Cheetah Hunt on Track
Construction crews have now installed the final piece of track that completes Cheetah Hunt’s epic 4,429-foot run – a record length among Busch Gardens Tampa’s coasters. Busch Gardens’ design & engineering team also lost no time in getting the mega-attraction’s trains on the track for the first round of testing and last at the end of last week they began the slow process of using cranes and pulleys to drag the car around the track. This initial testing is the park’s way of making sure the car glides smoothly along the entire length of the ride, as well as checking that the “ride envelope” – the space around the car and rider with arms fully extended – has plenty of clearance.
The final section of the track, which completes the “jump” over the Skyride’s cables, was bolted into place just before 9:30 p.m on 14th March and even with the completion of the track,the work is far from over in preparing the new mega-attraction for its May 27th grand opening. Crews will spend the next two months finishing the intricate sculpting – or “theming” – of the coasters’ surrounding architecture.
Construction also continues on innovative Cheetah Run habitat, which will house more than a dozen of the highly endangered cats and offer guests unique opportunities to get up-close and witness a cheetah’s speed first-hand during daily sprints.
