Iron Gwazi

Iron Gwazi is an upcoming hybrid roller coaster under construction at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay amusement park in Tampa, Florida. Being built and designed by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC), it will feature RMC's I-Box track. Iron Gwazi will reuse a large portion of structure that existed when the roller coaster was known as Gwazi, making it a hybrid roller coaster that utilizes a combination of steel and wood. It will become the tallest hybrid roller coaster in North America when it opens, as well as being the joint tallest hybrid coaster alongside Zadra at Energylandia which shares a similar layout. It will also be the steepest and fastest hybrid roller coaster in the world. It was intended to open in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida, the opening was pushed to 2021.

Iron Gwazi
Previously known as Gwazi (1999–2015)
Iron Gwazi sign
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
LocationBusch Gardens Tampa Bay
Park sectionMorocco
Coordinates28°02′02″N 82°25′23″W
StatusUnder construction
Cost$9,000,000 USD[1]
ReplacedGwazi
General statistics
TypeSteel – Hybrid
ManufacturerRocky Mountain Construction
DesignerAlan Schilke
ModelI-Box Track
Track layoutTwister
Lift/launch systemChain lift hill
Height206 ft (63 m)
Drop206 ft (63 m)
Length4,075 ft (1,242 m)
Speed76 mph (122 km/h)
Inversions2
Duration1:50
Max vertical angle91°
Trains2 trains with 6 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows for a total of 24 riders per train.
Iron Gwazi at RCDB
Pictures of Iron Gwazi at RCDB

Originally built as a wooden, dueling roller coaster with two separate tracks, Gwazi first opened to the public on June 18, 1999. It was constructed by Great Coasters International (GCI) and was named after a fabled creature with the head of a tiger and the body of a lion. Accordingly, the two sides of the roller coaster's track were named "Lion" and "Tiger". Both sides of the roller coaster reached a height of 105.4 ft or 32.1 m, with a maximum speed of 51 mph (82 km/h), and stretched over 7,000 feet (2,100 m) when taking both tracks into account.

History

Gwazi

In October 1995, the Busch Brewery closed and was subsequently demolished, freeing up land in the middle of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.[2][3] In early June 1998, it was reported that Busch Gardens Tampa Bay were considering an on-site expansion for a resort to rival Florida amusement parks, along with a projected $10 million attraction slated for a 1999 opening.[4][5] On June 16, 1998, owner of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Busch Entertainment (since renamed SeaWorld Entertainment) filed a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the name "Gwazi."[6] Groundbreaking began on July 15, 1998, coinciding with Busch Gardens Tampa Bay formally announcing Gwazi.[7][8][9] In addition, it was announced that Great Coasters International (GCI) would be constructing the roller coaster.[7]

To promote the opening of Gwazi, park officials sold "first ride" tickets for a preview event, which was held on June 17, 1999 where 3,500 tickets were sold out of 5,700 to pass-holders. In addition, around 500 guests from the American Coaster Enthusiasts were in attendance.[10][11] Construction of the roller coaster's theming and removing of excess wood were still being completed during the preview event.[11] The roller coaster opened on June 18, 1999, as Florida's first dueling wooden roller coaster.[12] In 1999, Florida was home to two dueling roller coasters: the Dueling Dragons inverted roller coaster (later known as Dragon Challenge), at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure and Gwazi; the two roller coasters opened a month apart.[13][14] Gwazi was the park's fifth roller coaster upon opening, and the first wooden roller coaster to open at any Busch Entertainment parks.[7][15]

A view of Gwazi's entrance and lift hill in 2006

Despite continued maintenance, Gwazi developed a reputation for delivering a rough ride. The "Lion" side of the roller coaster was re-tracked in 2009 followed by the "Tiger" side in 2010.[16] The last part of the overhaul included the installation of four GCI designed Millennium Flyer trains to replace the roller coaster's original Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) trains.[16][17][18] Even with the re-tracking and new trains, Gwazi remained difficult to maintain and ridership continued to decrease. At the end of the 2012 season the "Tiger" side of Gwazi closed. Soon after the closing of the "Tiger" side, a bridge was built across the "Tiger" side's loading platform and one of the "Tiger's" trains was relocated onto the "Lion" side's track.[13][19]

