Edward M
Strata Poster
Wow, another Busch Gardens Trip Report. I'm sure everyone is tried of the "usual parks" trip reports, but I don't go theme parks very often and love to do trip reports so I'm going to go ahead and write one anyway, even if no one reads it 
Well, Saturday, my father and I flew into Tampa and drove about an hour down to my dad's friend's house. They let us stay there, and we ate a great meal Saturday night. Well, we went to bed early in preparation for our early drive. We woke up at around 7 am and got ready to go to the park. We ate a nice breakfast, and we hit the road at around 8. The reason I say this is because we thought the park opened at 9 am. It opened at 10 am. We got there early and had to wait for the parking employees to get in the booths. We parked and we were the first people in the plaza, and we were able to get my Quick Queue without waiting. We had been to Disney MLK weekend and had a feeling it would be crowded. We waited for a long half hour as loud children and lots of different large groups that had the same T-Shirts all squeezed into the crowded plaza. I saw people with the same T-Shirts in a large groups throughout the day. In the plaza, I also noticed how a lot of guests spoke Spanish. It was just something I noticed and thought was worth mentioning. They finally opened the gate right so I headed towards Cheetah Hunt. Cheetah Hunt has a nice little plaza. It shows a off the roller coaster well and gets you excited for the ride ahead. I got in the line quickly and was lucky to get a front seat.
Cheetah Hunt- Well, a relatively weak launch starts the ride. It slowly turns around and drops down into a better, yet still weak launch. It goes up to the ride's tallest height with a nice pop of airtime. I rather liked the Figure 8 element. It gave a great view of the park and was fun. After the Figure 8, it drops again and enters into a spiral then has a completely unnecessary and boring little roll with too much hangtime. The ride brakes then goes towards some water and has a trick track section. This was certainly the best part of the ride. It was very fun and is great with the water so close. Certainly the only time the ride felt "wild". Afterwards, it launches again and does some little turns, hills, etc. until it hits the final brake. Well, I can't help but feel underwhelmed. If I could describe the coaster in one word, it would be fun. This was a fun ride. It wasn't very intense or exciting just fun. It felt that it was going for that with the elements it had. For what it is, it was fun, just nothing very special. 8.6/10
I left Cheetah Hunt and saw that the wait was now 75 minutes, at only 10:20. I had a feeling that I was lucky to have the Quick Queue. I walked towards Montu and saw people walking away from the entrance. That was a bad sign. It was closed. I asked the man out front if it would open later today. He said it would definitely be open. My dad and I decided to go ahead and ride the skyride. After a quick wait, we got on board.
Skyride- A nice enough Skyride. Saw some animals and coasters. Exactly what one would expect from a Skyride. 6.3/10
I was expecting to be able to walk quickly to Timbuktu and ride Scorpion before crowds get big, but the walkway near the Log Flume was closed. I decided to go through Jungala, but I had to get a ride on one my most anticipated rides of the day first.
SheiKra- I lucky to get the front row on the far left. The ride has a quick turn and starts the steep lift. I must say, the lift felt 90 degrees. I don't know why, but Disaster Transport's lift also felt 90 degrees so what do I know. Anyway, I was surprised how freaky the whole experience of the lift and turn was. I wasn't expecting to be afraid at the top, but I was. I don't know what it was. I think was a combination of the height of the ride and wide, floorless cars. Right before the drop, the ride stops at the top of the drop then lets go. The hangtime and drop were certainly the highlight of the ride. The hangtime was a good idea and felt like a drop tower. It was a good angle and well done. The drop was thrilling and very fast. Sadly, the immelmann was actually quite boring. A lot like Cheetah Hunt the hangtime was unnecessary, and it seemed like you just sat there. I understand dive coasters can't take forceful loops, but it was still pretty bad. The ride then has a wide turn that doesn't do much and a brake run. It has another good drop and a fun tunnel. After another wide turn, it splashs down (although you don't notice on the ride) and turns to the brake. Well, this was another underwhelming coaster that didn't have a lot going for it. Unlike Cheetah Hunt, it wasn't a lot of fun. It just shows off its drops, which are great, and the rest felt like filler. I don't know. It felt a lot like drop tower. Not the best. 8/10
Well, after walking through Jungala and being able to see the lions being fed, I got to the entrance to Timbuktu when I saw Kumba's entrance. I thought, "What the Heck. I'll get it out of the way". So I got on.
