Cheetah Hunt opens May 27, 2011!

As we announced yesterday on our Facebook page, it has been announced that Cheetah Hunt, Busch Gardens Tampa's new roller coaster will open on May 27, 2011. Here's the news, from Tampa Bay online:

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Busch Gardens Cheetah Hunt coaster to open May 27

Construction continues on Busch Gardens' Cheetah Hunt roller coaster, which is scheduled to open on May 27.

TAMPA - Busch Gardens' new Cheetah Hunt coaster gets up and running Memorial Day weekend, along with a Cheetah Run exhibit of live cheetahs.

Five trains seating 16 people each will race along the 4,429-foot track, allowing 1,200 to 1,400 riders per hour to experience one figure eight, one turn upside down and three magnetic-propulsion launches that will increase the coaster's speed to 30, 60 and 40 mph in just two seconds.

Riders can expect a peak-drop of about 120 feet and several seconds of weightlessness after the third propulsion.

On Thursday, Mark Rose, Busch Gardens' vice president for design and engineering, led a group of reporters and photographers on a tour of the coaster's construction site.

Rose said the world's fastest land animal inspired the steel coaster's three-and-a-half minute long ride. 

"This is all about the celebration of the cheetah," said Rose.

"Busch Gardens has many roller coasters that have gravity as a source of energy. This will be very different because we use magnets to actually launch the coaster in three different places as you propel yourself around…the track."

Busch Gardens has spent the past year-and-a-half repurposing the monorail, the Clydesdale stables and part of the Rhino Rally jeep tour to accommodate the exhibit and the coaster's seven-acre span.

Riders will board Cheetah Hunt in the monorail's former building, race over the Clydesdale stables housing 14 cheetahs and plunge past Rhino Rally's shallow river canyon — but they won't get wet. Park-goers can still partake in Rhino Rally's off-road trek, just on a shorter excursion.

Cheetah Run showcases male and female cheetahs, adults and cubs, languishing in the shade or racing in shifts along a narrow stretch bordering but separate from the coaster.

Both Cheetah Hunt and Cheetah Run open to the public at 9 a.m. on May 27.

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That's surely a great news. We think it's a bit late though, as Busch Gardens and SeaWorld usually open their coasters before the end of may. But, this has been one of the biggest (and most themed!) coaster they've ever created, so... We cant' wait! The countdown to fun (ugh! Bad reference!!) begins!

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