Cobra’s Curse at Busch Gardens Tampa is gearing up to be one cool family coaster. It’s going to spin you like never before, it’s going to have a dual elevator lift (the only one in Florida) and it’s going to have snakes in the queue. Wait…what? How about we find some way to skip that line? We got a chance to check out the progress on Cobra’s Curse, plus got a few new details about the coaster, which will slither it’s way into Busch Gardens Tampa this summer.
Want to see everything first hand? Check out our full Cobra’s Curse Presentation, and get all the information!
The first thing Busch Gardens rolled out today was the new coaster cars. The cars will each seat four, and travel through the track spinning in different directions at various points around the track. The cars will also be in sets of two on each train, and themed to a mine car on a dig site.
Here’s a brief video of the spinning action:
The car will spin very fast in short bursts through the track. The spinning cars also offer a unique way to travel around the track, with cars facing both forwards and reverse. Here’s how it will go. Once the car leaves the lift, it will travel forwards, spinning at different turns. Then the car will spin around, and you will ride backwards for part of the ride. Then, the car will turn and though you will ride forwards, you will be spinning freely. That doesn’t mean that you’ll spin nonstop, it simply means that instead of controlled spins, your car will be free to spin as it makes huge turns, and travels the track. There will be about eight trains, each one themed and colored differently. The creative team wanted to give guests an immersive experience, so instead of boarding traditional spinning trains, where guests face each other, or are in a circle, they board these mine cars that are taken directly from the dig site.
Speaking of the lift hill, it will be one cool piece of the coaster. Riders will be lifted straight up, like an elevator. There’s two of them, so while one is at the top of the track the other is loading the car. It’s a very cool new feature that is on no other coaster in Florida. It will also feature a great view of the animal area, just beyond the trees. It’s also very unique in that it will carry you on your adventure from the loading station.
The track will not feature any inversions. This is a full family coaster that will be first the entire family. The height requirement will be just 42 inches, and 48 for a child to ride alone. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be tame. The coaster will feature some really great tight turns, and looks like it will have some great airtime. It will also have a few close encounters with big brother Montu, right next door.
Let’s talk queue. As we mentioned before, there will be snakes…bleh. The line will take you past several different species of snakes. The snakes will play a key part in the entire ride, not only as you go deeper into the ride, but also in showing you just how cool snakes are. The park gets to create an immersive, air conditioned queue, and also showcase their animal talents by creating several new snake habitats. The snake habitats will be at all levels, including your feet, and in your face. It will feature water features, and four different snake species, including Jameson’s Mamba, Rhinoceros Viper, Gaboon Viper, and the Angolan Python. While it will definitely showcase the creepy side of snakes, it will also show us why snakes are so important and why they should be protected.
The queue will also tell the story of the Snake King-a mythical creature that was a curse on the land. Using the snake exhibits, which will feature snake idols, the queue will take you deep into the heart of the Snake Temple, and different chambers. Each chamber will showcase different parts of the story, until you get to the Snake King himself. He’ll be a projection, mixed with wind and lighting effects, and will have three different pieces of the story of how he came to power, and how he was defeated, as well as how you just awakened him. That story will play out in the station, as you board the coaster. The coaster will then have a show scene before pushing you into the lift where the spirit of the Snake King will follow you up the lift and into the ride, where you will be dropped right into the fangs of the Snake King.
The pathways of the coaster will also play with the coaster itself, as you walk by, and under the coaster as it spins by. It will give families a sense of actually being in the middle of the action, and will really mingle with the layout of the track.
While the coaster is not going to be the most intense thing in the park, it’s certainly going to be a lot of fun!
Slideshow-Check out even more pictures from our Cobra’s Curse construction tour!
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