Sheikra IS Better!

I stopped at Busch Gardens this morning to get a floorless ride on Sheikra, and I must say that it actually is a better experience.

I rode in the front row, because I noticed the other two still had a little "step" where if you wanted to, you could rest your feet.

You feel much more open and it feels a lot better than it used to. I'm glad they did this.

Tip: which ever row you sit in, sit near the outside. Don't sit in the middle. While there technically is no floor, there's still a blue slab of metal that sticks out, and takes away from the floorless experience of it. The reason why it's there is because of the size of the folding floor units in the station; they don't come together fully, so it's a permanent addition to the train that fills in the gap.

If you get a chance, go ride it! I went there yesterday too but it was closed... so I left. I spent less than 20 minutes in the park. Shortest trip ever! I'm glad I went back today.

Cant wait I am leaving next Monday and am like dying from the excitment.

I must admit I was also surprised. My favorite seat is front row, left most seat on the outside. So of course I rode it, and wow, with the track being more on the inside and no floor, the drop and ride over the water splash was fresh.

I heard some people in line saying that Kumba will go floorless also, and I just had to giggle.

I'm sure that's just people being people, but I hope that Kumba stays just as it is. Leave perfection alone!

I rode Sheikra last summer and rode Griffon this past weekend. I found Griffon to be much more fun, but will reserve my final judgement until I've ridden Sheikra with the floorless trains.
*** Edited 6/26/2007 11:11:29 PM UTC by Jason Hammond***

You mean until you've rode Sheikra with the floorless trains. ;)

Whoops. ;)

The trains on Kumba are not going to be floorless. Kumba is getting new trains but they are not floorless. I can't wait to ride Sheikra again in August though.

"Sheikra IS Better!"?

Better than what? Griffon? Or regular Sheikra?

^Sheikrafanatic, Kumba is getting new trains? Since when?

This is interesting. I take a trip down there every year & have ridden SheiKra a number of times. When they announced new floorless trains I couldn't see how they would make any difference. In the original trains, your seat was at such an angle to the floor that you already couldn't even see the floor below you, so I figured this was just an added gimmick. I'll reserve my judgment until February when I get to ride it again. Thanks for the report.

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kRaXLeRidAh said:
"Sheikra IS Better!"?

Better than what? Griffon? Or regular Sheikra?

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Regular Sheikra.

If they really wanted to make SheiKra better, they should just ease up on the braking over the second vertical drop. Costs nothing, and makes for a MUCH better ride. Those laps where I caught a little ejector-style air were WAY better than anything I'll get from floorlessness...

THAT'S a "gimmick" I'd have gotten behind, LOL...

^ Agreed. Having said that though, I *LOVED* SheiKra, now my second favorite ride in the state of Florida, behind Expedition Everest.

I rode it "floorless" right before I ended my "seasonal" part of the year living in Orlando to leave town for the summer and to be completely honest noticed at best a minimal difference. I'm a tall person and yet on "original Sheikra" my feet dangled without touching the floor anyway (just as they dangle on Wildfire at Silver Dollar City which makes it seem "floorless" to me even though it is technically not floorless.)

The biggest difference I noticed was the bar in front of the train is missing giving a slightly better front row visual. But in the things I consider most important there was no difference - the airtime was exactly the same as before, and the speed and intensity seemed exactly the same.

Like Gator said, ending the practice of slowing the train to a COMPLETE STOP on the midcourse would be the biggest improvement they could make IMO, as this would improve the pacing of the ride and carry more speed into the second half.

Still, as overhyped as this whole conversion seems to be, I would have to agree that it will be a "good business decision" for the park if the big "floorless Sheikra" marketing campaign increases attendance.

By basically "relaunching" Sheikra as a "new" ride all over again, this will probably buy them more time before they feel compelled to add another major thrill ride. Which, for my taste would hopefully be the long-awaited B&M hyper, which is noticably missing from the central Florida market despite its reputation of being the "B&M showroom".

I hope Universal addresses that hyper issue when they launch potterland.