Busch Gardens Tampa Bay: The Make Up Day 2

[stashua123]

Well here is were my Busch Gardens story begins, I hope y'all enjoy this Trip Report.

 

BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA DAY 1: FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!

 

We left our Condominium at 8:30, expecting to get to the park at around 9:15, a few minutes after opening. However, traffic was much worse than we thought it was going to be and ended up arriving at around 9:45. We arrived at the parking toll booth and paid and we were left with a really weird/friendly (depending how you look at it) statement "Follow your dreams!" We were guided to our exact parking spot(which was very near the tram, goodie!) and got on the tram. We saw that Montu was stopped on its lift hill, I presumed that it would open up later. The self-serve ticket operation was fairly easy to use and we got our tickets in about 2 minutes. We entered the park and bought an all day locker (Which turned out to be a HUGE waste of money, as you can put your small articles(we didnt bring bags) in bins off the ride, who knew?). We were ready to ride everything, my plan was to take the Skyride over to Stanleyville, ride Shiekra and work clockwise. However the Skyride did not open until 12:00 PM, and it was closed all day today. So, we decided to look through all of the animal exibits in the Edge of Africa first and then go to Pantopia. The Edge of Africa had some VERY cool exibits around and I really liked how much detail they put into it. We went up to Scorpion, which was testing when we got their. We got in line and were about to board when "We are closing for inclement weather!" came    . The next times we went around to try and ride this awesome Swartzkoph rollercoaster, it had an hour long line. One credit that I begudgingly missed out on. We waited 30 minutes for it to open and it never did. So we exited and decided to look at more animals. We got out of their when we heard the Cheetah Hunt line scream with glee about the ride testing. We then ran over to Kumba because it was open, and it only had a ten minute line. We got assigned to the very back row (YAY!) and I was seated at the far left of the car. I was worried I was not going to fit since the last time I went to Kings Island, I had problems with Banshee and Diamondback, but I fit just perfectly without "8-4" coming across. The ride went up the lift hill, which is alot taller than it looks and we then went down that drop. That first drop is one of my favorite drops I have been on and the loop was very intense. The immelman was very intense but then came that zero-g roll. That zero-g roll was amazing and it was the most intense part of the ride. The cobra roll was very snappy and intense. Then the MCBR, the two interlocking corkscrews, which are very intense, the meandering into the Stengel dive (I think thats what that element before the tunnel is called) the tunnel and that final helix, which felt eerily similar to Vortex's without the headbanging and that was that. The ride was amazing and it is now either #2 or #3 on my list(It bumped Vortex out of the third place.) 10/10, one very smooth, intense and great rollercoaster, alot more than I was expecting.

 

We then went to the Dragon Fire Grill, which was like a larger, better version of the Festhaus with great food and good theming. With my all day dining pass, I got the chicken which was heavenly, fries and a drink which I could refill at any time. We sat down for about 45 minutes and then went to Sheikra. We were in line when we realized "Oh, crap they are not dispatching" the time was around 12:45 PM at the time and here starts my day of misery. The rides were now closed and we continued walking around, we were going to take the train(According to Terpy, do not miss it! Which we never got around to it, Sorry The Interpreter!) but then they shut it down which made me very mad because even Kings Island does not shut down their train during lighning or thunderstorms. I then walked around, tried Dipping Dots for the first time (very tasty and I liked it!) and went to the Walkabout Way, since the weather was semi clearing up, but then I looked at my radar and storm after storm after storm kept on popping up just in our area. We were about to go to feed the kangaroos when the attraction shut down, again another complaint about this park, they shut down rides and attractions very easily. We then continued walking around looking at the exibits with it coninuing to rain and pour, by around 3:30 PM the weather was clear but they STILL did not open up the rides due to the lightining being within a 10 mile radius We were waiting it out but then me and John started chaffing due to the rain and started getting a rash, with the combination of that, being tired and a bit upset about our day, we decided to leave at 4:30 PM. We left disapointed and tired. However we got to our Condo on the beach when we found out that we could in fact get tickets for another day, we would just have to run back over to the park, but we decided to hold off on that until tommorow.

 

I would rate my day a 5/10, the rides and park looked great but the visit itself was a big dissapointment.

