Gwazi (Lion & Tiger) at Busch Gardens Tampa 1999-2015

This is an off ride POV of Gwazi, the dueling wooden roller coaster at Busch Gardens Africa in Tampa,Fl. This is a DUELING roller coaster and NOT a RACING coaster. People tend to think that since there are two roller coasters that load in the same station that they must be the same ride. Nothing could be farther from the truth on a dueling coaster. A racer runs two tracks that run together. A dueling coaster has two separate tracks which ARE DIFFERENT from each otherand have a few near misses in which the two track come at each other. In this case, Tiger's track has tighter turns and many quick changes in directions. Where as Lion has more of a slalom type run. With that being said, here are the stats. Gwazi is a mythical creature that had the head of a Tiger, and the body of a Lion. It was built by Great Coasters International at a cost of $10,000,000 and opened on 6/18/1999. The stats for both Lion and Tiger are the same, Height: 105ft 5in/32.15m, Length: 3,508ft/1069.23m, Drop: 91ft 10in/27.67m, Speed: 51mph/82.07kph, G-force: 3.5, ride duration: 2:30. It opened here on June 18, 1999 and closed on Feb 2, 2015 to be converted by RMC into a monster hybrid coaster for 2022. It should also be noted that this is where the Florida Coaster Club (FLCC) was born. It was during the construction of this ride. I myself am a member of this club. Go to http://www.floridacoasterclub.com/ if you're interested in joining our group.