Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

[thrillseeker4552]

^Great to hear! I am hoping to make it back to the park on Friday with lower crowds (at least lower than what they were on Sunday). It is the first day for Gold pass members but I can't imagine it will have the same kind of rush as the first day of Platinum did.

[tndank]

Pics from each day this week around 1pm showed more than half the rows empty waiting to board the train.  Great time for passholders to marathon this thing.

 

[coasternut]

^ That's what I've been doing the past 3 days. There are locals with well over 130 rides on it already. I finished today with 75 for 3 days, not counting my lovely 1 ride on Sunday.

[ngt4]

Alright y'all,

I am heading down with a group for Spring Break to FL and we are going to BGT. Unfortunately, we are down during the week that Iron Gwazi opens but will likely have to go sometime between the 7-10th of March. We already have some standard tickets that we have to use but were also looking into the fun cards for the 2 days that are labelled as preview days. So with that, I wanted to ask: 

1. How have the previews been working? Are they sticklers for who has the passes, or are you likely able to get a ride in even if you aren't a passholder?

2. Are they still doing some soft-openings the days that are not marked? (i.e, the 8th/9th of March that are sandwiched between the 2 "Fun Card" days)?

3. Would they let a group go in if some have passes and others do not?

And for some context- we are college students that got access to a few free tickets and are splitting the costs of the rest. We will try to get fun cards so we can attend those days but I want to get a feel for how BGT is running this show and if it is even worth it to have some fun cards and some not. Seems a lot more strict than when Velocicoaster was just essentially open for months before the official date. Thanks everyone!

[thrillseeker4552]

1 hour ago, ngt4 said:

Alright y'all,

I am heading down with a group for Spring Break to FL and we are going to BGT. Unfortunately, we are down during the week that Iron Gwazi opens but will likely have to go sometime between the 7-10th of March. We already have some standard tickets that we have to use but were also looking into the fun cards for the 2 days that are labelled as preview days. So with that, I wanted to ask: 

1. How have the previews been working? Are they sticklers for who has the passes, or are you likely able to get a ride in even if you aren't a passholder?

2. Are they still doing some soft-openings the days that are not marked? (i.e, the 8th/9th of March that are sandwiched between the 2 "Fun Card" days)?

3. Would they let a group go in if some have passes and others do not?

And for some context- we are college students that got access to a few free tickets and are splitting the costs of the rest. We will try to get fun cards so we can attend those days but I want to get a feel for how BGT is running this show and if it is even worth it to have some fun cards and some not. Seems a lot more strict than when Velocicoaster was just essentially open for months before the official date. Thanks everyone!

They are checking each person's pass. If one person does not have the necessary pass, even if the rest of their group does, they are unable to ride.

The park has, however, been more lax with the operating hours for Gwazi. The previews were initially advertised as 12pm to 6pm but they have been opening it with the park and taking it to park close on some days, if not most days. But if you do not have the necessary pass I would not expect to be able to ride.

No word on if they are doing public soft opening days like VC but I doubt it since these previews have extended a month long and been very popular. I would not set any expectations for it. I would definitely try to get Fun Cards and go on the Fun Card days if you want to guarantee a ride.

[The username]

Currently scheming to be first in line for IG when it opens to the public on march 11th. This will be the first time I've ever attended a new roller coaster opening, what all should I expect?

[jedimaster1227]

31 minutes ago, The username said:

Currently scheming to be first in line for IG when it opens to the public on march 11th. This will be the first time I've ever attended a new roller coaster opening, what all should I expect?

Unnecessarily long lines for the same experience as you could have a week later for a fraction of the wait time. Plus the rest of the park will be equally swamped with the people who didn’t realize the Iron Gwazi line would be so bad.

If you truly “must be first” you’ll need to plan to get to the parking lot early (several hours before park opening) and be prepared to wait in your car until the toll plazas open.

There may be some gratification that comes from riding on opening day or being among the first, but ask yourself how much that is worth. The ride operated previously for employees in 2020 and has been doing passholder previews for weeks. You’ll be far from the first to ride.

What can you expect from attending on opening day? A less enjoyable version of an enjoyable day at Busch Gardens a week to two weeks later.

[thrillseeker4552]

^I think you said it perfectly.

I went for the first "real" public day (the first Platinum day on the 13th) and it was a ZOO of people. The line was monstrous. I came back days later and it was 10-20 minutes at most. I definitely didn't regret going on "opening" day but, I can't say it was super enjoyable either. It didn't help that the park had two of their major attractions closed for refurbishment anyway so even more people didn't care about exploring around the park and they just stuck by Gwazi.

