So back in 2023 I wrote about an encounter I had with a Busch Gardens ride operators at another theme park discussing the unexpected closure of the mini drop tower ride, Wild Surge, located in the Jungala area of the park. He told me Wild Surge was actually damaged by a fire in December 2022 and showed me pics on his phone of the damage to the ride. I finally tracked him down and got permission to share them here.

NEWS! Busch Gardens Announced on 9/17/24 the New Wild Oasis Realm retheme of Tree Top Trails in Jungala with a reimagined Wild Surge set to open in spring 2025

To my knowledge the park has never announced a reason for the closure and I also have not seen any fire department report. My guess is it was probably a small fire quickly put out by maintenance during refurbishment, but one that caused too much damage to have it be cost effective to repair the ride. As we wrote before, it was a fun ride with a lot of punch in a small package with a unique semi-enclosed location in Jungala. That area of Jungala is now closed off and hopefully it means something new and cool is coming soon.