Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

[pianojohn]

Finally got my Iron Gwazi ride. 
Waited about 35 minutes as soon as the park opened. When we got off the ride, it was 120 minutes. 
I liked it. Still partial to Steel Vengeance with the longer track length and the trip through the wooden structure. 
one this: they NEED a single rider line. The train before us had 5 empty seats out of 24. Fill every seat and reduce the wait times. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ricklap77]

2 hours ago, bert425 said:

Shhhhh.. I know from my years of hanging out with my Vancouver & Toronto friends that time works differently in Canada.

(when they show up, they show up)

 

hmmmm. . maybe Frontier is a Canadian Airline?

Sorry buddy for not following the site 24/7!!!!!!  Maybe I'm not geeky enough?!!!

[bert425]

38 minutes ago, ricklap77 said:

Sorry buddy for not following the site 24/7!!!!!!  Maybe I'm not geeky enough?!!!

Lol. My post was a shot at Bill and his love of Frontier

[ricklap77]

No problem

[lusterjinzo]

We will be in Florida next weekend for Saturday and Sunday going to Seaward and Busch Gardens to ride the new coasters. We have all day Saturday but will need to leave about 5 on Sunday.We have been to both parks before so riding everything is not necessary. My question is - Should we go to Busch on Saturday and have all day but larger crowds or Sunday with slightly smaller crowds but a much shorter day? I know we could get the Quick Que (It is $129 to $179 depend on the level) but I would to hear opinions without this option. Thanks in advance.

[bert425]

personally?  I'd absolutely take the longer day at BGT. . and just hope Iron Gwazi draws much of the crowd leaving most everything else not too bad.

there's SO much to do at BGT in addition to the rides (not the same I feel at SW), that I'd rather have the longer day there. . . even if you end up waiting a long time for a ride on IG.

[B&MBoy1982]

So I work for a delivery company, and my delivery area is out near Clermont Steel Fabricators!  
 

I pulled over to organize my next few stops, as it’s a somewhat busy 2 lane road. 
 

I see these.  
 

4 or 5 sections.  Perfect timing since Kumba is going down for annual soon!

[thrillseeker4552]

While perfectly plausible this could be for a few track sections on Kumba (I don't see it listed on the website as going down soon?), I also wouldn't discount this being for SeaWorld Orlando since they are quick ramping up construction.

It could also be for something overseas since they are building a new B&M just about every day. Thanks for sharing!

[dlasflyer]

Any word on the skyride reopening?

[coasternut]

^ I thought it was posted to open this summer.

[jedimaster1227]

^Signs out front of the Cheetah Hunt area entrance advise of a Summer 2022 reopening.

[dlasflyer]

8 hours ago, jedimaster1227 said:

^Signs out front of the Cheetah Hunt area entrance advise of a Summer 2022 reopening.

 

8 hours ago, coasternut said:

^ I thought it was posted to open this summer.

What is Busch Gardens' definition of summer?

[SharkTums]

22 minutes ago, dlasflyer said:

 

What is Busch Gardens' definition of summer?

Closer to actual summer than SFMM's definition?

[Zand]

Seeking advice!

Doing a no-Disney Florida trip 4/24-5/2. Will be at Universal Sunday thru Thursday. Rented a car Friday through Monday when we leave at 2:30. I bought a 2 day 2 park ticket to use at Seaworld and BGT. 

My current plan is to go to Seaworld on Friday and Busch on Sunday and avoid Saturday. I've been to Seaworld once (on a weekday in January like 10 years ago, it was deserted) and dont plan on getting QQ, as there's plenty of time in one day to hit everything they have to offer. I've never been to BGT so I have,no idea what to expect for crowds on a Sunday mid spring now that spring break is over but summer vacations aren't starting yet. QQ unlimited is $100 and then $130 to include 1 ride on Iron Gwazi. Obviously I want a ride or two on that, but otherwise I'll be happy to spend most of the day on the B&Ms. Should I plan on buying QQ (and can I buy it in the park if necessary or does it sell out?) or are Sundays in early May not too bad?

Also, if anyone has any strategy advice on what to hit early/late to avoid crowds as well as best food at each park, any help is great! Really looking forward to especially BGT but there's so much new to me stuff at all the parks so the whole week will be a blast.

[AmyUD06]

1 hour ago, Zand said:

Seeking advice!

Doing a no-Disney Florida trip 4/24-5/2. Will be at Universal Sunday thru Thursday. Rented a car Friday through Monday when we leave at 2:30. I bought a 2 day 2 park ticket to use at Seaworld and BGT. 

My current plan is to go to Seaworld on Friday and Busch on Sunday and avoid Saturday. I've been to Seaworld once (on a weekday in January like 10 years ago, it was deserted) and dont plan on getting QQ, as there's plenty of time in one day to hit everything they have to offer. I've never been to BGT so I have,no idea what to expect for crowds on a Sunday mid spring now that spring break is over but summer vacations aren't starting yet. QQ unlimited is $100 and then $130 to include 1 ride on Iron Gwazi. Obviously I want a ride or two on that, but otherwise I'll be happy to spend most of the day on the B&Ms. Should I plan on buying QQ (and can I buy it in the park if necessary or does it sell out?) or are Sundays in early May not too bad?

Also, if anyone has any strategy advice on what to hit early/late to avoid crowds as well as best food at each park, any help is great! Really looking forward to especially BGT but there's so much new to me stuff at all the parks so the whole week will be a blast.

I'm pretty sure you can buy the QQ in the park if you need it; one of the more frequent visitors will chime in if I'm wrong.

