SheiKra, Tampa FL | Nearby Businesses

• Roller Coaster

Busch Gardens
Tampa, FL 33612
(888) 800-5447

InformationMontu is an inverted roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida. Built by Bolliger & Mabillard, it is the park's second roller coaster designed by the Swiss company following the success of Kumba which opened 3 years prior. When the ride opened on May 16, 1996, it was the world's tallest and fastest inverted roller coaster, a title it has since conceded to Alpengeist at sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg. The ride stands 150ft tall and reaches speeds of.HistoryThe concept of an inverted roller coaster with inversions was developed by Jim Wintrode, the general manager of Six Flags Great America, in the early 1990s. To develop the idea, Wintrode worked with Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard - from Swiss roller coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard - and engineer Robert Mampe to develop Batman: The Ride which opened in May 1992.In early 1995, planning began for Montu, fourteen months prior to the ride opening to the public. The owners of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Busch Entertainment (since renamed SeaWorld Entertainment), entered into an agreement with Bolliger and Mabillard which would see them add Montu to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in 1996, followed in 1997 by the additions of Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and The Great White at SeaWorld San Antonio. On May 16, 1996, Montu officially opened to the public. At the time of its opening to the public, the ride was the tallest and fastest inverted roller coaster in the world.

Kumba is a Bolliger & Mabillard sit down roller coaster located at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, in Tampa, Florida. Opened in 1993, it stands tall and has a top speed of. Kumba features a total of seven inversions across the 3-minute ride.HistoryKumba was officially announced in November 1992 as a record-breaking Bolliger & Mabillard roller coaster set to become the park's signature attraction. The ride officially opened to the public on April 20, 1993. When Kumba opened, it featured the world's tallest vertical loop, and was also the tallest, fastest and longest roller coaster in Florida. In 1995, Kumba conceded the title of ride with the world's tallest vertical loop to Dragon Khan at PortAventura which features a 118ft vertical loop. In 1996, it conceded Florida's titles of tallest and longest roller coaster to Montu, a Bolliger & Mabillard roller coaster in the Egypt section of the park. In 1999, it conceded the fastest title to Islands of Adventure's The Incredible Hulk, yet another Bolliger & Mabillard roller coaster.CharacteristicsThe 3978ft Kumba stands 143ft tall. With a top speed of, the ride features seven inversions including a 114ft vertical loop, a dive loop, a zero-g roll, a cobra roll and two interlocking corkscrews. The vertical loop featured on Kumba wraps around the lift hill. Kumba was the first ride in the world to feature a number of now-common roller coaster elements, including interlocking corkscrews and a dive loop. Riders of Kumba experience up to 3.8 times the force of gravity on the 3 minute ride.

Gwazi was a dueling wooden roller coaster located at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida. The name Gwazi originates from a fabled creature with the head of a tiger and the body of a lion. Accordingly, the two sides are named "Lion" and "Tiger". Often, the two tracks are called "yellow" and "blue", (yellow being the primary color of the Lion trains and blue being the primary color of the Tiger trains). It included almost 7,016 feet of combined track and reached speeds of 51 miles per hour. Both tracks have similar but nonidentical track layouts.HistoryGwazi began construction sometime after the closure of the Busch Brewery which closed in 1995. Gwazi opened soon after on June 18, 1999 as Florida's first dueling wooden roller coaster constructed by Great Coasters International (GCI) and operated with Philadelphia Toboggan Coaster's trains starting with six of them. At the time the Dueling Dragons (now Dragon Challenge) at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure and Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay were the only dueling coasters in Florida just opening a month apart.Due to the Philadelphia Toboggan Company designed trains and other aspects, which have been known to deliver rough rides on GCI designed coasters, Gwazi was known for giving rough rides which was a problem since it first opened. At the beginning of the 2010 season, Gwazi was spotted with what appeared to be Millennium Flyer trains on the track, with water dummies on board. In 2011, the rides Philadelphia Toboggan Company's trains were subsequently removed with Great Coasters International's Millennium Flyer trains in order to make Gwazi smoother from its notorious roughness.

Sand Serpent is a Wild Mouse roller coaster located at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida. The ride originally operated at sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia as Wild Izzy in 1996 and as Wilde Maus from 1997 to 2003.The ride, when it was first installed at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, was meant to be a temporary attraction. It was named Izzy, after the mascot of the 1996 Summer Olympics, since Busch was a sponsor of the games. The ride was only supposed to be there for the 1996 season. But, the ride had a consistent line and became popular. Busch decided to keep the ride and gave it a European theme in 1997 with the new name Wilde Maus. The ride operated until 2003, when it was replaced with The Curse of DarKastle and moved to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.Sand Serpent replaced the defunct Crazy Camel flat ride, a Chance Trabant flat ride that opened up with the Timbuktu section of the park back in 1980. In 2011, the ride was rethemed from Cheetah Chase to become Sand Serpent. This was done to reduce confusion with their new attraction, Cheetah Hunt.

Air Grover is a steel roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. The roller coaster opened with the "Sesame Street Safari of Fun" play area on March 27, 2010. The ride simulates a biplane flight with the Sesame Street character Grover.Ride layoutOnce the coaster train exits the station, It makes a left hand, 180 degree turn then climbs the 24ft, tire driven lift hill. Once at the top, the train travels a few feet of straight track before dropping at a 45 degree angle. The train then travels up a tight, left banked, 540 degree, upwards helix, traveling through a Sesame Street-style desert. The train then enters a hill that crosses over a guest pathway. After that the train travels through a tight, right banked, 360 degree, downwards helix. The train then re-enters the station and is stopped by the magnetic brakes.

Scorpion is a steel looping roller coaster located at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1980 as a part of the newly added Timbuktu section that gave the park a complete circuit, linking the Congo section to the Nairobi section of the park. Scorpion, to this day, remains one of the most popular rides in the Pantopia section. In 2004,Before it was Pantopia as a part of the park's Timbuktu renovation, Scorpion was repainted from its original paint scheme of orange track and black supports to red track with blue supports (a paint scheme similar to SheiKra).The ride was designed by Anton Schwarzkopf as one of his Silverarrow model looping coasters. Only three of these exist today, this coaster, Twist n' Shout at Loudoun Castle in Scotland (which has closed as of 2010), and the other is known as "Looping Star" owned by the travelling fair Magic World in Africa.LayoutScorpion has a fairly simple and twisted layout involving a single Vertical Loop as the signature element. After the train is carried 60 feet into the air, riders twist down a drop and pass through the single Vertical Loop element. Following the loop, the train goes through a pretzel turnaround and threads the vertical loop. The train circles around a 900° helix and enters the brake run.