8/3/02 - First BGT experience ...

And it blew me away! I was certainly not expecting this good of a park sitting in the middle of the USF campus and Tampa Bay! This park was wonderful, although I was disappointed that my cousins who live in Florida "couldn't stand the heat" and we had to leave early (boo hoo!!!!)

First off, the best part, the coasters:

Montu (9/10) - Raptor on steroids and delivers too! Smooth as can be, that distinctive B&M roar, short lines for it, and some great visuals from the front seat. You look like you're going to hit concrete so many times I lost count! Only complaint was too many trims - the last 1/4 of the ride could have been taken a lot faster than it was.

Python (5/10) - For its time, I'm sure this was a great coaster, but the only really exciting part of this ride was that I almost got my hand taken off on the launch station as it comes very close to the roof just before the corkscrew.

Scorpion (6.5/10) - My first Swarzkopf (sp butchered, I know) and I was slightly impressed. I liked the lack of an OTSR and it was a fun ride, but the line was really long. I was also quite excited to finally see the inspiration for the "steel roller coaster" track in RCT.

Gwazi (10/10) - Wow! This coaster doesn't look like much from the outside, but it is one heck of a ride!! Twists, whips, turns, drops, it had everything! The only disappointment was that for some reason it wasn't dueling when I went on it, but we still went on both sides and I really, really, really enjoyed this one.

Kumba (10.5/10) - *EDIT* Kumba has overtaken Mantis as my favorite steel coaster of all time ... and now we return to the old-school version of this TR *End Edit* This coaster was just amazing. The lift hill through the loop, the third inversion (sort of a up-high screwy cobra roll thing) was just amazing, made me laugh myself silly everytime I went through it, great choppers, the interlocking corkscrews were great, the final dip past the station, through the tunnel and into the helix was just amazing. I can't say enough about this ride. I even "caught tree" at one point right before the mid-course brake! Easily made this trip worth it.

Second part: the rest of it all ...

Well this is one of the first times in a long time that I've done rides other than a coaster at a park and was pleasantly surprised. The animals in this park are gorgeous (I've always loved white tigers), the bucket ride, even though I was terrified of it was fun and had a great view of the park. My cousin who doesn't do rides at all said she'd do the "Raging Rapids" and the "Log Jammer" (don't know what they're actually called at BGT) so we did those so that she was included on something during the day, and although I hate getting wet, even these two rides were fun. BGT really outdid itself on this trip and I will definitely be back, probably every time I'm in the area if I can manage it! (even to just ride Kumba ... )

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Steel - #1 Kumba, #2 Millie, #3 Mantis ||| Wood - #1 Thunderbolt, #2 Villain, #3 Gwazi
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart

*** This post was edited by PittDesigner on 8/6/2002. ***

*** This post was edited by PittDesigner on 8/6/2002. ***

Great TR.

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Im the #1 Canobie Lake Park Fan!!!These are my top 3 coasters:
1. S:RoS @ SFNE 2. Yankee Cannonball 3. Cyclone/B:TDK

Did you get to the lorikeets? IMHO an animal encounter that is every bit as good as going on a roller coaster.

I really gotta get back out and ride Gwazi again. I have been on this wooden coaster kick lately and while I wasnt too impressed with the ride the last time I rode it(it had its moments) I have a feeling my opinion will change if I power ride it for half a day or so.

The thing with Kumba is you either really love it or really hate it. You are in the love it camp while I am in the hate it camp. I found it to be too rough and unenjoyable while others say it is the best coaster to be found. I find it interesting that there is such varied opinion on this ride. I dont think any ride gives that varied of reaction.

I am in total agreement on Montu. Montu is easily my favorite invert edging out Raptor because of the lack of theming on Raptor(well maybe you can call bird sh** theming). That brake is quite annoying though as it really kills the momentum. That is where Raptor has the edge as last time I rode it they barely applied the midcourse brake.

Scorpion is an awesome treasure in this park. The G's in that loop are awesome. Gotta love that box beam loop just like in RCT!

Glad you had fun. BGT is a yearly visit for me now and I live in Wisconsin so that tells you how much I love this park.

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Bob Hansen

A proud CoasterBuzz Member

"So you think your'e really brave, gonna see the DEMONS cave.
You silly dude, your'e only food, for the DEMON"

Yea, I remembered you said to visit the Lorikeets but I couldn't find them on any signs or anything and my cousins who'd been there before had no idea what I was talking about, so we didn't get to do that.

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Steel - #1 Mantis, #2 Millie, #3 Kumba ||| Wood - #1 Thunderbolt, #2 Villain, #3 Gwazi
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart

You missed out on Rhino Rally. Too bad. Glad you liked Kumba. Sounds like Gwazi is pretty much like Lightning Racer.

