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Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

P. 377: Wild Oasis realm in Jungala announced for 2025!

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retrack?

I don't see any reason for this to happen. The ride doesn't really need it, it's insanely smooth.

 

Agreed, just visited BGT in August and Kumba was running great. Plus, it was a walk-on all day (as were Montu and Sheikra), which blew my mind. Gotta love being able to ride three of the best B&Ms ever built with no wait!

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retrack?

I don't see any reason for this to happen. The ride doesn't really need it, it's insanely smooth.

 

Agreed, just visited BGT in August and Kumba was running great. Plus, it was a walk-on all day (as were Montu and Sheikra), which blew my mind. Gotta love being able to ride three of the best B&Ms ever built with no wait!

Yeah, the crowds are like that about 80% of the time. God, I love my home park.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I thought the platinum pass only included regular parking for free. The past 2 days, I've been upgraded to preferred for free. Is that something BGT usually does?

 

I loved the park in the few hours I was there last night, so I'm excited to have most of today there as well. Their big 4 coasters are all really good rides. My personal favorite of them was Montu. I loved how it was almost as intense as Batman with the larger layout.

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I thought the platinum pass only included regular parking for free. The past 2 days, I've been upgraded to preferred for free. Is that something BGT usually does?

 

Platinum gives you preferred parking at all the SW & BG parks.

 

[edit] It used to (I went to BGW with my FL Platinum in '08 and got preferred). I see now that the BGW Platinum is good for the VA parks and the FL parks get preferred in FL. Maybe they were being generous.

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Well I did it...I just purchased our tickets through Tickets At Work (thanks Club TPR!) for BGT for our trip in a couple of weeks...I am sooo psyched as this will be our first vacation and first theme park visit since Michael was hospitalized from cancer surgery last year!!!

 

One thing that I found interesting was that when I purchased the tickets, it didn't seem to offer me the option to add the guest name to the 2nd ticket as I had been able to do in the past. Is this something that changed, or did I skip something that I shouldn't have? I assume that with the receipt and tickets that it shouldn't be a problem as long as I have the ID and show the receipt/tickets, but I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue? I couldn't find anything with that regards in the FAQ other than simply that you could purchase tickets for friends and family members - it never mentioned whether their names had to be on the tickets or not. (EDIT: I called TAW and they said no need for the other names on the tickets - the park just scans and away you go!)

 

In terms of the visit, we are looking at a Friday (when they are open until 10 PM) so that we can enjoy the park later to see all of the Christmas lights and catch some of the shows. I'm hoping that one of my fellow TPR members that lives in the area might be able to offer up some tips on must-see things during Christmas Town? We have been to the park multiple times during "regular times", but have never been to a holiday event at the park before.

 

My plan will be to grab a Quick Queue if the lines get long, but before I do that, I thought that I would ask if they have single rider lines (I can't recall if they did because I/we never needed them)? The plan is to reserve a motorized wheelchair for Michael, but I don't want him waiting for me for over an hour in line for the coasters and rides. If they have single rider lines, I would likely skip the QQ, but if they don't and it's busy, perhaps I will just snag one upon entering the park.

 

Typically lines have never been an issue for us at BGT, but given that it's a Friday and it's a holiday event, I may have to look into QQ - especially if I want to ride coasters after dark and families start filtering in to see the holiday lights and shows after dusk. Or I will just power ride the coasters during the day and skip them at night (although the thought of hitting Kumba, Sheikra and Montu at night sounds all too awesome!).

 

We will likely be staying at the nearby Hampton. Good choice for that area?

 

Thanks in advance for any help and insight, guys!

Edited by Philrad71
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^ Thanks Bill!

 

This trip means the world to us after what we have been through during the past year. Family and friend stops along the way, BGT and several days with a Gulf hotel patio view overlooking Fort Myers Beach. Maybe even a Dollywood stop on the way back if all of the planets align.

 

Finally...time to relax, have fun and recharge the batteries!

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as far as I recall, nothing at BGT had single rider lines.

 

could be mistaken, but I don't recall seeing any (most of the rides were walk on when we went anyways).

 

I DO know that Falcon's Fury did not have one. After waiting about 25 minutes for it (in a line that was probably 50 minutes long), I was chatting with a staff member, and She asked me if I was riding alone, and when I said yes, she pulled me up to the front to fill an empty single seat.. . so might be worth it to ask at front of line if they have an option for single riders?

 

 

we LOVED this seafood place that was close to the park. .so I recommend this (*very* 70s old school vibe):

https://www.shellsseafood.com/

 

(the North Tampa location is the one near BGT)

 

 

have a great trip and hugs to you both!

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^ Thanks Bert!

