There’s a great documentary on YouTube by Seaworld History about the former Rhino Rally attraction at Busch Gardens Tampa featuring the amazing SirWillow who used to be a driver on the attraction. I was also thrilled to see the inclusion of some pictures I had posted several years ago on a blog entries about the abandoned ride area and the Rhino Rally area being under construction for what would become Serengeti Flyer. It was so cool to see my blog mentioned in the credits!

What may be lesser known was that this attraction was actually manufactured by Vekoma who is better known for roller coasters. However, this safari-themed attraction may have more in common with a roller coaster than you might think as it actually used track in the water portion of the ride. Riders experienced a “breakaway floating bridge” effect with the track providing a safe and controlled experience through what outwardly looked chaotic. The Land Rover would lock into a ride platform vehicle that would then move down the underwater track. This locking mechanism no doubt had some shared heritage with their Boomerang coasters of the past and the new tilt coasters of today.

Rhino Rally was quite the attraction that operated from 2001 to 2014 and was Busch Gardens answer to Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As the video mentions, if you look around you’ll find lots of remnants and “Easter eggs” from the former attraction. People often mention that they hope the park gets a new coaster from this or that manufacturer, but if they bring up something like a Vekoma title coaster remind them at Busch Gardens once indeed had a Vekoma and it was called Rhino Rally.