I had this situation with Velocicoaster's opening last summer. I was vacationing with my family and the only way we could fit in Universal was to go on June 10th (VC's opening day), or about a week later on the 18th. We opted for the 18th instead and I am so glad we did. It was obviously crowded but the initial "I gotta be first!" hype that I saw on social media had worn down by then and it was perfectly enjoyable and less crowded (for Universal's standards).

So yeah, if you wanna ride Iron Gwazi on opening day, by all means do it because it's a freakin' awesome ride. But like @jedimaster1227said, get there way way early if you must.

[The username]

Thanks for the input, I'm from out of state and how my universities spring break works out opening day is really the only chance I'm gonna get. 

[jedimaster1227]

17 hours ago, The username said:

Thanks for the input, I'm from out of state and how my universities spring break works out opening day is really the only chance I'm gonna get. 

Makes sense. The timing won’t be ideal from a park experience standpoint so I’d absolutely recommend buying Quick Queue or Quick Queue Unlimited (which includes one-time Quick Queue access for Iron Gwazi) that way you aren’t as pressed for time to experience the park’s other coasters. Go straight to Iron Gwazi once the park opens and ride as much in standby as you can before it gets too busy. Then you’ve got your Quick Queue options to plan the rest of your day.

https://buschgardens.com/tampa/upgrades/quick-queue/

[tndank]

March 11 QQ....$30 extra for a single lap opening weekend on IG. Ouch. It was $50. Pretty sure the reg unl has gone up $20 the last couple weeks.

Have fun in the park. Hopefully things worked out well and you find a way to get a few laps during the day. Obv. show up early and get the first ride without a QQ. 

[Hilltopper39]

Atleast Sheikra and Montu will be back open by then, should help spread the crowds out a bit. We went for IG preview on a Sunday a few weeks back and the park was crowded but man without those two coasters open everything else had an hour + line. Even Kumba which seems like it never gets a line longer than 20-30 minutes. 

 

Also Iron Gwazi is fantastic. As far as rankings I think Maverick is still comfortably in the top spot for me, but Gwazi is below it right along with Lightning Rod, and Steel Vengance. Gwazi really surprised me, that first drop is insane, the pull out after the stall really caught me off guard, great pacing, and man that wave turn over the station was so good. 

[The username]

Will Sheikra and Montu be open? We had been leaning towards not going due to them being closed. Those two being open would definitely help disperse the load for everything else.

Edit: Nvm I see that they have them both to reopen on March 4th

[boldikus]

Ooooof

https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/attractions/2022/03/03/busch-gardens-removes-beams-from-iron-gwazi-after-guest-hits-hand

Quote

TAMPA, Fla. — Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has modified its new Iron Gwazi coaster after a guest said they struck their hand on a beam while riding.

The theme park confirmed with Spectrum News on Thursday that two beams were removed from the attraction following the incident.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the morning after this situation, crews removed two beams from the area where the guest reported this situation occurred,” Busch Gardens said in a statement. “We took the precautionary step to remove them as part of our commitment to the health and safety of guests.”

The guest, according to the park, declined any medical treatment.

“The safety of our guests is our highest priority and all of our rides are designed and installed according to all applicable standards, manufacturer specifications and include specific ride restrictions for the safety of our guests,” the statement said.

The change comes ahead of Iron Gwazi’s official opening on March 11. The ride have been open to pass members for previews in recent weeks.

The hybrid coaster, manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction, reaches speeds of up to 76 mph and plunges riders from a 206-foot-tall peak into a 91-degree drop.

SeaWorld Orlando, Busch Gardens’ sister park, also recently made changes to its new Ice Breaker coaster. The park raised the coaster’s minimum height requirement due to “operational issues with smaller riders.”

 

[The username]

Glad the rider was ok. Glad that it isn't going to affect the opening date. 

[boldikus]

Don't quote me on this but apparently these are the beams in question. They're being cut down a bit.

[KBrylczyk]

Something something "keep hands and arms inside the car at all times" blah blah

[xVicesAndVirtues]

We went to the park again on Friday to get one last day (for us at least) of passholder previews before Iron Gwazi opens to the public next week. As my bf and I both have busy and conflicting work schedules, coupled with not being all that interested in visiting any of the parks during spring break, we likely won't make it back out to the park again until sometime in April.

After fighting absolutely horrendous pre-weekend I-4 traffic, we were dreading a busy park and prepared to buy QQ just in case, but we got to the park around 3:00 PM and we got a bunch of Iron Gwazi rides with 2-4 train waits, max. Operations were super fast and consistent, and as on our first day riding it, Iron Gwazi was kicking all sorts of ass.

One thing we either didn't notice before or was added since the VIP event was a small selection of pre-mixed drinks sold at the popcorn stand outside Iron Gwazi's entrance. We got the Iron Gwazi Fizz, which was some kind of gin-lemonade drink and it was really good and fairly strong. We also love that SeaWorld continues to be the only park chain to do a passholder discount on alcohol!

