Something was roaring in Tampa in the summer of 1999. It was named after a mythical creature with the head of a tiger and the body of a lion. 7,000 feet of track peeked up from the skyline. It stood at 100 feet tall and hauled at speeds of over 50 miles per hour…and there were two of them.
Why Gwazi Mattered
Gwazi debuted at Busch Gardens Tampa dubbed as the Southeast’s largest wooden coaster. Manufactured by American company Great Coasters International and coming in at a price tag of 10 million USD, Gwazi was a much-needed addition to the Florida area. Though Disney World and the rapidly expanding Universal Orlando Resort had already cemented Florida as a hotspot for roller coasters and thrills, the area was lacking in the wooden coaster department. The only other wooden coaster in Florida had closed nine years prior, so for many young enthusiasts and park goers, Gwazi was their first experience on a wooden coaster. The thing is, this wasn’t a starter coaster you’d find at a family fair or beach boardwalk. This was a lateral-packed airtime machine with a dueling element that riders had seldom seen upon its opening. With six self-proclaimed “flyby” moments, the riders would experience the illusion that they were about to run into the train on the opposing track. If paced just right, it seemed that you could give riders a high-five. (Spoiler alert: you couldn’t. Dueling coasters are designed with specific clearances and a safety first mentality, making contact between riders nearly impossible.) This coaster was nothing short of intense, but with a 48-inch height requirement, even younger children could catch a ride on the Lion or Tiger side.
Though the sides offered slightly distinct ride experiences, the differences were minor. Both featured the now-iconic twisted drop, each banking to a different direction. You couldn’t go wrong—both sides offered out-of-your-seat airtime, laterals that would throw you to either side, and speed that would convince you the coaster exceeded its 50 mph limit.
Gwazi was something new, something fresh on the scene. While most wooden coasters at the time offered a linear out-and-back layout, Gwazi’s twisted dueling layout was a sight to behold. Even the bird’s-eye view of the coaster is breathtaking, with airtime hills and banked turns converting a roller coaster to a work of art, beautiful and awe-inspiring.
But the visual beauty and twisted layout came with a cost.
The Headache of Gwazi
Despite initially positive reviews upon opening, Gwazi would only operate at Busch Gardens Tampa for fifteen years. Some would argue, however, that it only ran well for closer to five years. The attraction had built up a reputation of charm, sure, but with that charm came a rough ride. The trains, manufactured by Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, just didn’t hug the track like they used to. The ride had an intense rattle to it, making it both a headache for maintenance and, well, a headache for riders. Many wooden coasters have some roughness to them—that’s part of the allure—but Gwazi quickly became painful. In 2006, a 52 year-old man died of a heart attack just hours after riding the wooden coaster. Though it was determined that the man had pre-existing heart conditions, the tragic incident did deter riders for years to come.
The park proceeded with a three-year improvement plan. In 2009, ten years after the ride’s debut, the Lion side was re-tracked. This is when teams go in and replace either sections or the whole track in order to ensure proper profiling and a smooth ride. In 2010, the Tiger side followed suit in a re-tracking. Then, in 2011, the shaky Philadelphia Toboggan Company trains were replaced with Millennium Flyer trains, manufactured by Great Coasters International themselves. These trains, found today on rides such as Ghostrider at Knott’s Berry Farms, were specifically designed to traverse the tight and whippy layouts of Great Coasters International’s wooden coasters. It was hopeful: a trinity of development and improvements. But it would not prove to be enough.
Just a year later, the Tiger side of Gwazi closed. Ridership was low, maintenance was showing to be more trouble than it was worth, and the reputation of pain and discomfort had been sealed in the minds of park goers. By 2015, the historic coaster gave its last ride.
A Mini-History Lesson on Great Coasters International
The ride’s manufacturer, Great Coasters International, is well-renowned and awarded for their wooden creations and refurbishments to this day. Recently at Orlando’s IAAPA convention in 2019, they even unveiled a steel track that would rival Rocky Mountain Construction’s Ibox track.
(Rocky Mountain Construction is a company that primarily refurbishes old and antiquated wooden coasters and makes them into new creations utilizing the existing wooden supports and new steel track; a hybrid coaster. These are intense rides packed with airtime and inversions, the flat track allowing for elements that can’t be found on any other model of coaster. Examples of these coasters include New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas and the modern classic Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point, which many enthusiasts consider the best coaster in the world. Remember this name.)