 

I didn't think that I recalled single rider lines, but as mentioned, we weren't really looking for them either. That's great to know about Falcon's Fury, so I will keep that little tip in my back pocket...if I grow the balls to ride it this time around.

 

The seafood place sounds great, but Michael doesn't do anything that lives in water. In checking the menu, it looks somewhat limited to what isn't seafood related (if they had steak, we'd be good! ), so we may have to opt for a return trip to the German restaurant (Mr. Dunderbak's) that is also nearby the park.

 

I'll make sure to take lots of pics and post a trip report when we get back!

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^ Wait and see if the crowds warrant a fast pass. Hubs and I took my parents on Xmas day and we had to park in the waterpark parking lot. Good grief the crowds were huge, BUT, the lines were not that long. We waited 45 minutes at peak hour for Cheetah Hunt. Your visit will be no where near as crowded earlier in the day. Yes, it will get busy as darkness rises. (but it's lots of families with kids to see the darkness lights rise, not the thrill ride crowd) giggle giggle.

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^ Thanks Mark!

 

Our plan is to now visit on a Sunday, which means crowds should be lighter than Friday (hopefully!). I believe that is what we did the last time that we were there...we saw that Cheetah Hunt was boasting a one hour wait so we went and got QQ.

 

Of course after that, the rest of the coasters were close to walk-on's, but it worked great for Cheetah Hunt, the log flume and I am sure would work for Cobra's Curse if the crowds are even moderate.

 

While I have ridden Montu at night once (awesome), I would love to try Kumba, Sheikra and Cheetah Hunt all at night. No biggie if we don't as they are still awesome coasters during the day!

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^ I was there last Tuesday and the only coasters that had a line were Cheetah Hunt and Cobra's Curse after I arrived about 3PM. Each had about a 30 minute wait according to the wait times. I only did Cheetah Hunt of those 2 and it was actually only about 20 minutes. Montu was a walk on and Kumba & SheiKra had maybe 1-2 train waits. It would appear you're going on the 17th if I'm correct? If so the local schools will still be in session the next day so I'm thinking you'll be good crowd-wise. Several of the FL school districts were originally scheduled to have that week off, but are making up days because of Irma that week. If the park is busier than you'd like you can still get the QQ if you need it.

 

If you really want to see the Christmas shows, they run some of them all day so you can catch them earlier so you're able to see all the outdoor lights and light shows once it gets dark. Be sure you visit Santa at Santa's House in the Nairobi area. It's across from the Nairobi Train Station. You get to meet Mrs. Clause and sit on Santa's lap. Afterwards you get a cookie and option to buy your photo. I would do this earlier on as you're strolling around the park. They also have a meet and greet with Rudolph and friends that's located in Pantopia by the theater. That one gets busy. I believe they both start allowing visits at 2PM (they did when we went).

 

As far as the shows, we only watched about half of Christmas Celebration at the Dragon Fire Grill in Pantopia. It's a cute traditional show with lots of singing, dancing and Santa. We wanted to be sure to see everything else so passed on the other indoor shows. I have seen Christmas On Ice at the Moroccan Theater before and it was good if you enjoy ice shows.

 

In addition to the indoor shows, there are a few other outdoor stages. One in the Bird Gardens with a Nativity scene featuring a musician playing traditional carols (there was a violinist when we went). There is also the Holly Hills Band that performs on a stage at the old Gwazi entrance. Those usually start around 5pm. There are also a couple of light shows. One in Jungala on a Christmas tree that starts every 10 minutes (on the 10s). It lasts about 5-6 minutes. The other is on the Serengeti Overlook Restaurant (Crown Colony House) that plays a medley of different versions of Carol Of The Bells. It also plays every 10 minutes on the 10s and lasts about 5 minutes. I personally enjoyed the latter more.

 

They also open up the Gwazi Park area (Christmas Town Village) where they have various vendors with food, drinks (yes some alcoholic), gifts, trackless train ride, train sets, photo ops and more. They do a sing-a-long on the Christmas Town Express (Serengeti Express) in the evenings.

 

[edit] P.S. Cheetah Hunt is amazing at night...as are the others.

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^ Thanks Mark!

 

Our plan is to now visit on a Sunday, which means crowds should be lighter than Friday (hopefully!). I believe that is what we did the last time that we were there...we saw that Cheetah Hunt was boasting a one hour wait so we went and got QQ.

 

Of course after that, the rest of the coasters were close to walk-on's, but it worked great for Cheetah Hunt, the log flume and I am sure would work for Cobra's Curse if the crowds are even moderate.

 

While I have ridden Montu at night once (awesome), I would love to try Kumba, Sheikra and Cheetah Hunt all at night. No biggie if we don't as they are still awesome coasters during the day!

