses without too much trouble, which the park actually re-tweeted!

 

- Lots of different types of scare actors in the maze: Bungee tricks, actors above you, actors below you, some that talk to you, follow you, bang things, and actually interact with the people walking through the houses instead of just being static story elements that could mostly be replaced with animatronics.

 

- I'll be honest that none of the mazes really "stood out" to me, but that's not really a bad thing because I feel like I liked them all almost equally. There were "moments" in each that I really liked (although I'm honestly having a hard time remembering which mazes those moments were in), like the section where you had to duck under a series of coffins to get to the next area, the giant monsters (kind of looked like tree monsters or something) that came out at you, the pop-up clown in the middle of the bed, the guns, the bungees, etc, and more that I won't give away. None of the houses were bad, not even close, and I *think* my favorite was either the Bayou one or Dead Fall, but I'm honestly not sure. They were all very good.

 

- MOST IMPORTANT!!!! *LOTS OF HOT CHICKS IN THE MAZES AND IN THE SCARE ZONES* - I'm assuming every decent looking girl from USF is working at Howl-O-Scream during those weeks! lol

 

- The Fiends show, while being a totally different type of show than The Hanging or Bill & Ted (which those two are also very different, too), was really enjoyable. It didn't take itself too seriously, and it had lots of hot chicks (and dudes) and kept coming out into the audience to mingle.

 

- Overall, I just felt the event was just plain "fun" and probably not having any crowds helped, too. (it rained pretty hard early on, but cleared up about 8:30) The whole event didn't take itself too seriously, and I kind of appreciated that.

 

- Oh, and Falcon's Fury, SheiKra, Cheetah Hunt, Kumba, and Montu. Still some of the best rides in Florida, if not the world.

 

Here's some photos and videos.

 

A couple of days ago we got to do Dead Fall on Scream Cam! Check it out:

Strongly recommend this for ANY Halloween event! You just get more out of your night and it's less stressful. Buy them! You won't regret it!

OMG! Garbles in the Howl-O-Scream sign is going to be the most frightening thing we'll see all night! That's it...event over!

Zombie Laser Tag? Yes, please!

Matt & Anthony all suited up and ready to kick some zombie ass John Woo style.

GARBLES!!! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SHOOT THE ZOMBIES NOT PERFORM FELLATIO ON YOUR GUN! (and no, that's not a type of yogurt!)

Bethany is totally kicking the zombies ass!

It's easy, just shoot their bright targets!

"I wonder what zomies are around the river bend?"

DIE, ZOMBIE!!! DIE!!!!

Here's a video of what Zombie Containment Unit looks like:

"Would you like a shot?" "No, but I'd like to be that dude in between the two of you!"

Pantopia at night! Pretty!

Seriously, Falcon's Fury is more fun every time I go on it. It seriously is the best drop tower I've done. And the fact that it makes all kinds of awesome new Intamin noises that you've never heard before just makes it all the better!

Taking a ride with some Falcon's Virgins!

Our #FalconFace!

Seriously amazing ride!

[vine]

[/vine]

Next maze... Zombie Mortuary.

Yup, there were dead people things.

And some chewed up people. Good stuff.

This dude was just hanging out over by the Crash Test Zombies.

Which one is the zombie and which one is the theme park blogger? Hard to tell, isn't it?

"HOW MUCH FOR YOUR WOMEN?!!?"

Dead Fall had a very nice looking entrance area. (this is the maze in the Scream Cam video above)

Awww, this makes me miss Jaws.

SheiKra at night was freaking amazing...as always!

This guy is having a pretty bad day!

Next up...super scary clown maze.... IN THREE DEEEE!!!!

The 3D Clown Maze was a lot of fun! Mazes like this get dinged for being generic but I really liked it!

[vine]

[/vine]

And everyone always looks so much better in THREEE DEEEE!!!!!

This was fun.

As was this guy.

Matt needs a hand getting through this maze.

The Basement reminded me of some sort of "Texas Chainsaw Redneck Cannibals" or something.

They were slaughtering people to make meat.

I'm reminded of "Eating Raoul" through this maze (Google it, kids!)

I'm not sure what this dude is doing to the other dude, but I'm sure it's not very pretty!

Here was the beer on tap at the craft beer place near Falcon's Fury. Great selection!

And of course, we had to sample some tasty beverages!

This is the maze that I did on Scream Cam last year, but I wasn't able to get back to it, so it was cool to finally see it!

Bethany did MUCH better at the Scream Cam than I did! lol

It had lots of purple areas and some New Orleans creep factor to it. I like this maze!

It's hard to tell because it was so dark, but there was this section where you had to duck under the coffins to get through. This was really a neat touch!

It's the "INSANE PEOPLE MAZE!!!!" (perfect for me!)

Yup, I escaped the nut house a long, long time ago!

"Well, hello totally dead girl....what are you doing later?) (Hey, I'll take whatever I can get!)

The "Fiends" show had a lot of this...and I like a lot of this!

I love parks that still use Oingo Boingo in their halloween events!