In December 2014, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay confirmed that Gwazi's "Lion" track would officially close due to low ride attendance, operating costs and guest feedback.[20][21] After 15 years of operation, the roller coaster's last train was dispatched on February 1, 2015 and Gwazi closed indefinitely.[13][22] Gwazi's trains were reused for InvadR, another wooden roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.[23][24] In addition, wood planks from the roller coaster were also reused in other SeaWorld Entertainment Parks including SeaWorld Orlando and in Busch Gardens Tampa Bay itself.[25]

Iron Gwazi

At the time of closure, Mark Rose, the vice-president of park services for Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, stated although there was no decision for the site, possible attractions were being conversed to replace it.[26] Likewise, a park's spokesperson discussed that Busch Gardens engineers were proposing possible ideas to add new elements, manufacture steel parts, or demolish the structure completely.[27] Within the interim time of three years, rumors were sprouted about the possibility of a remodeled roller coaster, new attraction, or an amphitheater replacing the Gwazi structure.[28]

During a conference held on September 12, 2018 for the announcement of the parks ninth roller coaster (entitled Tigris), Busch Gardens Tampa Bay officials hinted that there were future construction plans involving Gwazi slated for 2020.[29][30] On the same day, SeaWorld Entertainment filed a trademark for the name "Iron Gwazi".[31] In December 2018, updated construction applications sent to the city of Tampa listed Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) as the ride manufacturer for an upcoming attraction in the Gwazi area.[32][33] On-site preparations and construction were started in late 2018 for the code name of an attraction entitled "BGT 2020", with a crane being visible from the site in January 2019.[34]

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay announced that more information about a new attraction was to be announced in March 2019 after the completion on track work for Tigris.[35][36] On March 1, 2019, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay announced Gwazi's replacement as a hybrid roller coaster conversion by Rocky Mountain Construction. The roller coaster was touted as being the steepest and fastest hybrid roller coaster, as well as the tallest hybrid roller coaster in North America.[37][38][39] Permits uncovered in March 2019 report that the roller coaster would be around 210 feet tall.[40] Construction on the project site went vertical on August 10, 2019.[41] Busch Gardens Tampa Bay announced the name for the roller coaster, "Iron Gwazi", on September 12, 2019.[42][43] Iron Gwazi was announced to be 206 feet (63 m) with a 91 degree drop, and speeds up to 76 miles per hour (122 kilometres per hour).[44] During the 2019 International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) Exposition on November 19, 2019, the trains for Iron Gwazi were revealed by Rocky Mountain Construction.[45][46]

A media construction tour was held on January 30, 2020 to detail the progression of site construction.[47][48][49] Track work for Iron Gwazi was completed on March 8, 2020,[50] and testing for the roller coaster began a day later on March 9, 2020.[51][52] However, due to Florida's COVID-19 pandemic-related park closures, the initial opening date was missed and construction was halted at the initial testing phase as Busch Gardens Tampa Bay shuttered on March 16, 2020.[53] SeaWorld Entertainment owed $3.5 million to Rocky Mountain Construction for the $9 million cost of Iron Gwazi, indefinitely delaying further construction.[1] In SeaWorld Entertainment's preliminary second quarterly reports, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, all attractions scheduled to open in 2020 were to be postponed to 2021.[54][55]

Ride experience

The ride experience of both the "Lion" and "Tiger" side of Gwazi followed similar paths as dueling roller coasters. Gwazi was touted for having the first six fly-bys on a dueling roller coaster.[56][57] A fly-by is where the two roller coasters pass each other in opposite directions at high speeds, giving the impression that the two will collide.[13] At the time, Gwazi was promoted as the largest and fastest dueling wooden roller coaster in the Southeastern United States.[58] Altogether, one cycle of each ride took around two and a half minutes.[19]

Lion
Lift hill of the Lion track

Upon departing from the station, the train traversed foreword before dipping into a right U-turn to pass the other train parallel. Thereafter the train slightly climbed to the left before ascending the 105.4 ft (32.1 m) lift hill. Once at the top, the train entered a pre-drop to the right before descending the 91.8 ft (28.0 m) drop and reaching its maximum speed of 51 mph (82 km/h) near the bottom where it ran parallel again to the opposite side's train. The train slightly banked right before ascending into a left-banked turn through the lift hill of the Tiger side, where it exited downward and entered into a right-banked turnaround. The train then banked up into a left turn before traversing downward into the outer-region of the layout in multiple slight banked right turns. Afterwards, the train entered a series of hills running parallel to the opposite train passing by the station before banking to the left into a downward spiral. The train descended slightly before ascending into a slight right turn, quickly transitioning into a left turn and into the brake run. In the completion of the course, the train then made a right turn and then a slight left before re-entering the station.[19][59]

Tiger

Upon departing from the station, the train traversed into a slight right turn before dipping into a U-turn towards the left to pass the other train parallel. Thereafter the train slightly climbed to the left before ascending the 105.4 ft (32.1 m) lift hill. One at the top, the train entered a pre-drop the to left before descending the 91.8 ft (28.0 m) drop and reaching its maximum speed of 51 mph (82 km/h) near the bottom running parallel to the opposite side's train. The train slightly banked right before ascending into a right-banked turn where it flattened into a drop. Afterwards, the train then ascended into another right banked turn before dipping down and then ascending into a left banked turn. The train then descended the left banked turn, dipping down again before it made a right banked turn towards the outer-region of the layout in multiple slight banked left turns. The train then entered a series of hills, running parallel to the opposite train passing by the station, before entering a right banked downward spiral. The train descended slightly before ascending into a slight baked left turn quickly transitioning to a right turn and into the brake run. In the completion of the course, the train then makes a left turn and then a slight right before re-entering the station.[19][60]

Characteristics
A view of Gwazi from the Skyride in 2006

Gwazi's footprint covered eight-acres of the land once occupied by the Busch Brewery.[7][9] The two tracks of Gwazi were commonly known as "Lion" and "Tiger", with yellow being the primary color of the "Lion" trains and blue being the primary color of the "Tiger" trains.[13][19] The theme of Gwazi centered around the struggle between different territorial wildcats, the African lion and Asian tiger. The plaza surrounding the area was similarly themed to each cat, with the "Lion" side including a desert atmosphere and the "Tiger" side including landscaping and streams.[7][15]

Gwazi's individual wooden tracks reached a length of 3,508 ft or 1,069 m or 7,000 feet (2,100 m) when combined.[19][61] Moreover, the maximum height of each side was 105.4 ft (32.1 m).[19] When originally constructed, Gwazi used 1,250,000 board feet (2,900 m3) of treated southern yellow pine. The structure used two million bolts, together with 4.4 million nails for the tracks that consisted of 20-foot long, 2-by-12 planks in eight layers.[62] Gwazi was constructed by Great Coasters International (GCI) and was supplied with six-car Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) trains.[19] According to designer Mike Boodley, brand new Millennium Flyer trains were offered, but Busch Gardens was unwilling to take a chance on an unproven train design. Gwazi was the last GCI coaster to open with PTC trains.[16]

Iron Gwazi uses the land once formerly occupied by Gwazi. According to Andrew Schaffer, the director of design and engineering for the park, stated "it’s definitely not an exact number, but we’ve been telling people about 25% of the original wooden structure has been re-utilized, and 75% of the foundations".[63] Likewise, the roller coaster occupies the same station that once housed Gwazi.[64] The roller coaster is themed to the crocodile, similar to naming of other attractions at the park with animal theming.[63][65] The queue area will provide educational elements about the species and the narrative of the re-imagined roller coaster as it relates to the crocodile's evolution. The color scheme consists of green for the trains and purple for the track to contrast each other.[63]

Comparison
Statistics Gwazi[19] Iron Gwazi[66]
Years 1999–2012 (Tiger)
1999–2015 (Lion)		 —
Manufacturer Great Coasters International Rocky Mountain Construction
Designer Mike Boodley Alan Schilke
Track Wood Steel
Height 105.4 ft or 32.1 m 206 ft or 63 m
Drop 91.8 ft or 28.0 m 206 ft or 63 m
Length 3,508 ft or 1,069 m 4,075 ft or 1,242 m
Speed 51 mph or 82 km/h 76 mph or 122 km/h
Duration 2:30 1:50
Inversions 0 2
Max vertical angle — 91.0°
Trains PTC (1999–2011) GCI (2011–2015)—

Incidents
Main article: Incidents at SeaWorld parks

In 2006, a 52-year-old Palm Springs, Florida resident collapsed and shortly died after riding Gwazi and being rushed to a local hospital. It was determined that the roller coaster (which was functioning properly) had aggravated an existing condition of high blood pressure.[67][68]

Records

Awards

Prior to its closure, Gwazi had received numerous placements from Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards.

Golden Ticket Awards: Top wood Roller Coasters
Year2002200320042005200620072010
Ranking 34 (tie)[69]44 (tie)[70]38[71]43 (tie)[72]46[73]40 (tie)[74]46[75]
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gollark: ```javascript ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 100% | ETA: 1s | 10000000/10000000<--- Last few GCs --->[2019:0x2495ba0] 182953 ms: Mark-sweep 1690.9 (1754.8) -> 1690.1 (1754.8) MB, 749.4 / 0.0 ms allocation failure GC in old space requested[2019:0x2495ba0] 183833 ms: Mark-sweep 1690.1 (1754.8) -> 1690.0 (1723.8) MB, 880.3 / 0.0 ms last resort GC in old space requested[2019:0x2495ba0] 184673 ms: Mark-sweep 1690.0 (1723.8) -> 1690.0 (1723.8) MB, 839.9 / 0.0 ms last resort GC in old space requested<--- JS stacktrace --->==== JS stack trace =========================================Security context: 0x1937f18a55e9 <JSObject> 2: clearBuffer(aka clearBuffer) [_stream_writable.js:499] [bytecode=0x3c274695f9f1 offset=41](this=0x900cbe822d1 <undefined>,stream=0x2bd67ccd4929 <TLSSocket map = 0x3f955b4062a1>,state=0x2bd67ccd47e9 <WritableState map = 0x307ed1cd7b81>) 3: onwrite(aka onwrite) [_stream_writable.js:462] [bytecode=0x3c2746954081 offset=91](this=0x900cbe822d1 <undefined>,stream=0x2bd67ccd4929 <TLSSocket m...FATAL ERROR: CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory 1: node::Abort() [node] 2: 0x8d05bc [node] 3: v8::Utils::ReportOOMFailure(char const*, bool) [node] 4: v8::internal::V8::FatalProcessOutOfMemory(char const*, bool) [node] 5: v8::internal::Factory::NewUninitializedFixedArray(int) [node] 6: 0xd8c6bc [node] 7: 0xda5b78 [node] 8: 0xda60db [node] 9: v8::internal::JSArray::SetLength(v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::JSArray>, unsigned int) [node]10: v8::internal::ArrayConstructInitializeElements(v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::JSArray>, v8::internal::Arguments*) [node]11: v8::internal::Runtime_NewArray(int, v8::internal::Object**, v8::internal::Isolate*) [node]12: 0x1af0a27042fdfish: “node incredec.js up 10000000” terminated by signal SIGABRT (Abort)```Best language runtime!
gollark: And `Promise.resolve` which seems returney.
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See also
  • List of attractions at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
  • Steel Vengeance, a similar steel-hybrid roller coaster constructed by Rocky Mountain Construction

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