Theme Park Discussion / New Intamin for BGTB

Hey all!

Was browsing my 2nd favorite website today, (yes this is #1 ) Coasterforce, and saw the big thread on Busch Gardens Tampa's new for 2011 coaster. This thing looks sick. Here's a link to some teasers as well as delivery photos!!!

Teaser site: Clicky!
Password 1 is: CHASE
Password 2 is: RUSH
Dont know the others yet, or even if theyve been released.

Pics!:Clicky!

Alright, consterfanatics, check this one out. This is gonna be big. From the looks of it, it appears to be LSM powered and the videos suggest an I305/Maverick inspiration.

Enjoy and discuss!

-Taylor

P.S. And I know what Darren (Kumba) should recreate in the future!

Looks awesome!
Great find man

I saw somewhere that it was supposed to have 3 launches. Also, did you guys know BGW is putting in a possible clone of this ride? It's part of their 2 year expansion. Read more...HERE! and HERE!

i really should venture down to that park sometime.

This ride's videos kick ass! I've been following this since July. Pretty intresting.

So excited to see this. There have been lots of blueprints and other plans leaked on TPR, I would post them here but I dont think its right to post things that havent officially been released.
BGSTL is working on an intamin for 2011 as well

Cool. 2 Busch Intamins *1 is a first,but 2? omg*

Williamsburg always puts in a better version of a coaster that Tampa installs a year or two beforehand.

It's as if Tampa is the testing grounds or "Guinea Pig" for the Williamsburg park. Probably because the Williamsburg park has alrady torn out quite a number of failed track designs, compaired to the tried and true tracks of the Tampa park. Even Python managed to stay around longer than expected, and Scorpion is still going strong.

I thought that when the Tampa park was sold off from Anheuser-Busch, this petty copy-cat rivalry would end. But I guess I'm wrong. But it's good to see that Tampa is putting in another track. I didn't see much in the way of inversions in the video snippets, or in the photos of the track in the boneyard. So I wonder how this could possibly be compaired to Mavarick in Cedar Point? Other than it's close to the ground and possibly LIM operated?

I had heard about this before, but I never saw the green track. Interesting color choice!

also, interesting they went with the old-school track as apposed to the new ferrari world stuff.

About how its compare to Maverick, Wolfman, is that it contains multiple launch sections.

Also some of the teasers, it appears to be a cheetah-themed ride, possibly named something like that.

@Austin- I'd love to check out those blueprints, anyway you could pm a link to me or something?

Anyone else who has stuff on this feel free to post em

Heres some more stuff: This from screamscape:

Quote:
A Cheetah-Themed Speed Coaster
ScreamScape has reported via a good source that the park is looking to create a roller coaster that emphasizes speed. The ride is said to be designed by Intamin and it will feature multiple (3) launches. ScreamScape also predicts a Cheetah theme for the new ride based on plans for an interactive animal area. For anyone who hasn’t been to that park, Busch Gardens Tampa integrates African wildlife throughout the park. The rumored ride has drawn comparisons to Maverick at Cedar Point. It’s also an Intamin designed and may be low to the ground like Maverick.

Quote:
Given the proximity of the footpath to the new rollercoaster, the ride's proposed track layout is revealed in some detail. A summary of the rumors surrounding the new ride is given below:

•The ride will feature as many as 3 launched sections, and is likely to be designed by Intamin AG who have successfully won contracts for launched coasters at parks such as Alton Towers, Knott's Berry Farm and Cedar Point in recent years. (Screamscape)
•The first launch will take place inside a trench (references to which are made in the construction plans), while another will fire riders back towards the station in the Edge of Africa area. A plan of the ride layout can be seen on Screamscape and BGT Guide.
•The coaster will cover a sprawling area, including parts of the existing Edge of Africa and Nairobi areas. An overlay of the plans onto the current park map can be seen on the Orlando United forums.
•Given the focus on speed and acceleration, and the park's zoological theme, the coaster is likely to be themed around an animal with natural pace and agility - with Cheetahs being the most obvious (Screamscape). This rumor appears to be supported by references in the plans to a new interactive animal area close to the new attraction, which could be used to house an animal species related to the ride.
•As shown in TPT's Rehab Watch, the Skyride will be closed for much of the second half of 2010 to allow construction on the new ride to take place. The ride will eventually reopen, with references to required clearances distance between the coaster and the Skyride made in the construction plans.
•The Land Train will also close for a period between April 17 and May 27, which could allow it to be re-routed around the construction area.

