Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)

For the record, not that it matters, the Busch/SW parks will have 33.3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333% of all Sky Rocket II coasters.

 

Just in case anyone was wondering.

And 100% of the "Comfort Collar" crap!

For the record, not that it matters, the Busch/SW parks will have 33.3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333% of all Sky Rocket II coasters.

 

Just in case anyone was wondering.

Do any of our European friends subscribe to First Drop magazine? Apparently there's some reporting in there that whatever replaces Gwazi will effectively be a brand new coaster with a single 212 ft / 65 m steel-structured lift hill, and the original lifts being used as regular hills in the layout. Anyone know more about this apparent rumor?

Do any of our European friends subscribe to First Drop magazine? Apparently there's some reporting in there that whatever replaces Gwazi will effectively be a brand new coaster with a single 212 ft / 65 m steel-structured lift hill, and the original lifts being used as regular hills in the layout. Anyone know more about this apparent rumor?

Out of curiosity, does that park have any height limit for coasters?

Do any of our European friends subscribe to First Drop magazine? Apparently there's some reporting in there that whatever replaces Gwazi will effectively be a brand new coaster with a single 212 ft / 65 m steel-structured lift hill, and the original lifts being used as regular hills in the layout. Anyone know more about this apparent rumor?

Out of curiosity, does that park have any height limit for coasters?

Falcon's Fury is 335'. While it is just a free-standing structure and not a coaster, I'd imagine that any height limit for the park would also have been applied to Falcon's Fury. While BGT is pretty much right in a neighborhood, I'd imagine that the park is probably grandfathered in, and possibly pre-dates the residences. So resident should have known when moving there to not be bothered by the sights of a themepark.

Do any of our European friends subscribe to First Drop magazine? Apparently there's some reporting in there that whatever replaces Gwazi will effectively be a brand new coaster with a single 212 ft / 65 m steel-structured lift hill, and the original lifts being used as regular hills in the layout. Anyone know more about this apparent rumor?

This is (apparently(!!!)) the quote from the magazine. Its on all the FB coaster groups, but I can't say for sure if its accurate. If true it sounds amazing.

"The new Gwazi will make some major modifications to the dueling coasters. The first of which is to remove its dueling element. A new steel structure lift hill will give the coaster a 65m (212ft) 91degree first drop. Making it the tallest and steepest RMC hybrid coaster as well as the tallest coaster in Florida. The original lift hills will remain and feature as "normal" hills on the new track"

While it would be amazing, it just doesn't seem possible. Gwazi is a pretty big ride area-wise, but it just doesn't have the height/beefy structure to accomodate a 212ft tall coaster compared to like Mean Streak/SV.

I could maybe see it happening if they literally tore the entire ride down and only reused the footers, but even then, it's a stretch.

If it actually is 212 feet tall, my expectations (which were already high for a RMC Gwazi) are even higher.

Wasn't this magazine the one that broke the news about Kanonen being bought by that water park?

While it would be amazing, it just doesn't seem possible. Gwazi is a pretty big ride area-wise, but it just doesn't have the height/beefy structure to accomodate a 212ft tall coaster compared to like Mean Streak/SV.

 

I could maybe see it happening if they literally tore the entire ride down and only reused the footers, but even then, it's a stretch.

If you look at the construction pics, they're actively removing a lot of the supports. The reports are that the wood has rotted so much that its pretty much in disrepair. My hunch is that they're going to remove almost all of the wood, and mostly just use the existing station and footers and completely rebuild the ride from scratch -- probably with steel supports as well.

^Maybe I just haven’t dug deep enough into what’s has been posted on other sites so far but everything thing I’ve seen of the construction work is surface layer removals of track and railings... I’ve yet to see any of the support structures modified in any way, and while I’m not saying that they won’t heavily modify the supports (because we know they will) I think it is wrong to assume that the majority of this coaster will be built from scratch without leveraging the existing structure... If they weren’t going to use the majority of it, I think you would’ve seen larger chunks of the coaster already missing.

The world's tallest hybrid coming with a beyond-vertical drop sounds like a dream come true, but I doubt the park is gonna make a coaster taller than SheiKra anytime soon. If I eat my words at some point, so be it, but that's just my two cents.