Kumba- If you look at my favorite coaster, you might see something different there. Yep, Kumba is my favorite roller coaster. You might think, over El Toro and Outlaw Run? Are you High! To me, Kumba beats those rides bcuase it is the perfect roller coaster. It has everything I love. Theming, check. Craziness, check. A **** ton of force, check. A feeling of being out of a theme park, check. And most of all it was an experience!!! Ah, it was wondrously crafted! Every inversion was perfectly paced and done. I mean, even the second half was great. So, I'll do my usual step-by-step. After a nice little lift hill that gets you pumped for the ride ahead, you get a great first drop. Followed by one of my favorite loops and a great dive loop. Then, comes my favorite inversion on a roller coaster... Kumba's Zero-G Roll. Holy **** this was incredible. It doesn't just whip you through it, it cracks you through it. Then, the Cobra Roll. I love this inversion. It is so forceful and well done. Then, comes a brake that doesn't even slow you down, and the wonderful interlocking corkscrews. My gosh, it was forceful and wonderful. Kumba never quit either. Until the final brake run, I was pinned to my seat with a huge smile on my face. The cave was a wonderful element. The final turn was one of the most forceful I've ever ridden. SheiKra should take notes. I mean it is the best experience I've ever had on a roller coaster. I'll have to find a pretty great one to beat Kumba. Kumba, my favorite coaster. 10/10
Well, after the best ride of my life, I went for the front seat on Kumba that was almost as good as the back but a little rougher and not as forceful. I went back on the back seat of Kumba before we moved on to Timbuktu. I had a quick conversation with a worker who asked where Nemesis was. I was the only who knew it. After that, I decided to ride Sand Serpent.
Sand Serpent- I was the only one on the ride. It was a typical Wild Mouse. Turns, dips, and pain yet not that bad 5.9/10
After some painful turns, I was ready for some Schwarkopf goodness. So I went to Scorpion.
Scorpion- ah, love me some Schwarkopf. Fun drop, great and forceful loop, plus a very good helix. What to expect on a classic Schwarkopf looper. 7.2/10
Well, I felt that Montu had enough time to start up so I started to walk to it. On the way, I saw some tigers and cheetahs, both very nice. I also noticed a 90 minute wait for Cheetah Hunt which meant bad news for Montu's line. Well, it was. Montu had a 70 minute line. It was good that I had the Quick Queue. I was going to wait for front row, but it was too long. I went to the much shorter back row line even though it was still 15 minutes. Every empty seat on the train irritated me because I knew that I could have been on that seat. Strangely, it was mostly in the front row, which made it worse. I was finally able to get on later.
Montu- This is the perfect invert. Well themed and very forceful. The drop was very good and sweeping. The loop was also great. It has a tunnel after that. A tunnel is always great and this is no different. The Immelmann was like the loop, very good. The highlight of the ride was without a doubt the Zero-G and Batwing although mainly the Batwing. I mean that was a great Zero-G, so forceful, but my goodness was that great. It was forceful, and I mean, my gosh, it is one of my favorite inversions. The brake really slows down the ride unlike Kumba however Montu cleverly dive into the ground and has a good loop followed by a turn around into another underground section with a corkscrew and then the final turn. Montu is a phenomenal ride. It has great inversions and theming. The underground tunnel-ish things (don't know what to call them) were a lot of fun to be in and added lots of character to the ride. It added an adventure feel to the ride that it needed. Montu is a great ride and certainly my favorite invert. 9.6/10
Well, after a very good ride, I decided to go to one of the worst pieces of **** I've ridden.
Gwazi: Lion- bleck. What a piece a crap. For a ride that takes up no room, it does NOTHING. Literally, nothing. It is just turns without any of GCI's iconic airtime. It was just turn after turn without anything happening. When it was over, I was mad because it had no airtime, did nothing, and hurt! Talk about pain, it was horrendous. Just rough turns. It wasn't going fast enough to be interesting either. Just boring and painful. 1.9/10
Well, by this point, we were getting a bit hungry. We just had one important thing to do. Take some pictures of the Bird Gardens. I won't go in depth about the area or animals, but I will say it was nice and worth seeing. Afterwards, we ate at Garden Gate Cafe. I had a good Grilled Cheese, and my dad had a chicken garden melt. We agreed it was above average theme park food. You could tell they actually made the sandwich after the order. We decided to walk towards SheiKra in order to get on the train. I walked by Air Grover and saw a line out of the entrance. I just wasn't in the mood to wait 20 minutes for Air Grover. I skipped it and got to the train station. I saw that the train would be there in 5 minutes. I was lucky to get on.
