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In my opinion the layout is great so keep that but call in RMC, don't get Topper Track but I-box instead, and combine the two sides together so it would be over 7000 feet long. That would be a roller coaster worth waiting for!
 
I only rode Gwazi because I had a QQ, in my opinion, it was smoother before it got the millennium flyer trains.
 
Whoa! It's confirmed!
From Screamscape:
UPDATE - Screamscape has confirmed with Busch Gardens Tampa that they do plan on closing GWAZI on or around February 1st, 2015. The exact date may change between now and then however, but the park does plan to make an official announcement with a confirmed final date near the start of the new year.
 
Looks like BGT finally will have its own Drachen Fire.

In other words, a coaster that If executed correctly would have been amazing but ended up rough as hell will now sit SBNO for awhile and then demolished only to see its reputation grow as people wish it was still there and somehow also becomes a better ride each passing day after the last piece of it leaves the property.
 
^ That is so true. In my opinion, it was still a decent ride about two years ago. Soon after they started running only one side of it, the entire ride fell into disrepair. Now, to me, the ride just hurts. It's more than just a fun rattling sensation. The transitions are so rough now between positive and negative G forces, that it slams you and your spine every which way. I feel very fortunate to be able to ride it. I really think that the layout of the ride is quite unique. The ride has essentially become self-destructive like an Arrow coaster that no longer receives maintenance.

The only thing that I worry about now is whether or not they will continue to use the "Gwazi" branding. When the park first started thinking about removing the ride or overhauling it, one of the park officials said something along the lines of how they want to keep the branding even if it is a completely different attraction. Someone high up in the ranks obviously cared very much about this ride to keep it running this long.
 
I'm sad to see this go since its a beautifully designed coaster but at the same time Gwazi has to go. The ride has extremely low attendance, Flordia weather and wooden coaster are two combinations that don't end well, and it's such a pain for maintenance to keep up with. PTC trains weren't meant to run like that on a GCI layout. It truly was a great coaster when it opened but sadly it was ahead of it's time and it fell into a state of disrepair due to so many variables that were realized to late.
 
It wasn't even ahead of its time. Lightning Racer opened a year later and still runs amazingly well. BGT just didn't take care of this ride very well and the trains that they used for the longest time tore up the track.

Wildcat suffers from the same problems Gwazi had. Luckily HP decided to rehab the ride and get new trains before the ride really tore itself apart so it runs better, but there's still nasty potholes and bad turns all over the place.
 
I described it as ahead of is time since it was when CCI was making the transition to GCI. At the time the millennium flyer was still in development. If Gwazi was built in 2000 or later it and was equipped with flyers it would probably still be a pretty solid ride today
 
MiFly's still destroy the track, just not as harshly as the PTCs did/do. It's still up to the park to properly maintain the track.
 
Just noticed this, but the BGT interactive park map available on the Busch Gardens Discovery Guide App now shows an empty void where Gwazi once lied.

Not sure if the actual paper park maps indicate this change. They all remained the same since my last visit to the park last weekend.

Hope to give you an updated look once I'm back at the park!

 

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Viktor said:
Just noticed this, but the BGT interactive park map available on the Busch Gardens Discovery Guide App now shows an empty void where Gwazi once lied.

Not sure if the actual paper park maps indicate this change. They all remained the same since my last visit to the park last weekend.

Hope to give you an updated look once I'm back at the park!

It looks like the maps of post-brewery time period. What an empty space :(

Hopefully they tear it down next year....
 
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I'm not sure they'll even touch Gwazi until late 2016, or possibly early 2017.

I think their priority at the moment is this 2016 attraction. As important as it may seem, ancillary work like deciding what to do with Gwazi during the middle of attraction construction doesn't seem like the right thing IMO.

I say leave Gwazi standing until further notice. They can cross that bridge once the 2016 attraction opens.
 
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