BGT Trip Report + Quick Queue Review

orangeblue · June 7, 2011

Since I only have a cell phone camera and there have already been a large amount of quality Cheetah Hunt pictures in other threads/TRs, I'm just going to give you the basics.

Overall stats for the day:

- Sheikra x6

9/10 I'm an airtime whore so I love this ride's first drop. It's short, smooth, thrilling, and very re-ridable... that's what she... sorry, I'll restrain myself.

- Gwazi x4 (2x Lion, 2x Tiger)

7/10 The new trains definitely improved the ride (I think Tiger is a little better than Lion), but this is still far from the smoothest GCI out there. Overall it's a fun ride albeit a little rough and with painfully slow dispatches (Quick Queue has slowed this down even further as they now first load the QQ people and then open the gates for everyone else).

- Montu x3

9/10 Still the king of the park in my opinion. Incredibly smooth and intense with a great layout. Given the way it interacts with the surrounding theming and trenches, I would have to say this is the Busch Parks' masterpiece.

- Kumba x2

8/10 Like Montu minus the floorless element, and with a little more headbanging. This ride easily still holds the crown for the most intense coaster in the park for good reason! If you love positive G's this will undoubtedly be your favorite.

- Cheetah Hunt x1 (Front row )

8/10 What can I say that hasn't already been said? The theming is impeccable, the way it interacts with the Edge of Africa section and the old Rhino Rally water section is amazing, the launches are fun, and you get some nice hangtime in the barrel roll. In addition, the figure-eight tower provides an excellent focal point for that part of the park that a traditional coaster lift hill wouldn't. As for how this stacks up, Cheetah Hunt is certainly NOT BGT's 'Maverick', so if you go in expecting that, you might be disappointed. It is a great family ride somewhere between Gwazi's and the park's big three B&Ms' level of intensity. My only complaint is that, yes, a few sections are a little slow, mainly the turn out of the station (I was actually leaning to the left from the lack of lateral G's). On a final note, I actually liked the speed of the figure-eight since it offered a great view of the park.

- Scorpion x1

7/10 Still a great ride and I hope it never goes the way of Python. The loop is surprisingly forceful in the front seat, and the whole ride packs a punch that's not immediately apparent given it's size.

- Sand Serpent x1

5/10 Just your standard wild mouse - thigh-bashing turns and quick drops. Fun, but not worth a wait.

Trip Report:

Well, Sunday was the second day of the June passholder preview and it was much more crowded than I expected. I got to the park a little before 8AM to have my year pass processed and looked at a line of at least 300 and growing in front of the Narobi gate. They started letting people into the park around 8AM and Cheetah Hunt started running around 8:30AM (1 hour before park opening as advertised). I waited about 50 minutes for the front row and have to say that it was worth it (see ride review above)! Since the line was long and growing (that's wh... okay, seriously, I'll stop now) and it was about 9:30AM anyway, I just headed back towards the front gate to get my Quick Queue Unlimited wristband/ticket and grabbed a quick ride on Gwazi Lion. While in general I would say that the ride is better with the new trains, the particular row I had (around 5) felt like it had square wheels . On an interesting note, the lap bars now come down for you, meaning no more stapling*! (or so I thought...)

Edit: Come to think of it, I'm not sure if the Gwazi crew ever actually pulled down your restraints, or if you did that yourself. In either case, these automatic lap bars would be great on a lot of woodies and really speed up dispatch time if they don't have seat belts.

By around 10AM, the rest of the park opened, so I went over to the Timbuktu section to ride Scorpion and Sand Serpent since those rides are not offered as part of the Quick Queue system. I hopped into the front row on the first train of the day for Scorpion and was caught off guard by the power of that old Schwarzkopf loop. Still a great ride after all these years! Afterwards, I took a spin on Kumba which didn't disappoint as usual. As a side tip, I would say that if you want the smoothest experience (i.e., minimal head-banging) on Kumba, or any other B&M, ride in the middle seats of a row since they are closest to the coaster's theoretical heart-line and thus give the lowest lateral G's. Not sure where to go next, I wondered through Jungala on my way to Sheikra, which looked quite nice. Unfortunately, the tigers seemed to be sleeping . Sheikra was a blast in the back row, though it appears to be showing its age with some faded paint in a few places. It's far from the rusted mess that was Kumba a few years ago, but it could still use some touch ups, especially around the splash-down.

