News Jungala Quietly Closed

[netdvn]

In an apparent cost savings measure, several attractions at Busch Gardens Tampa were closed indefinitely as of Monday, February 5, 2018. The entirety of the Treetop Trails section of Jungala, located towards the back of the park, has been closed off.

Attractions there include Wild Surge, Jungle Flyers, and the climbing structures and water play areas. Park Ambassadors who worked in that section have been reassigned to other areas in the park.

A statement received from a park spokesperson on the closure:

We regularly evaluate the guest flow and experience in the various areas of the park and in our effort to always work on improving our guest experience; we have temporarily closed the area and will be evaluating how we can make improvements for the future.

The rest of the Jungala section remains open to guests, including the Tiger Trail and Orangutan Outpost animal habitats, Bengal Bistro and Tiger’s Den gift shop.

Orang Cafe, a second dining location in Jungala, closed several seasons ago.

The Jungala area was a major expansion that opened at the park in 2008, replacing The Python roller coaster and Claw Island tiger habitat. The Treetop Trails area was designed to be enjoyed by children who were too old for the Land of the Dragons section (now Sesame Street Safari) but still too young for some of the larger attractions like Kumba and Montu.

The attractions in Treetop Trails join Tidal Wave, Gwazi, and Rhino Rally rides along with Marrakesh Theater as standing but not operating (SBNO) at the park.

http://touringcentralflorida.com/2018/02/06/busch-gardens-tampa-closes-several-attractions/

I'm not a huge fan of this new direction the Busch parks are going right now with all these attractions closing. Jungala was a really nice area of the park, plus Wild Surge was one of the best overlooked attractions.

- At this point I wouldn't really mind seeing the parks split and sold to an investor that will actually not constantly shut down attractions without notice.

 

[lightninlady]

aw man, i really enjoyed this place when i went to BGW when i was younger! it was a neat little area, with some fun rides.

 

[Mushroom]

Goddamn, that's a huge and really elaborate area of the park. Between this and DarKastle (both of which were only about a decade old), I am really concerned for the future of SEAS.

 

[wombat96]

This is extremely concerning, actually this is significantly more than concerning. Right now BGT has two wooden coasters, a flume, a safari attraction, and now an entire area of the park containing an attraction are all currently SBNO. I am extremely saddened to see a once prominent regional park chain falling into shambles like this.

 

[Nicole]

For what it is worth, if they have to make cuts, I rather they close rides than animal attractions and care. More than BGW, zoology is a critical part of BGT.

(I’m not saying that it is ok, just that it is the lesser of two evils, in my opinion.)

 

[Ghost of Pretzel Kaiser]

The impression I got was the exhibits in back are not accessible. One other note is that this area is on the edge of the park, so this might signal the start of a new attraction.

 

[SLC Headache]

Seeing cutbacks chain-wide now has me shifting from "they're just saving for Project Madrid" to "they're circling the drain".

Is the Sand Serpent enclosure still BGT's 2018 thing?

 

[Mushroom]

One other note is that this area is on the edge of the park, so this might signal the start of a new attraction.

With Gwazi, Tanganyika Tidal Wave, and Rhino Rally all closed, would they really need to close yet another attraction just to make room for expansion?

 

[SLC Headache]

One other note is that this area is on the edge of the park, so this might signal the start of a new attraction.

With Gwazi, Tanganyika Tidal Wave, and Rhino Rally all closed, would they really need to close yet another attraction just to make room for expansion?

Are all of BGT's closed attractions clustered together or at least lined up somehow?

To give an example of a park that seems to be clearing a path out, CGA closed Logger's Run and Snoopy's Splash Dance. Those two rides are in a nice path for an out-and-back hyper, they even got a filing approved, and Cedar Fair has been investing much more in CGA as of recently. Even Dorney removing Stinger, they're opening up space.

 

[Shane]

Are all of BGT's closed attractions clustered together or at least lined up somehow?

To give an example of a park that seems to be clearing a path out, CGA closed Logger's Run and Snoopy's Splash Dance. Those two rides are in a nice path for an out-and-back hyper, they even got a filing approved, and Cedar Fair has been investing much more in CGA as of recently. Even Dorney removing Stinger, they're opening up space.

No, not at all... I've circled Jungala (the top left), Rhino Rally (mid-right), and Gwazi (bottom) in red for your reference.