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-Sean

The lorikeets are really hard to find. I will concur with you on that. I had to ask an employee where they were and then it wasnt a problem. They are near the Land of the Dragon's area of the park. Pretty close to the beer if I remember right :)

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Bob Hansen

A proud CoasterBuzz Member

"So you think your'e really brave, gonna see the DEMONS cave.
You silly dude, your'e only food, for the DEMON"

Since it's one of my home parks.....Congo River Rapids.....Stanley Falls are the two you're referring to.....the Tanganyika Tidal Wave is the park's S-T-C ride....

Kumba has certainly "returned to form" and Montu has always been a top-tier invert. Our Anton, while not up to the level of Mindbender or Laser, is certainly a great ride....

Gwazi is very tempermental, and it sounds like you caught a good day....Lion is the "predictable" ride, and while Tiger can be up there with HP's Wildcat among the GCI's, it can also resemble Herc on its "bad days"....sorry jeremy...;)

Glad you liked the park. The river rapids ride is really good and is only surpassed by the one at IOA, IMO.

I remember when Montu first opened and FLEW through the track with no brakes. WOW! I didn't find Gwazi quite as good as you did.

Kumba used to be my favorite coaster until I rode MF and Kraken. While Kraken doesn't have the positive G's of Kumba, the 0g roll is WAY better and the floorless effect in the front is awesome. Next time you get down there go to SW and ride Kraken,

oh my!. i totally disagree with you
kick the shy is soo right.
you either love kumba or hate it. me and my buddy both disliked it alot when we went. and another one f my friends thinks its the best. it was so bad. but the loop over the lift is sweeeet. also i have been on 4 B&M inverts and montu is the only one that doesnt rule. my top 3 coasters are inverts. then montu is like #12. its so not intense. it just goes through the motions. were as fire dragon whips you through everything. giving you whiplash, a heart attack, and major blackouts. not to mention the best themeing ever!

Okay, maybe, in some twisted universe where I was forced to either say something bad about Montu or be forced to listen to Celine Dion albums all day I could *maybe* complain that the MCBR "somewhat" detracts from the second half of the ride. But for ANYONE to say that the batwing on Montu is "so not intense" is just a boldfaced lie. That may be one of the most intense loops in all of coasterdom (with Texas Tornado on the sidelines). Even Fire Dragon (one of my favs) cant come close to that!

I really dont understand the "hate" side of the Kumba camp either. I couldnt point to a single thing that was wrong with the ride, unless it was a little *too* intense for a body's taste. It remains to be the only coaster in Central FL that my sister asked *me* to re-ride. (I liked Kraken better, but not by much).

Gwazi was good too. It's my least favorite GCI, but still ranks better than a multitude of coasters, including several CCI's in my book.

Overall though, when I went to BGT in 2001, I thought it was the absolute best combination of theme and thrills around (and yes, that included IOA). I really wish I could take RGW op on one of his many offers and swap BGW for BGT. Tampa by far has the better park for me (of course "gatorwoodie" isnt coming up off the only woodie in the area :))

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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do

Kumba is one of my favorite steel coasters. It's got incredible pacing and the back seat's the best on it. It's easily the best ride in the park. Montu for me was blah. Too braked. Gwazi was way too rough and painful. Scorpion rocks and Python's not exciting. But Kumba! Man! Glad you liked Kumba. BTW, the third inversion you called "sort of a up-high screwy cobra roll thing" is a zero-G roll. It rules in the back.

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Glad to see I'm not the only non-Kumba-hater on the site ;) I didn't know if it was a true zero-G roll or not - I thought Raptor's rolls were zero-G rolls, and Kumba's feels much much different than Raptor's - maybe its the Invert vs. Sitdown that causes the difference?

And I agree with Jeremy, the batwing on Montu is amazing - when that type of inversion was on Steel Phantom, it used to be my favorite inversion type - I'm glad to see it still exists in a few places (I've yet to ride an Arrow megalooper, although next summer, a trip to SFGAdv or SFGAm might be in order ...). If the peeps in Roller Coaster Tycoon love an in-ground batwing, you know its gotta be good in real life right? ;)

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Steel - #1 Kumba, #2 Millie, #3 Mantis ||| Wood - #1 Thunderbolt, #2 Villain, #3 Gwazi
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart

The zero-G roll on Kumba is one of the most intense moments in coasterdom....the pathway overhead only adds to the thrill....and the train leaves the element with SPEED to spare.....

And I *think* 2hostyl is getting around to saying that he, like me, really enjoys the "airtime", subtle and short as it is, on the inverts Fire and Montu....(Fire gets a little climbing over Ice's zero-G, Montu after the second vertical as it approaches the queue)....hard to get air on an invert, but these two do it nicely......

Kraken, like most Beemers, is too "spread" for me....B:KF has the nice twisting layout...

...and finally, I don't recall ever offering BGT for BGW...;)....IF you really want me to give up any wooden coasters from our state, I've gotta GET wood in return.....how's about Starliner for LR, hmmm?