Sean: Weekdays are great days to visit Busch Gardens Tampa, and so we wound up there. No queues, all coasters were operating, and the weather was gorgeous. In this update we’ll feature our experiences along with a Tigris construction update. The new Premier Sky Rocket II coaster is coming along nicely!
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Our priority is Kumba, always. So upon arrival, that’s the first ride we headed to. Running only one train, it actually had a healthy 15 minute queue in the afternoon, worth waiting for of course. Morning rides equal empty trains, so we got a nice amount of re-rides in!
The gorgeous 1993 B&M coaster inspired the layout of many that came after, but none are as compact and lovely as Kumba, in my opinion. It’s a bit of a hike, but you can marathon this ride nicely if you get there when it opens. 
After riding Incredible Hulk at Islands of Adventure just a few hours prior, I enjoyed the vast differences between these two B&M sit down coasters. I must say I prefer Kumba.
Okay I can go on about how much I love this coaster forever, let’s jump around the park and ride some more coasters!
There’s a coaster in the distance… 
As well as Stanley Falls! The weather was great for a ride on this classic Arrow log flume. 
SheiKra too was running like a dream, we’re back row people for airtime reasons. Besides we love the integration of this B&M Dive Machine with the surrounding midway, the station’s usage of bridges is neat too!
Colossal! I personally haven’t ridden it with the original trains, but I can’t imagine it being better than the Floorless trains. You get some great air on these drops.
On our way over to Cheetah Hunt via the Sky Ride, we were reminded that Rhino Rally was ever a thing. I think a modern version, or any sort of Safari themed ride would make for a great future replacement. Not ’til Gwazi 2.0 of course.
Cheetah Hunt! The Intamin Blitz was running great, though stacking pretty terribly…
Off-ride this coaster is as much of an attraction as it is on-ride. It’s always a pleasure riding this coaster, though its lack of intensity for the majority of the layout ranks the ride rather low amongst the park’s coasters for me.
Having said that, this is definitely the most scenic coaster at the park, definitely can’t beat the interaction with the terrain, animals, forestation, etc.
Isn’t this park gorgeous?! Soon right next to SheiKra an orange launch coaster will rise! More on the construction of Tigris in a little bit!
Egypt was up next, we can all use some quality Montu and Cobra’s Curse time! Both were walk-ons. In fact, we rode Montu 4 or 5 times without even getting off.
It’s great that in a world of new-age coasters (Florida) a charming Schwarzkopf remains! We’re always down for a ride on Scorpion!
Tigris Construction
Now let’s get to the juicy parts! Tigris construction! The #TakeOnTigris construction wall is thematically very appropriate and gives some great insights into the park’s newest attraction. Tigris is a multi-launch coaster that is a copy of Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s Tempesto. Great thing about Tigris is its location and theme, which is perfect for the area that it will be located in.
Construction has been moving along rapidly. Only a few days ago track appeared on sight, and now we’re already looking at vertical construction!
The base of the black and orange 150 ft tall super structure is now rising above the construction wall in Stanleyville. 
The station and launch track have been placed already, this happened earlier this week. Rumor has it that the park is planning on opening the coaster early Spring, as early as March perhaps. We can certainly hope for that time frame to be reality. 
The area Tigris is in is beautiful and though close to SheiKra still feels secluded enough to really feel like its own attraction. The plot of the ride was formerly home to the park’s Tidal Wave.
The Tidal Wave queue is still perfectly in tact, it’s shaded, and in my opinion would make for a very nice Tigris queue. It’s hidden away, large enough to house a healthy queue, and is just a few feet from where the coaster is being built. 
Track pieces and supports are located on nearby Tampa grounds, not too far from Adventure Island, the theme park’s adjacent water park.
I was kind of amazed by the amount of supports that are part of Tigris. The coaster may not be incredibly large but the height of 150 feet creates quite some need for steel. 
It looks like a lot of the track has been relocated to the construction site already, leaving just two pieces on the open field of steel. Perhaps some of which is still under way. 
One last look at the supports and track! We’ll have more Tigris coming to thecoasterkings.com soon!
We’ll wrap up the report with a Busch Gardens Christmas Town Cheetah Hunt picture, appropriate for the time of year!
Thank you for checking out this Busch Gardens Tampa report! Stay tuned for SeaWorld Orlando, Universal Orlando Resort, and Legoland Florida reports coming your way soon.
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