Episode 33: Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (Farewell Scorpion)

Between my two big trips last year, I had a last-minute long weekend pop up, so I headed north Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and SeaWorld Orlando to check out their new B&M family coasters, Phoenix Rising and Penguin Trek, respectively.  This Sunday would also be the final day of operation for Scorpion, a classic Schwarzkopf looping coaster at Busch Gardens.  While I've talked about Busch Gardens several times on this podcast, I've never done a full episode on it.  So join me for my first impressions of two new Florida roller coasters, a full audio-vlog on Busch Gardens Tampa, and my final rides on Scorpion.  I'm also joined by my new friend JJ who I met that day, and we talk Scorpion and the future of the park in this Season 3 finale!  

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Transcript

Welcome to Episode 33 of Coaster Redux.  My name is Erik, and this is the story of my revived roller coaster fandom.  For years, I’d all but forgotten my coaster obsession from high school and college.  Then during the pandemic, I started following the amusement world again, and for the last two years, I’ve been on a mission to ride as many new coasters as I can, and share my experiences through this podcast.

It all started with a week-long road trip back in 2022, and I completed my longest road trip yet, visiting eight parks over a span of 16 days last June.  Then I flew from Florida to the northwest to visit three more new parks, Lagoon, California’s Great America, and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.  

We’re going to skip backwards a bit for this episode to a weekend in September, in between my two big trips, when I decided to make the jaunt north to a pair of my home parks here in Florida.  Both SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa opened new B&M family coasters for 2024; Penguin Trek and Phoenix Rising respectively, and I hadn’t ridden either one.  Then Busch Gardens announced the closure of its classic Schwarzkopf Scorpion.  I had the opportunity to check out two new Florida roller coasters, and pay respect to an outgoing legend during an unexpected three day weekend, so I went for it.

I’ve talked a lot about Busch Gardens Tampa on this podcast, but I’ve never done a full episode on what may be my most-visited theme park over the years.  Plus, the story of Scorpion’s last day is one I absolutely need to share, and I’ll be joined later by my new friend JJ who I met that afternoon.           

I know as a roller coaster fan that one of my favorite parts of the hobby is getting the reaction of somebody coming off of a ride they’ve never ridden before.  That’s what I want to share with you.

And with that, join me for my first-time reactions to a pair of new family coasters, a full audio vlog on Busch Gardens Tampa, and my final ride on Scorpion, on this action-packed season finale of Coaster Redux.

THEME

It was early September in Florida.  While we gloat over 80 degree days in the winter, we pay for that privilege dearly in late summer.  It’s 85 before the sun comes up, and even at that hour, a brisk outdoor walk will leave your shirt stuck to your back due to the intense humidity.  This day was overcast, with that ever present chance of severe thunderstorms that could pop up at any time.  We Floridians keep a sharp eye on the Tropics during this time, never really leaving the cone of uncertainty.

Despite all that, there is a ray of sunshine.  We’ve got some of the best theme parks in the world, and with Labor Day behind us and schools around the country reopening,  there’s no better time than early September to avoid the crowds and get laps in on our favorite roller coasters.

While it’s only half the state away from my home in South Florida, Busch Gardens is still every bit of a four-hour drive for me, so I was on the road by 8 hoping to be there by noon.  It’s a relatively boring drive on straight interstates mostly devoid of scenery, but at least traffic flowed freely this Sunday morning.  I settled into this drive I’ve made countless times before, planning to visit Busch Gardens, then drive the hour across I-4 to Orlando and spend the night by SeaWorld.

Busch Gardens had announced the permanent closure of Scorpion a few weeks earlier, giving fans a chance to take their last rides on the park’s oldest operating coaster.  While the announcement was unexpected, at least we got some warning.  The original closing date was actually the Sunday before I visited, but for whatever reason, the park pushed it back a week.  ACE Florida worked with the park to put together a way for members to buy Quick Queue for the ride’s last hour of operation.  I didn’t opt to participate in this because my trip came about last minute as I didn’t expect to have a long weekend, and I was content just to ride the coaster on its final day.

