What's next for Busch Gardens Tampa??

[Mad Dog]

OH so we don't think it's a coaster......IT IS

?.....Don't know how you got "OH so we don't think it's a coaster" from my post.

 

[Cheezbat]

Sounds like BGW. They gutted entertainment, which used to be great, and discontinued anything of interest that wasn't a coaster. I don't go there anymore.....Do we detect a trend with this company, namely downward?

Yep.

First Big Bad Wolf, then reduced effects in Pompeii, closure of Curse of Darkastle this year...and nothing but coasters being built. Don't get me wrong, I love coasters, but variety of rides is a requirement in a theme park.

The Busch parks were so strong on their own. Such a shame the way things are playing out.

 

[TheGentTrent]

Jungala is a great area, and while this may be temporary, it's still a sad sign of the state of things.
They've left Gwazi to rot, with nothing in the works currently to replace it. They closed Tidal Wave with nothing in the works to replace it. They closed off Curiosity Caverns where the bats and snakes and stuff were(I loved that area!). They still haven't replaced the old Akbar's Adventure Tours building with anything. They tore down the old pets theater and now it's just an empty field. They had plans to enclose Sand Serpent, but even that got cancelled.

The park used to be one of the best theme parks, and now it's lost so much of its charm and extra things that made it a full day+ park.

Akbar’s is used for Howl-O-Scream, but yeah, that’s a lot of unused potential.

 

[Octobers Fade]

Akbar’s is used for Howl-O-Scream, but yeah, that’s a lot of unused potential.

So is Gwazi.

 

[Donald Razorduck]

Yep.

First Big Bad Wolf, then reduced effects in Pompeii, closure of Curse of Darkastle this year...and nothing but coasters being built. Don't get me wrong, I love coasters, but variety of rides is a requirement in a theme park.

The Busch parks were so strong on their own. Such a shame the way things are playing out.

Good lord, Verbolten is great, with a dark show building before the drop track. It was my kids favorite. Made Dar Kastle expendable. The park could use a couple more flats but my son enjoyed DaVinci's. Pompeii got him wet just fine with grins from ear to ear. The entertainment for us was fine. with the Irish Dance and the Beatles thingy. That stuff is very expensive with the human overhead and the dead time in between shows. As I said previously, they should slap a Mack Power Splash in BGT somewhere. Isn't the Tampa Zoo getting a new Shoot the Chutes?

 

[Cheezbat]

Verboten looks great, but it replaced Bog Bad Wolf, which was a very fun coaster. Now if they were actually replacing Darkastle with a new dark ride I wouldn't be as sore...but they aren't. I find it sad that Six Flags is more about dark rides now than Busch/Sea World parks.

 

[Disneyhead]

Verboten looks great, but it replaced Bog Bad Wolf, which was a very fun coaster. Now if they were actually replacing Darkastle with a new dark ride I wouldn't be as sore...but they aren't. I find it sad that Six Flags is more about dark rides now than Busch/Sea World parks.

Back in the '70s, BGW had the most low tech, yet awesome dark ride ever. It was called Catapult. It was where Castle O'Sullivan is now. It was just a scrambler inside a building, the inside was themed like a castle courtyard and after it started spinning, they killed the lights and turned on a strobe. It was very disorienting and cool. I couldn't find any pics but here it is on the '78 map (#29).

 

[Donald Razorduck]

Back in the '70s, BGW had the most low tech, yet awesome dark ride ever. It was called Catapult. It was where Castle O'Sullivan is now. It was just a scrambler inside a building, the inside was themed like a castle courtyard and after it started spinning, they killed the lights and turned on a strobe. It was very disorienting and cool. I couldn't find any pics but here it is on the '78 map (#29).

We've had a discussion about how enclosed flat rides like the one you just described should make a comeback. With today's ligthing with LED tech and projection mapping, it would be quite amazing with what one can do with a simple scrambler. The reason we think they'll come back is that regional parks that used to just be open Memorial Day to Labor Day have introduced Halloween Seasons and Christmas Seasons.

We feel a park like SDC and Dollywood where they shut rides down at certain temps could really use these type of rides.

Laff Track at Hershey was a blast and with the compact coaster revolition we are seeing with vertical lift hills and such we should really be seeing these cheaper coasters being enclosed more.

 

[Mad Dog]

BGW was an excellent park until the very short In Bev and then longer Blackstone control.

 

[shiekra38]

BGW was an excellent park until the very short In Bev and then longer Blackstone control.

IMO it was the best Busch park around (and I'm a Florida native)...It was right behind the likes of Universal and Disney

 

[Donald Razorduck]

Hey, the concert schedule is out.

 

[cwgator]

^and that info can be seen in this thread:
BGT's Food & Wine Festival 2018 | Inside Universal Forums

 

[Speed]

Remember that rumor when Busch Gardens was said to get rid of all their elephants?

 

[JoeCamel]

Remember that rumor when Busch Gardens was said to get rid of all their elephants?

80s to a foot of snow. Boy did he pick the wrong time to relocate....

 

[Cheezbat]

Remember that rumor when Busch Gardens was said to get rid of all their elephants?

What??? When was this rumored? Are they seriously trying to kill Busch Gardens? The place has a great coaster lineup, but they let Gwazi rot, they closed Tidal Wave, Rhino Rally, recently a portion of Jungala, and now theyre getting rid of animals? Seriously???

Somebody needs to buy the Busch parks and save them from the morons running the company.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I wonder if BGT has an issue with Universal taking more vacation days for people going to Orlando. There's still people going to BGT, but they probably are losing more Orlando day guests.

 

[cwgator]

There are 2 possibilities as to why they relocated him that come to mind (could be others, but these seem to be likely):

1: The rest of the herd are all female (they actually are, not speculating), and none of them would mate with him and/or accept him into the herd.

2: They are not wanting any further breeding of elephants at the park.

<<UPDATE>>

Upon reading the actual article here it tells why (basically #1 above, with further reasoning):
Asian Elephant Spike Leaves Busch Gardens Tampa - Touring Central Florida

The hope was Spike would mate with the youngest member of the Busch Gardens herd, but that didn’t happen during his residency at the park. As part of the Species Survival Program (SSP), animals are moved around in participating zoos in an effort to maintain a stable captive population of endangered animals that is genetically diverse.

 

[shiekra38]

There are 2 possibilities as to why they relocated him that come to mind (could be others, but these seem to be likely):

1: The rest of the herd are all female (they actually are, not speculating), and none of them would mate with him and/or accept him into the herd.

2: They are not wanting any further breeding of elephants at the park.

<<UPDATE>>

Upon reading the actual article here it tells why (basically #1 above, with further reasoning):
Asian Elephant Spike Leaves Busch Gardens Tampa - Touring Central Florida

Hmm, so no plans on expansion here then..That stinks, it is a huge plot of land

 

[Disneyhead]

Hmm, so no plans on expansion here then..That stinks, it is a huge plot of land

They still have the Gwazi plot to deal with first.

 

[s8film40]

They still have the Gwazi plot to deal with first.

They REALLY need to do something with that. Even if it's just demolishing it for now. It really gives off that abandoned park feel and makes the park seem old and run down.