But in 1999 Great Coasters International was just getting started. Though they’d successfully completed their first coaster in Wildcat at Hersheypark, built in 1996 and still operating at the park, along with Roar at Six Flags America which is also still operating after a significant re-tracking, Gwazi was a different beast. Even one side of Gwazi’s dueling layout would have been a standout for the manufacturer, yet Great Coasters International was building not one, but two coasters that were longer, faster, taller, and more intense than anything they’d built before.
The other coaster to open in 1999, Roar at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, also closed in 2015, just months after Gwazi. These older Great Coaster International woodies, though historic, have not aged the most gracefully. Every pre-2000 coaster from Great Coasters International became incredibly rough within ten years of opening. Though the manufacturer has produced some incredible rides since, particularly in the past few years in Mystic Timbers at King’s Island and InvadR at Busch Gardens Williamsburg (which adopted Gwazi’s old Millennium Flyer trains as a hand-me-down), how these coasters will age is up in the air. What is certain, however, is that Great Coasters International has consistently pushed the boundaries of what a wooden coaster can do for almost 20 years, and they have shown no sign of slowing down in their innovation. Despite their wins and losses, one could never argue that the manufacturer plays it safe–and isn’t that what great coaster designing is all about?
What Gwazi did was push the boundaries of what racing coasters look like. It brought wooden coasters to Florida with a particularly noisy bang. For many Floridians, though they live in one of the theme park capitals of the world, Gwazi is the only wooden coaster they’ve ever had the opportunity to ride.
(A Note on 1999)
1999 was perhaps one of the most monumental years for coasters to date. The amount of groundbreaking, still-classic coasters to make their debut this year is astounding. These were rides that pushed limits, challenged what was possible, many of which still operating and beloved to this day. Indoor favorite Rock N’ Roller Coaster brought thrills to Disney parks and would become many locals’ first inverting coaster. Custom multi-looper Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood was a new step in Arrow Development’s legacy. First-of-their-kind Bolliger and Mabillard hypers Apollo’s Chariot and Raging Bull rejuvenated the market of speed and airtime-packed thrill rides. Incredible Hulk Coaster married thrills and theming in an experience which can still be enjoyed at the park.
These rides paved the way for the future of the roller coaster and amusement industry. But there was another craze, another trail to be blazed in two Florida parks.
Dueling coasters.
Gwazi had a fraternal twin in Dueling Dragons at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, which opened with the park in 1999. Both coasters focused on near-misses and crossovers that would make the experience more interactive and more thrill-inducing.
Both coasters were eventually closed. Dueling Dragons was demolished (the only coaster of its kind to be demolished rather than sold and relocated) and replaced with another coaster that has redefined what coasters can look like. Gwazi stood, closed, for years. There was speculation of reopening from the moment it closed, but there it stood, an unmoving monument of the past: the past of Great Coasters International; the past of Busch Gardens Tampa; the past of Florida’s theme park landscape.
But then, in mid-2019, crews from a small Idaho-based company began to arrive at Busch Gardens Tampa.
A company called Rocky Mountain Construction.
Hints were dropped here and there, hints that Gwazi would roar again—faster, bigger, and better than ever. Then, on September 12, 2019, 20 years after Gwazi’s initial opening, Iron Gwazi was announced.
The Rebirth of Gwazi
Iron Gwazi, which is slated to open later this year, is already a record breaker as North America’s tallest and the world’s fastest and steepest hybrid coaster. The layout was completed on March 9, 2020 and testing started shortly thereafter. Standing at 206 feet tall with a beyond vertical drop, this coaster will traverse over 4,000 feet of track, three inversion, and a plethora of twisted airtime-packed elements. Many consider Iron Gwazi the most-anticipated coaster of 2019 (and 2019 is an absolutely packed year for new coasters).
The beauty of Iron Gwazi is in its innovation, sure, but it’s also in how appropriately it reflects its past. The ground on which Iron Gwazi stands, the literal supports it was built on, was once the location of Florida’s first major wooden coaster. It was a coaster that pushed boundaries and asked, “What if?” It exposed Floridians to something they’d never seen before, something that brought forth as much awe and adoration as it did a giddy fear.
The story was not over when Gwazi gave its last ride in February of 2015; the story was just entering its second chapter.
Gwazi will roar again.
