Best Busch Gardens Roller Coasters Ranked: What to Ride After Kumba Closes
Without Kumba soaking up four-figure hourly rider counts in the back corner of Tampa, visitor traffic routes have adjusted. Across both sister parks, the hierarchy of top-tier track layouts has solidified around distinct ride experiences.
1. Iron Gwazi (Busch Gardens Tampa Bay)
Unquestionably sitting atop national rankings, this Rocky Mountain Construction creation converted the old wooden Gwazi structure into a 206-foot-tall hyper hybrid coaster. Plunging down a 91-degree drop at 76 mph, Iron Gwazi delivers sustained ejector airtime, aggressive wave turns, and two inversions that leave riders weightless. It remains the most intense coaster in Florida, continually recognized among the USA Today 10Best coasters nationwide.
2. Pantheon (Busch Gardens Williamsburg)
Williamsburg's flagship Intamin multi-launch machine delivers lightning-fast speed variations. With four distinct launches reaching up to 73 mph, a 95-degree beyond-vertical drop from a 180-foot spike, and two inversions, Pantheon combines pacing with disorientation. The backwards launch up the vertical spike provides a gut-wrenching moment of hangtime that traditional lift hills cannot replicate.
3. Montu (Busch Gardens Tampa Bay)
With Kumba gone, Montu stands as the reigning B&M classic in Tampa. This 1996 inverted coaster drops riders 128 feet into trench runs, pulling up to 3.85 Gs across 7 inversions. Its batwing element, buried partially beneath ground level, hits with an old-school snap rarely found on modern coasters designed using smoothed computer splines.
4. Cheetah Hunt (Busch Gardens Tampa Bay)
Clocking 4,429 feet of track, Cheetah Hunt serves as the operational workhorse of the park. Three linear synchronous motor launches push trains to a peak speed of 60 mph, carrying passengers over scenic waterways, low-slung rock canyons, and a single heartline roll. It foregoes brutal vertical forces for pure kinetic speed and terrain-hugging pacing.
5. SheiKra (Busch Gardens Tampa Bay)
America’s first B&M dive machine drops riders from 200 feet at an exact 90-degree angle into an underground tunnel at 70 mph. While its layout is brief, the initial five-second hold hanging over the sheer precipice delivers one of the most reliable visual thrills in the park, capped off by a massive splashdown element.
6. Phoenix Rising (Busch Gardens Tampa Bay)
The park's newest suspended family coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard tops out at 44 mph, swooping across the Serengeti Plain. Featuring on-board audio and sudden directional swings, it fills the missing entry-level thrill slot between the kiddie coasters and the punishing forces of Iron Gwazi.
7. Tigris (Busch Gardens Tampa Bay)
A Premier Rides Sky Rocket II model that shoots riders forward and backward through a non-inverting loop up to 62 mph. Its 150-foot slow-motion inline twist produces intense upside-down hangtime, though low train capacity creates bottlenecks on crowded afternoons.
