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BUSCH GARDENS · TAMPA, FLORIDA

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

“africa, by way of tampa, since 1959”

Older than Disney World and still wilder — an African garden park where a real 65-acre savanna sits inside a lineup of some of the meanest coasters in the South.

The Serengeti Plain
Icon · Serengeti Plain

✦ older than disney world — it opened in 1959 as a free brewery hospitality garden

THE ANIMATED COLLECTION · 21 PIECES

queue-times

Morocco

2
Iron Gwazi
Coaster
206 feet of hybrid menace at 76 mph — the crocodile won.
Gwazi Gliders
Spinner
The gentle answer next door.

Stanleyville

2
SheiKra
Coaster
A 200-ft dive coaster that pauses to let you think about it.
Tigris
Coaster
A triple-launch tangle of orange track.

Egypt

3
Montu
Coaster
An inverted legend among the hieroglyphs.
Cobra's Curse
Coaster
A spinning family coaster with a 70-ft snake statue.
Skyride
Landmark
Gondolas drifting over the savanna since 1974.

Crown Colony Plaza

1
Cheetah Hunt
Coaster
Three launches, low to the grass, built for the chase.

Pantopia

4
Falcon's Fury
Drop tower
North America's tallest freestanding drop tower — face down.
Phoenix Rising
Coaster
A family inverted coaster on firebird wings.
Serengeti Flyer
Spinner
A 135-ft screaming swing over the plain.

Congo

3
Kumba
Coaster
The 1993 B&M whose roar names it — still flying.
Congo River Rapids
Raft ride
The classic round-raft soak.
Ubanga-Banga Bumper Cars
Race track
Diplomacy by collision.

Nairobi

1
Serengeti Express
Landmark
The steam train across the real savanna.

Safari of Fun

4
Air Grover
Coaster
Grover's biplane starter coaster.
Big Bird's Whirly Birdie
Spinner
A big yellow ferris spin.
The Count's Zambezi Rally
Race track
One! Two! Three laps, ah ah ah.
Zoe-Patra's Hippos of the Nile
Boat ride
A tiny Nile cruise with hippos.
opened
March 31, 1959
the plain
65 acres, real animals
the icon
The Serengeti Plain
my headliners
Iron Gwazi · SheiKra · Montu

This is Florida's coaster park wearing a garden park's clothes: brutal steel and hybrid wood over here, a giraffe herd with no fences in sight over there, and a steam train stitching the two moods together.

Ride Iron Gwazi first and SheiKra at dusk when the trench spray catches the light. Then take the Skyride over the plain and remember parks used to be built like this on purpose.

Every piece above is hand-drawn and animated — the train crosses the savanna, the cheetah keeps pace with the launch, the dive train takes its 90° plunge, and the gondolas drift forever.

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