What's next for Busch Gardens Tampa??

[WAJAS]

Jambo Junction has been open intermittently, so doesn't seem like that closing was a permanent thing. Maybe they didn't like the AP backlash?

 

[epcyclopedia]

Every time this thread pops up in my feed:

 

[Speed]

Every time this thread pops up in my feed:

 

[shiekra38]

Every time this thread pops up in my feed:

I mean, some of us grew up at Busch Gardens soooo

 

[epcyclopedia]

I mean, some of us grew up at Busch Gardens soooo

I was supposed to perform on the stage that Montu was built over in my school choir but instead rode it during the opening week, no performance, because Busch wanted us tweens in the park for the press to photograph.

I grew up with it too, but it still doesn't mean it's doing much to be particularly relevant lately.

 

[Nick]

I was supposed to perform on the stage that Montu was built over in my school choir but instead rode it during the opening week, no performance, because Busch wanted us tweens in the park for the press to photograph.

I grew up with it too, but it still doesn't mean it's doing much to be particularly relevant lately.

Well, it's in Tampa. It's tough to be relevant with the cool Orlando kids when you're an hour and a half away.

But you're right, they aren't doing much to help entice people over there lately and many of their recent projects have had delays.

 

[Mad Dog]

Well, it's in Tampa. It's tough to be relevant with the cool Orlando kids when you're an hour and a half away.

But you're right, they aren't doing much to help entice people over there lately and many of their recent projects have had delays.

Probably a good possibility that better days are ahead. :thumbsup: and I'm hoping the new guys return Tampa's sister park, BGW, to it's glory days when it was one of the best theme parks in the country.

 

[shiekra38]

I was supposed to perform on the stage that Montu was built over in my school choir but instead rode it during the opening week, no performance, because Busch wanted us tweens in the park for the press to photograph.

I grew up with it too, but it still doesn't mean it's doing much to be particularly relevant lately.

You are correct, but consider who's running the parks right now..When AB was in charge they took pride in themselves...I think they are heading into better times - I hope

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

Well, it's in Tampa. It's tough to be relevant with the cool Orlando kids when you're an hour and a half away.

Hour and a half? :look: Usually only takes me about 45 mins (sans traffic) from Universal :whistle:

 

[cwgator]

^Driving 100MPH are we?

 

[Speed]

 

[anihilnation]

With Seaworld announcing something on Thursday, might Busch Gardens announce something soon as well? If I remember correctly, two years ago Cobra's Curse was announced the day after Mako.

 

[GAcoaster]

It's a good possibility. Most of their projects seem to need a lot of site prep/lead time so if they're about to break ground on something for 2018 it would make sense to announce soon.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

Here's a good pick up point for those interested in my opinions regarding the thematic choices the park has made over the past decade and why I think rides like Cobra and Fury are good for the future.

My beef with Cheetah Hunt:

Is it a family coaster or not? When talks of adding a Maverick style coaster came about, the original plan was to give FL an all-out speed machine that kept low to the ground and recycled both the monorail building as well as the Rhino Rally rapids. What we ended up getting was a 60mph family coaster with 1 very odd inversion, three weak launches, and some okay floater airtime. To me, Cheetah Hunt is just there. It doesn't stand out like the rest of the big coasters in the park. Really, Cheetah Hunt should of been the marquee attraction for the park, and although it's launches may be popular, the park left a lot on the table when it came to taking concept to reality.

Did you ever wonder why there are so many straight sections on the coaster? Well those trenches were all supposed to be themed (to boulders, ruins, and waterfalls) to enhance the feeling of speed during those sections. What you have instead are a bunch of unthemed retaining walls.

The station is a complete mess. I think we can all agree on this.

The only redeeming quality of the attraction is that it's intamin and that it has a nice Cheetah exhibit. Everything else feels slapped together.

My beef with Pantopia:

He took the dessert theme of Timbuktu and turned it into a 7 year old girl's dream come true. He tried to take something on a low budget and give it this grandiose feel, and it just doesn't work. Want to enhance the original product? Fine. But to turn it into candy land makes the park feel even more disjointed than it was before Timbuktu became a problem in the first place.

Why I praise Falcon's Fury:

It's the best thrill ride of any park I've been to, hands down. It goes back to the origins of BGT, where, if they're going to build it, it's going to have notoriety. Not only is it the tallest free standing drop tower in the world, it's the first to drop riders at a 95 degree tilt. It really doesn't get any better than that. SheiKra, Gwazi, Kumba, and Montu were all built with the same attitude - "if we're going to build this, we're going to be the biggest, the baddest, and the best". They didn't have this in mind when they built Cheetah Hunt, and it shows.

Why I praise Cobras Curse

I'll admit that there's still an extensive backstory to the attraction that just screams Brian Morrow, but what I love about the ride is that they tied it into an excavation, which totally fits the Egypt theme. From the scaffolding in the queue, to the tethering on the snake statue, the whole attraction feels cohesive and non disruptive to the rest of Egypt. Besides the theme, here again you have a ride design with the attitude that we're going to do spinning coasters better than the rest. The vertical ascent, the outward banked turns, the forward/backwards/spinning partitions - all scream BGT.

