There have been a lot of rumors and thus far no official announcement as to what is replacing Sand Serpent and taking over a large section of Pantopia at Busch Gardens Tampa, known by the code name Project Halcyon. Last year Serengeti Flyer was announced on October 11th and in 2018 Tigris and Iron Gwazi were announced on September 12th, so hopefully we’re getting close. Here are some of the things that are rumored and the order is my guess of most to least likely.

A Family Coaster

Theme parks love families. They spend more money per guest on things like food and souvenirs than any other group. It’s what makes the season pass and multi-day discounted ticket model work, knowing guests will spend more money once inside. SeaWorld’s recent financial report put this in-park spend number at $34.91 per person per day above and beyond what they pay for admission. Of course this is an average, but a mom, dad and 2 kids on vacation will probably spend more than a group of four local 16 year old teenage boys on a given day. The teens may grab fast food on the way to the park and not buy any merch. On the other hand, the family will enjoy some downtime in an air conditioned restaurant and probably leave with a light-up sword, bubble wand and some pictures. Exceptions abound, but certain patrons are more desirable financially.

Given this, a family coaster makes a ton of sense. With this we’re not talking Air Grover, but something in the middle ground between it and Iron Gwazi. A great example of this is Big Bear Mountain by Vekoma at Dollywood. It has launches, but nothing too intense, no inversions and a low 39″ height requirement. It’s a new take on the classic mine train and it is loads of fun that everyone can enjoy. There are now family “boomerang” coasters which are compact and follow the same path out and back that are becoming increasingly popular, the new Wild Moose from RMC, spinning family coasters, straddle coasters (jet ski) and even family inverts. There’s a ton to choose from here at multiple price points, sizes, styles and relative intensities. The spinning is unlikely with the awesome Cobra’s curse already there, but a family launch coaster, boomerang or invert makes a ton of sense. This is my bet as to what we see.

A Winged Coaster

Florida does not yet have a wing coaster. This coaster type most commonly from B&M (a frequent SeaWorld choice these days) is beautiful to watch. It combines the feeling of an invert and floorless coasters and can have great theming and near misses in either a thrilling or family friendly layout. The park already has one bird themed coaster in SheiKra, but this would lend itself to a flying theme for sure. This type of ride would add a new coaster type to the park’s line-up and be something they could market as “only at Busch Gardens” with the next closest one probably being Wild Eagle at Dollywood. Going for a smaller family friendly version of this in 2024 and a huge 2025 coaster addition when Epic Universe opens could be a great one-two punch.

An Indoor/Outdoor Coaster

In the summer Tampa is hot and it can rain frequently. The park really has limited options when the sky opens up. There are some indoor shows, but the only things I’ve seen continue to operate in moderate rain are the carousel and the bumper cars. Having something for inclement weather would be a great addition. Busch Gardens Williamsburg just added the Intamin indoor straddle coaster Darkoaster using the old DarKastle building and SeaWorld Orlando has Project Penguin, a new family indoor/outdoor by B&M using the Antarctica building. As can be seen above, the Pantopia Theater is a huge piece of indoor space that could be used similar to how Williamsburg and Orlando reused their indoor spaces. It does occasionally host animal shows and other events, but these might easily be shuffled to the Stanleyville Theater too. Pantopia is still standing untouched with work all around it, so this is looking unlikely, but some sort of indoor attraction would be a great add sometime soon.

A Multi-Launch Coaster

There have been rumors for a while about Busch Gardens Tampa adding an Intamin multi-launch similar to Pantheon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. SeaWorld has recently liked to clone rides across its chain. See B&M dive coasters SheiKra (Tampa), Griffon (Williamsburg) and Emperor (San Diego), the various Premier Sky Rocket II launch coasters such as Tigris, Tempesto and Electric Eel (San Diego) or the numerous Scremin’ Swings. There have even been rumors of adding a Gwazi-like RMC to Williamsburg, so it works both ways, if something is successful one place, clone it elsewhere. The only issue with this is that Tampa already has a similar multi-launch in Cheetah Hunt. Also, Pantheon hasn’t been the most reliable of rides in Williamsburg with tons of downtime. A top hat or spike would look pretty on the skyline, but this may not be unique enough or fill a hole in the park’s portfolio.

A Giga Coaster

There have been rumors for some time of a giga (300+ feet coaster) coming to Busch Gardens for a couple of years now. It’s really the missing hole in the park’s lineup of coasters. Think of an airtime machine like Mako by B&M at SeaWorld, but bigger. A giga could face headwinds in both the space it would require for what would probably be near a mile of track, cost and potential zoning/permitting for going over 300 feet. However, there have been great YouTube videos that have talked about how it could fit, SeaWorld has spent lots of money in the last couple years and the 300 foot line was already breached once with Falcon’s Fury years ago. A gig also appeals to a different thrill seeking enthusiast audience who no doubt would love it, but Sand Serpent was a family ride and families are BIG business for theme parks as mentioned previously. Therefore, replacing Sand Serpent with something more family orientated, especially after Iron Gwazi, probably makes business sense.

Hopefully we get some news soon. Epic Universe is coming in the next 1-2 years, so look for other Florida parks like Busch Gardens Tampa to try to make a splash to steal some of the attention and get visitors to consider adding a day or two at their parks during their next vacation. Maybe, based on this, we could see back to back coasters in 2024 and 2025 with the later using the former Jungala plot of land? Maybe we could even get a double announcement like we got with Tigris and Iron Gwazi years ago? The leaks I have heard from employees say family coaster 2024, but that’s a pretty broad description. Whatever it is, I look forward to riding a new coaster in 2024 and hopefully 2025 as well!