And now for my horrifying (not really) story of being stuck on the Sky Ride! I decided to save some walking by taking the Sky Ride back over to Montu, and just as I was about 50 feet from the exit by Cheetah Hunt, the power in the park went out. The Sky Ride suddenly stopped (not too unusual yet), but then as I looked around, I realized that nothing was running around the park save for Gwazi. One train appeared to be stuck on Sheikra (which would later be evacuated), and everything just seemed eerily still. Thankfully it only took about 20 minutes to get it back up and running, though Cheetah Hunt would be down for the rest of day. On the bright side, I had an excellent view of Cheetah Hunt and the animals in the Edge of Africa exhibit. As I exited, I could see what looked like a two hour line for Cheetah Hunt. Unfortunately, none of those people would get to ride .

I made my way over to Montu next, which was still down. Since they started evacuating people from the final break run, I decided to come back later and made another loop around the park. I grabbed two more rides on Gwazi (1 Lion, 1 Tiger) and walked over to Sheikra, which too was still down. Opting to make the most of the situation, I got lunch at the BBQ place nearby which was pretty enjoyable (and air conditioned ). Once Sheikra was back up, I took three more rides before heading over to get one more ride on Kumba. Despite my better judgment, I rode the Sky Ride back over to Montu to get two rides in and check on Cheetah Hunt (tip: be sure to take the Sky Ride from the Jungala area back to the Cheetah Hunt station and not the reverse; the line on the Cheetah Hunt side is always around 30-45 minutes since it's close to the park's entrance whereas the other side is generally less than 15 minutes). As I was over there I looked around at the new cheetah exhibit, but to my surprise they only brought the cheetahs out at pre-determined times to do their routines. I had assumed it would be more like their other animal exhibits, but I guess they have it set up as more of a show right now with the trainers engaging the cheetahs. Since it was hot as hell out, I bought a nice cool serving of Dip'n Dots for the low, low price of $6.00 (also the price for their beer). I think the rule of thumb with theme parks is that any food/beverage will cost you twice as much inside the park. Oh yeah, I heard that Aquatrax IS coming to Cedar Point next year... just wait.

I finished the day with two more rides on Sheikra followed by another Montu ride and possibly my most painful ride ever on Gwazi. You see, as I said earlier, the lap bars are automated now, and while on my first three rides this worked perfectly, on my final ride Gwazi decided to exact revenge by stapling me in (it doesn't help that the bar goes in between your legs ). I'm not sure what I did to bring about this revenge, but I'll be sure to come prepared next time! At least they dueled them for my final ride of the day ! Overall, I had a pretty good time though my feet hurt by the end of the day and I felt pretty exhausted due to the heat and limited sleep the night before.

Thoughts of the Park

This was my first time back at the park in three years despite the fact that I live only 45 minutes away. Overall, the park looks great with its new additions. The staff, for the most part, seemed a lot friendlier than they were the last few times I had gone. Unfortunately, some operations still seemed to be lacking. Montu was triple stacking whenever they had to load the quick queue people (perhaps not the crew's fault, but it definitely indicates a poor QQ implementation at this ride). Gwazi dispatches were as slow as usual due to the seatbelts, and having to load the QQ customers before everyone else. On the bright side, the Kumba and Sheikra crews were pretty good, and like I said, most people seemed friendly (greeting customers, asking people how their day's were going, etc.) despite being out in the unpleasant heat and humidity all day. Plus most of the shop clerks reminded me to use my year pass to get discounts! The food (at the BBQ restaurant near Sheikra) was good, if a bit overpriced and they had a ton of snack stands around the park to grab a quick drink or some popcorn/cotton candy.

Where I think they can improve would be with the flat ride selection. Besides the coasters and water rides, there isn't much else to do as far as rides outside of the Timbuktu area and the kiddie rides. I would love to see a large thrilling flat ride along the lines of a drop tower or giant swing/frisbee.