As if on autopilot, exited 75 onto Fowler Avenue, turned left onto McKinley Drive, and hung a left to enter the parking lot.  I scanned my pass and got my preferred parking tag, and while the general parking lot was basically deserted, I circled the preferred lot for a few minutes, unable to find a single open space.  Strange.

I returned to the front of the main lot, parked, and made my way towards the entrance.  The gorgeous blue track and yellow supports of the Montu B&M invert are placed right along the walkway, and Cheetah Hunt’s Intamin treetower stands just beyond.  And you just can’t miss Iron Gwazi’s epic truss lift hill in the distance.  It’s always great to be back at one of my home parks, and I’m so fortunate to have more than one.

I breezed into the park and entered the Morocco main street, complete with signature pointed archways, bright colors, and mosaics.  Zagora Cafe, one of the largest food halls on property, lies straight ahead, but I’ve got a different destination in mind.  I turned left onto a beautifully shaded midway and looked straight up at the thatched roof of Iron Gwazi’s station.  Beneath the jagged crocodile jaws, the wait time is posted at just 20 minutes, meaning this would be my first ride of the day.

Iron Gwazi was teased in 2018 when Busch Gardens announced their Tigris Premier Sky Rocket II, and was slated to open in spring of 2020.  The original Gwazi was a pair of GCI dueling wood coasters that opened in 1999 and closed in 2015 being left standing but not operating for years.  While enthusiasts yearned for an RMC conversion of this beat-up old wood coaster into something special, I don’t think anybody expected Busch Gardens to go quite so big.  Iron Gwazi would be the tallest, fastest, and steepest ride of the type, beating Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point by one foot, 2 mph, and one degree.  While it would be 1,700 feet shorter in length than its Ohio counterpart, there was no shortage of excitement surrounding this new RMC mega coaster coming to Florida.  Unfortunately, the ride didn’t open until 2022 due to the pandemic, but ever since then, it’s universally considered to be one of the best roller coasters in the world, and I’ve never had such a short line to ride it.

The queue house was nearly empty, and I think I only waited about ten minutes.  Rows are assigned by a grouper, but they typically accept row requests.  Today was no different, and I politely requested the back.  Another single rider wearing a Pipeline shirt from SeaWorld joined me.  A fellow enthusiast from Florida, we got to chatting as we left the station and headed skyward on Gwazi’s obnoxiously loud 206 foot lift hill.

The train slows as the lead crocodile car approaches the top.  The bright red SheiKra dive coaster is just ahead.  It’s about to get real.  Any second now.  Hands up!  The whip over this beyond vertical drop is extreme.  You’re flung into the lap bar,  and you’re staring down at an impossibly tight hole through the wood structure.  In a heartbeat, you’re directly at ground level, pulling up, and banking left before being flung into a prolonged outerbank hill with complete ejector.  You twist out and continue the left turn to the ground passing under not one, not two, but three other track sections, and that was just the warm up.  You head skyward again banked hard right before a wicked snap back to the left.  It’s the Death Roll, and you’re at full speed getting insane laterals combined with airtime as you roll out 540 degrees in the barrel roll down drop.

Before you can blink, you’re twisting left into a cutback before another snap to the right and into the most righteous moment of sideways ejector airtime in a massive wave turn that marauds just above the station.  

Then you step up into a smaller wave turn to the left, and whip into a zero-G stall.  It’s a smaller one, but it still kicks.  You exit right, and bank up into an outer bank right turn, continue up into a double hump, all of which provide ejector moments.  Then the grand finale is a massive downward drop before a hard left into the brakes.  

Iron Gwazi is a masterpiece, and RMC’s finest work.  The first drop is one of the best in the world, and the first outer bank lasts forever.  The Death Roll and wave turn are two of the best roller coaster elements in existence.  Then the second half is action packed, filled with whip, air and best of all, there are none of those silly choppy repetitive pops that I don’t care for on their other coasters.  Everything Iron Gwazi does is big, it all flows perfectly, and it’s done with purpose, and it remains my number two coaster, followed by VelociCoaster, by the very slimmest of margins.