Rides 

Kumba x1

Is that all that their is?

 

Next Part coming soon!

[electricsun]

I'm sorry the weather didn't cooperate for your visit. Weather in Florida can be quite a challenge. Most of my Florida time has been in the area between Tampa and Sarasota. I've been out with my nieces 10 minutes away from the house and we have a massive downpour and nothing happened at the house. The reverse happens too - beautiful skies at the Gulf and 20 minutes away at the house, thunderstorm. Weather patterns in Florida are very different from Midwest weather patterns.

[Magenta Lizard]

If it makes you feel any better, last week when I was at Kings Island, the train did close due to inclement weather.

[stashua123]

Thank you all for the comments, and yes Magenta Lizard that does make me feel a little better. I will post the second day which was so much better than this day sometime today. The weather is very unpredictable down in Floridia. The one thing that made me a little mad was that there wasn't any rain forecasted that day. What can you do.

[stashua123]

Hey y’all, sorry for the delay. I have been sick these past few days (stomach issues) so I have not really had the strength to make the Part two until now. Thank you all for being patient.

 

BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA DAY TWO: THE MAKE UP VISIT

     Well, we were thinking that we were going to be able to get to the park, get the tickets and be done with it but it did not exactly work out that way. We enjoyed a great day at the Condo until around 1:30 when I and my brother decided to go back over to Busch Gardens. We left and got to the park at around 2:30. We went to the security guard at the entrance, told them how we called customer service and got the ok to go to the park and get the tickets and she directed us to the ticket window. We got very friendly employees who knew what we were talking about right away, so they stamped our hand and we were on our merry way. That’s the part that was unexpected, we thought we were getting new tickets and were not exactly prepared to spend a bunch of hours at the theme park. I looked at my brother John, who was reluctant and said "It’s better than no tickets; let’s ride the roller coasters we were not able to." He gave me a look in semi-agreement and said "Okay, Josh that’s fine." We did not get the all day dining passes included with our other tickets but we were fine to just be able to have another day at the theme park. We were looking at the radar to make sure that we were not getting any rain in the next few hours and we were on our way to Cheetah Hunt. The wait was around an hour but me and my brother toughed our way through it. The queue line is just how Kings Island should make some of theirs. They give ALOT of space in the rails so you are not scrunched up and they had some teeming along the way. We were directed to the last row of the train. I fit just perfectly on the ride, no hassle. Then we waited for the other train to pass through the block section and we launched! The rollercoaster has three launches, the first is 0-40 the second one is 65 miles per hour and I am not sure how fast the third one is. The ride was intense and the launches were instantaneous. I loved it. The barrel roll over the Sky Ride was pretty cool and the zing zagging through the cliffs was nice. The final launch was cool and I liked the hill with some airtime however the abrupt ending threw me off a little bit. Overall I would rate this ride a 9.5/10. I loved the launches and it was my first launched rollercoaster ride in two years. 

 

     My next objective was to ride Montu. However my brother John does not like inverted roller coasters because he feels they are too intense for him. With that, I decided to split from John and ride Montu. Cobras Curse construction was coming along nicely and it looks like it will make the area more inviting to guests(Montu is like The Bat at Kings Island, its a long walk for just one ride but with another attraction it will not be alone). The queue line starts right by the Immelman and snakes through some very cool Egyptian art and such, the wait time meter said it was thirty minutes but it was more like ten. I saw the front row had a very long line so I got in line for the second row. There was a couple behind me were the lady was having chest pains but the husband was laughing it off, I was sort of scared to ride with them. My luck took a complete 180 when they needed a single rider.... for the front row! I said I was one and put my phone and sandals in the small article bins, however I forgot to put my glasses in their so I sealed my pocket shut by tucking it into the restraint. I was very lucky to have gotten the front row, the wait was around 30 minutes if I had waited for it and I only waited 5 minutes for a single rider! The view was crystal clear and I doubt I would've enjoyed the ride as much as I did in the first row if I did not have a view in the second row. The lift hill was very long and felt like it took forever. The first drop was amazing and very intense. I loved the loop and the Immelman. The zero-g roll was just like Kumba's, very intense and snappy. The batwing however is what made it to me as good as Banshee, The batwing was absolutely the most intense element I have seen on a rollercoaster, it felt like I was getting crushed and my legs were turning into goo. The ride went through the MCBR and then went through a loop, which felt a lot like Banshees.  Then you meandered a little bit and then went through a surprise corkscrew that caught me off guard. Then a turn into the final brake runs. The ride was the perfect balance of height, intensity and speed. I loved it!! 10/10. After this we also went and checked out the Edge of Africa again because it is such a nice thing to see animals in a theme park.