Enjoy!

-Taylor

PS. i sam an overview of the planned layout and it appears the ride is insanely huge heres a link: CoasterCritic

And, a more detailed layout plan: Clicky!

Still looks great, I'm excited to see this ride! I heard over on TPR that it's called Cheetaka. We'll see.

^I've also heard that rumor, should be interesting to watch this progress into one of the best coasters in the US.

Considering that I was doing a recreation of that area in my Montu Recreation, I can say that yes, the skyride and the Narobi trains would have to close, and some other attractions would close permanantly to bring this attraction to reality, according to the supplied map.

It looks to me that the structure for the skyride and the now defunct suspended monorail might be utilized as a station for this attraction. I would really have to reference Google maps for this to see how this layout would effect the surroundings.





A few things are brought to my attention, and in my opinion, their not good. At the bottom of the top image is a blue roof. This is the barn for the Clydesdales horses used in the commercials for Budwieser. So that would be removed. The track also rolls overhead of the main midway between the gate and Montu. And in general, MOST parks shy away from a coaster track running over a midway. The train route would definatly need to be altered.

This track layout looks like it would traverse over the Rhino Rally area where the ATVs are drifting through the water adventure aspect of the attraction. And that would definatly raise a lot of noise and screaming upon the animal exibits and habitats that the Rhino Rally has integrated into it's attraction.

For the most part, this Cheetaka would definatly breakdown the feel of the park and the ambience of several animal exibits and attractions and remove any sense of a natural parklike setting that BGT has strived to create over the years. BGT usually takes great pains to integrate a new coaster into the park specificly paying close attention to how close coasters and attractions are to the animal habitats and how those attractions may disturb the animals with operating noise and screaming people.

This example looks like they just plopped it into the park willy nilly. Changing it into a type of Six Flags attraction, because SF really doesn't care how they shoehorn another coaster into their parks, because they don't have to bother to take animals under consideration.

I for one hope that they decide on either an alternate track design that doesn't destroy the nature of the park and disrupt the animal habitats, or find a new location altogether. OR that this design layout is totally misleading, and has little to no truth to the actually planned layout, (which is what I really hope is the case.) But if this is the truthful layout, then I would give it a thumbs down for destroying several other great and timeless attractions just to put in another coaster. In my personal opinion, this would totally suck.

An interesting take, Wolfman. I defintely see what you mean about interfering with animals and classic attractions, as well as the park layout.

I've never been to BGTB, but I know how much emphasis the Busch chain puts on theming, animals, and the overall nature of the park. With what you have shown, it appears some of that may be in jeopardy. Then again, theres always a possibility that these leaked plans are a false, so I guess we will just have to wait and see what developes here over the next few weeks.

With Busch it seems like Risk=Reward as long as it is kept up to standards. They didn't have to build a bridge over Kumba, and look How it turned out. Busch will pull it of, I'm sure.

My main question is why does it need 3 launches. I know they've done 2 before (and probably the only reason theres 3 is to add a gimmick) but why didn't they just make 1 of them faster or have just 1 fast launch. How unreliable is this ride going to be with 3 separate sections of possible problems. I don't like it, it just reminds me of when people cant build decent coasters so they have to add another lift hill halfway round to get the train back to the station

my first thoughts were just like wolfman. although i definitely feel that the park needs one more big attraction to really feel world class, and its station is at a point where there is nothing interesting too, i feel that it would ruin the whole safari thing they had going, effectively cutting it in half. i'm not so bothered about the water section with a ride on it, as it was never "real" anyway, and there aren't really many animals in that part of the ride.

however, actually looking at an overview of the park, I don't think it will be ruining the safari too much at all.

also, I never would have once thought they have the whole employee and maintenance thing at the heart of the park! (this is an old picture though, see shiekra's construction.

cheetaka doesn't sound like that could be the name- they already have a ride named cheetah. unless they change that ride I don't see why they would have two extremely similair names.