Cheetah Chase is an Intamin so it's like to go up and down all day; I'd head there first.  Then grab Montu and Cobra's Curse (if spinning coasters are your thing) and make your way around the rest.  Sand Serpent might get a line since it's a Wild Mouse, not sure.  Note that if it's anything like my trip in February 2021, most of the park won't start operating until an hour or two after opening, so good luck with that.

As for food, the only thing I had was the pretzels from the place near Scorpion, and they are incredible.

[dankeykang]

Piggybacking off several points made above:

- If you want to ride all the coasters, Cheetah Hunt and Cobra’s Curse MUST be ridden first, as both are very popular and low capacity

- Yes, there are usually staggered openings for a lot of rides in the back of the park, like Kumba, Falcon’s Fury, etc. Not sure if this holds true on weekends, though

- I will also recommend Twisted Tails (pretzel place), those things are absolute fire

[Zand]

The pretzel place at BGW by Verbolten and the Drop Tower is one of my favorite food places anywhere, so if it's anything like that then I very much look forward to it!

[The username]

It looks like those track pieces pictured earlier were for the "Surf-Coaster" going to SWO.

[AndrewA86]

Trip report from my 2 days at the park, Tuesday March 29th, and Wednesday March 30th.

First I’ll start with the area around the park. Some said it wasn’t the best of area’s, but I thought it was fine. I walked a mile and a half to and from the park from my hotel both days.

This wasn’t my first time at the park so I’ll start with what’s new: Iron Gwazi, and it’s a masterpiece! The most intense coasters tend to be my favorites, and Iron Gwazi takes my #2 overall spot. Bumping I305 down to 3, and sitting behind Steel Vengeance. Everything that makes RMC’s great makes this great, but at a higher level. And it being a walk on for most of the second day was just fabulous!

The addition of Iron Gwazi also shot BGT up my park rankings to #3 behind Cedar Point and Kings Island. But it wasn’t JUST Iron Gwazi that did that. Some of the coasters were a lot more fun than I remember.

Cobra’s Curse was closed on my first visit, so this was a new credit for me. And no coaster has ever exceeded expectations more than this one. I thought it would be a fun family ride, but this ended up being a top 50 coaster for me. Ranked ahead of quite a few inverts, wing’s, dive’s, and a couple hypers. Maybe I just LOVE spinning coasters, which means I need to get myself to Silver Dollar City this summer!

Another ride that surprised the crap out of me was SheiKra. Now I’m not sure this is true, but it seems like they hold you up there a split second longer than the other North American dive coasters. It’s still very smooth, and very enjoyable. And it moved up to #2 in the dive coaster rankings behind Yukon Striker.

Montu and Kumba were both running great as usual. Montu’s new paint job is AMAZING. Montu’s first half is still the best part of any invert, but it’s second half is below average IMO. Which is why it stays at #3 on the invert list behind Afterburn and Raptor.

Kumba I’m still in love with. Still glossy smooth, intense, and overall just an awesome ride! I still prefer it to Maverick…

The rest of the coasters are fun, but they ran as I remembered them. The only ride I dislike is Cheetah Hunt because of the hard restraints, they dig into the top of my shoulders, and the seat isn’t comfortable at all. That ride just wasn’t designed for me at all. And unfortunately Falcon’s Fury was closed both days due to high winds, and the sky ride was closed.

Overall my visit was very fun, very enjoyable, and with the addition of Iron Gwazi I think this is now one of the super elite park’s in the country!

[rachelmadcow]

I just cannot believe IG is not better than SV. I find SV to be not as good as NTG if I'm frank.... 

[pianojohn]

4 hours ago, rachelmadcow said:

I just cannot believe IG is not better than SV. I find SV to be not as good as NTG if I'm frank.... 

Have you ridden both?
I have. And I prefer Steel Vengeance.

[AndrewA86]

5 hours ago, rachelmadcow said:

I just cannot believe IG is not better than SV. I find SV to be not as good as NTG if I'm frank.... 

 

34 minutes ago, pianojohn said:

Have you ridden both?
I have. And I prefer Steel Vengeance.

I prefer SV too, and by a very large margin.

But SV is too intense for some, so maybe that's the reason.

[thrillseeker4552]

I think Gwazi's lack of a MCBR helps its case so much. When I rode SV last August it was trimming very heavily on the MCBR and made the second half just so repetitive and tedious IMO. By the final bunny hops it was like, "Is it over yet? Is it done yet?" The first half is excellent though. Iron Gwazi feels like SV's first half the whole ride and it never lets up and powers to the end with speed. Obviously SV needed the edge with capacity though, so I understand CP's reason for adding a MCBR.

Iron Gwazi is just consistent from top to bottom, beginning to end, without a single dead spot or trim. When I rode SV that was very much not the case. But I can see anybody's reason for preferring either coaster based on personal preference and taste. Neither is a bad coaster and they are both some of RMC's best work.

[Invertalon]

I completely expect to like IG more than Vengeance, which honestly rates pretty low on my RMC's because the ending sequence is just so terrible. The first half is stellar, the end just ruins it for me.. Uncomfortable, for one and the ride would be much better if they just eliminated everything from the final barrel roll on. IG looks so much better in this regard to have solid elements start to finish.

 

[The username]

Everything said about SV is certainly true, the main reason I personally like IG better is the ability to marathon it. Back in 2018 l, my family used CPs busted fastlane system to get 5 rides in a row on SV late one Saturday night. It broke all of us and we were super sore afterwards, but totally worth it!