Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

[prozach626]

^It's really smart. The designs are all finished, which has to reduce costs. Literally almost no one, myself included, will ever travel to other countries to ride their clones. Although... enthusiasts still complained American Thunder (SFSTL) was a clone from Finland.

[coastersandhockey]

I've seen that Montu has been down for a little over a week and is now listed in the Temporary closures on their website. Any locals heard or know what's going on? I'll be there 12/30 and I'm really hoping my favorite invert will be open 

[YoshiFan]

It was running when I was there Thursday night and looks like it has been closed since then. It is an unexpected closure as it wasn't listed as an upcoming closure on the site. Something similar happened earlier in the year where it was closed for 2 or 3 weeks.

If it is closed for a while, hopefully they add other trains to the coasters to make up for the lost capacity. Sheikra was running 1 train with the line almost outside at the bottom of the stairs and Iron Gwazi was also running 1 train with a posted 45 minute wait (I used Quick Queue so I'm not sure if that was accurate or not). That was in addition to the usual rides running 1 train like Kumba and Montu. I would hope they multiple trains during the holidays anyway but with BGT's operations, I never know what to expect.

[coastersandhockey]

Montu has been taken off the list of closed rides on the website. Not sure if it's open at the moment or not. They're not posting wait times for that or a few other rides right now. Iron Gwazi has also reopened after being down a couple days because it valleyed. Just thought I'd update for anybody else also making a trip soon! 

[Skysthelimit]

We did the behind the scenes coaster tour a couple weeks ago on a Saturday. 2 trains were running and they said the 3rd, which looked mostly intact, was in one of the bags and will be stripped down for rehab. I’m not sure what the issue is, but there should be two trains available once they fix it. As a Florida local, Montu does seem to have more downtime in recent years. We went to ride again later in the day and they had to evac off the transfer brakes when we tried to ride, but when we left it was back open. Still running great though, no rattle and trims are very light. 

[YoshiFan]

Looks like Sheikra may have had an unplanned closure. It is listed on the closed rides page now and wasn't there as of last week as an upcoming closure. Planned closures usually also have a re-opening date like Journey To Atlantis at SWO that is listed as closed until February 26th.

[YoshiFan]

Sheikra reopened today along with Congo Rapids. I'm glad to see it running again not only because it is one of my favorite rides in the park but also because crowds have been higher than expected some days this month with all the tour groups and every ride being open helps.

 

 

 

 

[bert425]

.. . . BGT has announced the Skyride reopens Friday.

but there is now a $5 (each way) charge for it.        free for pass members.

Edited February 1, 2024 by bert425
Robb made some good points comparing to food costs in the park.

[YoshiFan]

I want to say I am surprised but with the way the BGT has been run in the past few years, I guess I shouldn't be.

In a park that basically has next to no flats/non coaster rides especially for a large park, that makes it even more annoying.

Parking also increased. Regular is $32, preferred is $47.

 

[AmyUD06]

The Williamsburg park charges members $7 to get their membership card printed on something thicker than paper.  This does not surprise me in the slightest.

[anonymouscactus]

Is it $5 per cart or $5 per person? 2 adults 2 kids... --- really? Either way.... yeesh. Just raise admission $0.75 for everyone if you really want to do something like this. I guess they only went to run 4 carts at any given time.

Oh, and don't forget the surcharge!

Then again, I remember a time SeaWorld Orlando used to charge for the sky tower.

[bert425]

eh, in the grand scheme of things, it's a first world problem.

so really nothing major to complain about.

[Garet]

8 hours ago, anonymouscactus said:

Then again, I remember a time SeaWorld Orlando used to charge for the sky tower.

I remember as a kid visiting there, and the park seemed to be just aiming to be just for only animals, doing its own separate thing from the competition, with the only ride being Wild Artic, which led to an animal exhibit so as a young boy it made sense of that being a paid add-on to me. But this was when construction had just started on Journey to Atlantis so a very very long time ago.

[Hilltopper39]

10 hours ago, anonymouscactus said:

Then again, I remember a time SeaWorld Orlando used to charge for the sky tower.

They still do, and always have as long as I can remember. I haven't been on it in years but the website still says it's a free for passholders and a "nominal fee" for non-passholders.

