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Busch Gardens Tampa: General Discussion

Scorpion will be closing permanently soon.



I have quite a soft spot for Scorpion - it's one of the first looping coasters I ever rode. Still, at least the amount of investment for this site and the rest of the park over the next 10 years is absurd.
 
Interesting… Scorpion doesn’t take up a massive plot in its own right, but I’m admittedly not sure how much space there is around it.

In all honesty, I’m personally not massively sad to see it go on a personal level. I didn’t particularly rate it when I did it last year, and perhaps controversially, I don’t buy into the hype around Schwarzkopfs in general. It and the late Sand Serpent were easily the park’s weakest links coaster-wise on my last visit.

I look forward to seeing what replaces it! The park has been getting a lot of investment lately, which is great to see!
 
Remember this from a trip to the park years ago. Had gone on most other things without issue, but sat down on Scorpian, pulled the lap bar down and apparently my face went white. I think it was the first looping coaster I had done without OTSR and my body wasn't happy about this!
 
Danny said:
Scorpion will be closing permanently soon.



I have quite a soft spot for Scorpion - it's one of the first looping coasters I ever rode. Still, at least the amount of investment for this site and the rest of the park over the next 10 years is absurd.
Click to expand...

That's rather sad since it has been there since 1980. I am ambivalent about Schwarzkopfs, but it had a decent layout, so I assume that it was a fairly good ride.
 
Danny said:
Scorpion will be closing permanently soon.



I have quite a soft spot for Scorpion - it's one of the first looping coasters I ever rode. Still, at least the amount of investment for this site and the rest of the park over the next 10 years is absurd.
Click to expand...

aw this is sad! I imagine the coaster was such a rite of passage for many guests, and probably their first inverting coaster.

I do wonder what could replace it - they already have a near perfect thrill lineup, and their family thrill lineup is also great with Cheetah hunt, PR, and cobras curse
 
Busch Gardens have announced a new kids area called Wild Oasis for 2025 which is essentially a retheme of the Jungula area.

Many had expect this area to be the location of the next major coaster which was rumoured for 2025/26. Obviously this is not the case.

Wild Oasis | Kid-Friendly Rides | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay invites explorers of all ages to “Wild Oasis”, an interactive, re-imagined realm designed to entertain, educate and inspire.
buschgardens.com buschgardens.com
 
Maelstrom said:
Busch Gardens have announced a new kids area called Wild Oasis for 2025 which is essentially a retheme of the Jungula area.

Many had expect this area to be the location of the next major coaster which was rumoured for 2025/26. Obviously this is not the case.

Wild Oasis | Kid-Friendly Rides | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay invites explorers of all ages to “Wild Oasis”, an interactive, re-imagined realm designed to entertain, educate and inspire.
buschgardens.com buschgardens.com
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The Jungala area felt a bit neglected when we last visited two years ago, took a lot of effort to work out if there was actually animals in enclosures or not. Fells like this should be a positive adding some much-needed non-ride stuff and BGT doesn't really need more coasters at this point.
 
Hadn‘t realised until I saw this, but apparently Kumba has been closed since November:


Wonder what they’re doing with it? It’s probably due a retrack, but I doubt they could get it done by summer even if they had all the new pieces on site and ready to go.
 
From what I’ve read on a few sites online they are conducting extended maintenance- which is rumour to include replace stressed parts of the track.

It does seem Busch are keen to keep the iconic coaster open though but have stopped short of a full retrack which maybe it doesn’t need?
 
Saw a vlog the other day of this park and it looked appalling. Dirty, half the rides shut and barely any guests there (which is hardly a surprise). Hardly any food places open either at gone 12pm.

As things stand I might not bother visiting on our summer trip. Tempted to bite the bullet and pay for another day at Epic instead of going her. I'd like to ride Iron Gwazi ideally but not really that fussed on anything else.
 
I last visited in 2022 and wasn’t great- park wasn’t looking dirty etc but poor operations. Didn’t bother visiting when I was in Orlando last summer and just did Seaworld. This summer as visiting again, not bothering with Seaworld or Busch and booked extra ticket for Epic Universe.

Also these days I prefer the whole theme park experience ie Disney, universal, Europa park style vs just a park full of coasters.
 
A new survey has been given out in recent weeks hinting at future projects (much like Seaworld have done).

1. B&M giga coaster (a long rumoured project)

2- what is described as a dynamic water ride inc entering a section of rapids etc. the description sounds exactly like a Mack Rocking Boat (also not to dissimilar to their old Rhino Rally ride).
 
Benjsh said:
As things stand I might not bother visiting on our summer trip. Tempted to bite the bullet and pay for another day at Epic instead of going her. I'd like to ride Iron Gwazi ideally but not really that fussed on anything else.
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We are almost certainly doing the same on our trip this November. Doesn't feel like there is much new at Busch since we went in 2022 and an extra Epic day makes more sense. We likely will still do Seaworld for the surf coaster.
 
I am not going this year and also for first time not going to Seaworld. Last few trips the experience hasn’t been great, while I like the coasters the overall experience is was not the best. I have purchased an additional day at epic instead.
 
jon81uk said:
We are almost certainly doing the same on our trip this November. Doesn't feel like there is much new at Busch since we went in 2022 and an extra Epic day makes more sense. We likely will still do Seaworld for the surf coaster.
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We are sticking to the plan and still going i think. There's a few rides there I haven't done since not going to Florida since 2013. Iron Gwazi alone probably enough of a reason to go really. We've picked what should be a very quiet day to try and get in lots of re-rides on it.

We've decided to drop Volcano bay now for a 2nd day at Epic. No water parks on this trip at all for us now but that suits me really as I'm not beach body ready this summer. Been a bit lazy with the gym this year. Hahaha.
 
Benjsh said:
We are sticking to the plan and still going i think. There's a few rides there I haven't done since not going to Florida since 2013. Iron Gwazi alone probably enough of a reason to go really. We've picked what should be a very quiet day to try and get in lots of re-rides on it.

We've decided to drop Volcano bay now for a 2nd day at Epic. No water parks on this trip at all for us now but that suits me really as I'm not beach body ready this summer. Been a bit lazy with the gym this year. Hahaha.
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Oh yeah if you haven't been since 2013 then definitely go for Iron Gwazi. We easily got lots of re-rides in back in 2022.

We've got one week at Universal and one week at Disney. Planning that Volcano Bay will likely be our only water park as Blizzard Beach will be closed.
So for the Uni week, IoA, USF, Epic x2, SeaWorld, Volcano Bay is likely the plan. Then at Disney one day at each park plus Mickey Christmas party and a repeat day at studios is most likely the plan. Need to fit in shopping time too.
 
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