While my seatmate jumped back in line for another go on Gwazi, I opted to head to Pantopia to see what was going on with Scorpion and take my first ride on Phoenix Rising.  I took a left from the Gwazi midway and passed the Bird Garden, home to a massive pond filled with flamingos, and countless other screened in aviaries.  The pathway meanders beneath a lush tropical canopy, and this is one of the prettiest sections of the park.  While Florida is known for being flat, there is a pretty sizable hill here as you climb upward, passing the Sesame Place kids area before entering Stanleyville.  

I walked straight through this section, passing the animal enclosures of Jungala, and the Congo before descending the zigzag pathway into Pantopia.  Formerly known as Timbuktu, this land was refurbished from a desert city into a vibrant oasis with its buildings painted orange, blue, and pink for the 2014 season coinciding with the introduction of the Falcon’s Fury drop tower.  It’s basically the park’s quote unquote county fair area with midway games, Scorpion, and the large DragonFire Grill indoor and air conditioned food court.  

The inverted blue track of Phoenix Rising is straight ahead, and it contrasts perfectly with Pantopia’s bright colors.  An overbank turn is placed directly above the ride entrance, and the wait is posted at 30 minutes.  The queue area blends beautifully with the rest of Pantopia and looks like it’s always been here, and the single 20 passenger train passes above for great visuals and kinetic energy.  This new-for-2024 coaster is the first B&M family invert in the US, though there are others in China.  It replaced the old Sand Serpent wild mouse coaster, and opened just over a month before my visit.  A relative newcomer to the family coaster market, it will be interesting to compare B&M’s product with the likes of Vekoma.  I really enjoyed their Dragonflier at Dollywood.

The station itself is well done with screens showing different phoenixes that screech and fly away every time the train is dispatched.  It’s not immersive or anything, but it’s definitely a huge improvement over the nonexistent theming of Busch Gardens’ previous coasters, Iron Gwazi and Pantheon in Williamsburg.  When it was my turn to board, I was in row 8, so close to the back.  B&M’s family train seats just two across instead of four like their thrill coasters, and features a simple lap bar that lowers from over the shoulder.  The seats are comfortable enough, but the way the lap bar leg holds are contoured, they’re clearly meant for smaller riders.  It’s not unpleasant, but you’ll notice it.

The train dispatches and you make a slight left before heading up the 80 foot lift hill.  The skyride is just to the right, as well as the Serengeti Flyer Screamin’ Swing and the entirety of the park’s animal preserve.  At the top, you take a small dip and bank right into a shallow swooping drop, then reverse direction in a high banked left hand turn.  It’s clear they wanted to keep the intensity milder here, but it’s still fun.  You drop back to the ground and soar into a hill with an S-bend, and you kinda feel the train stall out in the back because of the length.  Back at ground level, you snap right and then whip up into that overbank at the ride entrance.  This element has some nice lateral force as the train quickly changes direction.  The ride concludes with a 540 degree helix to the right, before turning left into the brakes.

Phoenix Rising is a good family coaster.  It has some nice whip and will definitely put a smile on your face.  Still, I prefer the newer Vekoma family inverts.  Their big advantage is that they’re butter smooth.  Phoenix Rising has a shake, and this seems to be the trend on newer B&M’s.  It’s not terrible, but it’s noticeable, and it’s a detractor for me.  Two more critiques: there is supposedly onboard audio, and if it was working I didn’t notice it, so I’m guessing it wasn’t.  And finally, I don’t get why they don’t have a second train for this coaster.  We’re talking about a park that operates year round and gets busy, so not having two trains really feels like a budgety move on Busch Gardens’ part.

Next I headed across the midway in Pantopia to grab a ride on Scorpion.  Opened in 1980, this Schwarzkopf Silverarrow model was the park’s second roller coaster, following the Python Arrow corkscrew that opened in 1976 and closed in 2006.  It’s a compact ride with a single vertical loop, a height of sixty feet, and just over 1800 feet of track.  While it’s a fun ride, I usually skip it when I’m here because it gets long lines due to being relatively family friendly and only operating one train.  Now that it’s got Phoenix Rising next door, and with it being a quiet day, I only waited about 15 minutes before I climbed aboard the back row.  