EDIT: ...huh.

^Obviously nothing is confirmed, but First Drop Magazine first mentioned Untamed having 5 inversions and today Looopings.nl confirmed that. I would definitely say that the Gwazi rumor might hold a bit more weight now. I'm still hesitant to believe it because it sounds way too good to be true, but we'll find out soon enough.

Haven't the First Drop writers been the people do leak info like where Kanonen went and stuff like that? I remember this post from Robb back in 2006 said,

...and actually has information that's not out of date and often times has information that hasn't made it to the internet yet!

Original thread: https://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24539&p=170408&hilit=european+coaster+club#p170408

So I think there's a decent chance the rumors could be true, but I'm not a big expert or anything.

Has anyone actually seen the article from this issue of First Drop magazine though? The ECC website, Facebook page and Twitter accounts all make no mention of a recent issue, and there doesn't seem to be any place to buy or subscribe to this magazine. Is it even still being produced/published?

I really really want this to be true, but find it extremely odd that the quote seems to have originated from one user on Reddit attributing it to a magazine that no one else has seen or can verify even exists.

Has anyone actually seen the article from this issue of First Drop magazine though? The ECC website, Facebook page and Twitter accounts all make no mention of a recent issue, and there doesn't seem to be any place to buy or subscribe to this magazine. Is it even still being produced/published?

 

I really really want this to be true, but find it extremely odd that the quote seems to have originated from one user on Reddit attributing it to a magazine that no one else has seen or can verify even exists.

www.coasterclub.org/first-drop/

I'm not reading all into their page, but I would assume you'd have to join the club in order to read the magazine.

Can't figure out how to copy the link to a tweet, but it's taking some real nice shape! (Tigris, that is)

Has anyone actually seen the article from this issue of First Drop magazine though? The ECC website, Facebook page and Twitter accounts all make no mention of a recent issue, and there doesn't seem to be any place to buy or subscribe to this magazine. Is it even still being produced/published?

 

I really really want this to be true, but find it extremely odd that the quote seems to have originated from one user on Reddit attributing it to a magazine that no one else has seen or can verify even exists.

 

www.coasterclub.org/first-drop/

I'm not reading all into their page, but I would assume you'd have to join the club in order to read the magazine.

Right, I found that page (and actually read it...) and the latest issue was published in November of 2015, hence my question: Does this magazine still exist? Or is this a bogus rumor attributed to a previously reliable source to make it seem more credible?

Apparently Loopings.nl confirmed the other part of the rumor, which stated that Walibi's new coaster will feature five inversions. Still skeptical, but it would be fantastic on both counts if the complete rumor were to come true.

Right, I found that page (and actually read it...) and the latest issue was published in November of 2015, hence my question: Does this magazine still exist? Or is this a bogus rumor attributed to a previously reliable source to make it seem more credible?

Latest issue came out in January. It does have the Gwazi-info in it. They just don't update the FD section of the homepage that often.

Good evening from Tigris

^ Man I would love nothing more right now than to have it open by when I visit in March And it's starting to look more likely, they're making fast progress!

^ Man I would love nothing more right now than to have it open by when I visit in March And it's starting to look more likely, they're making fast progress!

I think that they're shooting for an April/May opening. If you can get to BGW, Tampesto is pretty much the same thing.

They aren't going to have it ready in March. Late April maybe, and most likely Mid-May or by Memorial Day Weekend.

Not sure if this has been mentioned in here before.. but I've noticed an interesting trend with the Busch Gardens websites lately (and reminded about it today when Facebook let me know BGT changed their web address).

Last year, buschgardens.com existed, but the Tampa and Williamsburg sites redirected to https://seaworldparks.com/buschgardens-tampa/ and https://seaworldparks.com/buschgardens-williamsburg/, respectively. If you visit those links now, you are sent to https://buschgardens.com/tampa/ and https://buschgardens.com/williamsburg/.

They seem to be spending some time on separating the brands out more. It might be nothing, but..

The final piece of track for Tigris was installed last night! Track work on Tigris is now complete and we're now one step closer to seeing this ride in operation! Photos courtesy of the park's Facebook Page.