I had my fingers crossed the delay wouldn't be too long. I'll be at Busch Gardens Tampa on Sunday (and could visit again anytime next week with our Flexticket). Sadly, it looks like I won't be riding Falcon's Fury. Now my only hope is some kind of unannounced soft opening.

And a soft landing.

"We open no ride before it's time. It's not good if they debut with a thud."

Terp, keeping his eyes peeled for Big Droppy Thing....north of Orlando. Way north.

I hope they take absolutely all the time they need to ensure safe operation. I really wouldn't want to go thud on my vacation.

I hope CP never gets the same big droppy thing..

Especially with a much better droppy thing model with added shotty thing too next door.

So many things

I don't care for Power Tower's drop side. I find KI's Drop Tower to be much more fun. The pure freefall gets me in ways that being artificially shot downward never will.

If you get your restraint right that tug down is alot more fun than you can believe. Feels like you're being pushed down by just your shoulders, everything else doesn't touch anything.

Then the bounce up with a little bit of float to finish it off..perfect.

I've never been on the launch down at CP but the one at Holiday World is amazing.

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I actually enjoyed Liberty Launch more than the (much, much larger) Power Tower.

From a Coaster Crew post on Facebook:

An update from Busch Gardens Tampa about Falcons Fury:

Busch Gardens’ new thrill ride Falcon’s Fury includes first-of-its kind design elements, systems and parts. Due to a delay in the fabrication of key component parts, neither the manufacturer nor Busch Gardens are able to complete the lengthy testing processes needed to open the ride to the public. The safety of our guests and team members remains Busch Gardens’ top priority and none of these delays involve safety systems. The ride has been safely operated in the initial stages of the testing process, and all other elements of the park’s newest re-imagined land Pantopia are now open to guests. Busch Gardens will provide updates on the ride opening as events warrant. We are committed to delivering world-class thrills and the best possible ride experience, and we look forward to the launch of Falcon’s Fury, North America’s tallest freestanding Drop Tower, later this summer.

Looks like I'll be missing this next week. Oh well.

Any new updates on when it might open?

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Coaster Crew posted a video late last night of Falcon's Fury testing yesterday, with full drop and full tilt. Check it out:

Wow new Coaster Crew video start..not as tacky or annoying as they usually are, impressed.

Wonder also what alterations had to be made to FF if any at all or just needed to work out some bugs.

If nothing else, it seems all the downtime provided the tower with a really cool paint job that it wasn't originally planning to get. I only say so because concept art shows it half blue, half yellow, period, and it was those two colors alone when testing started. Probably while they were waiting for that replacement part, they decided to keep people occupied on it. It looks great.

Definitely the lesson to learn here (and from the horrendous "Year of the Tower" when every WindSeeker and Mach Tower stalled) is to not set opening dates or even seasons for prototype rides. Not sure how that works from a marketing point of view, but man is it better than a whole lot of disappointed guests when spring 2014 passes with no drop t0wer... Then summer. The new rumor, I guess, is that it might manage a soft-opening in late August, and hopefully will be running for Howl-o-Scream.

At least Pantopia looks incredible!

https://twitter.com/TampaAmazeMe/status/499650845009780736/photo/1

"Walls are down and ride operators doing practice runs on #FalconsFury @BuschGardens videos up later."

According to the park's official Facebook page, employees got the chance to test-ride Falcon's Fury today.

Great timing, with their peak season ending and all...

Better late than never.

Soft opens happened today. The All American Rejects got to ride it before their concert.

https://twitter.com/therejects/status/500778922544742400

Paint job is gorgeous...ride operation...not so much.

Pretty expensive non-operational ride.

NEW THIS YEAR AT BEER GARDENS...The ride you can't ride.

Get your year end season pass today.

SEAS THE DAY!

Get your year end season pass today.

Same as this https://www.visitkingsisland.com/ticket-category/2014-Season-Passes

Seems kinda silly to me.

Good or bad, we wouldn't be talking about FF this time of year if it hit the target date.

And we probably wouldn't be talking about quite the decline in EBITDA, attendance and per caps.

Good or bad......

https://twitter.com/BuschGardens/status/506838221989638144

http://www.buschgardenstampablog.com/falcons-fury-officially-open

Falcon's Fury is officially open!

On September 2.

Not as late as Flying Turns, but....

Looks like I'm driving to Tampa next week.

That thing scares the begibus (its a word I swear) outta me.

Guys,

It was worth the wait.

How much better is this than the standard ring drop?

Falcon's Fury is incredible, but not very forceful.