I believe this map is from 2013. I was there in 2012 and Rhino Rally was still operating, though it was reduced in size with the opening of Cheetah Hunt. If you look at an older map, pre-Cheetah Hunt you will see that the water feature at the top of Cheetah Hunt was originally part of Rhino Rally and the Land Rovers drove through those ponds. Rhino Rally was only re-opened for I believe one season after Cheetah Hunt opened before being closed permanently.

In 2011, BGT purchased brand new Millennium Flyer trains from GCI. I visited the park in April 2012. The left side of Gwazi (Tiger) closed less than a month after my visit. From then until February 2015, the park only operated the right side (Lion) until the ride totally closed and has been standing but not operating ever since. BGW's Invadr received most of the relatively new trains from Gwazi.

This has been a long span of closures over a seven year period, but still doesn't look good especially when you add in SEAS other problems.

 

[musicman3204]

One other note is that this area is on the edge of the park, so this might signal the start of a new attraction.

With Gwazi, Tanganyika Tidal Wave, and Rhino Rally all closed, would they really need to close yet another attraction just to make room for expansion?

Are all of BGT's closed attractions clustered together or at least lined up somehow?

To give an example of a park that seems to be clearing a path out, CGA closed Logger's Run and Snoopy's Splash Dance. Those two rides are in a nice path for an out-and-back hyper, they even got a filing approved, and Cedar Fair has been investing much more in CGA as of recently. Even Dorney removing Stinger, they're opening up space.

Jungala does sit directly beside the old Tanganyika Tidal Wave site and would open a huge site if both were cleared. I am having a hard time understanding this as a financial decision. If I remember right, the area rides were small and I don't see it having that much of a financial impact on the bottom line.

If the closure was financial, the situation is worse than anticipated. If it is for a new massive attraction, I would have hoped they would have made some sort of announcement first. This just doesn't seem like such a financial impact like DarKastle was.

 

[wombat96]

This just doesn't seem like such a financial impact like DarKastle was.

This is quite the financial impact on the park as it just continues to fill in the puzzle pieces that certain SEAS parks are failing horrendously and that they're in dire need of help. To put it in perspective, imagine if at BGW Escape from Pompeii, DarKastle, Land of the Dragons, and two major coasters were all SBNO.

Fans would be furious.

Then if one was to look into this it would become apparent that these ride closures have spread quite the bit. Texas Splashdown at SWSA has been falling apart for years. DarKastle just closed out of nowhere. SWSD cut their annual fireworks in 2018. Cuts have been made and are going to continue to get worse and worse unless SEAS can turn this sinking ship around.

 

[musicman3204]

This is quite the financial impact on the park as it just continues to fill in the puzzle pieces that certain SEAS parks are failing horrendously and that they're in dire need of help. To put it in perspective, imagine if at BGW Escape from Pompeii, DarKastle, Land of the Dragons, and two major coasters were all SBNO.

Fans would be furious.

Then if one was to look into this it would become apparent that these ride closures have spread quite the bit. Texas Splashdown at SWSA has been falling apart for years. DarKastle just closed out of nowhere. SWSD cut their annual fireworks in 2018. Cuts have been made and are going to continue to get worse and worse unless SEAS can turn this sinking ship around.

You're absolutely right. There is no denying the bottom line is paper thin. All of the attractions you've mentioned above were money pits. After so long, with low ridership and high maintenance costs, I could see making the financial decision to close the attractions. I follow SEAS closely due to the financial woes, and viewed closing DarKastle and the removal of the fireworks at SWSD as a major player in the savings that Joel constantly mentioned on the conference calls each quarter. I see those as a major part of that math. However, Jungala just doesn't add up to being such a money pit like the others. I don't see it having such a financial impact needed to float the ship.

I think the point that I wanted to make and didn't is that if Jungala was solely a financial decision, then the ship has already sunk. February 27, 2018 is going to be quite the eye opening day.

 

[phareous]

It is really a shame that seaworld is pulling busch gardens down with it.

 

[Zachary]

Given the sudden nature of the closure, it is possible that something went wrong and the price to fix it was just too high to justify. We saw that happen with Europe in the Air a few years ago when it closed indefinitely the first time around.

 

[mountaineers]

When we were there in early/mid Dec. Wild surge had just went down for scheduled maintenance. Maybe they found something that required an expensive replacement and made the decision to close the area since a majority is a splash area that won't get much use for the next several months anyway. The jungle flyers were down due to high winds. I hope they bring it back. Wild surge was a fun ride. MUCH more intense than Elmos spire.