Schwarzkopf’s restraints are delightfully simple.  Just a lap bar that doesn’t even contact your legs.  You really don’t even need it because these coasters are all about positive G’s so there’s no way you’d fall out.  The train leaves the station and heads straight onto the lift.  The 335 foot Falcon’s Fury drop tower dominates the view to the right.  At the top, you begin the graceful turning drop to the right.  At the bottom, Scorpion kicks up the intensity as the banking increases, and you’re thrust upward into a circular vertical loop.  It’s only 39 feet tall, and you crank through here pulling upwards of 3.5 G’s.  That’s almost Kumba and Montu level intensity at a mere 41 mph.  You level out and twist upward into a sweeping 360 degree helix, before the track threads the middle of the loop, and this roller coaster is full of tight clearances.  You then begin the final double helix, and Scorpion pours on the G-forces again as the train keeps going faster and the radius of the turn gets tighter.  I also can’t help but marvel how this 44 year old ride executes these turns so smoothly.  There are no sudden jolts or jank in the transitions like you’d find on an Arrow.  This thing rides like a dream, and I’m glad I’m getting to truly appreciate it on its final day.  I’ll be back for more later.

I left Pantopia and continued around to ride Serengeti Flyer.  This ride is located in its own little corner of the park, down the pathway that used to lead to Rhino Rally, a defunct safari Jeep water ride that was a blast!  Opened in 2023, this S&S Screamin’ Swing is my absolute favorite type of flat ride out there.  It stands 105 feet tall, but its dual pendulums swing up to 135 feet in the air at 68 mph.  Like S&S’s turbo drop towers, compressed air propels these swings downward faster than gravity, and the airtime at the apex is unnerving to say the least.  I rode my first one of these at SeaWorld San Antonio shortly before this one opened, and I absolutely always ride it when I’m here.

I followed the park’s main loop through the Edge of Africa on my way to Egypt.  This section really feels like a zoo, and there are plenty of up close animal habitats beneath the shade of trees.  I emerged into the Egypt section of the park and saw that Cobra’s Curse only had a 10 minute wait.  This is another coaster I almost never ride here because it’s always over an hour wait, but it’s so quiet today, I took advantage.  

Opened in 2016, this spinning coaster from Mach Rides features solid theming in its queue.  You walk through what looks like an Egyptian dig site, complete with live venomous snakes, and pass through a show scene where you learn the history of King Venymyss, a corrupt ruler who cursed his kingdom.  These excavators found remnants of the king’s cobra statue and reconstructed it, bringing that ancient curse back to life.  

You exit the dark air conditioned queue into the open air station with a conveyor platform and rock walls adorned with snakes.  You board one of eight two car trains, each seating four guests.  Once you leave that room, you immediately enter an elevator lift that quickly ascends to 70 feet, and the soundtrack on this ride is AWESOME!

At the top of the elevator, you’re face to face with the cobra king.  The train banks outwards narrowly avoiding his fangs.  You turn right and begin a spiral drop to the sand, then bank left before entering your first mid course.  The cars spin around and lock in the backwards position, and you make a quick 360 degree turnaround helix and enter a chain lift.  You’re looking straight at Montu’s serpentine layout, then at the top, the track levels out, and the trains are unlocked enabling them to free-spin.  You drop down next to the station and navigate three banked reverses in a row.  There’s some great spinning here before you dip through a tunnel and return to the station.  

Cobra’s Curse is an excellent family coaster, and I’d honestly forgotten just how much fun it is.  It’s a story-driven attraction with solid theming, strong landscaping and rockwork, and phenomenal audio.  It’s up there with rides like Firechaser Express at Dollywood.  Just so much fun.

I left Cobra’s Curse and headed across Egypt to ride Montu.  This B&M inverted coaster is my favorite of the type, and one I’ve marathoned over and over during my years visiting this park.  The plaza around this ride provides plenty of photo ops as the train roars through the vertical loop, Immelman, and Zero-G roll before the second half winds through trenches.  The magic seat on Montu is back row right, and with only a station wait, I let a few people pass in front of me so I could snag a ride in that seat.

