What's next for Busch Gardens Tampa??

[Mad Dog]

I think BGW might have had it the worst when it came to budget cuts, didn't they once cut all entertainment a few years back?

They cut pretty much everything that was good & special within a year or so of Blackstone's takeover.

 

[MakoMania]

So to bring this back to BGT, here are my thoughts for the next 5 years. This is a balance between what I think they will add and what I want to see, I've tried to keep it fairly realistic.

2018:
This year would be a "triple punch" much like SWO in 2017 with an enhancement to an existing ride, some sort of animal upgrade and new entertainment. So we already know that they will be enclosing Sand Serpent. This could be a really great move giving them a ride to operate in bad weather, they could add theming, audio & effects to make it a fantastic ride! I also hope for a new Permanent Ice Show to open in 2018 alongside an upgrade to the Walkabout Way animal zone, which is one of the more neglected areas of the park. I also think Summer Nights should be beefed up in 2018.

2019:
B&M Hyper/Giga, with the station where Gwazi is. Crucially, it would have to be taller than SheiKra & Mako to be marketed as Florida's tallest roller coaster. This way, SeaWorld would still be able to market Mako as Orlando's tallest as they have been doing. (It's almost like they didn't mention Florida's tallest on purpose.) A lot of space would be left for BGT to do future expansions and/or expand their event space. Airtime is something that BGT lacks, I really hope their next coaster delivers on it. I did contemplate RMC Gwazi for a while, and whilst I'm not ruling it out entirely, it does seem increasingly unlikely.

2020:
A fairly quiet year park wise, but the new Resort Hotel could open this year. I think the hotel will open in either 2019 or 2020, but opening it in 2020 could give the Busch Gardens brand some publicity in what would otherwise be a very quiet year.

2021:
WATER! For 2021 I think the park needs a new water ride. I hope they will install a Mack Rides water coaster on the Tidal Wave site. It should be very different from Journey to Atlantis at SWO. It would be a fantastic ride for all the family and would help to relieve some pressure from Stanley Falls and Congo River Rapids.

2022:
I think this will be an animal attraction year after ride investments in 2019 & 2021. What could it be? Well I've always thought that a large air conditioned viewing area for the Elephants could be a huge success. They could even market it as a large new Elephant habitat which I'm sure could pull some crowds. I'm thinking of a large, thatched roof style building in Nairobi with huge glass windows looking out into the Elephant habitat. If they made the building have two floors you could also get great views of the watering hole!

Anyway, that's just my thoughts/predictions. I may be right for some, I could be completely wrong. Who knows!?

 

[anihilnation]

So to bring this back to BGT, here are my thoughts for the next 5 years. This is a balance between what I think they will add and what I want to see, I've tried to keep it fairly realistic.

2018:
This year would be a "triple punch" much like SWO in 2017 with an enhancement to an existing ride, some sort of animal upgrade and new entertainment. So we already know that they will be enclosing Sand Serpent. This could be a really great move giving them a ride to operate in bad weather, they could add theming, audio & effects to make it a fantastic ride! I also hope for a new Permanent Ice Show to open in 2018 alongside an upgrade to the Walkabout Way animal zone, which is one of the more neglected areas of the park. I also think Summer Nights should be beefed up in 2018.

2019:
B&M Hyper/Giga, with the station where Gwazi is. Crucially, it would have to be taller than SheiKra & Mako to be marketed as Florida's tallest roller coaster. This way, SeaWorld would still be able to market Mako as Orlando's tallest as they have been doing. (It's almost like they didn't mention Florida's tallest on purpose.) A lot of space would be left for BGT to do future expansions and/or expand their event space. Airtime is something that BGT lacks, I really hope their next coaster delivers on it. I did contemplate RMC Gwazi for a while, and whilst I'm not ruling it out entirely, it does seem increasingly unlikely.

2020:
A fairly quiet year park wise, but the new Resort Hotel could open this year. I think the hotel will open in either 2019 or 2020, but opening it in 2020 could give the Busch Gardens brand some publicity in what would otherwise be a very quiet year.