Overall, BGT is still a top tier park!

9/10

PROS:

+ great collection of coasters

+ excellent animal exhibits

+ great theming

+ good staff

+ cheap option (relatively) for skipping lines

CONS:

- lots of walking required to get around the park (bad news Acers )

- some slow operations

Quick-Queue Review

Overall, it worked just as advertised. At Kumba and Sheikra you merge at the station, whereas Gwazi and Montu have you waiting by the exit. On Montu you can pretty much pick any row you want with the exception of the front and back (though the lady coordinating it said I could wait for a spare seat to open up in the front), while Gwazi has the four middle rows of each train blocked off. However, as they say on their site, QQ does NOT at this time include Cheetah Hunt, though at some point that will likely change. Just check the park's site before going to see.

I'm still torn on whether or not to say it is worth it though, as even on a busy Sunday with Cheetah Hunt broken down, none of the coasters had an outrageously long wait (maybe 30 minutes). Pretty much if you're the type of person (like me) that just can't stand waiting in line, then it might be worth it to you. However if you can wait it out or are on a tight budget, you're probably better off not spending the extra money (especially with how expensive everything else in the park is). I would have to say that the best option I can think of would be to get the QQ Limited (around $20-$30) and use it at the peak time of the day while just waiting in the normal line at other times.

Thanks for reading!

Cheetah Hunt from the (broken down) Sky Ride.

Another Cheetah Hunt picture (this time with the camera turned 90 DEGREES).

Aw, the Cheetah Hunt queue is sad from the emptiness!

New park map.

Edited July 29, 2011 by orangeblue

Big-M · June 7, 2011

Good TR. Very interesting to read, especially your mini-reviews of the coasters in the park.

I need to get out to Florida someday...

orangeblue · June 7, 2011

Thanks! I would definitely recommend BGT and the Orlando parks if you get a chance to visit. Tampa and Orando only about an hour and thirty minute drive apart, so it's not too difficult to get them all in a single trip.

Edit to main post: Figured out how to get the pictures working (oh, apparently the forum has a size limit... darn, I wanted people to see my grainy 3000 x 2000 pictures in all their glory ) and made some general edits/additions to the TR.

doublestufforeo · June 7, 2011

Quick question ... is Rhino Rally still around, or did they completely take it out for Cheetah Hunt? I thought they just removed the water portion but I haven't heard a thing about it, so I've been wondering if they just scrapped it. Also if it is still there, is it any good now that the water bit is gone? Or do people just use it for Cheetah Hunt pictures?

Skycoastin Steve · June 7, 2011

^Rhino Rally is still there, just without the water portion. It's basically just a "hey ma, look at dem der aminals!" ride now.

KevinMatz · June 7, 2011

Great trip report and pictures..

Did they rename the "Cheetah Case" to "Sea Serpent"? If so, that's a dumb name for it.

Skycoastin Steve · June 7, 2011

^You're right, Sea Serpent would be a dumb name for it, which is why they named it Sand Serpent.

BarryH · June 7, 2011

^Sea Serpent is the boomerang at Morey's Piers.

Now you know...and knowing is half the battle...GGgggggggggggggggggiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Joooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

orangeblue · June 7, 2011

^You're right, Sea Serpent would be a dumb name for it, which is why they named it Sand Serpent.

Wow, thanks for catching that. No idea why I thought it was Sea Serpent!

jcrouse · June 8, 2011

Great Trip Report. If you don't mind - I'll add a bit to it. We were also at Busch Gardens that day - in fact, Jacqi and I were ON the train stuck on Sheikra.

We were there at 8am for the AP Cheetah Hunt ERT. We worked our way around the park as the lines were very light that early in the day. Walk on lines for Montu and Kumba. Our oldest daughter, Sarah was riding many of these for the first time and loved everyone of them. But neither of my girls wanted to ride Sheikra, so they stayed behind in the gift shop while Jacqi and I went off to ride. The wait was only about 5 minutes.

