Busch Gardens Tampa March 2024

Last weekend I took my first trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa Florida. I do not have my drivers license yet so I can usually only make it to one new park each year and this is the one I managed to get to. I had two days there and both days were great. I managed to get on all the coasters outside of the kids coaster which was down for maintenance. Overall I had a great time.

Our first day there was mainly for getting on the coasters. I got on seven of the eight coasters that I went on that day however I did not end up getting on any rides until about an hour after park open due a downpour that occurred right after we got into the park.

Credit #29 - Cheetah Hunt: Cheetah Hunt is a solid family multi-launch coaster with punchy launches and solid airtime. The wind catcher tower gave solid view of the entire park and the heartline roll was just pure fun. 8/10. Park rank #4. Overall rank #4.

Credit #30 - Montu: This ride is a bit of a milestone as it was my first B&M and it definitely lived up to the hype. The vertical loops and intense and the zero g roll is very whippy. Then there is the batwing which feels like organized chaos and caused me to gray out. The corkscrew was also a nice and intense surprise at the end of the ride. 9/10. Park rank #2. Overall rank #3

Credit #31 - Cobra’s Curse: This is a great family spinning coaster and I was overall surprised by how much fun it was. The theming and the custom soundtrack were great including the massive cobra statue. The backwards section was fun and the spinning section was even better. 7/10. Park rank #6. Overall rank #16.

Credit #32 - Kumba: This is an intense coaster that slams you with constant positive g-force. The loop has sustained intensity but the “hell roll” is by far the best element on the whole ride. I do find the cobra roll to also be an intense and fun part of the ride as well. 8.5/10. Park rank #3. Overall rank #4.

Credit #33 - Iron Gwazi: I purposely waited until later in the day to do this ride since I knew it would be running faster. Needless to say I made the right call. The drop was by far the best I have ever experienced but that was not even the best part, the death roll is the best element on the whole ride the way it flings you from one direction to the other with incredible ejector airtime then the spiral back down to the ground is fantastic. The wave turn and bunny hop finally also provided a multitude of incredible airtime. This is by far my new number one 10/10. Park rank #1. Overall rank #1.

Credit #34 - Sheikra: I knew going in that this ride was a one trick pony yet I was somehow still disappointed. The drop itself though was fantastic with great floater airtime and the Immelmann was a fun element as well. The splash down at end was nice touch as well but for the most part outside the ride just a bunch of random pointless turns. 7/10. Park rank #5. Overall rank #13

Credit #35 - Tigris: When the top thing that comes to your mind after riding a coaster is how bad the restraints are it’s a bad thing. The layout was great and could be top five in the park but the restraints just kill the ride. It also raises the height requirement up higher than it should which was frustrating because my younger brother who is just barely to short to ride but wanted to could not. Outside of the complaining about the restraints the layout is fun and intense with some solid airtime. 6.5/10. Park rank #7. Overall rank #19.

Our second day was mainly focused on re-rides and exploring other areas of the park that we hadn’t previously looked at. We started by getting two rides on Iron Gwazi right away in the morning including my first ride in the back row I also tried the Serengeti Flyer which now my favorite flat ride I have ever done. I have ridden Xtreme Swing at Valleyfair tons of times and I loved this one even more with the extra height and speed and longer ride cycle. I also got my final coaster credit that was open.

Credit #36 - Scorpion: I was kind of looking forward to this since I have heard good things about other Schwarzkopf’s and I was very disappointed. Now I was not expecting something incredibly intense but I was at least expecting something along the lines of a fun family thrill coaster that was better than Corkscrew at Valleyfair. Instead I got a rough, uncomfortable, and jerky coaster that slammed me around and bruised my shoulder. 4/10. Park rank #8. Overall rank #25.

Overall I had a great two days at Busch Gardens Tampa. I ended up getting on most of the rides I wanted to (the only one I did not get on was Falcons Fury because I was kinda scared and no one else in my group would go with me). I also left with a lot new rides in my top ten. So here is my park rank:

1. Iron Gwazi
2. Montu
3. Kumba
4. Cheetah Hunt
5. Sheikra
6. Cobra’s Curse
7. Tigris
8. Scorpion

Here is my top 10 following my trip Busch Gardens:

1. Iron Gwazi
2. Renegade
3. Montu
4. Kumba
5. Monster
6. Excalibur
7. Cheetah Hunt
8. Space Mountain (WDW)
9. Spongebob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge
10. Steel Venom

Thank you for taking time to read this and have great rest of your day!

I love your enthusiasm and am glad you enjoyed the park!

BGT is a great park and looking at pics of Kumba and Montu in the early days of the internet (mid 90's for those of you who never knew such a time existed, haha) is partly responsible for me becoming the coastertool that I am today.

Glad you enjoyed the park, because while I've never had a bad day there, I've heard it can be bad some days.

P.S. I named my first cat Kumba.

Tommytheduck:

P.S. I named my first cat Kumba

I named my Roomba "Kumba the Roomba"