New roller coasters
dominate the theme park landscape every year, breaking height and
speed records. The last roller coaster built by Anheuser-Busch
Entertainment was Kraken in 2000. Three years have passed since then
and it seems that a new, major roller coaster should be built at an
Anheuser-Busch in next year or two. A prime candidate for this ride
would have to be Busch Gardens Tampa.
Busch Gardens Tampa already contains three world-class roller coasters,
Kumba, Montu, and Gwazi, but needs one more record-breaking ride to
finish off the collection of thrills. Now if the park did happen to
build a new roller coaster, what type would it be? Each year new
styles of rides are introduced such as flying and floorless roller
coasters. Busch Gardens Tampa already has a Bolliger and Mabillard
sitdown and inverted looping roller coaster so those can be checked
off the list. Hyper roller coasters are very popular at parks all
around the world at this time. The rage about these rides are the
extreme heights and speeds the rides can produce while delivering a
thrilling ride experience. The problem with this, however, Florida
is very strict about anything that climbs above the 200 foot height
barrier. The ride would have to include a beacon at the top to
designate that the ride is above this limit. The park has mastered
rides below the 200 foot barrier and really needs to break new
ground for the state of Florida and the whole southeastern region.
The ride could even dive into a trench, allowing the highest point
of the ride to be
below 200 feet, but still contain a drop over it. Anheuser-Busch has
already done something similar with Apollo's Chariot at Busch
Gardens Williamsburg. This ride is only 170 feet tall, but has a 210
foot first drop. To achieve this, the ride dives into a deep ravine.
Busch Gardens Tampa could use a deep trench as they did with Montu, to
add the extra feet to the drop while complying with the height
barrier. One problem that could arise with a trench is the water
table. As long as the trench is not extremely deep, digging into the
water table would most likely not be a problem. Montu has trenches
that go up to 30 feet into the ground, allowing the ride hide dip
above and below it. A lift hill from 180-190 feet
with a 20-30 foot trench would fit the park perfectly.
Theming and a thrilling ride
experience makes Montu unique.
Now what type of hyper coaster
would be built? The park would have two choices: launched or a
traditional lift hill. Last year, Knott's Berry Farm in Los Angeles
and Intamin AG introduced Xcelerator. Using a hydraulic launch
system, the ride catapults riders up a 205 foot vertical tower at 80
miles per hour. This year, Intamin AG built the big brother of
Xcelerator, Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point. Dragster is the
world's tallest and fastest roller coaster, reaching a top speed of
120 miles per hour using the hydraulic launch system. This would be
a quick way of breaking the 200 foot barrier as well as limiting the
size of the land the ride occupies. One of the downsides to one of
these Intamin rocket coasters would be track length. All the major
roller coasters at Busch Gardens Tampa are over 3000+ feet of track.
The two rocket coasters in operation have very short track lengths
and rather uneventful layouts after the inverse top hat. This does
not fit into the scheme of rides build previously at Busch Gardens
Tampa. A traditional hyper coaster with a lift hill would suit the
park better, however, it will take up considerable more space. There
are several roller coaster manufacturers who build hyper coaster and
who would Anheuser-Busch choose? Having created two roller coasters
in the park already, Bolliger and Mabillard first comes to mind.
After all, the firm built the hyper coaster Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
Probably the most popular manufacturer of hyper coasters is Intamin
AG. Most enthusiasts prefer this firm because of the steeper drops,
intensity, and most importantly, more airtime. Bolliger and
Mabillard use a relatively short train on their rides while Intamin
trains are a bit longer. The difference may not seem like much on
the outside, but the different length between the front and back car
delivers more airtime. Either manufacturer would be sure to create
an exciting ride though.
Kumba was the first signature ride
added to Busch Gardens.
If Busch Gardens did build a hyper coaster, where would it go? Busch
Gardens has plenty of land, given they are willing to use part of
the Serengeti Plain. There are ways that the roller coaster could
travel through the plain and not disturb the animal habitats. How in
the world would they do this? If you have ever explored the
Serengeti Plain, you will notice manmade rock barriers separating
animal habitats. Why couldn't the park do this for areas where the
supports must be? The whole Plain could be redesigned to incorporate
the support structure as a barrier to the various habitats.
Something similar to this has already been done with Rhino Rally. Not only
would the rocks serve as an important barrier, but also as theming
for the ride. Wouldn't the noise from the ride be harmful to the
animal habitats? If the supports and track are filled with sand or
another material, the roar of the ride can be taken away. A perfect
example of this is Dueling Dragons at Islands of Adventure; the ride
was is completely silent except for the rattle of the plastic dragon
theming on the train. Noise would definitely not be an obstacle for
Busch Gardens.
The Serengeti Plain has no shortage of land for a ride.
What if Busch Gardens decided that
they did not want to disturb the Serengeti Plain? Another possible
location for the ride could be along the outside of the Plain, near
the edge of the property. The park could use the same noise-reducing
techniques to not disturb the animals as well as building a large,
out and back roller coaster. If either of these ideas came true,
part of the Serengeti Plain would have to be destroyed to
accommodate the station and queue lines. A possibility for this
would be having the queue line be an interactive animal tour. The
same stone barriers and other fencing techniques could be used to
keep guests out of danger, plus the guests could still walk through some animal habitats on the way to
the station.
If the ride was going to be built, it would have to fit into one of the
themes in the park or create an entirely new one. The ride could be themed to an African animal
such a giraffe. The height of the ride could represent a giraffe's
neck, but then the rest would take some imagination. If a coaster at
Wild Adventures wasn't named Cheetah, this would make a perfect
theme. Both Montu and Kumba have wonderfully crafted environments
and this new coaster would be expected to have the same.
The area around Kumba is a lush jungle while Montu contains Egyptian
style architecture and trenches. As said previously, fake stone and
rock structures could be used as theming. Imagine diving in and out
of stone valleys at 70+ miles per hour. Authentic African style
trees could also be integrated into the rocks for an added effect.
The possibilities for a new roller coaster are endless. Fans of Busch
Gardens Tampa are really hoping for a hyper coaster to finish off
the already superb collection of rides. With modern technology and
engineering, a large roller coaster can be built without ruining all
the animals. Hopefully what was talked about in this editorial will
come true. |
