Look for the next Busch Gardens family thrill coaster ride, Cobra’s Curse, to open some time this summer!
Busch Gardens opened the construction site for a hard-hat tour, letting the media have a sneak peek at what will soon be its eighth roller coaster.
The spinning car coaster is only part of the Cobra’s Curse experience, according to Jeff Hornick, Regional Director of Design and Engineering at Busch Gardens. It starts when you get in line.
"The first thing will appreciate about our queue is that it is air conditioned," he said.
Once inside the line, you’ll see you are in a present-day active archaeological dig site. A site that is filled with snakes - four species of African snakes, to be specific. They are the Jameson’s Mamba, the Rhinoceros viper, the Gaboon viper, and the Angolan python.
Of course, they are behind glass, safe in their habitat. And it’s not the snakes that are the danger.
It’s the archaeologists.
They are replacing heads on beheaded snake god statues, and the snake gods don’t like it.
"As they are putting the 80-foot tall snake head back into place, that's what releases this curse on the riders," Hornick said.
It’s a curse the whole family can enjoy.
Cobra's Curse by the numbers
- 3.5 minutes long
- 70 feet high
- 2,152 feet long
- 40 mph top speed
Riders sit in a train car that looks like a mining car, and the ride has three parts:
- Part 1: Ride car faces forward
- Part 2: Ride car faces backward
- Part 3: Ride car goes into a free spin
The roller coaster is located just feet away from Montu. In fact, the coasters are so close Montu was actually closed to move in and build part of the Cobra's Curse coaster. During that time, Montu got a coaster tune-up. Montu opens back up to the public on the weekend of Feb. 20.