Ride operations can be a big part of whether you have an enjoyable or a frustrating day at a theme park, especially on a busy day. If you visit them parks a lot you may start to pay more attention to the workers and the differences between different theme park chains. An operator’s number one priority is safety, but they must also move quickly.
Continue reading
I was recently at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and had a chance to ride the Skyride there, which made me miss the one in Tampa even more. It’s been “reopening soon” for some time now with the rumors being that it needed its cable replaced. I then ran across this ski lift video (which Skyride basically is) and how there is such a backlog of maintenance being that there are literally a handful of people worldwide who can splice and connect this kind of cable.
Continue reading
Time to help get Busch Gardens the annual national recognition is so greatly deserves. Here’s your chance to vote for the park as a whole as well as your favorite rides and attractions. Just follow the simple link below:
https://buschgardens.com/tampa/vote/
Continue readingSo ran into a ride operator from Busch Gardens at another park and I asked him about what happened with Wild Surge. He said the ride had a fire (which I normally would have been skeptical of since there’s been no news of that), but then he showed me a picture on his phone! He said it happened around December and it appeared pretty heavily damaged, thus the reason why a temporary refurbishment turned into a closure.
Continue reading
It’s always sad to see a ride go, I guess the ride gods give a new flat ride (Serengeti Flyer) and then take away (Wild Surge). What closed for refurbishment on November 28th appears to be forever with it being removed from the website and park maps.
Continue reading
After being closed for nearly a year, Falcon’s Fury is expected to reopen soon according to this article from Tampa’s Bay 9 News! The shutdown reportedly is not related to the tragic drop tower accident in Orlando, but instead to not being able to get spare parts due to supply chain issues.
Continue readingBusch Garden’s newest ride opens on just 10 days! The Serengeti Flyer will be opening in the location of the old Rhino Rally station overlooking the Serengeti and all the animals. The new “flat ride” ride is in a very scenic area of the park overlooking the Serengeti and will provide a ride in a gap area between the Africa area and Pantopia.
Continue reading
I’m a huge roller coaster fan and even have a sister blog dedicated to 3D printing (this entry appears on both sites). One of the more recent advances in roller coaster technology has been the use of magnetic launches as opposed to the old school lift hill (think click, click, click up the hill). To be fair launch does go back 50+ years with examples like the Tidal Wave coaster I used to ride at Six Flags Great America as a kid. This defunct ride actually used a falling weight and pulley system to launch the train with a deafening “clank” as the weight hit bottom! One of my personal current favorite launch coasters in Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa where the launches are used to mimic the acceleration and movements of a cheetah.
Continue readingScorpion 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 reading
BGT Safari 