 

Look I don't like an upcharge but this really isn't that big of a deal to me. If anything it's just another thing to incentive you to buy a pass which seems to be a big part of their business. I'm just glad the ride is open again, if it takes $5.00 to keep it open then fine. Also if I remember correctly the line for this thing used to be awful due to it's massive popularity and somewhat lower capacity, so if it takes $5.00 for them to make a little money on the thing and keep the waits down a little I'm all for it. If people are going to complain about anything complain about $40.00 to park instead of $5.00 to go on a really cool vintage skyride attraction. 

[CoasterGuy06]

Looking online last night a one day ticket for today was $107.99 + tax. Pathetic to charge $5 (+ tax and + surcharge) per person for a one way trip.

[YoshiFan]

Phoenix Rising construction update taken from the Sky Ride today.

Friday seems like the best day of the week to visit the park this time of year. Crowds were low but they were running more trains compared to a Monday - Thursday. Most days this week Sheikra had up to a 30 minute wait with 1 train running. Today with 2 trains running, it was a complete walk on. I saw Cheetah Hunt was running 3 trains instead of the usual 2 on weekdays as well.

There weren't too many people waiting for the Sky Ride but in a small sample size, it appeared almost everyone getting in line to ride was a pass holder. I rode twice and I only saw people pay to ride once. I'm glad to have the ride back open because when there is no line it saves some time.

[YoshiFan]

After 2 weeks of being open, the Sky Ride is back on the closed rides page:

https://buschgardens.com/tampa/park-info/ride-attraction-schedule/

It was running when I visited on Thursday but didn't get a chance to ride as it closes at 4 on Monday - Thursday. In addition Kumba had a sign at the entrance stating it's open from 11 - 5. I know it usually opened later than the rest of the park but the early closing is new.

 

[Midgetman82]

Lack of ridership at the later hours? Last I was there, I had a (nearly) zen backrow ride on it within the last hour of park operations, and they were cycling three trains on it sending several empty trains.

[Skysthelimit]

^ three trains at once? As of a month ago, all 4 trains were assembled so curious if 3 were on the track. It doesn’t happen often. I know Montu is down to 2 operational with a 3rd rotated out, whereas Kumba still has the full 4. 

[DoinItForTheFame]

On 2/23/2024 at 6:01 PM, Skysthelimit said:

^ three trains at once? As of a month ago, all 4 trains were assembled so curious if 3 were on the track. It doesn’t happen often. I know Montu is down to 2 operational with a 3rd rotated out, whereas Kumba still has the full 4. 

Kumba only has 3 trains.... Not 4. 

[coasterbill]

Kumba has 4 trains and 4 transfer tracks if you look at the transfer table.

Once upon a time, this park used to care about stuff so they had one more train than needed so Kumba could always run 3 trains. You see how well that's working out...

[Skysthelimit]

5 hours ago, DoinItForTheFame said:

Kumba only has 3 trains.... Not 4. 

They still very much have 4. They were running 1 train running last time I visited in February and all 3 transfer bays were filled with fully built trains. Back in the day, the 4th was used to allow for continuous year round operations which is why I was surprised to see with my own two eyes 4 trains otherwise I would have never mentioned it. The lead car also says “4” on the bumper for one of the trains. 

[Skysthelimit]

3 hours ago, coasterbill said:

Kumba has 4 trains and 4 transfer tracks if you look at the transfer table.

Once upon a time, this park used to care about stuff so they had one more train than needed so Kumba could always run 3 trains. You see how well that's working out...

Sorry, you beat me to the punch. I’m pretty sure there are only 3 bays, because I thought to myself they have no where to put the train that was running at the end of the night.

When I worked Raptor eons ago, we’d never leave a train on the track in the evening and I think that’s common practice on most B&Ms to take weight off of the road wheels. You could be right on the 4 bays I just don’t recall that in all my visits. I’m giving this topic too much energy than needed but as a nerd who enjoys the history of the Busch parks, I found it interesting. 

[coasterbill]

Oh, you're right. I know that they have 4 trains and thought that they had 4 bays but apparently I made that last bit up. lol

[YoshiFan]

There is finally some track in place

I was wondering if I was going to be able to get this picture. The Sky Ride had just reopened after being closed because of the wind and the ride stopped right before this spot. After about a 15 minute delay because of technical difficulties, the ride started moving again because of and then the ride shut down for the day once everyone was unloaded from the ride.

Sheikra was also back to running 1 train with probably a 30 - 40 minute wait.