Cheetah Hunt is asteellaunched roller coaster atBusch Gardens Tampa Bay inTampa, Florida. The roller coaster was manufactured byIntamin and designed in collaboration with Mark Rose. Cheetah Hunt opened to the public on May 27, 2011, alongside acheetah exhibit called Cheetah Run. Cheetah Hunt features threelinear synchronous motor (LSM) launches and a single inversion. The roller coaster reaches a height of 102 feet (31 m), with a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) and a total track length of 4,429 feet (1,350 m).
Cheetah Hunt is located in theEdge of Africa section of the park and navigates through the Serengeti Plain section. The Cheetah Run exhibit replaced the Budweiser Clydesdales stable area with an 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m2) space and a 220-foot (67 m) sprint track. The roller coaster utilizes the former monorail station andRhino Rally water section for its track. Upon opening, Cheetah Hunt received positive acclaim from the public, and ranked as the 2ndBest New Ride of 2011 by theGolden Ticket Awards.
The roller coaster, later to be known as Cheetah Hunt, took seven years from conceptualization to completion.[1][2] Cheetah Hunt was designed by Mark Rose, vice president of design and engineering atBusch Gardens Tampa Bay.[3] Rose was inspired by a scene in theStar Wars filmReturn of the Jedi where the protagonists navigated the forests ofEndor onspeeder bikes.[1][2][3] The attraction was also inspired bySeaWorld Orlando's roller coasterManta with its combination of animal habitat and attraction.[4][5] Rose initially thought of using alift hill to reach the speed he wanted, but after realizing the height of the lift would be too tall, he incorporated the design to include alinear synchronous motor (LSM) system.[3]
Bolliger & Mabillard, among other manufacturers, were considered for the latter attraction, withIntamin ultimately being chosen because of the manufacturer's technology development and the park's expectations.[2] In the early planning and construction stages, the roller coaster was initially called "Cheetaka", as a trademark was filed on April 18, 2010, for the name bySeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, parent company of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.[6][7] After the park realized that the name was too hard to pronounce and didn't describe the ride, the trademark was abandoned.[7]
Construction walls andsurvey stakes were observed in April 2010 within the Edge of Africa section, with theSerengeti Express closed to reposition railroad track.[8] Trenches were beginning to be dug out in May,[9] and by June, the transportation gondola,Skyride, was closed for the rumored attraction.[10][11] During that month, the park launched a teaser campaign revealing details of the attraction.[12] The campaign featured a website that showcased videos describing the attraction's main characteristics, updates from park officials, and cutscenes of the ride'spoint-of-view shot video from June to August.[12][13][14] The park released a photo on its social media account of the roller coaster's track on September 10.[15]
The construction of the foundations was completed in October 2010.[16] The day prior to the announcement of the ride on October 12, a second trademark was filed under the name of "Cheetah Hunt".[17] Cheetah Hunt was officially announced on October 13, alongside a new "Cheetah Run" habitat.[7][18][19] Temporary pathways were erected during the construction of Cheetah Hunt behind the former Budweiser Clydesdales stables to reroute foot traffic.[11] By November, vertical construction began and some supports for the ride were already in place.[20][21][22] By mid-December, the supports for the 102-foot-tall (31 m) figure 8 element were complete with some pieces of track also installed, including the first launch section being complete.[23][24]
The park announced on February 17 that the attraction would open in late May.[25] The roller coaster's trains arrived on February 28.[26][27] Track work for the roller coaster was completed on March 14.[28][29] It was observed that the park was completing "walk-through tests" on the track, a measure to ensure the trains could safely clear obstacles, in late March.[30][31] Testing began for the roller coaster with water dummies in late April.[32] Cheetah Hunt opened to the public on May 27.[5][33] Another roller coaster in the park,Cheetah Chase, was renamed Sand Serpent to reduce confusion between the two roller coasters.[34]
The ride begins with a 30-mile-per-hour (48 km/h) linear synchronous motor (LSM) launch out of thestation and around a wide left turn followed by a gradual dip before approaching the second launch. The second launch accelerates riders to their top speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) before climbing a 102-foot (31 m) figure-eight element (also known as a Windcatcher Tower).[35] Riders weave through a series ofhelixes before dropping 130 feet (40 m) into a trench, then proceed over a direction-changingairtime hill crossing over the Skyride, before completing the ride's only inversion, aheartline roll. Upon exiting the barrel-roll and its subsequentbrake run, the ride remains low to the ground and goes through a series of short banked turns through a rock fixture simulating several "near misses". This leads the ride into its third and final launch, which accelerates riders to a speed of 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) to navigate its way back to the station. During the journey back, there are more airtime and direction-changing hills before the final brake run.[33][36]
