Wild Rides

Roller coasters. Little train rides on rickety-looking tracks, featuring high-speed plummets, neck-whipping turns, and stomach-twisting loop-de-loops. Invariably they feature names that sound monstrous or death-defying. Names like Oblivion or Phantom's Revenge. I've been on only two in my life, a kiddie-coaster at Funtown, USA, and a grown-up (albeit small) coaster at Palace Playland in OOB. The last one was 20 years ago, and I didn't enjoy it. Only crazy people go on roller coasters.

Crazy people like my brother-in-law's partner Frank. In addition to being crazy, however, Frank is easy going, fun loving, and persuasive. Devilishly persuasive. "You gonna ride the coaster with me?" he asks, referring to Kraken, the big blue mass of twisting steel at Sea World. (Kraken bones, perhaps?) I'm looking up at it rising behind the stadium in which I'm watching the sea lion show. I'm skeptical, and not much of a fan of heights. It looks tall. It is tall!

"It's not that bad." Frank's lived in Florida for 15 years or so, but he's got a strong, if soft-spoken, Brooklyn accent.

"It'll be fun!"

Can you trust a guy who sounds like he should have a name like Frankie the Fish?

"It'll be a good warm up for SheiKra." (Shreik-ra?). SheiKra is the new coaster at Busch Gardens in Tampa. We've bought a two-day pass with the intention of hitting Busch Gardens in a coupld of days (both parks are owned by Anheuser-Busch).

I've seen the pictures. SheiKra's first drop is 200 feet. Straight down. It's the only dive coaster in the USA. I have no intention of going on SheiKra. However, as a compromise I agree to ride Kracken. Frank really wants to ride it, and it's no fun to go alone. Did I mention how persuasive Frank is?

I get strapped in to Kracken, and the car starts the climb. It's going up. Very high. I can see a long way as we climb, and I wonder what I've gotten myself into. Soon I find out - steep drop into a big loop, sharp turns, twists, climbs, dives. It's a quick ride, and I'm a little shaky getting off. It was OK. Actually, I have a big smile on my face from the adreneline.

Another compromise. I'll ride one or two coasters at Busch Gardens, but I won't ride SheiKra.

We arrive at Busch Gardens two days later. It's Halloween. It's a Tuesday, and the park is very quiet. The first coaster that we arrive at is Gwazi (sounds like a jungle beast), a long, fast twin wooden coaster. Frank doesn't like it bacause it bangs you around a lot, but I kind of want to give it a try, because it's a novelty. My nephew Jason wants to go, so we get in line together. The first disappointment is that only one of the two cars is running. This means that we won't go screaming by a bunch of other people travelling 60 mph in the opposite direction. It also means that there is a long line, exacerbated by the fact that this is the coaster closest to the entrance.

The long line allows us to take a good look at the undercarriage of this huge structure. Eh, kind of rickety looking, though I'm told that it's only a few years old (I'm also told that it will be torn down in the near future). This adds to the excitement. As we wait in line, we can also see SheiKra in the distance. Cars climb slowly to the top, go around a sharp 180-degree corner, then approach the precipice. Slowly they reach the edge of the 200-foot plummet. Then the car stops as the riders look straight down, 200 feet. SheiKra lets them consider this for about five seconds. And then they are gone.

It's a long line on Gwazi, and we see this scene repeated over and over. I'm not riding SheiKra. Finally we get on board, and Gwazi takes up to 60 miles an hour in it's first plummet, removing the gravity from below our seats. I can't see the track in front of us. There are no loop-de-loops on this one, but it makes up for them with fast twists and turns, and the potential that something is going to break from underneath. It's another good ride, more fun for me then Kracken was, making up a bit for the 45-minute wait.

We catch up with the others at the hospitality tent, having a beer. I have a quick drink (they are complementary), then we head off to the birds. As we continue our trek around the park, we approach SheiKra. It doesn't look any more pleasant up close (see left).

"You gotta do it once, just to say you did it."

Frankie the Fish has spoken, and soon he, Jason and I are quickly walking up the stairs. Unlike Gwazi, there is no line for SheiKra (nor will there be any for the rest of the day, this being off season and mid-week). This isn't necessarily a good thing. There's no time to reconsider, and no justification ("the line is too long") for turning back. Soon we are climbing. Waaay up. Soon we are on thes thin little rails curling around a corner 200 feet in the air. It doesn't seem very sturdy to me. I'm openly questioning my own sanity. Then a jolt, and we slowly inch over the edge. There are only three rows in this car, and we're in the last one. I'm actually not looking straight down - I can't see the bottom of the drop from back here. This is good.

For a couple of seconds (that seem like about a minute). Before I know it, we are plummeting straight down. It happens so fast that I don't have time to soil myself. Soon we are in a big loop.

WhooooooOOOOOOOOaaaaaaaaaaaaa! A couple more twists an then we climb again and .....

What? Another 90-degree dive? Nobody told me about this!

The second dive is not as long, then it comes up into a nice twist and a plummet into a pool, allowing the car to splash water on unsuspecting passers-by. Then we are done.

(Here is a video showing the whole ride. Hang on!)

At this point I am hooked. Since there is no line, and since we didn't actually get to look straight down, we make the quick climb back to ride again. This time we are in the second row (the line for the first row is a little longer). The ride continues to be frightening, but exhilerating.

Afterwards, I ride three more coasters. Scorpion is smaller but it's tight loop-de-loop generates some serious G-forces. Montu is an inverted coaster that whips you around the outside of the curves. Both good rides. But for my money, the best coaster at Busch Gardens is Kumba, with 130-foot drops, 60-mph turns, and a world-class corkscrew. It is an incredible rush.

The twists of Kumba.

So now I am a crazy person, and I can't wait to get back to Busch Gardens and ride the coasters again. It brings a entirely new world of possibilities for future vacations.