OK. I visited BGT back in March. Gwazi was a bit of a letdown for me. The ride was incredible, but I guess, the park let me down.
First of all, it was my first dueling coaster (I still haven't been on another one)
But, in no way was it dueling. The Tiger track ran just one train, while the Lion track ran both trains. Then, the prerecorded announcement saying "Get ready to expirience the battle of Gwazi" was still on, when there was no real "battle"
Also, the loading time. AWFUL. It took a good three minutes to dispatch each and every train. It was absolutely awful.
Now, my question, did I just happen to catch it on a bad day?? Does it usually duel?? Also, is loading always PAINFULLY slow?
I was there about a year ago,and it was dueling then.I remeber it did take them a while to load.I havent been there since, so i dont know whats up with it now.
Gwazi does deul, so maybe you got stupid ride ops.
The line is really long with them usually only running one coaster on each track. It is a fun ride, but doesn't live up to the rest of Busch's coasters.
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"FEAR the Four!"
LOL... Sounds like something Six Flags would do. Having a dueling/racing coaster and only run one side. (Ala Colossus) Hmmmmm.... I wonder does IOA keep up with Dueling Dragons.
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Goliath: The most intense Hyper in the world.
IOA does keep the dragons dueling all the time!! Even if one is ahead of the other, the lift slows to let the other catch up. There was only one out of 10 times I was on the dragons that it didn't duel, because the Ice Dragon got stuck on the lift.
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Parks for 2000: CP, Great Escape, Great Adventure, SFA, Islands of Adventure, Kennywood
Collosus isn't a dueling coaster
True, but it is nice when you are racing. ( I take this from experience on the Racer and Gemini)
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DOWN WITH TRIM BRAKES!
Ummmmm.... Bob Dole, that's why I said Dueling/Racing coaster.
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Goliath: The most intense Hyper in the world.
I was really excited when they announced Gwazi and was really hyped to ride it, but I guess my desires were too high, because I really didn't like it. The load time for that ride has always been that bad ever since it opened. The whole checking and re-checking and re-checking and...the seatbelts and lapbars just gets to the point of overdone. It just annoys me to see ride operators that don't know how to load and go.
Also, the lack of "dueling" bothered me as well as there being very little airtime (which after all, isn't that what we ride wood coasters for?) My exception to the airtime rule is Beast, at least for me anyway.
Shady
GWAZI is my hometown woodie and alas, one of my least favorites... I watched it go up and was really let down with the final product. (I was at BGT just an hour ago for my work and didn't bother to ride it...)It just lacks the elements of a great ride, even though it looks like it should realy deliver. I'd gladly trade it for Ghostrider, Villain, Boulder Dash, Lightning Racer , The Boss or any of the other great woodies I have ridden the Summer. I just hope that the new Florida Hurricane will be a great ride!
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"You have to scale a lot of lift hills to coast easily..."
Jason
*** This post was edited by FloridaFlyer on 9/1/2000. ***
They all do that. On slow days
IOA and CP almost always take off a side. CP more than IOA.
The worse part is that the llines are long enough to run all trains. I really don't even bother with them if they don't have both sides. Thats half the fun.
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"...If We don't get you there in five minutes we don't get you there at all. ~Dispatch Master Tran
*** This post was edited by Magnum is sinking! on 8/31/2000. ***
Every time ive been to IOA they had both sides of Dueling Dragons going.Out of all the times I have ridden it,only once have I been on it and only one side went.Only because they had a problem loading the Ice dragon,so they sent Fire out alone.
Magnum is Sinking said "Thats half the fun"
It is. And on a ride like Gemini which is lots of slow turns to slap hands and for the trains to pass each other, if one side is open, it can get downright boring. Imagine Gemini with one track. It would be boring!
I think People need to stop giving Gwazi a bad rap. Except for the slow loading process, I thing Gwazi is a very good wooden coaster. It's definately better than not having one in Florida. I love it banked turns and air time. Yes, it has airtime regardless of what some other shmucks say. So, give Gwazi a break and enjoy the ride and stop anilyzing it. Too many people are always looking to scrutinize these great coasters and not just have fun on them. Get a life!!!!!
First of all, we ALL have lives here and many of the post-ers WORK in the theme park industry. Second, this is a forum where opinions are expressed without resorting to name calling. Thirdly, if you don't want scrutinization and in depth discussions of coasters, DON'T frequent a place called CoasterBuzz. You'll always find debate and discussion here.
Finally, if you're going to proclaim yourself as the all knowing Gwazi spokesperson, at least lift a finger to create a Track record so we can see whence your knowledge derives.
I love BGT, I've been going there since 1964, BUT I still am let down by Gwazi's performance compared to what other woodies offer.
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"You have to scale a lot of lift hills to coast easily..."
Jason
The Florida Flyer has spoken!! I will agree with the rechecking over and over of the seatbelts, then the restraint. Can't this be done in one shot like everywhere else? However I do think Gwazi has been given a bad rap here. I've been on that thing when it COOKS big time. Lots of fun for me. Python has got to go, however.
I'll second that(about Python that is)! I'll give Gwazi another go in about a month (I do have an annual pass after all), so maybe my mood will change. It will be tough not to compare after riding Beast, SoB, Racer, Gemini, and others this summer. However, I will keep an open mind.
-Shady
Just remember that Gemini is steel!
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Parks for 2000: SFEG,IOA,MGM,WDW,PGA,SFMW,SCBB,Lakeside.
It has a steel rails and wooden supports.
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SFoT ROCKS! Moderator of the SFoT forums at APN
http://apn.danimation.com
Oops, right. Still a great ride though!
-Shady
