Busch Gardens Tampa tr 15sp. Park 1

My first park of this five park trip was something special. Living in Australia and the UK i miss out on the massive coasters so i love coming to the states and am off to IOA, CP, SFMM and Knotts after here.

I have ben to BGT before and loved it, and was looking forward to riding Gwazi and Rhino Rally which have been added since my last trip

The park was quiet, the longest wait was 15mins for gwazi (one side, one train op) and for the splash ride (forgot name already). Python was closed all day, it had boarding around it, so not sure what was happening, anyone know? or is it maintenence. The weather was really hot and sunny, perfect theme park day.

On to the coasters.

Montu: I love this ride- more now that before i think, it is an amazing ride, Nemesis, which is my favourite inverted, is like the little brother of this beast. Its huge, really long, really intense, very little let up, and great use of tunnels/walls. Just an amazing ride, still perfectly smooth, great visuals from the front, and huge g's from the back. Rode twice, walk on for the back and 2 train wait for the front. I train op, but no probs with that. 8.5/10

Kumba: Was closed for the first few hours, opened at 2pm. This amazed me, it was improved with the years, it supercedes montu now. This ride is the best mega looper i have ever been on, and that includes Collosus at Thorpe park. Amazingly quick with huge inversions, fast changes of directions, amazingly smooth, and an awsome finish through the tunnel into the tight helix. Did i say smooth, this ride is silky. A masterpiece. Two rides both on the back, both walk ons. They added a second train as the q was growing a little bit?? What from 30 to 40 people, this really impressed me. 9.5/10

Gwazi: Now i have only ridden some really crapy wood before- Psyclone, collosus, bush beast, beastie and the one in mission beach. These are not really much fun and i was beginning to think that wood sucks. How wrong was i- I had the best time on this ride, it blew me away, amazing speed, great head choppers, not too rough, just so much fun. A shame it was only running one side (lion) i would love to have tried it in fighting mode. Is the other side (tiger) different or an identical ride? A suggestion, perhaps race the ride for 1 hour each day, advertise this fact in the park so that everyone can enjoy this masterpiece to its best potential. 2 rides, 15mins and 1 walk on. both at the back. 9/10

Scorpion:- Average corckscrew, pretty smooth for an old arrow, but fun nonetheless. 1 ride back seat, no wait. 6/10

Other rides:- got totaly drenched on the rapids and the shoot the chutes, which could have done with another boat as the waits there were about 15 mins (the longest all day), log flume was pretty tame. Inverted boat was a blast, i love watching the peoples facial expressions oppisite you. Rhino rally was only working for the dry part, water section was down, wich annoyed me a bit. New 4d film was fun, the rats part was the best bit.

The park was immaculate, the african theming throughout the park also impressed me, nice but not too in your face. Staff were excellent, quick and pleasant. No complaints at all.

Suggestion for the next coaster:- I think the park could do with a 'different type' of coaster- a launched one. Perhaps an impulse/premier/rocket.

All in all a great day, love these out of season days with no q'ing, was so surpised with Gwazi i am now so looking forward to riding ghostrider- bring on more good wood (shame sfmm and cp dont have any). But the ride of the day goes to Kumba, just mind blowing.

Am off to IOA tomorrow, hopefully the Hulk will impress me as mch as kumba, and the Duelling dragons actually duels!!

Hope you like my tr, stay tuned for more as i continue my american travels

Cheers.

Glad to hear you are having fun! Nice that you have internet on VayK. I had to go 2 weeeks this past summer without coasterbuzz! Ahhh!

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http://sfdlmania.thrillnetwork.net

Six Flags Darien Lake Mania! Your #1 source for DL and other parks!

I liked Kumba better than Montu too! The lines on it the three times I've been were nonexistant. Scorpion isn't the arrow corkscrew though, that's Python. Scorpion is the Schwarzy looper.

Good TR.

I totally agree about Kumba. It is an awesome ride with great positive g's. Gwazi is a little rougher than it was last year. Lion is the better of the two. They are different. Lion has more airtime. The dueling aspect is lost on this coaster, though(unlike DD). You didn't miss anything.I was surprised by the Haunted Lighthouse attraction. It was actually pretty cool and the crowd seemed to enjoy it. That's all that matters to the park. It's a winner!

If you get a chance go to SWO and ride Kraken. It will not disappoint you.

Ah yes, always get scorpion and python mixed up. Cant get to ride kraken, am hoping scream will not dissapoint, it will be my first floorless, so am looking forward to it.

I still enjoyed Montu more but not by too much...But Montu's theming is just incredible and I love inverted coasters because Montu is so amazing...Its Perfect...When I first became a coaster person I saw that Butterfly element and said I wish i could go through that one day and a miracle occured and i did it! I finally rode through it and it was better then I ever dreamed! I also immensly enjoyed Kumba...GREAT ride but still prefer Montu more...Gwazi is also fun and seem almost identical with only minimul diffrences.

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#1 Canobie Lake Park Fan!!! My top 7 coasters:
1. S:RoS @ SFNE 2. Montu 3. Yankee Cannonball 4. Kumba 5. Gwazi 6. Cyclone (SFNE) 7. B:DK

BGTB is certainly a nice park but I think you will like IOA much better. The Incredible Hulk may supercede Kumba as your favorite megalooper, especially because of the intense launch - Zero-G roll combination (Fascinating!). I am surprised to see that you liked Kumba more so than Montu. While Kumba is a great ride, Montu holds firm as my favorite inverted coaster. I hope the rest of your trips are as enjoyable as this one!

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"Get busy living or get busy dying"
~Shawshank Redemption

Finally! Someone else that enjoys Kumba as much as I do! From the first time I rode this coaster and ever since, the only one that has come close in the looper category is Medusa East! Glad to hear you had the same opinion ...

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Brett
Resident Launch Whore