Iron Gwazi

Backblip 5/7

We visited Busch Gardens Tampa today. Our hotel was right across the street, so we got a little more sleep than at the other places, which was nice. The line for security was long, so early access didn't matter much.

We started with two rides on Iron Gwazi, a massive steel coaster with wooden supports. It replaced Gwazi, two dueling wooden coasters that operated from 1999-2015. Iron Gwazi is amazing but wasn't as good as Velocicoaster. People say it needs to warm up, but we only got morning rides. It was my 436th coaster. We rode several other coasters and a unique drop tower. Cobra's Curse was my 437th, and Phoenix Rising was my 438th.

In extras:
Cheetah Hunt
Falcon's Fury, the drop tower. It's 335 feet (102 meters) tall, and the seats tilt straight down for the drop. It's amazing. You can see the tilted seats in the photo.
Montu, one of the best inverted coasters around.
Phoenix Rising, a junior inverted coaster that opened last year.