After some of these, we headed up the left path and found SheiKra operating with riders, a surprise we didn't expect to see. The park finished maintenance work early and decided to re-open it a day early, sweet! They were only using one station but operating 3 trains, so the 10-minute or so wait moved fast. We also rode Kumba, which was running two trains with zero wait, so we rode our hearts out on what was Florida's best coaster for like 25+ years until these new gen-Zers came in with their iron alligators and velociraptor nonsense. While I'd say it's now the third-best coaster in Florida, Kumba still kicks all sorts of ass and is still a top-15 or so coaster for me. Ride it in the back on an edge seat for positive-G bliss.

We saw Montu cycling and got excited for a second, but it was to cycle past park close with no riders. It wasn't scheduled to re-open until Saturday anyway, so oh well, but we definitely miss our only B&M invert in Florida. We went back and got some more rides on Iron Gwazi, with a line that at first was 30ish minutes, then died completely out again.

Overall we were in the park for about 5ish hours and got to do everything we wanted to do. Operations were good and we're happy that the park continues to improve.

The fact that we've now been able to get something like 20 rides on a brand new RMC so easily in just 2 visits is so, so awesome. To compare, I think I've been on Steel Vengeance like 15ish times total and we've gone every year with multi-day stays onsite with Fast Lane. This isn't a knock to Cedar Point, as we also take kind of a "chill" approach to parks we go to and don't get there at the crack of dawn nor run around like maniacs to ride every coaster during every possible moment until we're blue in the face, but it shows how easily accessible Iron Gwazi has been during just two visits during passholder previews. I already can't wait to get back to the park when it's off-peak again.

[thrillseeker4552]

I am curious to see Iron Gwazi's crowds and popularity once it officially opens. I went today and, despite being open for all passholders (which has to be a large portion of guests, right?), Iron Gwazi was a consistent 15-20 minute wait all day. The capacity is "acceptable" but not THAT good, I was expecting huge crowds today with it being much more widely accessible now that it was a few weeks ago, but it wasn't very crowded at all.

I wanted to go one last time during previews because I assumed it would turn into a mess of people once it opens to the public but perhaps all the nerds and coaster geeks and thrillseeking families who want to ride it have already ridden it, and anybody else from here on out is just a casual guest who may just see it as another ride rather in the park and not totally flock to it. It was actually pretty genius on SeaWorld/Busch's part to do these very extended and tiered previews (yes, they delayed it 2 years... but give credit where credit is due I suppose). I'm sure it will cut opening day crowds and hype by a LOT and make it much more manageable.

[xVicesAndVirtues]

^Not to mention, weekdays during the off season at Busch Gardens Tampa are crazy dead. Like walk onto the back row of Kumba despite it only running one train dead. So definitely hoping that stays true and come early May, we can get some pre-summer ERT courtesy of my PTO and it being a weekday in May.

[The username]

19 hours ago, thrillseeker4552 said:

I am curious to see Iron Gwazi's crowds and popularity once it officially opens. I went today and, despite being open for all passholders (which has to be a large portion of guests, right?), Iron Gwazi was a consistent 15-20 minute wait all day. The capacity is "acceptable" but not THAT good, I was expecting huge crowds today with it being much more widely accessible now that it was a few weeks ago, but it wasn't very crowded at all.

I wanted to go one last time during previews because I assumed it would turn into a mess of people once it opens to the public but perhaps all the nerds and coaster geeks and thrillseeking families who want to ride it have already ridden it, and anybody else from here on out is just a casual guest who may just see it as another ride rather in the park and not totally flock to it. It was actually pretty genius on SeaWorld/Busch's part to do these very extended and tiered previews (yes, they delayed it 2 years... but give credit where credit is due I suppose). I'm sure it will cut opening day crowds and hype by a LOT and make it much more manageable.

I really hope this ends up being true, still waking up super early to be one of if not the first in line for the official opening. Excited to get back to the park, just realized it's been over 10 years since I was last there!

[The username]

Alright, I'm in Tampa and the plan is in full motion to be one of if not the first to ride IG. Does anyone know if they do rope drop around 30 mins early like some other parks do? Planning on getting there around 8:30-9:00am to beat the rush.

[boldikus]

44 minutes ago, The username said:

Alright, I'm in Tampa and the plan is in full motion to be one of if not the first to ride IG.

People have been riding it for like a month.

[The username]

1 hour ago, boldikus said:

People have been riding it for like a month.

Lol I know, let me rephrase. "First in line to ride on it's Grand opening day" How's that?

[boldikus]

Let us know you make out, OK?