The other day I went to Busch Gardens for the first time and thought I’d write up a review because amusement parks are awesome and I wanted to write about the rollercoasters. It was a pretty slow day at the park, but we had perfect weather in the 60s getting up to the low 70s all day and the coasters only had wait times of about five minutes all day. Unlike a lot of other parks there aren’t really much in the way of in between rides at the park. It’s either kid rides or coasters, and as a huge fan of coasters I didn’t think that would be a thing that would bother me, but it’s nice to throw in a dark ride every once in a while. I guess the equivalent here would be the animals as the rides are mixed in with the zoo. And it does have two transport rides that take you over or through the animals with the train and the sky tram. The train in particular was awesome as the rhinos were only a couple feet away from us as we went through.
They do have a nice assortment of animals throughout the park, although they don’t have a reptile house and that’s a bummer to me as I think they’re awesome. They do have a huge Galapagos Tortoise and a bunch of alligators so I guess that makes up for it. The alligators were pretty lazy on my visit as it was a cooler day, but they are huge and just impressive to see. The sky tram provides a nice view of all the animals in the free range part of the park as well. So with that out of the way lets talk about the five coasters that I went on.
Cheetah Hunt
This is right across from the Cheetah’s hence it’s name and theming. It’s a launch coaster and starts with a fast turn right out of the loading bay which is awesome. The two big hills that it launches you over give you a lot of zero g at the apex which is awesome. It’s got an awesome section that simulates chasing prey where the coaster goes side to side with tilts and slight turns which is really fun. It’s a long coaster, but it’s fast and goes by fast. Really fun ride.
Cobra’s Curse
This coaster has a lot of theming in its queue, but there was nobody in line so I didn’t absorb much of it, but it also uses the theme on the actual ride which is cool. It uses small trains and a lift to take the carts to the top instead of a chain hill which was the first time I’ve been on one of those and it was cool. A third of the way through it stops you and turns the cars around and sends you backwards for another third of the way before it starts sending you up high banked turns with the carts rotating freely and it’s really cool. It’s a pretty small coaster, but has a lot of fun features and is a great ride.
Montu
An inverted coaster with a bunch of inversions and is just a really cool coaster. I don’t really have a ton to write about this one despite it being really good, because it’s a pretty normal type of rollercoaster just executed very well. Rode this one on the back on my second ride and it makes the g forces more intense as you get pulled over the inversions by the front of the car, or maybe it just felt that way since it was after we had eaten. Either way I like the back on an inverted coaster as you also can’t see what’s about to happen and brace yourself.
Kumba
When you’re going up the lift hill and see the loop going above it you know you’re in for something good. This coaster was my favorite in the park. It’s big and it’s got a lot of inversions which is everything I love in a coaster. Just a really well executed coaster that gives you a lot of bang for your buck.
Shiekra
An impressive dive coaster and one that is much better if you get the front seat. The steep chain lift is ominous and builds really well to the delayed vertical drop. It follows up with some nice inversions and a second delayed vertical drop, which feels even more intense than the first one, and feels cool as you drop into a tunnel as well. There’s also a drop right over water where it sprays water onto the path as you go over it which is a cool element to add to it. Definitely a fun coaster that doesn’t just hang its hat on the 90 degree drop and has a really good follow up to it which I liked.
Of the parks I’ve been to Busch Gardens has some pretty solid cheap food options. Obviously haven’t checked out everything. Once I get more jobs going I kind of want to check out the smokehouse they have in the garden. For something that’s only an hour and a half away from me it’s probably a park I’m going to be picking up a season pass to. As a one day park it’s kind of not worth the price despite how much I liked it. Those five are the coasters for adults and that’s about it except for a drop tower. The animals are cool and it’s a pretty solid zoo. I’m going to check out the other zoo in Tampa soon so my opinion of its zoo might go up or down in a bit. But it’s definitely a good park to have a pass too if you’re nearby. It’s not as busy as other florida parks and it’s got awesome rollercoasters. You can just head in for a quick morning trip and hit everything up and still have the whole afternoon to do something else in the area. Cigar City Brewing is only eight miles away and a solid place to check out for one thing.
All of the coasters are cool, and most importantly they are all very different from each other. I was only at the park for five hours and walked around the zoo, had lunch, rode the train and tram, and still rode every coaster but Kumba twice, and did Cobra’s Curse three times. So if you’re in the area I’d check it out, but it’s not worth a huge trip. Although that might change as they have a preview for their new coaster which is coming next year called Tigris which looks awesome.
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