Busch Gardens Tampa 3/11 and a bit of Universal!

I was out at Busch Gardens Tampa for the first time ever. Park was large and was very fun. I enjoy Busch Gardens Williamsburg more however. So where to start.

First we rode Montu in the front row. Awesome coaster that inverted Cobra Roll is awesome. We waited about 5 mins. We got right off ran around and rode it in the back. 8/10

Next we walked through the Safari Area. Very nice I liked the fish pond. Very pretty.

Next we hit Kumba. We waited 5 mins and rode the front. Amazing coaster! I was A little pissed they made my friend get off cause she had a camera zipped in her pocket and they wouldn't let her ride. I was like what the hell. I had one too and they didn't make me get off. Oh well I love the first loop its so big. Awesome Coaster 8/10. Also this my 100th coaster!!

Next I headed to Python. They where running 1 train so we waited 5 mins for the 3rd row. Normal Arrow corkscrew. 6/10.

Next I headed over to Cheetah Chase. I've ridden this coaster a billion times at BGW as Wild Maus. Still fun and I still like it. I liked it better at BGW. 7/10.

Next went to Gwazi. Fun coaster nowhere near Lighting Racers status but fun. Only the Tiger side was open. I rode 3 times in a row. Fun Stuff. 7/10.

Next we headed over to Rhino Rally. We waited about 45 minutes. Pretty fun ride, I liked when we got on the raft and where washed down the river. That was kind of nifty. 8/10.

Scrophin was closed for its paint job. I was kind of bummed. Oh well!

Overall I though the park was very nice and I would visits again in a heart beat. They also have Dial foam soap! That stuff rules!! Overall the park gets a rating for 9/10. Some of the ride ops stunk and if you don't know the park well you can get lost some what easy.Animals where nice to look at and overall it was fun. I had some dip and dots to each and thats about it for the food.

I also hit Universal why I was down there. I got to ride the Flying Unicorn. Didn't even know this coaster was in the park. I liked the Station house for some odd reason. 6/10.

I rode everything else but no need to write about it.

I went over to the regular universal and Rode the Shrek ride. Holy crap, I loved it. I was laughing so hard! It was so good! 10/10.

I also went over to Old Town and road G Force. Reminded me a lot of Top Thrill. It was expensive however. $28. But I enjoyed it. 9/10

I also rode Wind Storm twice once in the front and once in the back. 6/10.

Thats pretty much the new stuff I did on my trip! Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Couple of comments/corrections...

Montu doesnt have a cobra roll. That is a batwing or bowtie element I believe (at least I think that is the current nomenclature).

As for your camera incident I had the exact same thing happen to me on Gwazi with a cell phone. The op saw me put it in my hip pack but still made me leave it in the station.

Your opinion of the ride ops is dead on as far as I'm concerned. They are terrible. Some of it is the fault of the inane rules the park has put in place such as the double restraint check on Gwazi or the no cameras no phones rules. I also see the ops there as having no excitement whatsoever. These ops have no hustle. They make Six Flags ride ops look good.

Congrats on number 100. A great coaster to get it on too!

Sorry for the mistake on the element. It kind of looked like a inverted cobra roll to me. Oh well it still kicked ass!

I've been to Tampa twice and had the same experiences. What's the deal down there? While the crews are somewhat hit or miss in Williamsburg (I've never seen a good Alpengeist crew), they are for the most part on the ball. They suck in Tampa, which detracts from the fact that it's such a beautiful park with great rides.

Don't even get me started about those Gwazi idiots, or the guest services idiots I complained to. Their operations staff there needs a good collective kick in the nuts.

Same experience with the cell phones during Christmas. They made us get out of line because we had them zipped in our pockets. A teen in front of us was actually talking on her phone, and the op said because she missed it when the girl went passed her, she was not going to make the girl put in in a locker. It was a pretty poor experience overall, not near the quality of BGW.

Why don't they just make us ride naked. Its weird cause the dude in front of me had his sunglasses on the whole ride and I saw a few others. I couldn't figure out why a camera in a zippered cargo pocket was not a loud STUPID!!!!

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Jeff said:
What's the deal down there? (snip) They suck in Tampa, which detracts from the fact that it's such a beautiful park with great rides.

Don't even get me started about those Gwazi idiots, or the guest services idiots I complained to. Their operations staff there needs a good collective kick in the nuts.

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Personnel has been an *issue* at BGT for as long as I can remember, and possibly longer than that...not sure WHAT the deal is, they offer year-round employment.

On the plus side, it wouldn't take a whole lot to make the park *immeasurably* better...starting with operations and staffing. The rides are already in place...;)

What pisses me off about the loose article policy at BGT is that they conveniently have lockers that you must pay for located right there where they make you aware about it. They are basically saying "Heh, either pay up for a locker or you aren't getting on the ride". It really makes you feel like you're getting ripped off. This is in stark contrast to IOA where I believe they have lockers that you can use for free for a limited time.

I just visited the park on 3/17 and it was nothing like I remembered. Ride ops were horrible, gwazi had 4-5 minute dispatch times, python 1 train op equalled a 1 hour wait. There 4-d show Dean Koontz? took over 15 minutes to organize the seating, it was just a mess. Love some of the coasters but definately not at the top of the list for my next trip.