Busch Gardens Tampa retiring Scorpion roller coaster

Richard Bannister:

Maintenance may have found something that they've deemed terminal.

Wouldn’t that have caused them to shutter right away, then decide whether to fix or scrap?

“Imminent danger” and “Not worth fixing” can be a good distance apart. Especially when there’s plans for the real estate.

TheMillenniumRider:

Wouldn’t that have caused them to shutter right away, then decide whether to fix or scrap?

Maybe, but maybe not.

There are problems that need to be dealt with immediately, yes. There are also problems that might be okay for a given number of cycles with close monitoring but will need to be sorted in the medium term.

I note that they extended the closure by a few days; that would lend some weight to there being something in the second category.

Richard Bannister:

I note that they extended the closure by a few days; that would lend some weight to there being something in the second category.

It's likely they had a few quiet days and only ran one train, which would give the second a few extra days out. Maybe parts availability as it's such an old model makes an overhaul uneconomical?

1) The ride can only run one train

2) Since when does that park limit one train ops to quiet days?

BrettV:

1) The ride can only run one train

Not true. All the Silverarrow models can support two trains.

But only if they have two trains. I can’t remember the last time I saw Scorpion operate with more than one.

I remembered being at the park a few years ago and seeing two trains (one operating and one on the transfer track) for the first time in all my years going to that park. While I don't believe the ride is even programmed for two train ops, I just found the photo I took because I had never actually seen two trains at the same time!