REVIEW: Busch Gardens Tampa Theme Park

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By Ryan Gargiulo

Busch Gardens Tampa

BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA REVIEW!

After a late night arrival to Tampa and a quick pit-stop at a lively Irish Pub for last call, it was a little after 2AM before I hopped into bed. My plans were to try my best to wake up in time in order to be one of the first people in line at Busch Gardens Tampa the following morning but it just simply didn’t happen. I was completely exhausted.

The next morning I woke up around 9AM. After having a light breakfast, Ray dropped me down to Busch Gardens around 10:15, only an hour or so after the park opened so I was content with that.

After getting dropped off, I headed straight for Guest Services to pick up my comped ticket (thanks to Jill @ BG!). The process was quick and painless. Within 5 minutes I was on my way through the entrance and headed straight for Cheetah Hunt!

Once I made my way through the maze of rides, games, restaurants, shows, and exhibits, I finally stumbled upon the roller coaster that I’ve been hearing a lot about lately when researching the thrill rides at Busch Gardens.

Cheetah Hunt

Cheetah Hunt - Busch Gardens Tampa

The latest addition to the ongoing list of Busch Gardens thrill rides is their new roller coaster called Cheetah Hunt. Cheetah Hunt is quite obviously themed around Cheetahs, and there are several signs along the way while you’re in line with some pretty amazing facts about Cheetahs.

There is also a cheetah exhibit called the Cheetah Run, and it’s directly across from the ride itself so if you’re kids are into seeing wild animals (what kid isn’t?), then be sure to check out the exhibit. I quickly passed by it but it looked pretty interesting from what I saw of it.

The Cheetah Hunt roller coaster is known as a “launch coaster” which uses the force of repelling magnets to send it’s riders on speed bursts. The speed bursts immediately reminded me of what it would be like to see and hear a cheetah attacks it’s prey. A shreiking roar followed by an intense amount of speed and power.

As soon as you exit the loading area, Cheetah Hunt launches you from 0 to 60mph within what seems like a second or two. This initial speed burst is of course accompanied by the screeching sound of a Cheetah!

Conclusion

Overall I thought the Cheetah Hunt was a pretty intense roller coaster, but then again that could have also been because it was the first roller coaster I visited in the park, and the first roller coaster I had been on in over a year. My wait time for Cheetah Hunt was around 75-85 minutes and I was lucky enough to get a front row seat with no one next to me!

Once I experienced a few of Busch Gardens other roller coasters like Montu, Kumba, and SheiKra, I just about completely forgot about Cheetah Hunt. I would still recommend this roller coaster for coaster enthusiasts, but if you’re a true roller coaster junkie you just might be slightly disappointed. I, myself, probably wouldn’t wait in line to ride Cheetah Hunt again.

Stats:

Thrill Rating (1-5): 3

Ride Duration: 3.5 minutes.

# of Seats: 16 per train

Features: 3 launches, 130ft drop, and a heartline roll.

Fun Fact: At one point during Cheetah Hunt, you get to experience what 4G’s feels like. Put it this way, astronauts experience only 3G’s during takeoff. 4G’s is insane!

Cheetah Hunt Video:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5jyCHZR83Y

POV Video Courtesy of Theme Park Review

After riding Cheetah Hunt, I made my way through Egypt and over to the second roller coaster of the day called Montu…

Montu

Montu - Busch Gardens Tampa

Montu is located on the south east corner of the park and is named after the ancient Egyptian god of war (Monthu). You’ll experience a whopping 3.85G’s on this coaster which is one of the world’s longest inverted roller coasters. Montu currently holds the world record for the number of inversions on an inverted coaster with a total of seven!

Conclusion:

Montu rocked my socks off! I had an absolute ball riding this coaster. My total wait time was about 35 minutes. The line for the front row was a little too long so I went for second row on this one. I would definitely ride this coaster again, no matter what the wait time was. The inversions one after another were simply mind blowing and the fact that the Montu was inspired by an Egyptian god of war made it even cooler.