I have a few other points I'd like to mention...

Why is the layout avoiding the old suspended monorail structure? If you ask me, it would be perfect to be recycled into the station for this new coaster. The station was on the second floor, and the train barn was below. I don't see why that can't be utilized as the track is rather narrow guage and able to make tight turns to weave it's way into the structure with minimal changes to the structure. The interior is really beautiful. All sixties retro look to it. Sweet! All open air, already has ceiling fans and lighting. It's just sitting there wasting away.

Another point is that I seriously doubt that the layout that we've seen is what it's going to be. It just destroys too much of what Busch Gardens is all about. I think that it's not going to run around the Clydesdales horse excersize yard and walking track. The Clydesdales are iconic. Seriously. I doubt that they'll mess with that. I also don't think it's going to skirt around Rhino Rally. I've created something of an alternative area that seems much more feasable, according to what I think that Busch Gardens has done in the past.

The reason why I think this is more feasable than the other footprint is because the park only plans to close the Trans Velt Railway for a few days. That's long enough to place a few coaster track sections over the railroad tracks. And note that the area stays inside the railroad tracks until it makes it back to the station?

Taking Rhino Rally out of the equation is going to prevent the coaster from distracting the guests from the operations of the loading station, (which is already a tricky situation without a coaster screaming overhead.) It seems that the coaster would be more exciting running through some trees and a narrow strip of cleared land. It seems that the natural shape of things at the end would allow a large radius for a turn around and hit another LIM for the return trip.

Well, that's my take on the situation, even though it really runs fairly close to the animal habitats of The Edge Of Africa. I would imagine a LIM launched system would be so much quieter than the racket of a train being towed up a chain lift. All you really would hear are the screams of the riders. Maybe if the animals got used to the noise of a steam train, they might get used to fourty people sailing past screaming their lungs inside out.

I have a few other points I'd like to mention...

Why is the layout avoiding the old suspended monorail structure? If you ask me, it would be perfect to be recycled into the station for this new coaster. The station was on the second floor, and the train barn was below. I don't see why that can't be utilized as the track is rather narrow guage and able to make tight turns to weave it's way into the structure with minimal changes to the structure. The interior is really beautiful. All sixties retro look to it. Sweet! All open air, already has ceiling fans and lighting. It's just sitting there wasting away.

Another point is that I seriously doubt that the layout that we've seen is what it's going to be. It just destroys too much of what Busch Gardens is all about. I think that it's not going to run around the Clydesdales horse excersize yard and walking track. The Clydesdales are iconic. Seriously. I doubt that they'll mess with that. I also don't think it's going to skirt around Rhino Rally. I've created something of an alternative area that seems much more feasable, according to what I think that Busch Gardens has done in the past.

The reason why I think this is more feasable than the other footprint is because the park only plans to close the Trans Velt Railway for a few days. That's long enough to place a few coaster track sections over the railroad tracks. And note that the area stays inside the railroad tracks until it makes it back to the station?

Taking Rhino Rally out of the equation is going to prevent the coaster from distracting the guests from the operations of the loading station, (which is already a tricky situation without a coaster screaming overhead.) It seems that the coaster would be more exciting running through some trees and a narrow strip of cleared land. It seems that the natural shape of things at the end would allow a large radius for a turn around and hit another LIM for the return trip.

Well, that's my take on the situation, even though it really runs fairly close to the animal habitats of The Edge Of Africa. I would imagine a LIM launched system would be so much quieter than the racket of a train being towed up a chain lift. All you really would hear are the screams of the riders. Maybe if the animals got used to the noise of a steam train, they might get used to fourty people sailing past screaming their lungs inside out.

That's one thing that I thought about...aren't the Rhinos gonna go on a rampage...I mean having a big ass coaster that close is not something that they're used to...they're used to the big ass roller coasters keeping their distance...