Train- A very nice train. Very nice animal views. It felt like a cheaper Kilimajaro Safaris with stops and less of a "Jungle" feel. The tour guides were very nice and informative. The animals were great and up close. Overall, probably my second favorite train, behind Silver Dollar City's yet ahead of Cedar Point's. 7.1/10
Once onboard the train, it started to lightly rain. I was happy yet scared. I was happy to be on the train and not on the sidewalks yet scared that it might close down the rides. I was hoping to get off at Congo and ride my favorite ride, Kumba, but I was afraid it would be closed. I was lucky to see it on its final turn when going into the Congo station. I got back on for 2 more rides in the back, and it was even better. It was raining so it was smoother and faster. It also didn't seem to brake in the mid-section brake. So, it was faster, smoother, more intense, and overall better, somehow. We decided to get ready to go, but I wanted to get a few more re-rides. We agreed on two more. So, I decided to re-ride Cheetah Hunt and Montu. I got a back seat ride on Cheetah Hunt that was not as good as my front seat ride (although the airtime was better), and my back seat ride was not as good as my first ride but still very good. We finally got a shirt and got outta the now packed park.
Well, Busch Gardens Tampa was a great park with great theming and shade. The roller coasters were also very good (especially a certain one). However, it was a small park with not as much to do as one might expect. They seem to have ran out of room, and, for a small park, they have very few flat rides. The staff was also quite rude. It is still a great park but those were my nitpicks. The day was one of the most exhausting days I've had at a park because
1. It was packed
2. People were rude
3. A majority of people spoke Spanish so it was difficult to communicate and converse
4. Lines always seemed long even with a Quick Queue
Overall, it was a great day and a good park with some good roller coasters including my new favorite.
P.S. thank you for reading my overly long and horribly written trip report. It means a lot to me :--D
Well, Saturday, my father and I flew into Tampa and drove about an hour down to my dad's friend's house. They let us stay there, and we ate a great meal Saturday night. Well, we went to bed early in preparation for our early drive. We woke up at around 7 am and got ready to go to the park. We ate a nice breakfast, and we hit the road at around 8. The reason I say this is because we thought the park opened at 9 am. It opened at 10 am. We got there early and had to wait for the parking employees to get in the booths. We parked and we were the first people in the plaza, and we were able to get my Quick Queue without waiting. We had been to Disney MLK weekend and had a feeling it would be crowded. We waited for a long half hour as loud children and lots of different large groups that had the same T-Shirts all squeezed into the crowded plaza. I saw people with the same T-Shirts in a large groups throughout the day. In the plaza, I also noticed how a lot of guests spoke Spanish. It was just something I noticed and thought was worth mentioning. They finally opened the gate right so I headed towards Cheetah Hunt. Cheetah Hunt has a nice little plaza. It shows a off the roller coaster well and gets you excited for the ride ahead. I got in the line quickly and was lucky to get a front seat.
Cheetah Hunt- Well, a relatively weak launch starts the ride. It slowly turns around and drops down into a better, yet still weak launch. It goes up to the ride's tallest height with a nice pop of airtime. I rather liked the Figure 8 element. It gave a great view of the park and was fun. After the Figure 8, it drops again and enters into a spiral then has a completely unnecessary and boring little roll with too much hangtime. The ride brakes then goes towards some water and has a trick track section. This was certainly the best part of the ride. It was very fun and is great with the water so close. Certainly the only time the ride felt "wild". Afterwards, it launches again and does some little turns, hills, etc. until it hits the final brake. Well, I can't help but feel underwhelmed. If I could describe the coaster in one word, it would be fun. This was a fun ride. It wasn't very intense or exciting just fun. It felt that it was going for that with the elements it had. For what it is, it was fun, just nothing very special. 8.6/10
I left Cheetah Hunt and saw that the wait was now 75 minutes, at only 10:20. I had a feeling that I was lucky to have the Quick Queue. I walked towards Montu and saw people walking away from the entrance. That was a bad sign. It was closed. I asked the man out front if it would open later today. He said it would definitely be open. My dad and I decided to go ahead and ride the skyride. After a quick wait, we got on board.