Properly secure, the train leaves the station and turns right before engaging the 150 foot chain lift.  At the top, you dip down briefly, bank left and your stomach enters your throat as you’re whipped downward in one of the best first drops on an invert.  You pull up into the first vertical loop, feet kicking the sky, before blasting through a tunnel and into the Immelman.  This is a positive G machine, and it’s only getting started.  You level out and scream up into a wicked Zero-G roll with ferocious whip before Montu’s signature element, the batwing.  You break hard left at a ridiculous roll rate, dive into a tunnel with G’s sucking you down, and snap back out the other way.  This is old school B&M at their very best.  

You pull up and to the left and level out for a breather in the mid course before a sharp drop to the right into a half-buried vertical loop.  You pull up, twist left, and head subterranean again as you careen through a corkscrew before slamming into the brakes.

If you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, you’ll have heard me wax poetic about Montu before.  No other inverted coaster I’ve ridden has this level of non-stop action.  The flow between elements is unmatched.  That half the ride is built in trenches provides some of the best near miss visuals anywhere.  It’s got stellar whip, bone-crushing intensity, and despite being 28 years old, it’s seriously 100% buttery silky smooth.  Not one single headbang.  No hint of a rattle.  It’s engineered to perfection.  So what’s going on with the new B&M’s?  I’d love an answer to that question.

I returned to the midway, and made my way downhill towards Cheetah Hunt.  This coaster routinely has the longest line in the park.  It’s a popular ride because of a 42 inch height requirement and being more on the family thrill side.  It’s an Intamin multi-launch coaster featuring a lengthy 4,429 feet of track, a single inversion, and amazing views of the Serengeti.  Because of the long lines, I usually only ride Cheetah Hunt once when I visit, but today I grabbed two rides back to back, even waiting the extra time to ride in the front.  

The station features a dual load platform like Maverick at Cedar Point, but I’ve never seen it used.  It has five trains with four cars each, but they usually only run three.  Again, budget. Built in 2011, the lap bars are the same as period Intamins.  They pull down from above, but unlike Cedar Point and Hersheypark, Busch Gardens still maintains the hard plastic shoulder guards versus upgrading to the newer elastic vests.  They’re fine here.  I just don’t put my hands up.

Once dispatched, you roll out of the load station and first LSM kicks in.  You jog gently around a left banked turn and descend into a trench where you’re boosted to 60 mph.  You pull up sharply into what Intamin calls a Windcatcher Tower.  There’s a strong airtime pop in the front as the train levels out high above the midway and traverses a slow speed figure-8.  From off-ride it looks exactly like the Busch Gardens logo.  It’s a seriously odd element that provides a dead spot on an otherwise fast-paced ride.  Fortunately, it doesn’t last long.  You drop down into another trench and pull up into a twisting hill above the skyride.  You then dive below a pedestrian bridge and rise up into the ride’s sole inversion, a heartline roll that provides a bit of hangtime.  You level out into the mid-course brake before Cheetah Hunt’s most iconic moment.  You bank right and turn around above a raging rapid leftover from Rhino Rally, and enter a series of quick S-turns just above the water through a rockwork ravine.  There are no real forces here, but the visuals make up for it.  You pull up into the third launch which accelerates you into an airtime hill with some float to it, followed by a series of undulating S-turns on your return run to the station.

So Cheetah Hunt is an all-out crowd pleaser.  It’s a long ride with some fun moments providing great views of the Serengeti.  When you hear Intamin multi-launch coaster, you think intensity, but that’s not the idea on this one.  This coaster sits in that middle ground between family and high thrill, and it clearly works for the park.  If you want an all-out rush from Intamin, you’ll have to visit Islands of Adventure.

After my two rides on Cheetah Hunt, I hopped on the newly reopened skyride which I hadn’t ridden in years.  It’s included as a passholder, but it’s an upcharge attraction otherwise.  Not sure the logic there, but you get commanding views above the animal preserve with Cheetah Hunt below.  Iron Gwazi and SheiKra tower to the left and you pass right by Phoenix Rising for some awesome views of the park’s newest coaster.  There’s a turning point where you can’t get off, and you head towards Stanleyville passing Kumba on the right. 

I disembarked back in the heart of Stanleyville.  I couldn’t find any information on where the name of this area came from, but it opened in 1973 with Stanley Falls log flume as its anchor attraction.  That ride still operates, and it’s also home to the SheiKra and Tigris roller coasters, as well as one of my favorite dining locations in the park, the Zambia Smokehouse barbeque restaurant.  I elected not to eat in the park on this day as prices have become absurd with poor quality food in the last few years.

