CURSE OF THE COBRA

Posted on 07/10/2016 | About Tampa, Florida

Busch Gardens is putting a modern spin on an old legend. Cobra’s Curse, a new spin coaster ride, has elements that have never been experienced before in an amusement park ride. Unique rotations, speed and propulsions and a role in a fictitious archeological experience. Cobra’s Curse was launched in Busch Gardens Tampa Bay last month.

The ride might be described as ground breaking if not for the fact that riders reach a height of 21.3 meters (70 feet), racing straight up a 90 degree angle toward the mouth of a snake in what Busch Garden’s calls a “face to fang” encounter.
Then a drop.
A couple of
s p i r a l s.
A vehicle racing sdrawkcab at 63km (40 mph).
A SHRIEK! as the cars are released into a free spin.
The amount of movement in the free spin is dependent on how it is loaded, so the balance and weights of passengers will be the factors that determine the severity and direction of the spins.
The randomness of the spinning phase makes the ride repeatable because every time you go on Cobra’s Curse your experience will be different.
However… before riders meet up with the 2.4 meter (80 foot) golden statue at the height of the ride, they have a different kind of encounter to ensure that they are smitten by the serpent.
The ride experience starts at an excavation site and continues along an area of artifacts and snake figures. Then guests then find themselves in a 400-cubic-foot exhibit with four species of snakes including Jameson’s mambas, Angolan pythons and rhinoceros and gaboon vipers.
The back-story is that thousands of years ago villagers worshipped the King Serpent god for whom they built a temple. They collected idols in devotion to their Snake King who rewarded them with a bounty of fruitful harvest.
The King Serpent protected them but eventually his power over them grew so strong that the villagers turned against him. To reduce his power they decapitated the snake idols and buried their heads in the temple.
Move forward 2,000 years and guests are invited to be part of the excavation team that starts to uncover the temple and return the heads to the idols.
But be warned.
Legend has it that the restoration forces a curse to be released on the guests.
Hissssss…