Take a video ride on Busch Gardens Tampa's new Falcon's Fury

April 28, 2014, 11:26 AM · Busch Gardens Tampa today released a POV [point of view] video of its new Falcon's Fury drop ride. Lots of the theme parks have drop rides, but the unique element on this 335-foot drop tower is the rotating seat that allows you to enjoy/experience/soil-your-pants-on the ride face down as you plummet toward the ground. Take a look:

We're still awaiting an official opening date for the ride, though, as you can see, it is operational at this point. Falcon's Fury is the centerpiece of the park's refurbishment of its former Timbuktu land into Pantopia, which features new decor, shops and revamped restaurants in addition to the new drop ride.

Replies (13)

April 28, 2014 at 11:47 AM · Nice view, but one can see the ugly backstage (warehouses, employee parking) which breaks with the theme. Guests facing the Serengeti will have the best view. The drop's point of view looks amazing.

Pantopia will also have an animal show where the 4D movies were shown. They adapted that theater for the new show.

April 28, 2014 at 11:49 AM · This is a perfect example of why I pay very little attention to ride videos when judging an attraction. I would guess the actual ride is quite thrilling. But on the video the ride seems very mild.
April 28, 2014 at 12:18 PM · I'm sure it's more thrilling in person, but this seems kinda blah. :3
April 28, 2014 at 12:37 PM · i can't wait to ride this in sept
April 28, 2014 at 1:14 PM · Am I the only one who found the cars in the parking lot amusing? They certainly seemed to speed up the video to make the ride seem shorter.
April 28, 2014 at 1:17 PM · It seems to me like the video was sped up because the camera was mounted for a test and the ride is not running full-speed yet. The speed-up in the video might be a better representation of the speed of the lift.
April 28, 2014 at 2:01 PM · Cool ride, but I'm sure the view would be better at night. I can't go on Rip Ride Rockit in the daytime. That is a night time coaster only for me.
April 28, 2014 at 7:25 PM · A nice twist on a tired ride. It would be so much better if the whole thing was set inside a haunted hotel that was lost in the Twilight Zone, but alas, few companies go to such lengths to transcend the ordinary.

Still, I would like to ride Falcon's Fury if I could ever get past Orlando down to Tampa.

April 28, 2014 at 8:03 PM · James: That same thing happens to me. I can never get past Orlando to get to Tampa.
April 28, 2014 at 8:04 PM · It actually looked pretty thrilling. Compared to Tower of Tower for instance, it looks a lot more exciting. Certainly not themed and therefore not nearly as good of a ride, but the drop itself looked pretty darn good to me.
April 29, 2014 at 12:26 AM · This video is clearly sped up, slowed down, and cropped together. Right before the ride releases the carriage for the drop you can see the Scorpion descending the lift hill out of nowhere. The cars in the parking lot indicate that it took at least 5 minutes for this thing to make it to the top, no way the ride will be that slow. I'd expect a complete ride cycle in less than 2 minutes minus the load/unload time. I assume that the drop itself was filmed in real time though.
April 29, 2014 at 8:34 AM · @ James.

Our situation is maybe different from yours as we can only get to Orlando every 4 or 5 years so we spend two weeks there and make sure we visit all the theme parks, (9 last time). Getting to Busch Gardens is a pain although it's only a little over an hour in our hire car, but we have always found it well worth it. It has a more relaxed feel than Universal, some gorgeous landscaping and some really great coasters, (as well as one awful one - yes Gwazi, I'm talking about you). And if Cheetah Hunt doesn't put a silly grin on your face then I'll be a Dutchman, as they say in these parts....

I would whole-heartedly recommend taking a day to visit if you can.

April 30, 2014 at 4:10 AM · ^One day, David, one day. My biggest problem with taking the time away from Disney to go to BGT is that I grew up near BGW, so even though they are different parks, there are a lot of similarities as well. Hard to spend the extra $350 - $500 to take my family to BGT when that same dough will fund 2 - 4 more days at WDW....

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