Still, Stanleyville is one of the nicest sections in the park with plenty of trees for shade, and SheiKra being the dominant presence.  You can walk directly beneath the 200 foot vertical drop, or get soaked by trains passing the splashdown.  The oversized red track with those massive 8-across shuttles never fails to make a bold statement.  

I entered the queue which twists beneath the ride’s Immelman and first turnaround before climbing the stairs way up towards the station.   It was pretty much a walk-on, and I grabbed a seat in the back row. SheiKra opened in 2005 as the first B&M dive coaster in North America.  Alton Towers in the UK debuted Oblivion in 1998, and while its 180 foot vertical drop into a tunnel was considered insanity at the time, it was the only element on the ride, which subsequently emerged from the tunnel and made a banked turn back into the station.  SheiKra has much more of a layout, and B&M has continually added more elements to subsequent installations of the type.  To say that dive coasters are currently booming in the U.S market would be an understatement with five having opened in the last six years, and at least one more coming in 2026.                  

SheiKra features floorless trains which were not original to the ride.  Busch Gardens opted to replace the original sit-down trains with the current ones following the success of Griffon in Williamsburg.  They do still have the classic B&M shoulder harnesses which provide a lot more room for airtime than the vest restraints on the newer ones, and with SheiKra remaining perfectly smooth, I’m happy with that.

You leave the station and make an about face before climbing a super steep lift hill up to 200 feet.  Tampa’s downtown is visible in the distance, as you slowly turn around before you’re held above that precipice for a second.  It’s such a good gimmick on a ride type that defines gimmicky, but I love hearing my fellow riders freak out.  Then it’s straight down, and the back row provides that extra yank that still makes me laugh every time.  Say what you will about dive coasters, but a vertical descent from this elevation is always epic.

You pull out with strong positives and glide up into the Immelman, and there’s great whip on the wing seats.  You bank right and twist upward into the mid-course where you come to a near stop before a second vertical plunge gets your motor running again.  SheiKra pulls out to the left before cruising through the splashdown, and while you don’t get wet, it’s a sweet sensation to put on a show for the onlookers below.  The ride concludes with a gentle right hand turnaround into the brakes.

SheiKra is a masterful theme park attraction.  It towers above the park, and it provides guests with stunning views from off-ride.  The hold at the top of the first drop, the massive vehicles twisting overhead, and the photo op from the splashdown provide energy to the midway for riders and non-riders alike, and in the age of Instagram, that alone is worth the price of construction.  The ride itself never disappoints.  I love the two drops, the whip, and the smoothness.  Sure, it’s short, but you can’t argue that it’s pure fun.  I place Griffon just above this in my dive coaster rankings, and lament that the newer ones lack the intensity of this pair.  The others I’ve done, Valravn at Cedar Point and Dr. Diabolical’s Cliffhanger at Six Flags Fiesta Texas have a distinct rattle, with Dr. D also having a strange jolt in its heartline roll.  The vest restraints keep you much more planted, so when it comes to dive coasters, I strongly prefer the older ones.

After such a great ride on SheiKra, I grabbed a second before heading next door to take on Tigris.  It’s a Premier Skyrocket II, and it’s a nice supporting ride in this park.  It opened in 2019 and was probably part of a package deal with Busch Gardens Williamsburg having Tempesto, SeaWorld San Diego operating Electric Eel, and SeaWorld Orlando adding the custom Ice Breaker.  It’s tucked away in a nicely shaded corner right off the midway with its orange track poking above the tree canopy.  

Having ridden several of these, I grabbed a seat somewhere in the middle, and Premier has probably the worst train design out there presently.  The rows are packed tightly together, making them hard to climb into, especially when dodging the cumbersome comfort collars, over the shoulder vest restraints that are not comfortable, and seem entirely unnecessary, as several of this model were built without them.  The seats have a kind of bulge in the middle of the back that doesn’t feel natural, and the lap bars sit a little too high up.  

