A Busch Gardens Tampa Resort Hotel Coming in 2025 or 2026?

A slide from a 2015 investor presentation showing potential development sites on SeaWorld’s Park Tampa resort.   Image via SeaWorld

In a recent investor call, SeaWorld CEO Marc Swanson brought up their plans to add a resort hotel in 2025 and another in 2026, but details were sparse. This has been rumored for some time, but it appears to be getting more serious. Here are some of his comments from the call:

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I Had ChatGPT write a Review of Busch Gardens!

You might have heard of ChatGPT. It’s the artificial Intelligence (AI) program that can write essays, emails, poetry, articles and even lines of computer code. There have been a lot of buzz about it in the media about kids and college students using it to do their homework for them to journalists wondering if they’ll someday be replaced. I asked it to write a review of Busch Gardens in Tampa and this is what I got:

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The Child Swap Policy at Busch Gardens for Single Riders is One of the Best Using Their Quick Queue Program

So in my family have me ( a roller coaster fanatic), a 44 inch 6 year old (who loves rides, but can’t yet go on everything) and my wife (who likes more tame roller coasters, but not the big stuff like I do). The dilemma we have on many visits is how I can get a ride on something like Shiekra without having to abandon my family for an hour. Thankfully Busch Gardens Tampa has a not too well publicized workaround for this situation when only one parent wants to ride.

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Explaining Cheetah Hunt LSM (Launch) Technology with 3D Printing by Amusement Labs

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.

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Scorpion’s Circular Loop

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:

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Is the Phoenix Rising at Busch Gardens?

This 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).

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