Gwazi

Infobox dual roller coaster
name=Gwazi


caption=A view of Gwazi's entrance and the Lion lift hill.
location=Busch Gardens Africa
section=Bird Gardens
type=Wood
type2=Dual
type3=Dueling
status=Operating
opened=June 18, 1999
manufacturer=Great Coasters International
designer=
model=
track=
lift=Chainlift
name1=Tiger (Blue)
name2=Lion (Yellow)
height1=90
height2=90
drop1=90
drop2=90
length1=3400
length2=3400
speed1=50
speed2=50
inversions1=0
inversions2=0
duration1=2:30
duration2=2:30
angle1=50
angle2=50
acceleration1=
acceleration2=
gforce1=3.5
gforce2=3.5
capacity=2880
cost=$10,000,000 USD
restriction=48
rcdb_number=533

Gwazi is a dueling roller coaster at Busch Gardens Africa ("formerly" Busch Gardens Tampa Bay) in Florida. The name Gwazi originates from a fabled creature with the head of a tiger and the body of a lion. Accordingly, the two sides are named "Lion" and "Tiger". Often, the two tracks are called "yellow" and "blue", respectively, due to the color of the trains. It includes almost 7,000 feet of combined track and reaches speeds of 50 m.p.h. Both tracks have similar but nonidentical track layouts.

The roller coaster opened in 1999, a few months after Florida's only other dueling roller coaster, the Dueling Dragons at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure. Gwazi holds the record for most fly-bys on a dueling roller coaster, with six. A fly-by is where the two roller coasters pass each other in opposite directions at high speeds, giving the psychological impression that the two will collide. It is the largest and fastest double wooden roller coaster in the Southeastern U.S.

The ride experience is often known to be rough, with much jostling and bumping of the riders. Despite this, Gwazi is a unique design which consistently remains one of the most popular in the Busch Gardens line-up, and has won several unofficial awards from the online amusement industry community (see tables below).

In 2006, a 56-year-old Palm Springs resident collapsed and shortly died after riding Gwazi. It was determined that the ride (which was functioning properly) had aggravated an existing condition of high blood pressure. "See Incidents at Busch parks"

Awards

* Full Roller Coaster

References