Stats:

Thrill Rating (1-5): 4

Ride Height: 150ft

# of Inversions: 7

Features: 104ft vertical loop, Immelmann loop, zero-G roll,

Fun Fact: On it’s debut in May 16, 1996, Montu was the world’s tallest and fastest inverted roller coaster. Just one year later it was succeeded by the Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Montu Video:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQxKTL9fTpA

POV Video courtesy of: CoasterForce

Edge of Africa

Edge of Africa - Busch Gardens Tampa

Once I stumbled off of Montu, I headed through the Edge of Africa, a walking safari where I encountered many exotic African animals such as hippos, lions, hyenas, lemurs, crocs, tortoises and even vultures.

Zebras - Busch Gardens Tampa

Elephants - Busch Gardens Tampa

There are tons of things to do and see inside of Edge of Africa. There are even safari jeeps that will take you through the reserve area to get up close and personal with the animals on hand.

Because I was here for the coasters, I just simply didn’t have enough time to explore the Safari area enough. I spent a few minutes scoping out some of the animals from afar before making my way over to the next ride, Scorpion!

Scorpion

Scorpion - Busch Gardens

Scorpion is an older roller coaster (opened in 1980) and it was certainly visible when looking at the state of the tracks. The paint was chipped off, and the coaster itself just had this outdated look to it. Although there was a fairly long line, I decided that I would patiently wait in line to ride this one.

Conclusion:

I thought Scorpion was just OK. There was one cool part when the coaster speeds up and takes you in a 900° circle, but the ride was just simply too short. It felt like it lasted 20 seconds although it might have been a little longer than that. I sat in the second row and my wait time was about 45-50 minutes. In my opinion… Not. Worth. It.

Stats:

Thrill Rating (1-5): 1.5

Ride Height: 60ft

Features: 1 vertical loop, 900° helix circle

Fun Fact: The ride was designed by Anton Schwarzkopf as one of his Silverarrow model looping coasters. Only three Silverarrow model looping coasters exist in the world.

Scorpion Video:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd2zXNlfhIE

POV Video courtesy of: CoasterForce

After being disappointed by Scorpion, I stopped off at a vendor selling ice cold waters. I hadn’t had any water all day at this point. It was almost as if I was so excited to get to the next roller coaster that I forgot to stay hydrated. Not smart on my part, especially since the temperature was above 100 degrees. Once hydrated I headed over to Kumba which is right around the corner from Scorpion.

Kumba

Kumba - Busch Gardens Tampa

After riding Scorpion I needed to get amped up again and Kumba was the perfect solution for that. I arrived at the entrance to Kumba and the wait time was only 10 minutes! Not knowing if it was an error or not, I proceeded through the gate only to find that there was barely anyone waiting in line. Sweet!

Conclusion:

Kumba rocked! It was definitely one of the better coasters of the day. I wanted to get on and off of Kumba quickly so I settled for the second row car instead of waiting in the slightly larger line for the front row. I highly recommend this coaster!

Stats:

Thrill Rating (1-5): 4

Ride Height: 143ft

Features: 7 Inversions, zero-G roll, cobra roll, 2 interlocking corkscrews, diving loop

Fun Fact: Kumba is one of the first in a line of multi-inversion coasters (6 or more inversions) built by B&M, and featured B&M’s first ever diving loop and interlocking corkscrews.

Kumba Video:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzGxsjuq1JM

POV Video courtesy of: CoasterForce

Kumba really woke me up and I was excited to head over to my last coaster of the day, SheiKra. Gotta save the best for last!

SheiKra

SheiKra - Busch Gardens Tampa

I had heard so many good things about SheiKra during my reserach of Busch Gardens Tampa, so I was so pumped to finally get the chance to take it for a spin.

