Tradewind
Website: Busch Gardens Williamsburg Homepage
Ride Type: Bobsled
Ride Status: Running
Average Rating: 2.9091
TPC Overall Rank: Rides need more than 25 reviews to be ranked.
Reviews: 13
Last Review: 12/12/2007 10:36:00 PM
In User Top 10: 1 times.
User Tracker Count: 55 times.
 

Post Review
You must login or create an account to post a review.
 
Page [ 1 of 1 ] [ 1 ]
2 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up T-Rex on 12/12/2007 10:36:00 PM
Very weak himalaya thats one of the worst Ive been on. The speed was average, as were the laterals, but the cycle is what killed this one. It only ran forwards and the cycle was over in about a minute. Also, loading took forever. Ride other far better attractions at Busch Gardens before you consider riding this.

2 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up Canobie Coaster on 10/21/2006 2:55:00 PM
Corporate parks are notorious for running their flats poorly, especially himalayas. Let’s be honest, how many corporate parks run their himalayas well? Not many, huh? Busch Gardens is already known for having horrifyingly short cycles on their flats. When you combine these two things you’d expect a poor experience, right? Well, unfortunately you are since not even Busch Gardens can reverse this trend amongst the corporate parks of America, as Tradewind stands as one of the poorest himalayas I’ve been on to date at any park. Yikes!

Located in Italy, this himalaya looks quite nice and fits in well with the park like most of the attractions prominently featured throughout the park. While the ride itself is nothing out of the ordinary in terms of looks for a himalaya with its fresh paint job, flashy lights, and booming music, what really makes Tradewind stand out is the great landscaping around the attraction, which consists of some simple trees, bushes, and a rock garden. This may seem simple, but it really enhances the ride’s appearance and makes it fit in much better with the park.

Along with looking nice, this never had a wait at all thanks to its high capacity, though it did suffer from extremely slow loading, but while most himalayas suffer from this, Tradewind seemed to take this flaw to the extreme with a unique locking mechanism that gave almost every single car fits to lock in, leading to the op having to spend extra time at each vehicle.

Now in terms of the ride itself, it is a thrill for sure. Busch runs their himalaya nice and fast as a himalaya should be run, providing for some very strong laterals during the ride that rival some of the best himalayas I’ve been on. Not only is it fast and intense, but it’s incredibly smooth and not bumpy at all. That should be a recipe for success, right? Well, it would if the park actually ran a good cycle on this. Not surprisingly it only runs forwards, but it’s pathetic that the park only runs this for about a minute tops! Just as the attraction reaches its impressive top-speed, Tradewind immediately begins slowing down, which is incredibly disappointing and frustrating because of the raw power this himalaya is capable of dishing out.

Tradewind has the right speed and great laterals to be an elite himalaya, but the aforementioned abysmal cycle just ruins any hope of that since the fun simply doesn’t last long. Honestly, the attraction takes almost four to five times longer to load than the length of the attraction, which never is a good sign. So do I recommend you give it a shot? Really this attraction can be skipped for far better attractions, but if you’re in the mood for a fairly intense, though albeit short, himalaya, give it a whirl.

3 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up coasterwom on 5/10/2006 1:34:00 AM
A good midway ride that has excellent theming. It gives good lateral g-forces and the music playing in the background.

3 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up penguin22 on 9/8/2005 1:08:00 PM
This would be better if it ran in two directions. Very disappointing.

3 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up WAR2174 on 4/28/2005 3:48:00 PM
A decent flat spinning ride. I believe that it has been slowed down over the years. It is a fun ride to get "close" on! It would be way cooler if it was totally inside or spun backwards.

3 Rating
+2 Rating Rate Down Rate Up coaster05 on 4/7/2005 2:22:00 PM
APPEARANCE-7 Very solid and clean with nice landscaping on the outside, but inside nothing special. CAPACITY-7 Very good for a flat ride, but lots of people had trouble with the locking mechanism so that slowed down the time. RIDE QUALITY-3 Lots of disapointment for me here, only ran one direction, didnt notice any air, and pretty uncomfortable. FUN-3 Laughing with my wife provided the only real fun. As much as I loved this park I was not overly impressed with their flats. RERIDE-4 I would try it again just because its there and it loads fast. OVERALL-24 AVG-4.8 Ill go 5 because I really want to like it a little more.

3 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up RaptorFan on 3/27/2005 9:06:00 PM
A fun spinning rides, not quite as good as the parks coasters

3 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up KryptonKid on 7/11/2004 2:14:00 PM
This ride, as BuschVA stated, really surprised me. It had great speed, and it gave me a huge adrenilan rush to ride Apollos Chariot. My one beef is with the operater. I try to hold up my hands and what does he do? Stops me! BuschVA, why is this? Anywho, ride this if you have spare time, nothing more, nothing less.

3 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up BuschVA on 6/26/2004 11:15:00 PM
This ride really surprises first time riders. It starts off slow, but then it really picks up the pace. Great way to cool off, and squish your friends when the forces push you outward. I operated this ride for 2 years and every time it goes, the same statement is made... FASTER, FASTER! I usually just push a light on the control panel to make it look like I did something. But anyways, give this ride a try, its worth it.

4 Rating
0 Rating Rate Down Rate Up Anaconda on 6/16/2004 11:50:00 PM
Very fast, high speed spinning ride in which the track inclines up and declines down in certain areas. Air-time and huge laterals. Watch out for that person on the right of you!

Page [ 1 of 1 ] [ 1 ]






Clicky Web Analytics