Skyride- A nice enough Skyride. Saw some animals and coasters. Exactly what one would expect from a Skyride. 6.3/10
I was expecting to be able to walk quickly to Timbuktu and ride Scorpion before crowds get big, but the walkway near the Log Flume was closed. I decided to go through Jungala, but I had to get a ride on one my most anticipated rides of the day first.
SheiKra- I lucky to get the front row on the far left. The ride has a quick turn and starts the steep lift. I must say, the lift felt 90 degrees. I don't know why, but Disaster Transport's lift also felt 90 degrees so what do I know. Anyway, I was surprised how freaky the whole experience of the lift and turn was. I wasn't expecting to be afraid at the top, but I was. I don't know what it was. I think was a combination of the height of the ride and wide, floorless cars. Right before the drop, the ride stops at the top of the drop then lets go. The hangtime and drop were certainly the highlight of the ride. The hangtime was a good idea and felt like a drop tower. It was a good angle and well done. The drop was thrilling and very fast. Sadly, the immelmann was actually quite boring. A lot like Cheetah Hunt the hangtime was unnecessary, and it seemed like you just sat there. I understand dive coasters can't take forceful loops, but it was still pretty bad. The ride then has a wide turn that doesn't do much and a brake run. It has another good drop and a fun tunnel. After another wide turn, it splashs down (although you don't notice on the ride) and turns to the brake. Well, this was another underwhelming coaster that didn't have a lot going for it. Unlike Cheetah Hunt, it wasn't a lot of fun. It just shows off its drops, which are great, and the rest felt like filler. I don't know. It felt a lot like drop tower. Not the best. 8/10
Well, after walking through Jungala and being able to see the lions being fed, I got to the entrance to Timbuktu when I saw Kumba's entrance. I thought, "What the Heck. I'll get it out of the way". So I got on.
Kumba- If you look at my favorite coaster, you might see something different there. Yep, Kumba is my favorite roller coaster. You might think, over El Toro and Outlaw Run? Are you High! To me, Kumba beats those rides bcuase it is the perfect roller coaster. It has everything I love. Theming, check. Craziness, check. A **** ton of force, check. A feeling of being out of a theme park, check. And most of all it was an experience!!! Ah, it was wondrously crafted! Every inversion was perfectly paced and done. I mean, even the second half was great. So, I'll do my usual step-by-step. After a nice little lift hill that gets you pumped for the ride ahead, you get a great first drop. Followed by one of my favorite loops and a great dive loop. Then, comes my favorite inversion on a roller coaster... Kumba's Zero-G Roll. Holy **** this was incredible. It doesn't just whip you through it, it cracks you through it. Then, the Cobra Roll. I love this inversion. It is so forceful and well done. Then, comes a brake that doesn't even slow you down, and the wonderful interlocking corkscrews. My gosh, it was forceful and wonderful. Kumba never quit either. Until the final brake run, I was pinned to my seat with a huge smile on my face. The cave was a wonderful element. The final turn was one of the most forceful I've ever ridden. SheiKra should take notes. I mean it is the best experience I've ever had on a roller coaster. I'll have to find a pretty great one to beat Kumba. Kumba, my favorite coaster. 10/10
Well, after the best ride of my life, I went for the front seat on Kumba that was almost as good as the back but a little rougher and not as forceful. I went back on the back seat of Kumba before we moved on to Timbuktu. I had a quick conversation with a worker who asked where Nemesis was. I was the only who knew it. After that, I decided to ride Sand Serpent.
Sand Serpent- I was the only one on the ride. It was a typical Wild Mouse. Turns, dips, and pain yet not that bad 5.9/10
After some painful turns, I was ready for some Schwarkopf goodness. So I went to Scorpion.
