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Busch Gardens Tampa: General Discussion

That first airtime hill/turnaround is going to be *brutal*. The similar element on Steel Vengeance is a lot wider, this one is more like a top hat.

And the first drop through the support structure could be the best head chopper moment of all time.
 
Some aerial testing footage from Midway Mayhem:



The speed on this thing is ridiculous. The element after the downhill barrel roll almost looks too fast!
 
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Overall it is looking brilliant and I cannot wait to see a POV. The first element is going to be mental, although the final section does look a tad weak.
 
And you just know it'll be their favourite ride on the entire planet until others have ridden it ;)
 
And you just know it'll be their favourite ride on the entire planet until others have ridden it ;)

I don't care what anyone says, this is not as good as Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake Park! ;)
 
Busch Gardens have confirmed they will close the park from March 16th to the end of the month. Perhaps they'll look to get Iron Gwazi open at the same time if possible?
 
A billboard has been put up in Tampa advertising the ride as now open. Presumably BGT made the order prior to their closure intending for it to be open by now.

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Could very well be opening with the rest of the park in that case, whenever that happens to be.
 
The park is currently scheduled to reopen on Monday 20th April (unlikely in my view, but we'll see what happens) however it is unlikely that Iron Gwazi will be ready by this date. The original intention was for the ride to open to the public in late March immediately after the completion of the testing and certification process, however this process was abruptly and suddenly halted during the weekend of March 14th & 15th due to the closure of the park starting from the following Monday due to COVID-19. All necessary staff from RMC and other contractors were sent home and as such the ride is in a state of limbo where it is operational and has succesfully completed a fair bit of testing however remains uncertified with testing remaining to be done. The situation with the opening of the ride now relies on two factors: 1) When the park itself will be able to reopen and 2) When the park can coordinate with RMC and Florida state authorities for testing & certification to re-commence. There is also the unusual possibility of BGT resuming testing by themselves without any representation from RMC on site, we shall see what happens, it is really an unprecedented situation as we are seeing everywhere at the minute.
 
...There is also the unusual possibility of BGT resuming testing by themselves without any representation from RMC on site, we shall see what happens, it is really an unprecedented situation as we are seeing everywhere at the minute.
It's interesting that you say that because a project I was working on is also having a similar problem. I should be in anouther country right now commissioning it but can't and even when the site re-opens I still might not be able to travel. We've talked about using local contractors and webcams. I wonder if these are the type of solutions Busch and RMC are looking into.
 
To be expected I suppose. Hopefully, they can give it the fanfare it deserves when it does eventually open.
 
Best way of convincing my girlfriend (who is vegetarian and flat out refuses to visit Sea World) to allow us to visit BGT when we visit Orlando next winter? Don't wanna miss out on Iron Gwazi!
 
Best not to mention it's the same company.

Saying that my girlfriend was set against Sea World, but as I pointed out we bought a joint attractions ticket so they had our money anyway. We went, she loved the conservation side and we ended up going back on the last day.
 
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