This past Wednesday morning, my brother and I landed in Tampa to celebrate my upcoming wedding and bachelor weekend. Since I had a bit of time to kill the next morning while he finished up some work, I chose to pop over to Busch Gardens Tampa for a few hours to activate my brand-new season pass. I decided on the season pass for the massive discounts on the quick queue (fastpass) it provided my friends that were visiting the very next day, as well as the two free included park tickets. I plan on utilizing it for Williamsburg–in addition to SeaWorld and possibly others–so I thought the investment was worthwhile.
I arrived at the gate shortly after opening and I could immediately tell it was going to be a busy day. The forecast was beautiful so I wasn’t expecting anything different, but with a second day on the horizon I wasn’t too worried about getting on everything. My main objective was BGT’s newest coaster, the hybrid monster Iron Gwazi from the magnificent Rocky Mountain Construction. Like Pantheon, this attraction was originally slated for a 2020 opening but was delayed due to the pandemic. This mammoth new coaster has been high on my list ever since, and I was excited to ride it within just a few weeks of its grand opening to the public. Naturally, I made a bolt for it as soon as I was through the entrance plaza.
This coaster is incredibly intimidating and hulks over the entire front half of the park. Since I had arrived rather early, the wait was only about 30 minutes for a front row ride. Iron Gwazi was entirely worth the wait, as it delivered an incredible experience that can only be rivaled by a few other coasters, in particular one from the same manufacturer up in Sandusky, Ohio. This one however might also give Velocicoaster a run for its money as my favorite ever, as it is nonstop intensity and relentlessness from start to finish. It literally has zero filler track or elements, and the coaster is glass smooth, similar to most creations from RMC. My two favorite elements on the coaster have to be the enormous first drop, clocking in at a ridiculous 95 degrees, followed by the aptly named death roll that the train absolutely rips through just under the massive lift hill.
Feeling content after conquering Iron Gwazi with a minimal wait, I decided to head to the opposite side of the front half of the park to see what else I could ride with a short wait. Thankfully, Cheetah Hunt was still collecting visitors and I was able to hop on after only waiting about ten minutes—again in the front row. This ride isn’t the most intense experience (especially compared to Iron Gwazi) but it is always a ton of fun and super smooth to boot.
Attempting to head to Cobra’s Curse next, it was seeing a bit of downtime when I walked by, so I continued on to one of the worlds most legendary B&M inverts: Montu. Another beast that is packed with intensity from start to finish, this coaster is over twenty years old and still delivers an incredibly glass-smooth ride. As was the theme of the day, I opted again for the front row—the best seat on any inverted coaster. The pacing on Montu is relentless and it delivers a nice long ride that is chock full of whippy B&M inversions. I hope this attraction sticks around for another twenty years because it is an absolute gem.
Cobras curse was running by the time I came back by, so I decided to hop on for a quick lap. For a family coaster, this thing delivers in so many different ways. It has incredible theming, a fun layout, and plenty of surprises for first time riders. It is a lovely addition to the park and I really wish Seaworld and Busch Gardens would model their newest installations after this addition just a few short years back.
After taking in some of the incredible animal exhibits on the walk back to the middle & back sections of BGT, I came to one of my favorite attractions of the park: Falcons Fury. To my dismay, the Intamin drop tower was down and didn’t look as if there was any action going on around the ride itself. As this was my first day of two, I decided to continue on to the back of the park for a ride on the mighty Kumba.
Kumba is every bit just as iconic as Montu, and thankfully it still delivers 20 years after it’s original opening date. Even though I’ve heard a decent number of recent complains, it is still a smooth ride—not to mention intense as all get out. Another attraction that I’m hoping sticks around for much longer to come, Kumba is everything you could want in a coaster. Although there have been some rumblings about its upcoming demise, I really don’t think there’s much truth to them and we’ll be able to continue to enjoy this legendary attraction for some time to come.
Next up in my circulation of the park was the recent premier rides addition of Tigris, a SkyRocket II model. Unfortunately, upon locating the entrance to the coaster, the wait was over thirty minutes long. Since I knew I would be returning the next morning (with a quick queue), I decided to punt this one. So that brought me to Shiekra which was sadly also not operating due to high winds in the area. With some storms moving in, I decided to try to grab one more ride on Iron Gwazi. Again I was denied by the time I arrived to this attraction, with high winds being to blame for this coasters downtime. Deciding to cut my losses, I ordered an Uber and headed to the exit.
I won’t go into too many details about my next and final day at the park, but I will say it was one of my most memorable ever. Being able to show-off something I love so much to my group of best friends and brothers was absolutely incredible, and I’m so grateful that they joined me for the day. We had an amazing time and everyone genuinely enjoyed themselves. The highlights were definitely our five rides on Iron Gwazi and two absolutely hilarious rides on Falcons fury which I was ecstatic to see back operating. For whatever reason, the visit on Friday with my groomsmen was way less crowded then my few hours at the park the day prior. Not sure if it was the weather forecast or what exactly, but we didn’t even utilize our quick queue save for one or two coasters. Iron Gwazi was a walk-on at the end of the day and the four back to back rides we got on it were absolutely insane. I recommend checking out my vlog from this afternoon to see all that we were able to pack-in:
And that’s it for another adventure! Of course, we got into plenty of other bachelor festivities, but none of them were as exciting as our amazing rides on Iron Gwazi. It truly is a world-class attraction and I can’t wait to make it back to Tampa to get on this coaster again. I know Olivia will love it as well.
Thanks again for following along with me and be sure to stay tuned for the next adventure!
– Walker
Texas-Ranger Travels 