The Walt Disney World Monorail is iconic and the fact that it still looks futuristic being installed over 50 years ago in 1971 is quite the feat. If you’ve been to Las Vegas you’ll know it has a monorail too that looks quite similar to the Disney one and these two systems are indeed related and some old retired Disney World trains even found their way to Vegas! However, that was just the beginning of the journey of these former Disney World trains.
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Many of the buildings at Busch Gardens have interesting previous lives. A haunted house is a former horse stable, Cobra’s Curse queue is a former Egyptian walk through attraction and Cheetah Hunt’s station was previously used as the station for an inverted monorail that provided views of the Savannah. However, one of the more interesting examples is the Serengeti Overlook, now home to the Giraffe Bar, Oasis Pizza (a quick service food spot) and the pass holder lounge. Would you believe this used to be considered one of the nicest restaurants in all of Tampa?
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If you know the history of Busch Gardens you they used to be owned by Anheuser-Busch, maker of Budweiser. The parks were a promotional tool built on the grounds on some of their breweries. The parks were later sold, but remnants (including the name) still remain. One thing Budweiser is known for is their Clydesdale horses which are seen on Christmas ads, Super Bowl ads and special events. They also used to be housed at the parks, in fact you can still find them at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. They are no longer in Tampa, but their stable still exists and is now the Stranglewood Estates haunted house!
Continue readingIt’s May the 4th (Star Wars Day) and there really aren’t connections between that movie franchise and the park, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t Hollywood connections. Probably the closest thing to “Star Wars” were several episodes of a Travel Channel show called “Insane Coaster Wars”. The episode above features Sheikra at Busch Gardens Tampa, but another episode featured Montu.
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Busch Gardens were known for years as essentially theme parks built adjacent to several Anheuser-Busch breweries. Although the first “Busch Gardens” were the public gardens at Adolphus Busch’s house in Pasadena in the early 1900’s, the original “theme park at a brewery” concept was Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. This park opened on March 31, 1959 on the site of the company’s Tampa brewery, although it would be several years/expansions later before it would resemble a modern theme park.
Continue readingDisney Imagineer Wally Crump passed away this week at age 93. Although he’s probably best known for his work on It’s a Small World, The Haunted Mansion and the Enchanted Tiki Room, he also consulted on projects for Busch Gardens Tampa too. There are several Disney+ shows featuring him. He was a genius and will be missed.
Scorpion at Busch Gardens has a rare element, a circular loop. It’s one of the few remaining. There was a great article in Vox about loops and the move away from circular to lessen g-forces. As a rider I can’t say I’ve found the loop overly intense, but there is only one and it isn’t that fast. Here’s how the park describes it:
Continue readingThis tweet I think captured a lot of people’s feelings when they heard the Phoenix was testing. Could the Phoenix, closed since April 2018, be reopening? There has yet to be any official announcement from the park, but walls have come down and the ride has been seen in action several times including with human analog sandbags. However, there were also rumors that the ride had been offered for sale, so although this could be a prelude to a reopening, it also be a test for a potential buyer. The great folks at Theme Park Express posted these great pics of the ride testing (used with permission).
Continue readingOur friends at BGT History had a great reminder that May 16th was the birthday of Scorpion. Scorpion is 41 years old and the second coaster built at the park and now its oldest after Python closed in 2006. The coaster fits in a small footprint, but still packs a punch for its 90 second ride. This coaster will always hold a special place for me as this spring it was my 4 year old son’s first real coaster (non Air Grover) when he reached 42 inches.
So you may have seen the unfortunate news that Iron Gwazi will now be opening in 2021:
BGT Safari 