 

I was there on Sunday night and the Monday before Thanksgiving. On Sunday night, Cheetah Hunt and Cobra's Curse were ~25 minute waits. All the other coasters were walk-ons. Cheetah Hunt was great at night with how dark the far end was. Cobra's Curse had a very cool lighting package at night. Montu, Kumba, and SheiKra are great any time of day.

 

On the Monday, I ran to Cheetah Hunt at opening and got two rides in a half hour. For the rest of the day, Cheetah Hunt was a 45-60 minute wait and Cobra's Curse was in that ballpark as well.

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Having been yesterday (Saturday) w/ beautiful weather I can tell you the lines for Kumba, Montu and Sheikra were very very short any time we passed/rode them. The park definitely felt busy. Cobras Curse (when it was open) had a 30-45 minute wait, Falcons Fury had a 30+ minute wait, and Cheetah Hunt had a consistent 30-45 minute wait throughout the day anytime we passed. We got QQ because I was splurging but we only really needed it on those three, and Scorpion where we skipped a 15/20 minute line. The QQ on Cobras Curse and Falcons Fury got us right in the station on the next train/cycle, on Cheetah you still have to wait in the station which depending on the row could mean another 5-15 minutes.

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Sorry for the double post, but the 2018 ride rehab schedule is up. Kumba just had an unusually long rehab, this is a strange one. Please don't be anything having to do with f*cking VR...

 

Kumba: January 8 - February 26

The Count's Rally: January 22 - 26

Elmo's Safari-Go-Round: January 29 - February 2

Flume: February 5 - March 9

Big Bird's Whirly Birdie: March 5 - 9

Snuffy's Elephant Romp: April 2 - 6

Bush Flyers: April 9 - 13

SheiKra: April 30 - May 19

Jungle Flyers 1 & 2: April 30 - May 4

Jungle Flyers 3 & 4: May 7 - 11

Jungle Flyers 5 & 6: May 21 - 25

Phoenix: May 29 - June 14

Gwazi Gliders: June 4 - 8

Hippos of the Nile: June 11 - 15

Rosita's Fly Away: August 6 - 10

Desert Runners: August 13 - 17

Carousel: September 4 - September 14

SkyRide: October 1 - October 26

Congo River Rapids: October 29 - November 21

Wild Surge: December 3 - 14

 

I don't even know why they bothered posting that because it's entirely different now. It's "subject to change" but it changed DRAMATICALLY right after they posted it. Tons of smaller rides shifted around, but more importantly Kumba is now closed from April 30 - May 24 and Sheikra is now closed January 22 - February 2. Here's the new list.

 

Hopefully this stays the same since it means Kumba is now going to be open for our visit in January! That sucks about Sheikra but I'd trade Sheikra for Kumba any day. Kumba also went from a 2 month closure to a more standard 3 week closure which puts any concerns of VR (which I certainly had) to bed.

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Oh you're totally right, they could absolutely still do it but it seems like a much more normal, unassuming rehab than a 2 month closure just 5 months after a month long closure in August of this year.

 

You guys have your fingers on the pulse of the Florida parks (and really, most / all parks) better than I do but my thought was that a scheduled 2 month closure was most likely either a repaint or VR (just because there's not much else it could be). The latter seemed likely since they just did it with Kraken and it would make sense for a chain that's bleeding money like they are who keeps bragging about their "cost savings program" on conference calls since it's a really cheap way to get something marketable for 2018 when they clearly don't feel like spending any actual money.

 

I started to have doubts when they didn't announce anything and we were getting pretty close to the scheduled rehab dates, so I started to lean towards the former (a repaint). If that is the case, I feel like it's entirely likely that they decided to pass on it after their disastrous Q3 and subsequent conference call where the only thing they could brag about was their cost saving strategy.

 

That's far more baseless speculation than I'm normally comfortable with and I acknowledge that I'm operating entirely on assumptions and am very likely wrong, but that's what the optimist in me that doesn't want VR anywhere near this ride came up with.

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It's also important to remember that Kumba opened in 1993!!!!

 

Six years earlier than those B&M's down I-4 that were deemed too old and busted and either needed replacing or removing. BGT operates a very similar year round schedule as well. They are welcome to keep doing rehab's if it keeps Kumba running!

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It's also important to remember that Kumba opened in 1993!!!!

 

Six years earlier than those B&M's down I-4 that were deemed too old and busted and either needed replacing or removing. BGT operates a very similar year round schedule as well. They are welcome to keep doing rehab's if it keeps Kumba running!

 

All of the this!

1698268206_NinaKleppeLikeThis.jpg.996da406f39d7400d6cbc2decb3e9bab.jpg

Let it Roar!

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