2021:
WATER! For 2021 I think the park needs a new water ride. I hope they will install a Mack Rides water coaster on the Tidal Wave site. It should be very different from Journey to Atlantis at SWO. It would be a fantastic ride for all the family and would help to relieve some pressure from Stanley Falls and Congo River Rapids.

2022:
I think this will be an animal attraction year after ride investments in 2019 & 2021. What could it be? Well I've always thought that a large air conditioned viewing area for the Elephants could be a huge success. They could even market it as a large new Elephant habitat which I'm sure could pull some crowds. I'm thinking of a large, thatched roof style building in Nairobi with huge glass windows looking out into the Elephant habitat. If they made the building have two floors you could also get great views of the watering hole!

Anyway, that's just my thoughts/predictions. I may be right for some, I could be completely wrong. Who knows!?

I hope that the Walkabout expansion might give us a minor ride as well, put a thrilling flatride there.

 

[Speed]

I hope that the Walkabout expansion might give us a minor ride as well, put a thrilling flatride there.

Could definently go where the old Critter Castaways theater was

 

[bbombei1]

2020 could be an addition of an adventure island water slide lets not forget about that, they add slides there during BGT's off years. More than likely they'll be adding the hotel near the back of the park in 2019 probably. But it could land clearing for a coaster, who knows? IDRK when that walkabout way expansion will take place, maybe later this year or next?

 

[Nick]

2020 could be an addition of an adventure island water slide lets not forget about that, they add slides there during BGT's off years. More than likely they'll be adding the hotel near the back of the park in 2019 probably. But it could land clearing for a coaster, who knows?

They've only added one slide to Adventure Island in like the last 15 years or so (Colossal Curl in 2015)

 

[mcusi]

They've only added one slide to Adventure Island in like the last 15 years or so (Colossal Curl in 2015)

Riptide was built during that time period as well I believe.

 

[cwgator]

Adventure Island needs a parking lot overhaul more than anything. We had to park there once for NYE as it was used for BGT's overflow. Potholes everywhere and tree roots breaking through the asphalt. Just horrible. I tripped a few times coming back to the car when it was dark.

 

[Speed]

Adventure Island needs a parking lot overhaul more than anything. We had to park there once for NYE as it was used for BGT's overflow. Potholes everywhere and tree roots breaking through the asphalt. Just horrible. I tripped a few times coming back to the car when it was dark.

Adventure Island’s parking lot definently needs to be redone, it looks like it was built on a bunch of hills and does have a bunch of tree roots cracking the asphalt

 

[bbombei1]

Riptide was in 2006 and they repaved two-thirds of the parking lot, where the pavement was really hilly and cracked in 2015, it is flattened out and much better than what it was 10 years ago. Look on Google earth if you want to see. I think BGT's parking lot could be repaved, but I think they re paved it in 2004, it would have to be done in September or October tbh.

 

[Thatguyoverwhere]

Adventure Island’s parking lot definently needs to be redone, it looks like it was built on a bunch of hills and does have a bunch of tree roots cracking the asphalt

I always just assumed they deliberately paved their parking lot that way, and that it was supposed to resemble 'waves'
On the subject of Busch Gardens itself, I'm honestly pretty excited about the prospect of enclosing Sand Serpent- it's like watching "Extreme Makeover: Theme Park Edition". Something to keep in mind is that Space Mountain is nothing more than an enclosed wild mouse coaster that for most of its existence had very little theming beyond the station and the first lift hill, and even now most of the ride is in total darkness; Matterhorn Bobsleds was originally just a roller coaster inside an empty mountain façade (though it's received significant upgrades over the years). Both of those rides are among the most popular attractions at their respective parks, while un-enclosed wild mouse coasters like Primeval Whirl are (rightfully) considered cheap and ugly. By doing this they can create something that A) satisfies the need for an indoor ride, B) removes an eyesore from the park, and C) is actually themed, all while saving money for a bigger project that is hopefully on the way. And, even though I know it has its detractors, virtual reality would be a great way to give the ride a theme without having to build expensive sets and physical effects that SeaWorld parks seem to have difficulty maintaining.