 

[anihilnation]

I love the heartline inversion, though I agree, it is odd.

Pantopia has grown own me, though I do still partially share your sentiment. I think the area can use a lot more work, keep the carousel but get rid of the kiddie rides and put a flat ride there, maybe get ride of Sand Serpent as well, heck, put one of those premier rides launched coasters there (like in BGW and SW San Antonio).

Cobra's Curse. Love it, great ride that almost anyone can enjoy and themed very nicely.

I also agree with the doing things better and bigger, they should aim for that,l set records and stuff like that.

 

[UNIrd]

If you keep going for the biggest, baddest, best, you end up with a park like Cedar Point or Six Flags. Nothing wrong with that... but that's not the audience visiting central Florida. Cheetah Hunt and Cobra's Curse are steps in the right direction for them. After the closure of Tidal Wave last year, I'm interested to see if they're looking at a new water ride sometime soon as well.

 

[GAcoaster]

Cheetah Hunt like all attractions built in any park ran into cost over runs which meant cuts had to be made.

While I agree I don't love the idea of Pantopia, it was something of a necessity to retheme Timbuktu. Cultural appropriation by theme parks is no longer considered acceptable and it kind of crass and tasteless. You'll notice most parks have gotten away from specific themes based on real places and made their themed areas much more generic and timeless. It's hard to have an area themed to Timbuktu when the real place is one of the hotbeds of Islamic terror groups in Africa and make it a fun and carefree place to ride rides.

Does this seem like a good idea for a theme park area?

(From the Wikipedia article on Timbuktu):

Attacks[edit]
Starting in 2008 the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb began kidnapping groups of tourists in the Sahel region.[37] In January 2009, four tourists were kidnapped near the Mali-Niger border after attending a cultural festival at Anderamboukané.[38] One of these tourists was subsequently murdered.[39] As a result of this and various other incidents a number of states including France,[40] Britain[41] and the US,[42] began advising their citizens to avoid travelling far from Bamako. The number of tourists visiting Timbuktu dropped precipitously to around 6000 in 2009 and to only 492 in the first four months of 2011.[36]

Because of the security concerns, the Malian government moved the 2010 Festival in the Desert from Essakane to the outskirts of Timbuktu.[43][44] In November 2011 gunmen attacked tourists staying at a hotel in Timbuktu, killing one of them and kidnapping three others.[45][46] This was the first terrorist incident in Timbuktu itself.

On 1 April 2012, one day after the capture of Gao, Timbuktu was captured from the Malian military by the Tuareg rebels of the MNLA and Ansar Dine.[47] Five days later, the MNLA declared the region independent of Mali as the nation of Azawad.[48] The declared political entity was not recognized by any local nations or the international community and it collapsed three months later on 12 July.[49]

On 28 January 2013, French and Malian government troops began retaking Timbuktu from the Islamist rebels.[50] The force of 1,000 French troops with 200 Malian soldiers retook Timbuktu without a fight. The Islamist groups had already fled north a few days earlier, having set fire to the Ahmed Baba Institute, which housed many important manuscripts. The building housing the Ahmed Baba Institute was funded by South Africa, and held 30,000 manuscripts. BBC World Service radio news reported on 29 January 2013 that approximately 28,000 of the manuscripts in the Institute had been removed to safety from the premises before the attack by the Islamist groups, and that the whereabouts of about 2,000 manuscripts remained unknown.[51] It was intended to be a resource for Islamic research.[52]

On 30 March 2013, jihadist rebels infiltrated into Timbuktu just nine days prior to a suicide bombing on a Malian army checkpoint at the international airport killing a soldier. Fighting lasted until 1 April, when French warplanes helped Malian ground forces chase the remaining rebels out of the city center.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

Oh please, if you really think it has to do with the liberal fantasies of "cultural appropriation" you're severely misguided. Go talk to Epcot and Animal Kingdom about "cultural appropriation" and get back to me.

 

[GAcoaster]

Oh please, if you really think it has to do with the liberal fantasies of "cultural appropriation" you're severely misguided. Go talk to Epcot and Animal Kingdom about "cultural appropriation" and get back to me.

Believe what you want.

Colonial Africa (and India, and China, etc) have been romanticized for years and the realities of those situations carry a lot of baggage with the exploitation of the land and suppression of the people. All parks have had to change with the times and sensitivities. That's why Aunt Jemima is no longer flipping pancakes at Disneyland.

 

[Scott W.]

Hour and a half? :look: Usually only takes me about 45 mins (sans traffic) from Universal :whistle:

I've done it in about an hour. Weirdly, the drive to Busch from CBBR has less directions than the majority of Disney.

Get on the i4, jump onto the i75, take the exit and turn left down whatever street it is.