Once secure, you begin the swing launch sequence.  You start off forwards, then roll back through the station to be boosted up the back part of the ride.  You stall out, and fall forwards again, getting another boost to allow you to complete the layout.  You climb vertically and twist upward to 150 feet.  There’s wicked airtime in the front of the train as it crests the summit and slows into a hangtime-filled in-line twist.  You hit a trim brake as you dive down face first and twist up again into a non-inverting loop providing a bit of airtime before you twist back down and into the brakes.  

Like I said, these are good supporting coasters, and I enjoy Tigris every time I ride it.  This model is really meant for smaller parks due to single train ops and low capacity.  It’s one that I’ll ride if the line’s short, but won’t lose sleep over skipping.

Having ridden almost everything in the park, I headed all the way to the back corner to visit the Congo for a ride on Kumba.  If you listened to Episode 1, you know that this B&M looper holds a special place in my heart as the coaster that truly made me an enthusiast.  It was my first B&M, and the first truly smooth steel roller coaster I ever rode.  Experiencing forceful inversions without getting my head bashed left me awestruck, and I try to recreate that memory every time I visit Busch Gardens Tampa.  While Kumba is now over 30 years old, it’s no longer perfectly smooth, but it still packs a wallop of intensity on one of the world’s best coaster layouts.

I walked past one of the most iconic photo ops on any roller coaster, where the bright green track with purple red supports performs the world’s first pair of interlocking corkscrews with the lift hill threading the vertical loop in the background.  Canary yellow trains careen through this maneuver creating that B&M roar that made this coaster famous.  The park claims that Kumba means “roar” in the language of the Congo, and I was surprised to find a new logo above the entrance featuring the ride’s name in jagged teal letters and some kind of big black cat.

With Kumba being a walk-on, I picked a seat in the front row, and settled into the comfy bucket with the classic shoulder restraint.  You leave the station and turn right to engage the 143 foot lift hill.  On the way up, the vertical loop seems so close, and it builds anticipation as you continue upward.  

At the top, you dip slightly, then bank left down a swooping drop.  The roar overcomes the train as you soar into that vertical loop, and gracefully twist upward into the dive loop.  These moments are chock full of strong positive G’s, yet as you exit the dive loop, you encounter the element that makes Kumba famous.  Sure, there were Zero-G rolls on inverts before this, but there’s just something magical about this element, and it hits best in front.  You get airtime, laterals, and whip in this single snappy moment, and it’s joyous.  This element was probably B&M’s single best innovation ever, and it’s a shame the company’s become so vanilla in recent years.

Anyway, you plunge into a trench and make a quick hop before pulling up into the cobra roll with a pathway directly through it.  It was closed that day, but I hope to walk down it again.  From there, you pitch up into the midcourse.  You actually get a pop of air before the brakes catch in the front, and then it’s into those interlocking corkscrews.  They’re whippy and tight with great transitions.  Depending on where you sit, there might be a headbang here, but it isn’t bad.  Kumba then flies past the station and dips down and to the left before a mind numbing upward helix right at ground level before entering the final brakes.

Kumba was a groundbreaker and a game changer.  It was the first truly big coaster from B&M.  While it was never cloned, its basic formula and sequence of elements would inspire countless roller coasters around the world, but none I’ve ridden quite match the use of terrain and execution you find here.  Maybe it’s that this style of ride has become so ubiquitous that I no longer find it as exhilarating as I once did, but you can guarantee that I’ll ride this roller coaster every time I visit Busch Gardens Tampa.

So it was about 4:00 at this point, and I’d ridden everything in the park.  I figured I’d head back to Pantopia for another ride on Scorpion, and that’s when I met JJ, and he’s going to join me now.

I walked towards the park exit with mixed emotions.  It was one of the best days I’ve ever had in this park because of low crowds and the number of enthusiasts I met.  Taking that final ride on Scorpion with JJ was something I’ll never forget, and meeting a new friend is a massive bonus.  Still, despite getting so many things right in its handling of Scorpion’s closure, the park fumbled this one on the five yard line.  How they could knowingly deny a faithful few the opportunity for a final ride at the eleventh hour is beyond comprehension.    