Watching SheiKra’s 200ft 90-degree vertical drop from below was pretty intense. I could only imagine what it would be like to sit front row and dangle over the edge of the second tallest roller coaster in the southeast (200ft!). So… that’s exactly what I did!

Conclusion:

SheiKra is by far my favorite roller coaster in Busch Gardens Tampa. I sat front row with 5 other guys after waiting about 75 minutes in line! The wait was well worth it, trust me! The first 90 degree vertical drop makes SheiKra one of the most insane roller coasters I have ever experienced.

Stats:

Thrill Rating (1-5): 5

Ride Height: 200ft

Features: 195ft 90 degree vertical drop, 140ft tall Immelmann loop, 138ft 81 degree drop

Fun Fact: SheiKra is tied with Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia as the second tallest roller coaster in the southeast and it’s the first roller coaster with a true 90-degree vertical drop.

SheiKra Video:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eRvgWG_9Mc

POV Video courtesy of: CoasterForce

Final Thoughts

I had such a great time navigating my way through Busch Gardens and experiencing some of the best roller coasters in the southeast. I would definitely visit this park again if I’m in the area.

Although, the next time I visit, I’d like to spend two full days at the park. I would dedicate the first day to solely riding the best roller coasters in the park. On the second day I would simply visit all of the shows and animal exhibits in the park. I would jump on a safari, check out the elephants up close, and watch the Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy show.

If you enjoyed this review of Busch Gardens Tampa, please feel free to share it with your friends and family!

For more general information (Parking, Shuttle, Rules, etc)  on Busch Gardens Tampa, click here or visit their official website! Got a question? Send a tweet to Busch Gardens on Twitter!

Have you ever visited Busch Gardens Tampa? If so, what did you think of it? Leave a comment below.

6 thoughts on “REVIEW: Busch Gardens Tampa Theme Park”

  1. OMG I love rollercoasters! Recently I’ve had to conquer them by myself since somehow between the time we were 21 and now Shaun became afflicted with motion sickness.

    How did you get your camera on board? They usually are crazy about not having them on.

    Reply
    • Yuck! That’s gotta suck… I didn’t actually film these, I pulled most of these videos from coasterforce on YouTube. I didn’t want to spoil my day by getting booted from the park. Although in saying that, I would’ve been able to get some crazy footage because I was either front row or 2nd row on every one!

      Reply
  2. Ryan, I was at Busch Gardens last summer and wanted to ride those darned roller coasters but my wife would not let me!! I believe there were 7 or 8, and I want to go back and ride them ALL from the tamest to the wildest in that order. I can use your ratings for most of the line up. Can you suggest the order in which I should place all of them? Thanks. !!

    Reply
  3. Same Steven that posted on June 24. I did go back and rode them all.
    Roller coasters, Busch Gardens Tampa

    From tamest to wildest in my opinion.

    Sand Serpent — almost a kiddy ride

    Scorpion — next step, rough ride, but small scale

    Sheikra, great veritical drops. I wish it had been longer

    Cheetah Hunt —- fast and quick accelerations, like a cheetah hunting.

    The last two are hard to rate as to which is more wild. Do these last, anyway.
    Montu — you are suspended from the coaster. Fast and disorienting. This one was getting long enough that I was getting nauseous. I did not come close to throwing up, but I very well could have if it had gone on another few minutes. I found myself looking forward to the station. A really good ride.

    Kumba. Traditional roller coaster, but huge drops, fast, and also disorienting with plenty of inversions and twists. Again, I got nauseous on this, but did not really come close to throwing up. Another 3 minutes of it and I may have. I found myself looking forward to the station. Another humbling experience.

    We humans are an odd lot

    Reply
  4. um i feel that you should start with the back of the park and work your way to the front just so that it will save time since some rides are close to each other! but that is just my opinion. you might like it a diffrent way. i find that way is the best. and may i say montu and kumba were aaaaaammmaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzingggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply

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