After flying through the first half of the ride, we hit the brake run and immediately came to a full stop. You could really feel the swaying of the support system once we had stopped. Since we were facing away from the park at that point we really could't see what was going on - but the girl next to me was able peek around the restraint and look back at the park and she said that nothing was running - then we hear a fire truck siren coming from what seemed like right below us. There was no announcement or communication from the station - but we could hear PA announcements coming from the skyride saying that they were experience technical difficulties. After what seemed like about 15 - 20 minutes, a ride op appeared on the maintenance platform - and after she caught her breath, she informed us that the power had gone out park-wide. The maintenance guy that followed her confirmed that the power had gone out and has been restored, but the Sheikra computer had gone down and they couldn't get it restarted.

So we had to be evacced - and since the coaster is floorless, there was a 10 minute procedure that involved laying metal planks across the gaps on the train. Then one row at a time they released the restraints and we gathered by the stairs. Park policy dictates that only 8 guests go down the steps at a time with one op in front, one op in the middle and one bringing up the rear. The poor ride ops had to go up and down multiple times as well as climb all over the train to lay the floorboards - all at 138 feet in the air.

The walk down the stairs was interesting - I'm terrified of heights and the steps were not solid - just a wire frame. You could see right through them. The Ops lead told me to focus on the stairs themselves and not look through them. That was good advice...

The whole experience lasted about 30-45 minutes. They gave us each a front-of-the-line ticket for one ride. (Cheetah Hunt doesn't count...). It wasn't that bad though - for as hot as it was that day - we had a beautiful breeze blowing up there and we were facing away from the sun the entire time. The staff was friendly and professional and handled the situation very well.

Busch Gardens is an incredible park - we get over as often as we can. And Cheetah Hunt is a fantastic addition.

Standing on the Sheikra maintenance platform - 138 feet up

Our train, stuck on the break run - with temporary platforms and railings.

Holding on for dear life and about to start the journey down the steps.

The view from the bottom.

And here's why we were there in the first place. Great new ride - my family loved it.

orangeblue · June 8, 2011

^ Thanks for adding that! I've always wondered how those were handled - didn't even think of the added complications with Sheikra now being floorless. I have to admit that I'm a bit jealous as I would have loved to experience an evac first hand (well, given that you weren't stuck there for several hours ). Even with not being afraid of heights, I can imagine that being an unnerving experience.

Nice pictures too. You can definitely still tell the difference between cell phone pictures and photos taken with a decent camera. While the resolution seems to be there on cell phones (mine is 8MP), there appears to be significantly less color depth in my pictures.

orangeblue · July 29, 2011

After hearing that Cheetah Hunt was added to the Quick Queue, I decided to venture out again and give it a try.

Ride Counts for the Day (9:00AM - 7:30PM)

Kumba: 0x - closed for maitenance

Montu: 7x

Sheikra: 7x

Gwazi: 4x

Scorpion: 2x

Sand Serpent: 1x

Air Grover: 0x - I came really close to credit whoring... but just couldn't do it. My respect goes out to all you real credit whores out there!

Cheetah Hunt: 10x - My love of this ride keeps growing; it's just all around air-time-filled fun. Try to get either the front or back rows if you can as they deliver the best air-time moments, plus the view from the front is incredible (especially in the canyon section).

Now that Cheetah Hunt is on Quick Queue, I have to revise my original opinion and say that it is absolutely worth it. Nine of my Cheetah Hunt rides came when the line was averaging 50-60 minutes, saving me about 7.5 hours for the day from that ride alone. You still have to wait about 5-15 minutes in the station depending on which row you choose, but that's not too bad and I prefer that to having to sit in a pre-determined row. Sheikra and Gwazi were the only other coasters where Quick Queue was pretty helpful, saving me about 20-30 minutes per ride, though be warned that you have to sit in the middle of the train on Gwazi (my advice would be to just go to Gwazi when the line is short and wait it out in the regular line). Montu seemed to have only a station wait most of the day (same with Kumba when it's open) so Quick Queue isn't really necessary there unless the park is packed.

Anyway, I finally got a good view of the cheetahs today, so here are some pictures: