Merriam – Webster defines a roller coaster as: an elevated railway (as in an amusement park) constructed with sharp curves and steep inclines on which cars roll.
Jeremiah Good defines a roller coaster as:
I was invited to Busch Gardens Tampa to be among some of the first to ride this 4,075 feet long, 206-foot tall, 91 degree dropping monster known as Iron Gwazi and I haven’t stopped smiling since. My first visit to this park took place in 2011 when the coaster was just known as Gwazi – two wooden beasts that slowly reduced operation to one at a time and became so rough that they would start to rattle the fillings out of your teeth. By 2015, as with most wooden coasters, the roughness had gotten too much and sadly it was shut down. Instead of destroying something that had been such a huge part of the park since 1999, in 2019 Iron Gwazi was announced.
Rising from the bones of Gwazi, Rocky Mountain Construction would come in and make it “better than it was before. Better…stronger…faster.” RMC, a true innovator in coaster design, has taken some true classics of yesteryear and made them some of the most talked about coasters in the world and Iron Gwazi is no different. Utilizing about 40% of the old wooden structure this coaster has an impressive list of attributes including being the tallest, fastest, and steepest hybrid coaster in the world with 3 inversions and 12 moments of airtime which for me equals the best coaster in all of Florida!
Since I started making my bold declaration, people have asked about some of the more recent additions to the Florida skyline and while I will never say any of them are bad, this one just has everything going for it. From the moment you sit down, connect your seat belt, and pull down on just a lap bar, you can feel this is going to be something different. 76 mph already puts Iron Gwazi in a class of its own for coasters in Florida but add in a more-than-vertical drop from 206 feet, you really start to feel those G’s. Plus, it is one of the smoothest coasters I have ever been on. There is no story you need to know or things you have to look out for, it is just pure fun!
Iron Gwazi opens to the public on March 11th, 2022 but if you can’t wait until then, Annual Pass Members have special preview dates starting tomorrow, February 13th, so head to Buschgardens.com and become a pass holder today.