Scorpion- ah, love me some Schwarkopf. Fun drop, great and forceful loop, plus a very good helix. What to expect on a classic Schwarkopf looper. 7.2/10
Well, I felt that Montu had enough time to start up so I started to walk to it. On the way, I saw some tigers and cheetahs, both very nice. I also noticed a 90 minute wait for Cheetah Hunt which meant bad news for Montu's line. Well, it was. Montu had a 70 minute line. It was good that I had the Quick Queue. I was going to wait for front row, but it was too long. I went to the much shorter back row line even though it was still 15 minutes. Every empty seat on the train irritated me because I knew that I could have been on that seat. Strangely, it was mostly in the front row, which made it worse. I was finally able to get on later.
Montu- This is the perfect invert. Well themed and very forceful. The drop was very good and sweeping. The loop was also great. It has a tunnel after that. A tunnel is always great and this is no different. The Immelmann was like the loop, very good. The highlight of the ride was without a doubt the Zero-G and Batwing although mainly the Batwing. I mean that was a great Zero-G, so forceful, but my goodness was that great. It was forceful, and I mean, my gosh, it is one of my favorite inversions. The brake really slows down the ride unlike Kumba however Montu cleverly dive into the ground and has a good loop followed by a turn around into another underground section with a corkscrew and then the final turn. Montu is a phenomenal ride. It has great inversions and theming. The underground tunnel-ish things (don't know what to call them) were a lot of fun to be in and added lots of character to the ride. It added an adventure feel to the ride that it needed. Montu is a great ride and certainly my favorite invert. 9.6/10
Well, after a very good ride, I decided to go to one of the worst pieces of **** I've ridden.
Gwazi: Lion- bleck. What a piece a crap. For a ride that takes up no room, it does NOTHING. Literally, nothing. It is just turns without any of GCI's iconic airtime. It was just turn after turn without anything happening. When it was over, I was mad because it had no airtime, did nothing, and hurt! Talk about pain, it was horrendous. Just rough turns. It wasn't going fast enough to be interesting either. Just boring and painful. 1.9/10
Well, by this point, we were getting a bit hungry. We just had one important thing to do. Take some pictures of the Bird Gardens. I won't go in depth about the area or animals, but I will say it was nice and worth seeing. Afterwards, we ate at Garden Gate Cafe. I had a good Grilled Cheese, and my dad had a chicken garden melt. We agreed it was above average theme park food. You could tell they actually made the sandwich after the order. We decided to walk towards SheiKra in order to get on the train. I walked by Air Grover and saw a line out of the entrance. I just wasn't in the mood to wait 20 minutes for Air Grover. I skipped it and got to the train station. I saw that the train would be there in 5 minutes. I was lucky to get on.
Train- A very nice train. Very nice animal views. It felt like a cheaper Kilimajaro Safaris with stops and less of a "Jungle" feel. The tour guides were very nice and informative. The animals were great and up close. Overall, probably my second favorite train, behind Silver Dollar City's yet ahead of Cedar Point's. 7.1/10
Once onboard the train, it started to lightly rain. I was happy yet scared. I was happy to be on the train and not on the sidewalks yet scared that it might close down the rides. I was hoping to get off at Congo and ride my favorite ride, Kumba, but I was afraid it would be closed. I was lucky to see it on its final turn when going into the Congo station. I got back on for 2 more rides in the back, and it was even better. It was raining so it was smoother and faster. It also didn't seem to brake in the mid-section brake. So, it was faster, smoother, more intense, and overall better, somehow. We decided to get ready to go, but I wanted to get a few more re-rides. We agreed on two more. So, I decided to re-ride Cheetah Hunt and Montu. I got a back seat ride on Cheetah Hunt that was not as good as my front seat ride (although the airtime was better), and my back seat ride was not as good as my first ride but still very good. We finally got a shirt and got outta the now packed park.
Well, Busch Gardens Tampa was a great park with great theming and shade. The roller coasters were also very good (especially a certain one). However, it was a small park with not as much to do as one might expect. They seem to have ran out of room, and, for a small park, they have very few flat rides. The staff was also quite rude. It is still a great park but those were my nitpicks. The day was one of the most exhausting days I've had at a park because
1. It was packed
2. People were rude
3. A majority of people spoke Spanish so it was difficult to communicate and converse
4. Lines always seemed long even with a Quick Queue
Overall, it was a great day and a good park with some good roller coasters including my new favorite.
P.S. thank you for reading my overly long and horribly written trip report. It means a lot to me :--D