[vine]

[/vine]

The Fiends show also encourage you to take unflattering pictures of yourself with some incredibly hot chicks. I did not mind this one bit!

Our final ride of the night was an Intamin masterpiece! It's not the most "thrilling" ride in the world, but it is the perfect mix of fun! I love Cheetah Hunt!

This really might be one of the most beautiful coasters ever made!

Cheetah Hunt selfie!!!

Ending our night hanging out with Attractions Magazine on Cheetah Hunt!

The Cursed "entrance show" was kind of awesome!

[vine]

[/vine]

Had a fantastic night at Howl-O-Scream! Do not miss this awesome Halloween event at Busch Gardens Tampa!

OMG! How did we miss these guys??? They are just sooooo cool and not socially awkward at all! Maybe next time...

Real - Hobbester - En Fuego.nlpack

Construction Photos from early Feb 2005

Construction Photos from early Feb 2005

This is what we called the "Ghetto Wild West Show." Yep, that's a quality show right there...fold-up chairs in the grass in front of the make-shift stage!

Edited September 27, 2014 by robbalvey

[marth555]

Looks like a great time and those nurses are just

[ka8911]

Glad you had a fun time!! I agree about the awesome Falcon's Fury noises. I think my favorite is the "Falcon's Squeak" when the seats tilt!

[Erik Johnson]

I am driving home simply soaked from rain from HOS tonight. I really do appreciate how Busch really tried to do something different with the normal Zombie maze this year. Being able to interact with the scare actors by zapping them with guns worked really well and it was fun! The park was pretty busy tonight and it really did not look like that the pouring rain was going to stop anyone's fun (even though all the rides were closed for lightning). I still have not been able to ride Falcon's Fury yet, so that will continue to be something to look forward to my next visit. I have not been to HHN yet this year, or last, but I have been enjoying HOS more these past few years.

[cfc]

Naughty Nurses, laser guns, monsters, Cheetah Hunt . . . what's not to like here?

[gerstlaueringvar]

They should make the zombie maze a permanent attraction! That's a great update from normal zombie mazes.

[colinx]

OrlandoUnited reports a new attraction for the 2016 season in the location of Tut's Tomb. I seriously doubt that this is the SM:UF clone similar to the one going in BGW simply because BGT has a far to big attendance to put in a coaster of that capacity size. There is a little bit of space for them to expand the building up to the safari. Since BGT is in a severe lack of any dark rides, hows about a Kurse of DarkKastle-esque mummy themed dark ride?

[cwgator]

^^A SUF clone would however fit in that area without expanding back to the Edge Of Africa. I posted it over on OU. Shown here is the area of Tut's Tomb with the approximate space Superman Ultimate Flight @ SFDK takes up in red outline. Google maps hasn't been updated so Pandemonium still shows up...but you see the comparison.

 

I'd rather a nice thrilling, high quality flat go into that area. I think if they were to put in a dark ride, they would use the old Akbar Adventures building across the way. This whole area needs more rides/attractions badly.

[Hilltopper39]

This whole area needs more rides/attractions badly.

 

Not entirely sure I'd agree with that seeing as how two of the parks marquee attractions are both in that area about 400 feet apart, but a new attraction is always welcome anywhere.

[chargersmichael]

I'm hoping for a dark ride but seeing how budget cuts have been going on, I don't see that happening.

[jedimaster1227]

Tut's Tomb has been a non-attraction since it first opened. The conceit of having a walk thru attraction to go with Akbar and Montu was nice, but there was no particular payoff for moving thru that space and getting to the end. It has recently been used as the haunt space for the up charge house, The Experiment, which I really enjoyed last year. Considering the "attraction" doesn't add anything as it exists now, any kind of replacement would be welcome.

[rcrider4]

Please tell me that this means that Adventure Island is finally getting something new. It's been almost 9 years since they have added anything.

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

[Flefty18]

BGT Instagram page says something new coming for Adventure Island

[BintamiM]

It is about time! While all of the Sea Parks have been getting nothing but love, Adventure Island was left alone to burn in the hot sun. (pun intended...even if it is a bad one) I hope it is a substantial new addition and not just an average ride.

[BlahBlahson]

Plz proslide rockit technology in Florida please.

[coastercoaster5]

If I am buying the Quick Queue normal, do the people actually check off the rides?

 

I have used it once before, and all but two items were crossed off and I had unlimited rides on everything. For cheetah hunt, they crossed of the flume ride and then they stop marking off. I got 12 rides on cheetah hunt that day.

 

Was i lucky, or do they never checK???

[chargersmichael]

Adventure Island really needs some new things. The new chains of Aquatica have really unique slides that stand out. The Disney water parks just have better environments that stand out. Wet N Wild continues to add things even though there isn't any room! Even Water Country USA in VA adds lots of new slides. Adventure Island never really called out to me to make constant visits even though it is in my town. They need some new slides and some slides just need to go. I'm hoping for a ProSlide Rocket type of slide, or similar drop slides to the ones Aquatica added this year...those were tons of fun!