Home, Sweet Home: Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL
It is fitting to start with the coasters that are closest to home, especially when my totally subjective coaster scale uses one of those coasters as the standard. Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL (BGT) is the home of two of the best steel coasters around and a newer wooden coaster (actually dueling, so it is two coasters) that are a lot of fun. The standard of all coasters lives at BGT: Montu!
Montu (Rating: 10 FS, 8 BS, 7 M)
Montu is an inverted steel coaster, and is currently the standard by which all other coasters are judged (X beats Montu ... but X is off the scale). You can see the rating is a little complex. First, the front seat of the coaster is perfection. The view, the twists and turns, the dangling feet, make it perfection! But the g-force of the back seat make it a lot of fun as well. The problem with the back seat and middle seats is that the view is very obstructed by the seats in front of you, so the rating drops on those seats. Montu's front seat is worth waiting an extra half hour!
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Statistics
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| My totally subjective rating: | 10 FS, 8 BS, 7 M |
| Type: | Steel |
| Status | Operating since 5/15/1996 |
| Categories: | Inverted |
| Builder | Bolliger & Mabillard (B & M) |
| Length (feet): | 3983' |
| Height (feet): | 150' |
| Drop (feet): | 128' |
| Inversions: | 7 |
| Speed (mph): | 60 |
| Duration (m:ss): | 3:00 |
| Angle Of Descent (degrees): | 50 |
| G-Force (g): | 3.8 |
| Capacity (riders per hour): | 1710 |
Other Information:
3 trains with 8 cars per train. Riders are arranged 4 across in a single row for a total of 32 riders per train. Inversions: 104 foot vertical loop, immelman, zero gravity roll, batwing (2 inversions), 67 foot vertical loop, corkscrew.
SheiKra (Rating: 8.8)
SheiKra is the newest coaster at Busch Gardens, Tampa. It boasts to be Florida's tallest coaster and the world's tallest dive coaster (though I am not sure how they define "dive coaster" as it certainly isn't nearly as tall as Millennium Force. No matter the boast, this is one fun coaster. And it is the only coaster I have ever been on that has eight seats across. It is three rows deep and it is set up in a stadium seating fashion that pretty much makes every seat as good as the other. Personally, however, I like the front row the best. This is because at the top of the first drop you dangle before the drop and then go straight into a tunnel. The back does have a little better ride, but I like the front the best (but really all the seats are good). My friend Michael and I road SheiKra on the opening day, which was cool except that Busch Gardens was totally unprepared and the line was total chaos. We only road it once that day because of the line, but since then the line has become more manageable.
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Statistics
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| My totally subjective rating: | 8.8 |
| Type: | Steel |
| Status | Operating since 5/21/2005 |
| Categories: | Normal |
| Builder | Bolliger & Mabillard / Diving Machine |
| Length (feet): | 3188' |
| Height (feet): | 200' |
| Drop (feet): | 195' |
| Inversions: | 1 |
| Speed (mph): | 70 |
| Duration (m:ss): | 3:00 |
| G-Force (g): | unknown |
| Elements: | 200' tall Lift Hill 145' tall Immelmann 138' tall Hill Tunnel |
Other Information:
3 cars per train. Riders are arranged 8 across in a single row for a total of 24 riders per train.
A "sheikra" is a species of African hawk known to dive straight down for its prey.
Kumba (Rating: 8.5)
Kumba is a truly fantastic steel coaster. Even though it is closing in on 10 years old and has to compete with Montu, this coaster can hold its own. In fact, I consider this coaster better than Montu in all but the first seat. One of the best parts of Kumba is that it doesn't really matter what seat you are in. The front row does give you a little better view and the back row you feel the g-force better, but any seat is going to give you a thrill!
A personal note on Kumba: This is the first of the modern steel super-coasters I ever road. On the first ride on this coaster I took a very young Mike Hart (around 11), and it was his first ride on any coaster. When I asked the very pale Mike how he liked it after we got of he said hesitantly, something like "it was cool, but I don't think I want to do it again right now." We didn't do it again that day--but Mike and I have ridden this coaster hundreds of times since then.
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Statistics
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| My totally subjective rating: | 8.5 |
| Type: | Steel |
| Status | Operating since 4/20/1993 |
| Categories: | Normal |
| Builder | Bolliger & Mabillard (B & M) |
| Length (feet): | 3978' |
| Height (feet): | 143' |
| Drop (feet): | 135' |
| Inversions: | 7 |
| Speed (mph): | 60 |
| Duration (m:ss): | 2:54 |
| G-Force (g): | 3.8 |
| Capacity (riders per hour): | 1700 |
Other Information:
3 trains with 8 cars per train. Riders are arranged 4 across in a single row for a total of 32 riders per train. Inversion: 114 foot vertical loop, dive loop, heartline roll, cobra roll (2 inversions), interlocking corkscrews loops.
Gwazi (Rating: 7)
Gwazi is the newest coaster addition to Busch Gardens. It is a dueling wooden coaster. For a wooden coaster (two coasters actually) it is very cool. The biggest shortfall, however, is the load time. For some unknown reason you have to put on a seat belt along with a lap restraint. The cars are very tight and it is difficult to get in and out, especially when you have to put a belt on. There is no reason for a belt either, especially with the lap bar. The lines get really long because of the time to load and unload (and if you are oversized--thankfully I'm not, but if you are, forget this ride). The best part of Gwazi is that it takes people away from Montu, allowing me to ride it more!
A funny note: BGT's web site states that Gwazi does a bunch of great things (some are true), but the funniest thing I've ever read is "and six "flyby" maneuvers in which trains pass within feet of each other at crossing speeds of 100 mph." This is a little trickery on BG side, as the max speed is 50 mph, so they take the two trains passing each other to come up with the 100 mph trick. What a joke--you hardly even notice the other train. Added Note: These days (2006+) they don't even try to launch the two trains at the same time, so you really don't notice them passing ... sometimes they don't pass.
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Statistics
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| My totally subjective rating: | 7 |
| Type: | Wooden |
| Status | Operating since 6/18/1999 |
| Categories: | twin wooden |
| Builder | Great Coasters International, Inc. |
| Length (feet): | 3400 |
| Height (feet): | 90' |
| Inversions: | 0 |
| Speed (mph): | 50 |
| Duration (m:ss): | 2:30 |
| G-Force (g): | 3.5 |
| Capacity (riders per hour): | 1400 (I don't believe this) |
Other Information:
4 trains with 6 cars per train. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 24 riders per train.
Python and Scorpion (Rating: 3)
BGT does have two other coasters that in their day were probably good, but their day has passed. I ride them once in a while, but they rate really low. They don't take up much space though, so I guess they are good for kids. If anyone cares, here are the stats:
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