Today Busch Gardens Tampa announced that a new multi-launched steel coaster will be opening Spring of 2019 in the Stanleyville area of the park, near Jungala. ‘Tigris‘ will officially be Florida’s tallest launch coaster at a height of 150-feet, and will reach speeds up to 60 mph.

The new roller coaster will be built on the former site of Tidal Wave, which closed permanently in 2016. Tigris will be a triple-launch steel roller coaster, similar to the Electric Eel at SeaWorld San Diego which opened this year, and Tempesto at Busch Gardens Williamsburg that opened in 2015. In addition to this new coaster, the park announced that another thrill ride will open in 2020 at the Gwazi site. See below for more information about both of these new projects.

An innovative experience, Tigris will catapult riders through an exhilarating array of looping twists with forward and backward motion, breath-taking drops, a 150-foot skyward surge, and an inverted heartline roll, all at more than 60 miles per hour. Tigris will race riders along more than 1,800 feet of steel track designed to mimic the awe-inspiring agility of the world’s largest and most powerful cat: the tiger.

“Tigris will be a strong addition to our family of world-class thrill rides. With three intensely exciting launch points, this ride is unlike anything we have in our coaster collection,” said Stewart Clark, president and general manager of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. “This new attraction is a testament to our continuing investment in the park, and bringing new and innovative experiences to our guests.”

Project manager Andrew Schaffer described the ride like this: “It’s going to launch you forward out of the station, up the tower. It’s going to stop and then come backward through the station and launch you backward up the other tower. You’ll get about three-quarters of the way up that tower and then come back down again and launch over 60 miles per hour one last time, forward through the station. And that will take you one last time up to the top of the ride, 150 feet in the air. Then you will have a slow inversion called a heartline roll.”

To further solidify Busch Gardens reign as Florida’s thrill ride leader, more news is on the horizon – a second new thrill ride will be coming to the Gwazi area of the park in 2020. Details on this new addition are scarce, (but rumors online have pointed to an RMC conversion or replacement for the old wooden coaster). Gwazi was a duel wooden coaster that stopped running officially in February of 2015. Stay tuned for more details on this project as it becomes available.

The new launched coaster is planned to open in the Spring of 2019. It will have a minimum height requirement of 54 inches. You can learn more about Tigris at the official website. And you can purchase tickets to Busch Gardens Tampa here.

Stay tuned for more theme park news and updates coming soon. Subscribe to the news feed or enter your email below to never miss an update. Photos Busch Gardens Tampa

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