 

[Magic-Man]

I just read on screamscape that adventure island might be adding more slides in 2018. Anyone know anything more about it, like what kind of slides will they be and how much? Given, screamscape might be wrong, but still

 

[bbombei1]

Yea I saw that too, its going to be some drop body slides that would be very helpful to the park and something that will fill a spot in their lineup. It will go on colossal curl they said, which is about 70 ft tall, the tallest slide in the park I think, and there's plenty of room up there for a drop slide or two, idk how they'll do the stairs and such tbh? Anyone know why the middle slide on water moccasin is closed, Ik it's the most painful slide in the park so they maybe aren't running it this season and will be fixing the joints in that slide in the offseason. The other two slides on that slide tower aren't nearly as rough as the middle slide is.

 

[Magic-Man]

Yea I saw that too, its going to be some drop body slides that would be very helpful to the park and something that will fill a spot in their lineup. It will go on colossal curl they said, which is about 70 ft tall, the tallest slide in the park I think, and there's plenty of room up there for a drop slide or two, idk how they'll do the stairs and such tbh? Anyone know why the middle slide on water moccasin is closed, Ik it's the most painful slide in the park so they maybe aren't running it this season and will be fixing the joints in that slide in the offseason. The other two slides on that slide tower aren't nearly as rough as the middle slide is.

I think those slides are going to close soon. That's a prime spot to put new slides

Edit: I think we can possibly see 4-5 new slides. The park is mostly outdated, with the exception of colossal curl, and with Volcano Bay now open down the road and blizzard beach possibly getting a expansion, we could see a large scale expansion in 2018

 

[bbombei1]

I think those slides are going to close soon. That's a prime spot to put new slides

Edit: I think we can possibly see 4-5 new slides. The park is mostly outdated, with the exception of colossal curl, and with Volcano Bay now open down the road and blizzard beach possibly getting a expansion, we could see a large scale expansion in 2018

I don't think the park is outdated to much, it has some of the classic thrill slides not found anywhere in Florida since wet n wild took all their classic slides out in the 80s and 90s, and it is the oldest water park operating in the state now. Its getting more love from the company than it has in the past decade which is good, and yeah I've also thought they should remove water moccasin for some drop slides, but the space back there is really tight to build a slide as tall as key west rapids considering the runway for it will be part of a slide instead of a splash pool like water moccasin has since it is not going to fast at the end. The could move the gate of the park behind water moccasin back a bit, they have a least 40 feet to work with behind that slide to fit something else there well see. Water moccasin has the lowest ridership in the park I think and the back of the park needs some new life imo.

 

[Cheezbat]

I don't think the park is outdated to much, it has some of the classic thrill slides not found anywhere in Florida since wet n wild took all their classic slides out in the 80s and 90s, and it is the oldest water park operating in the state now.

Actually, Rapids water park down in west palm beach is older. Adventure Island opened in 1985, Rapids opened in 1979.

It is the oldest operating water park in central Florida though!

 

[bbombei1]

Actually, Rapids water park down in west palm beach is older. Adventure Island opened in 1985, Rapids opened in 1979.

It is the oldest operating water park in central Florida though!

Adventure Island opened in 1980 actually so only one year off lol. First water park in the Sea World chain though.

 

[Cheezbat]

Adventure Island opened in 1980 actually so only one year off lol. First water park in the Sea World chain though.

Oh yeah! Why did I write 1985???(I was just in California doing a whole 'tour of Back to the Future sites' so I have 1985 on the brain!)

 

[MakoMania]

Merlin are said to be looking into buying the two Busch parks.

Kill me now.

Merlin have dragged Alton Towers through the dump!

 

[Scott W.]

Merlin are said to be looking into buying the two Busch parks.

Kill me now.

Merlin have dragged Alton Towers through the dump!

In what way?