Demolition of Scorpion Underway at Busch Gardens

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Scorpion Roller Coaster Demolition at Busch Gardens
Scorpion Demolition (picture courtesy of Vikings Coaster Crew)
Scorpion Roller Coaster Demolition at Busch Gardens
Scorpion Demolition (picture courtesy of Vikings Coaster Crew)

There have been reports online that Scorpion’s demolition has begun. This definitely looks like a demolition rather than a relocation based on cutting of the steel rather than disassembly. We’ve written before about the history of Scorpion and how it served as the first coaster inversion for a generation of Busch Gardens visitors. While it’s sad to see it go, hopefully this work means that this location could be home to something new in 2026. This would be quite the revitalization for Pantopia after just getting flight of the Phoenix Rising. I want to give a special thank you to  Vikings Coaster Crew and /railfan_andrew for the pictures in this post!

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Will the New Pope be a Roller Coaster Fan? Will he Crave Both Airtime and Prayer Time?

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Catholic Cardinals riding a roller coaster

May 8,2025 Update: So we have a new Pope and he’s American Robert Prevost of Chicago, now known as Pope Leo XIV! What is shocking is that we could actually have sort of been right about this? There’s no word on if the Pope spent any time at Six Flags Great America outside Chicago, but in a video produced about him it has roller coaster and amusement park images! At the 1:20 mark of a Catholic News Service interview with the Former Cardinal Robert Provost (now Pope Leo XIV) there are a bunch of video from what appears to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk rides and coasters! The Catholic News Service is anews agency owned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that reports on the Catholic Church, so you can view this more as a promotional piece where the former Cardinal Prevost probably had a lot of influence on the look and feel. Maybe the new Pope does love roller coasters!

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The Kōmbo Family Coaster at the Indianapolis Zoo is Unique and Themed Perfectly

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The Kōmbo Family Coaster at the Indianapolis Zoo is a highly unique family coaster by Zierer opened in 2001. At 24 feet in height and 21 mph on 656 feet of track Kombo’s stats from the zoo’s website won’t wow anyone, but it’s spectacular attention to theme and a few neat quirks make it a unique and fun offering in a surprising place. The day I went was a “school” day and so the park was pretty empty meaning I got one of the first “zen” rides (only rider on the train) I can remember in a long time.

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Kumba’s Roar Returning to Busch Gardens Soon!

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Kumba at Busch Gardens
Kumba at Busch Gardens

Busch Gardens Tampa announced on its social media on April 21, 2025 that Kumba would be returning this summer! This announcement came on the rides 32nd birthday and it’s currently the oldest roller coaster at Busch Gardens. The ride’s future had been in doubt for just this reason after sitting idle for months with no official word from the park about its future. However, with this announcement it appears rumors of its demise were greatly exaggerated.

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Binghamton Rumble Ponies and Brooklyn Cyclones Connect Baseball and Amusement Parks

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Minor League baseball is known for having some inventive names from the Albuquerque Isotopes to the Rocket City Trash Pandas. However, two teams directly tie into amusement parks, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and the Brooklyn Cyclones and both are part of the Mets organization. The term Rumble pony is slang for a carousel horse, and the Binghamton, NY area is known for having several carousels. The Brooklyn Cyclones take their name from the Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster with their stadium adjacent to the park!

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Happy Easter! Maybe Someday there will be an Easter Roller Coaster at a Place Like Holiday World?

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Easter Roller Coaster
Easter Coaster made with Gemini Imagen 3 AI

Happy Easter! I did a search for an Easter roller coaster and came up empty, so I used Google’s Gemini Imagen 3 AI to make one. Like many things AI it’s not perfect, especially with the use of candy canes throughout? Perhaps the closest you come to an Easter roller coaster is Jack Rabbit at Kennywood. Probably the most likely place to see an Easter theme would be Holiday World in Indiana. Right now we have Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and 4th of July, but maybe an Easter expansion could come some day…

Safari Campground at Wild Adventures Theme Park: Review of an Incredible Camping Experience

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We had a chance to tent camp at the new Safari Campground at Wild Adventures Theme Park and it was a great experience. The campground is not only conveniently located to the park, but is full of great amenities as well. Chief among these may be the proximity to one of the largest animal habitats in the park. Sleeping next to wild animals certainly is a huge attraction as at Disney you’ll pay $500/night for that privilege at the Animal Kingdom Lodge while at Safari Campground you can tent camp for $40/night! We couldn’t recommend the campground more and Wild Adventures packed a lot of fun and thought into the facility to create something really great.

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The Turnstile: An Underappreciated Theme Park Staple with Fascinating History

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Turnstile at a theme park roller coaster
Turnstile at a theme park (courtesy of Hayward Turnstiles)
Turnstile at a theme park Waterworld entrance
Turnstile at a theme park (courtesy of Hayward Turnstiles)

There’s a characteristic ratcheting and gear sound you hear as you go through a turnstile. It’s the sound that you hear when many theme parks open and you go through the front gate or when you move from the queue onto the loading platform. It’s a sound that’s filled with excitement and anticipation for most of us, but have you ever wondered about the history of the humble turnstile? I’m a bit of a nerd and so I think about such things. Here’s a brief history of this common theme park device with beginnings in ancient farms and modernized at a Piggly Wiggly grocery store.

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Two Kiddie Rides Displaced by Phoenix Rising are Making a Comeback at Busch Gardens

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In a filing last week with the City of Tampa Bay it appears Busch Gardens is resurrecting two Kiddie rides that were removed back in 2023 from Pantopia to make room for Phoenix Rising. This is two of four working rides (five if you count the SBNO Phoenix Looping Starship) that were removed. The rides returning are the Busch Flyers and the Kiddie Train and they are going next to the the Ubanga Banga Bumper Cars in the spot currently occupied by the remote control boats and trucks.

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An American Family’s Review of LEGOLAND Billund

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As part of a larger European trip we spent 2 park days at LEGOLAND Billund and 2 nights at a LEGOLAND resort property. Billund, Denmark is where LEGO was invented and headquartered, so this is the “home” of LEGO. It was a great trip at what we felt was an extremely reasonable price. Even though we don’t speak a word of Danish we had zero issues communicating and fully experiencing the park. The park is adjacent to the airport, so transportation is very easy. The accommodations were also well themed, convenient and available at many price points to fit any budget. LEGOLAND Billund is a great theme park in general and simply amazing if you are at all a fan of LEGO.

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