Cheetah Hunt was originally termed within the Crown Colony Plaza area of the park,[37] now the Edge of Africa section.[38] The roller coaster is inspired by the general species of cheetah.[7] The themed area features a mixture of concrete anddriftwood cheetah statues and a large rock-shaped cheetah located within the queue area.[39][40] The themed land surrounding both roller coaster and exhibit uses a mix of architectural styles inspired by three of the park's themed lands: Africa, Egypt, and Morocco.[39] The roller coaster's queue area is themed to a collapsedtemple.[41] Cheetah Hunt covers 13 acres (5.3 ha) of land within Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.[41]
To go alongside Cheetah Hunt, the park opened an animal exhibit called Cheetah Run that replaced the Budweiser Clydesdales interaction area.[18][42] The exhibit is located adjacent to the roller coaster's main launch sequence.[2] The exhibit features glass-paneled viewing areas which allow visitors to watch cheetahs sprint across a 220-foot (67 m) dirt track and educational touch screen panels.[43][18][44] Cheetah Run encompasses an area of 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) and houses rockwork, a waterfall, and grassland among areas of a ruined temple.[44] The cheetahs are housed within the old stable building.[11][45]
In February 2011, fivecheetahs arrived on site in preparation for the opening of the exhibit.[46][47] The cheetahs originated from theWhite Oak Conservation Center located nearJacksonville, Florida, andSouth Africa.[39][45] During construction of the habitat, the cheetahs were accommodated to various sounds that would surround their enclosure.[40] Cheetah Run opened with the roller coaster on May 27, 2011, with 14 cheetahs.[5][44][45]
Cheetah Hunt is an Intaminsteellaunched roller coaster manufactured by Intamin's United States distributor, Intaride LLC.[18][33] The track is colored green with the supports colored gold to reflect the habitat of the cheetahs in the section of the park.[48] The ride'sstation is located in the formermonorail station that was decommissioned in the 1990s and is housed within the same building that is occupied by the Skyride.[7][49] The station features a two-train loading system.[41] Cheetah Hunt is one of two roller coasters that feature a Windcatcher Tower element.[50]
The track of the roller coaster extends into theSerengeti Plain section of the park,[7] and into the defunct water canyon section of Rhino Rally.[39][51] Four trenches were constructed for Cheetah Hunt to traverse under the Serengeti Plain as well as a pedestrian bridge.[39][52] In addition, the track traverses over the Skyride gondolas. The maintenance bay for the roller coaster is located on a lower level of the building.[2][41] The steel track is 4,429 feet (1,350 m) long.[33]
Each train is colored yellow withcheetah print, with the front piece of the train designed to appear as a cheetah's head.[39][53] Cheetah Hunt operates with five trains, each with four cars that are arranged two across in two rows, allowing for 16 riders per train.[33] The station allows for two trains to be loaded at the same time.[2] Each seat has an over-the-shoulder restraint.[54] Each train on Cheetah Hunt exerts a maximum of 4.0g-forces to its riders.[33]
On February 12, 2014, one of the trains, loaded with 16 passengers, stopped between the first and second launch on the roller coaster's banked crest. Park officials attempted to move the train backwards onto the launch platform but failed. TheTampa Fire Rescue Department was called thereafter to rescue the passengers with acherry picker and a ladder during inclement weather. All passengers were rescued without injury.[55][56][57] The roller coaster remained closed the day after the incident for inspection by park maintenance.[58]
One of Cheetah Hunt's trains as it traverses through the heartline roll
After the original name was changed upon the roller coaster's announcement, some theme park enthusiasts criticized the change, saying that "Cheetah Hunt" did not fit the roller coaster and pressing Busch Gardens to revert the name back to "Cheetaka". However, Busch Gardens responded saying that the name would not be changed.[7][51][59]
Cheetah Hunt was mostly well-received by the public and critics. Sean Daly from theTampa Bay Times said that Cheetah Hunt is not that scary and compared it toSheiKra andMontu.[35] He was also surprised that, despite "three head-snapping launches", the ride was "curiously slow" at times, though he still praised the final launch stating, "[It] sends you over a seemingly small parabola, a stomach-flipping surprise ending."[35] Dewayne Bevil of theOrlando Sentinel positively highlighted the scenic tower, winding maneuvers, and low curves that were akin toslalom skiing.[60] Bevil complimented the ride running smoothly with comfortable over-the-shoulder harnesses, overall stating it "isn't an extreme coaster, but definitely a fun one".[60] Staff ofAttractions Magazine praised the roller coaster's combination of launches, airtime, and "zig-zag motion".[61]
^"Cheetah Hunt track".Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Archived fromthe original on May 12, 2021. RetrievedMay 12, 2021 – via Twitter.We want to have some Friday fun with our Followers – a photo from the team working on our 2011 Attraction!
^abcd"The Cat's Meow".Funworld Magazine. International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. August 2011. Archived fromthe original on April 2, 2012. RetrievedMay 17, 2022.
^Thurston, Susan (June 24, 2011)."Landmarks Of A Different Color".St. Petersburg Times. Times Publishing Company.Archived from the original on May 11, 2021. RetrievedMay 10, 2021.
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