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Iron Gwazi (formerly Gwazi) is a steel-track hybrid roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, a theme park in Tampa, Florida. The ride was originally named Gwazi and was built as a wooden dueling roller coaster with two separate tracks; it opened to the public on June 18, 1999. Gwazi was constructed by Great Coasters International (GCI), and was named after a fabled creature with a tiger's head and a lion's body. The two sides of the roller coaster's wooden track were named Lion and Tiger. The 3,508-foot (1,069 m)-long roller coasters reached a height of 105.4 feet (32.1 m), and had a maximum speed of 51 mph (82 km/h). Following rising maintenance costs and declining ridership, Gwazi was indefinitely closed in 2015.
In 2019, plans to refurbish the ride into a steel-tracked roller coaster called Iron Gwazi were announced. Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) was hired to retrofit the existing layout with I-Box track using a portion of Gwazi's original structure. The refurbished attraction was marketed as the tallest, steepest, and fastest hybrid roller coaster in North America. The new roller coaster was originally intended to open in 2020 but its opening was delayed several times. Iron Gwazi soft-opened to passholder members on February 13, 2022, and opened to the general public on March 11, 2022. Iron Gwazi reaches a height of 206 feet (63 m), and has a maximum speed of 76 mph (122 km/h) and a length of 4,075 feet (1,242 m).
Construction/design
Iron Gwazi was designed, manufactured, and constructed by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) using portions of the original Gwazi coaster. Alan Schilkedesigned RMC's I-Box track. Iron Gwazi occupies the same station that once housed both Gwazi tracks. Andrew Schaffer, the director of design and engineering for the park, stated; "about 25% of the original wooden structure has been re-utilized, and 75% of the foundations". An additional 375,000 board feet (880 m3) of lumber was added to support the structure. Rather than reusing the wooden structure of its predecessor, Iron Gwazi's lift hill was constructed using steel. The steel track reaches a total length of 4,075 feet (1,242 m).
The roller coaster's theme is the crocodile; similar to other attractions at the park themed to an animal. The queue area has educational elements about the species and their conservation, and includes reptile-themed graphics and paint throughout the area. Iron Gwazi operates with two RMC trains, each of which has six cars. Each car is arranged with two seats across in two rows, accommodating up to twenty-four riders per train. Each car uses a lap-bar restraint. The lead car is themed as the head of a crocodile; its trains are green, purple, and blue; and the track has a purple color scheme.
Experience
After leaving the station, the train turns left, dips beneath the queue line, and turns left again to climb the 206 ft (63 m) lift hill. Once at the top, the train descends the 91-degree, 206 ft (63 m) drop, and reaches its maximum speed of 76 mph (122 km/h) near the bottom. It then climbs a hill and makes an outward-banked left turn, then another descending left turn. Afterward, the train makes a banked right turn that leads into a downward barrel roll, and then takes an over-banked left turn. It then continues into a series of banked turns. The train then passes through a zero-g stall, climbs a small hill, then takes a long right turn. It makes one final left-banked turn before entering the brake run. Upon completion, the train makes a left turn passing the car barn, and a final right turn before entering the station. One cycle of the roller coaster takes about two minutes to complete.