Published: April 30, 2008 06:33 am         

Busch Gardens Tampa a real treat

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — At Busch Gardens Tampa, the rides alone make a visit a special treat — especially if you like roller coasters.

But add to it a zoo with more than 2,000 animals, magnificent gardens and landscaping and live Broadway-style shows and you end up with an entertaining mix that should keep you busy for at least an entire day.

Unlike Busch Gardens Williamsburg, which has a European theme, the Tampa Bay, Fla., adventure park has an African motif with coasters named Gwazi, Montu, Kumba and the most thrilling of them all — SheiKra.

On entry, be sure to pick up a map of the grounds and an entertainment schedule, then start strolling through the park’s sections with names like Egypt, Nairobi, Congo and Stanleyville.

In Morocco, a large wooden coaster named Gwazi drew my eye and interest. Actually a double coaster with two intertwined tracks, Gwazi is the largest and fastest wooden coaster in the Southeast. Like other wooden coasters I’ve ridden, the ride is not as smooth as its steel cousins, which makes it attractive to a certain fan base.

Personally, I prefer a smoother ride with less vibration and jarring, like what you get with Kumba, a steel coaster that gives you an initial 135-foot drop followed by three seconds of weightlessness and a turn through one of the world’s largest vertical loops.

Montu, one of the world’s tallest and longest inverted coasters, gives its riders a 60 mph rush through a 60-foot vertical loop and a G-force of 3.85. But when it comes to sheer and awesome do-I-really-want-to-do-this thrills, SheiKra is the coaster that takes a bit of screwing up your courage before you get in line.

The tallest coaster in Florida, SheiKra certainly looks formidable from the ground, which is one reason why it took me a while to summon up the daring to take the plunge.

Once I started my initial (and seemingly endless) 200-foot climb to the top in a “floorless car” that seats eight, three rows deep, I began having second thoughts. The car tantalizes you at the top moving slowly along the track till it comes to the very edge of a 90-degree drop. There, it stops for a few seconds, then the nation’s only dive coaster sends you straight down, through an Immelmann loop followed by a second vertical dive into a darkened underground tunnel.

The entire hair-raising experience takes three minutes of coaster bliss, and I enjoyed the ride so much I immediately headed back to the end of the line for a second try.

Those wanting an emotional chill down, might want to try the Skyride, an aerial cable car that runs between the Congo and Crown Colony, the park’s finer dining restaurant that overlooks the Serengeti Plain, a 65-acre habitat that’s home to hundreds of exotic African animals. If you get off the Skyride near the Crown Colony, you can take an eerie walk through a replica of King Tut’s tomb and adjacent rooms full of Egyptian curios.

At the opposite end of the park, the Bird Gardens is full of blooming botanicals and nearly 500 tropical birds from around the world. More animals like Bengal tigers, orangutans and flying foxes can be seen in Jungala, a new, 4-acre area that opened in April.

Make sure to catch a show or two during your visit. I can personally recommend “Pirates 4-D,” a comedy seen through 3-D glasses with special effects in the audience like vibrating chairs, wind and sprays of water. 4-D. Get it?

Even more impressive is KaTonga, staged in the Moroccan Palace Theater, a Vegas or Broadway-worthy venue that dazzles with puppets, energetic music, brilliant costuming, acrobats, singers and dancers.



Dave Zuchowski writes for The New Castle (Pa.) News.





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IF YOU’RE GOING ...

Busch Gardens Tampa



•For more information on Busch Gardens Tampa, call (888) 800-5447 or visit www.buschgardenstampabay.com.

•For dining, the park offers a number of options. Besides the fine dining at Crown Colony, there’s Zambia Smokehouse (with an emphasis on barbecue), Desert Grill (with live entertainment along with salads, sandwiches, entrees and desserts) and Sultan’s Sweets (cakes, candies, gourmet coffees and pastries).