Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

[boldikus]

Sorry for the doublepost but uhhhhhhhh

 

Found on the parks FB page...

[Nrthwnd]

^ I Just shivered at seeing this. Great double post, there!

[bert425]

^^ holy. . . . that's gorgeous!

[DoinItForTheFame]

Wow!!! Love those two most recent photos. This coaster is going to be insane!!!

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Wow, even knowing that's fisheye, still looks ridiculous. Can't wait.

[xVicesAndVirtues]

The bf and I visited the park the other day for Christmas Town and crowds were non-existant, per usual for a weekday just about any time of the year. I love having this park just an hour down i4 and almost always being guaranteed unlimited walk-on rides on Kumba and Montu.

 

The Christmas Town Village area, which opens at 4, was very cute and their waffle sandwiches were bomb. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a pic of the one we got, but it was the one with turkey, cheese, and cranberry on it.

 

Iron Gwazi looks very imposing entering the park and really dominates the skyline. I can't wait for the aforementioned weekdays with no lines to ride this over and over again.

Iron Gwazi's lift, sans-chain right now, has been completed. Track has made it's way about 3/4 of the way down the first drop as well.

I'm happy to report that Gwazi: Tiger was spared demolition and will live on in Jungala.

Going down

The Skyride was open again, making for some good views of Iron Gwazi's progress

Same Skyride, different angle

The sun beginning to set behind the new RMC tower

As the sun set, we were starting to freeze our a$$es off (it was like 55 degrees, for you non-Floridians), so we ran to the car to grab jackets for the rest of our night rides.

The new view of the park's skyline when walking into the park

Now that the Christmas Town Village area was open, we were able to get some unique looks from right under Iron Gwazi

The bf and I awkwardly posing for a photo in front of some Christmas trees at the far end of Christmas Town Village

The entire park really looked beautiful with all the Christmas lights illuminated with the sun going down

The quieter side of the park near the kangaroos and flamingos was lined with these cute little trees

They had the SheiKra-Kumba shortcut path open, which was covered with this tunnel decorated with lights, which were coordinated to change color to music

The Crown Colony House was also decked out with music-coordinated lights. When we were nearby, it was jamming to Christmas Eve in Sarajevo

You can get your nuts cracked, if that's what you're into

Even the alligators had this cute little Christmas tree to look at

And lastly, the park's entrance area was also fully illuminated with lights, holly, and wreaths.

 

Busch Gardens Tampa is a beautiful park and Christmas Town really makes it come alive at night. We really enjoyed our visit and hopefully we'll make it back again before the event ends. I highly recommend the food/drinks in Christmas Town Village!

[thrillseeker4552]

Nice report! It's crazy how imposing Iron Gwazi is on the skyline. It almost looks like a Giga coaster!

[ytterbiumanalyst]

^ This. I'm loving the Goliath-style lift hill too. Just breathtaking.

[boldikus]

I just can't even with this ride.

 

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[Condor]

I can't wait to see how high the second hill ends up going. By the looks of it from this angle, even assuming it gets taller you are still going to absolutely FLY over it...

[Hilltopper39]

I love not knowing what's really coming next in the layout and that they never released a full POV. I don't really avoid "spoilers" for coasters but I'll probably have a chance to ride this not long after opening so I might try as hard as I canto not look at any mroe new pics of this thing. Absolutely can't wait to get back over to BGT this summer.

[anonymouscactus]

So... this just came up on my news feed (from July, sorry if this has already been torn apart)...

 

https://www.thetravel.com/busch-gardens-best-worst-rides/

 

This might be the stupidest reading I have **ever** seen (and not just because of the spelling of Scorpion). -- Also: I think Coasterbill may have 3 actual, full-fledged heart attacks. (*Cough* #5, #3, #1) -- Warning you now.

 

"You are then instantly brought back up into an upside-down loop before speeding off through the seven inverted tacks." -- huh? Tracks doesn't even make sense either. WHAT DOES IT EVEN MEAN.

 

I mean, besides the list itself.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

WHAT DOES IT EVEN MEAN.

That we still have some time before the algorithms are capable of writing good listicles.

[djcoastermark]

That article had to be the worst I have ever seen on the rides at BGT. Who or what ever wrote that needs to never write another review again.

[CaptainUnknown]

The reason the article says to not ride Kumba is because it's all the way in the back of the park. So, you're telling me not to ride the coaster on account of laziness? That's what the skyride's for, biotch. Oh wait, you don't want us riding that either.

[southpuddle]

But they recommend riding Congo Rapids, which is right next door, so... Looks like I’ve been doing BGT wrong all these years!

[coasterbill]

That person needs to be smacked. Everything about that article is hot garbage.

[A.J.]

Allow me:

 

Busch Gardens is known for it salient wildlife conservation practices as well as its rides.

The climb and the drop are the most intense parts of this ride, but with theater-style seating and a floorless car, every minute of this ride the SheiKra

Skip: Scorpian

Passenger's feet dangle as they are brought up a deliberately steady climb which lingers just briefly enough before dropping into a steep sloop.

Skip: Kumba

The cart, instead of slowly climbing the tracks, is risen on a platform to face the majestic, col0ssal cobra.

Whomever "wrote" this article needs to actually go to a theme park instead of reading website ride descriptions, reading Wikipedia articles, and looking at the layout of that park on Google Maps.

 

Also, some of the wording makes me think that the article was originally written in a foreign language and then run through Google Translate.

[DBru]

Lots of ridiculous things here, but I laughed out loud at “steep sloop.”

[jedimaster1227]

Articles like these make me envy the model Europe has with tour guides where you're only authorized to act as a historical guide guests in a region if you're properly certified. That sad fact is that some unknowing general guest will find this article and think it is the gospel truth when it is full of nonsensical descriptions and "advice," planning their visit with these "insights" in mind.

Edited December 30, 2019 by jedimaster1227

[ZeroG001]

Does anyone know how crowds are going to be on Monday next week, January 6th? I know the holidays will be over but I don’t want to go in expecting it to be dead and be surprised.

[MindbenderManiac]

Monday 1/6 is Three Kings Day... its the last day of BGT's Christmas Town and the last day of their three kings celebration... with the park staying open till 8, I feel like they are expecting it to be busier than a usual Monday. Not sure if area schools are out or not.

[coasterbill]

Quick Queue (regular) is only $29.99 that day, so if it's busy just get that. Personally I don't think it will be.

[A.J.]

Keep in mind that even on slower days, Cheetah Hunt will have significant wait times for the entire day. It's just what happens.

[ZeroG001]

If Cheetah Hunt is busy all day I’d definitely hit that right when we get there, but I don’t think we’ll be there at opening since we’re catching the shuttle from Orlando that leaves at 9:15 am. I’ll probably play it by ear and get the Quick Queue if it looks bad cause $30 is really reasonable. Thanks everyone!