 

      After this I got a pretzel and a drink and convinced my brother to look at the lines for Falcons Fury and especially Kumba, I wanted to ride it again because I loved it so much. We went through Pantopia checking lines. Scorpion was an hour (I am deeply regretting not riding this      ), Falcons Fury was about an hour and fifteen minutes. The Wild Mouse (Sand Chaser?) rollercoaster (have not ridden one yet) had about a 45 minute line, I wanted to ride it but my brother thought otherwise so I decided not to ride it. We then checked on Kumba’s line and it was around an hour, beating out my estimate of it being 15 minutes. I reluctantly declined to get a re ride of the rollercoaster. The only comment I have for Kumba today is that its name is what it is, its B&M roar is insanely loud, and I love it! We decided to head over and ride arguably the main attraction of the park, Shiekra. Shiekra looks very intimidating from everywhere in the park and in the line. There was one train that dispatched that was literally all female and they screamed so much it was funny! I personally wanted to get the front row for the view of the first drop while hanging there. There was a group of Latinos in the line, about 50-60 of them that screamed some song in Spanish every two minutes. One comment I have to say about the parks clientele is that there are way more foreigners than Americans. About 75% I would estimate of all of the parks visitors speak a different language than me. The Latino group held up the line so much that a ride attendant had to come out and make them go to other rows other than the front which they were clogging up the line waiting for the front which blocked other people from getting to the other rows. I reluctantly got the way back thinking I was not going to have a view but the trains are designed in a stadium seating type way. We were dispatched and waited for the train to clear the lift hill and we then went through the turn to the lift hill. The lift hill is VERY steep; it felt even steeper than Banshee's lift hill does. At the top of the lift hill you realize just how high up you are, with Tampa’s Skyline and other roller coasters in the park looking miniscule, then you slowly turn to the chain dog that slowly takes you over to the top of the drop. Then it stops. That was very scary because you do not know when you are going to drop, that combined with your feet dangling made it feel even more helpless. Then Shiekra drops and that drop is so intense it knocks your senses out for a split second. It is VERY steep and you fly down it so fast you do not know what got you. Then you go into the Immelman, which then leads to a swooping turn over the queue line and station. Then the MCBR with another very steep drop into a tunnel which leads to a swooping turn over the area with you dropping another time into a splash pool. The splash doesn’t get you wet but it sure does get everyone else looking very wet, I made the mistake of viewing the splashdown from very close and was soaking wet for the next hour and a half. The ride then meandered into a half helix and that was it. It was a great ride and that drop is really what made the ride stand out from the others. I bump my rating of it from 9/10 to 9.8/10. I loved it and if it was just a pinch longer it would be a 10. After this we went around the park seeing the various dj stations around the park and then walked through the Bird Gardens. Looked at Gwazi, which really reminded me of how Son of Beast looked in its final year and decided we should head home. 

 

I see why Busch Gardens prices the tickets so high because they don’t want to draw from the clientele just outside of the park (There were two homeless people hanging around begging for money from drivers and the Speedway near the park had an extra alarm system when ANYONE walked in). Smart choices to not make their park become run down. This visit was so much better than the last one and I want to visit this park the next time we go down to Florida. Thank you Busch Gardens for giving us another day when you absolutely did not have to. I think of this park much more highly than I did at the end of my first visit. 

I would rate my visit a 10/10, this made up for the terrible day I had the day earlier.

Ride Count

Cheetah Hunt x1

Montu x1

Sheikra x1

 

Thank you for reading, please comment if you want to, I enjoy reading peoples thoughts and criticisms.    

-Joshua (stashua123)    

[marth555]

Nice report but the yellow text is alittle hard to read

[stashua123]

Oh I'm sorry, I'm using the new KIC theme were it is black. I'll change it.