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Swimace
Posts: 5916
Registered: 8/28/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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 6/8/2005 3:30:51 PM
This past Monday (June 6th) I went to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay with a friend from school. Tampa is about 2.5 hours away from where I live, so we left at 7:00 to get to the park around opening at 9:30. Being a Monday, the traffic on I-75 was really thin which made us get there in a shorter time than usual. We arrived at the park around 9:00; with 30 minutes to spare we went to a nearby Burger King to grab a bite to eat and returned to the park at about 9:20. Traffic at the park has improved a lot due to the new tram tunnel. We got to the front gates right when they were opening which put us in the park at about 9:40.
We headed straight for SheiKra. We decided that the shortest route would be to take a left upon entering the park. We passed Gwazi’s entrance and ran into a roadblock in the Gwazi pavilion. What was going on? Stanleyville was closed to season pass holders until 10:00, so we were stuck at the Gwazi pavilion. We had a backpack with us so we knew would have to rent a locker before getting on SheiKra. To cut off some time, we rented a locker next to Gwazi and decided to get a quick ride on Gwazi to warm up. Then we saw the line for Gwazi; apparently other people had the same idea. Not only was the line huge, but Lion was closed and Tiger was only running one train. The line for Gwazi was almost an hour long!!!! We ditched that plan and just decided to wait to get into Stanleyville at 10:00. After about 10 minutes of waiting, they opened Stanleyville to non-pass holders. Some people took off running for SheiKra, but we were pretty much contained within a mob of people who were heading for the ride.
After about 3 or 4 minutes of walking, we arrived at SheiKra. This is the most intimidating ride I have ever seen. We walked towards the entrance. I saw a train dive from the MCBR into the tunnel. OH CRAP!!! We tried to make a break from the mob of people, but it was too crowded and people were moving slow. The train we just saw dove into the water and emerged right above our heads, dumping water on top of us. We were just feet away from a shelter!!!! Soaking wet, we entered the line, which was still under construction. Once everybody was in the line, things moved very smoothly. We only had a 15 minute wait, which I was very thankful for. We were given the front row by the ride attendant, and put into this weird row that hung above the lower levels of the line. The air gates opened and we spilled into the car. After everybody was in safely, we were on our way, but since we were the second train to depart from the station, we moved out of the station and stopped at a block brake for about a minute. I can honestly say that I can’t recall ever being this scared on a coaster. This thing hangs over the park in a menacing fashion, projecting the sounds of screaming riders all the way to Egypt. Then we began moving into a swooping turn. All I can say is that the ride was amazing. I can’t describe the pure intensity of the drop or the thrill of the ride itself. To read an in depth view of the ride experience through my eyes, click here and read my review.
After the thrill of a lifetime, we headed for Python which was a walk on. The line for SheiKra was already out of the building so we didn’t think we were going to get any more rides that day. Python was, well, rough. I don’t understand how this ride manages to rattle one from side to side even when it’s moving in a straight line. After our near death experience on the Python, we headed for Kumba. Kumba was also a walk on. It seemed as if the entire park was in line for SheiKra (although I can’t say that I blame them. Sadly, as soon as we walked on, the ride broke down. After waiting about 15 minutes we headed for Timbuktu and decided to return later. We hit Scorpion first which was another walk on. After the Scorpion we rode Cheetah Chase which was a lot better than I expect
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Animan1
Posts: 5394
Registered: 5/14/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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 6/13/2005 2:03:03 PM
Very nice TR, thourough, yet to the point. I'm glad that SheiKra isn't a dissappointment, as many seem to feel Hydra is. 
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Swimace
Posts: 5916
Registered: 8/28/2003
Rank: Platinum Critic
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6/13/2005 3:02:37 PM
I wasn't expecting SheiKra's drop to be nearly as intense as it was. Hydra seemed like a risky move for Dorney. They had Talon, and then they build Hydra with a very odd layout and design. I thought it looked like it was either going to be great or horrible, that sucks that it turned out to be a letdown. Come down to BGT and find out what a real B&M masterpiece should feel like 
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