I returned to my car and settled into the hour drive to my hotel next to SeaWorld Orlando.  I checked into my room at the Element, which has become my favorite place to stay by SeaWorld.  It’s clean and modern, and this time I got an awesome free upgrade to a massive one bedroom suite.  Still emotional from the day, I posted my Instagram reel for Scorpion set to Wind of Change, by, you know, the Scorpions.  Then I headed to bed looking forward to SeaWorld the next morning.

It was overcast when I awoke, and I drove across the street to get my first ride on their new family coaster, Penguin Trek.  I entered Antarctica and was taken aback by the theming.  Icebergs abut the pathways on both sides creating an immersive moment.  Then rocks are covered in snow, and there are white spots on the pathways simulating ice as well.  While small, it’s incredibly well done.  If only it wasn’t pushing 90 degrees already, I would have been totally sold on this Antarctic experience.

Fortunately, the queue for Penguin Trek is completely enclosed and air conditioned.  It’s an expedition outpost featuring plenty of theming details including outdoor survival gear and ski equipment.  There’s also a great soundtrack playing throughout.  There was only a station wait, and I chose to queue for the front row.  

The train looks kinda like a snowmobile, and the seats and restraints are the same as Phoenix Rising.  Comfy enough, but clearly built to accommodate smaller riders.

You roll out of the station into an ice tunnel, and there’s a projection of penguins jumping into the frigid water on the left. Signs warn of frigid temperatures, falling ice, and sudden drops. You then enter complete darkness, and there are roaring sounds.  I’m not sure if it’s a yeti, or an impending avalanche, but you quickly turn out and enter the first launch.  The coaster twists over and under itself in an area mostly whited out with gravel below.  It’s just over 3,000 feet of track featuring swift transitions, a booster launch, a shake similar to Phoenix Rising.  It’s all good fun, but I think Dollywood’s Big Bear Mountain has the superior ride system for this style coaster.  Vekoma’s product is just smoother overall.  Penguin Trek concludes with a crescendo of music before returning to the station.

As you disembark, you’re routed through the entire SeaWorld penguin exhibit, which is really cool, and by that I mean absolutely frigid.  This enclosed habitat is meant to make the penguins feel at home.  It certainly makes for a nice ending for the overall experience, providing plenty of looks at these beautiful birds, but to my knowledge there’s no way to bypass this, so you’ll have to walk through here every time you get off the ride.    

Penguin Trek is a slam dunk for SeaWorld.  The roller coaster capital of Orlando now has a true family coaster complete with some of the best theming in the park.  It’s a fun experience, and my only real critique is that I wish this brand new B&M ran as smoothly as older models.  Quality has always been their biggest selling point, and there’s no debating that these new B&M’s aren’t up to the same standard as older ones.  I hope they figure it out and fix it.

I made my way around the park getting plenty of rides on their other coasters.  From Mako to Ice Breaker to Pipeline, Manta, and Kraken, they’ve got a killer line-up.  However, just after lunch time, the skies opened up in an all-out downpour.  A glance at the radar revealed that it was going to last a while, so I called it a day, and got beyond drenched as I hightailed it from Ice Breaker back to my car.  My full in-depth review of SeaWorld Orlando is available in Episode 10 if you’re interested in hearing more about the rest of the park.

And that disappointing ending to the day brings us to the end of Season 3 of Coaster Redux.  I can’t thank you enough for listening to this podcast, and for the kind words and support I’ve received.  I’ve achieved record growth with downloads having more than doubled since this time last year.  If you haven’t already done so, please follow me on Instagram and Facebook where I post live updates on my travels as they happen as well as videos from the parks.  It’s meant to be a companion piece to the podcast, and your comments and messages are always appreciated.

So with that, join me for the next episode as we roll directly into Season 4.  I can’t believe I’m entering my fourth year of podcasting, and I promise you it’s going to be a great one!  My first adventure took me northbound on I-95 for a quick three day trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Kings Dominion, and Carowinds.  I’ll focus primarily on Kings Dominion, a park I hadn’t visited since 2018, where I got my first rides on their brand new B&M wing coaster Rapterra, and had the pleasure to meet another new friend Mike who will join me on the show.  While the trip didn’t go perfectly to plan, it was one I won’t soon forget.  I’ll tell that story on the Season 4 Premier, next time on Coaster Redux.