SheiKra

SheiKra is a steel Dive Coaster roller coaster at the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay amusement park in Tampa, Florida, United States. The roller coaster was proposed by Mark Rose, vice-president of design and engineering for the park, and designed by Bolliger & Mabillard. The ride was planned to be 160 ft high, but the park's executives rejected this and the height was changed to 200 ft. SheiKra reaches a maximum speed of 70 mph and has a total track length of 3188 ft. It first opened on May 21, 2005, and was converted to a floorless roller coaster on June 16, 2007, following the opening of its sister Dive Coaster Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg that year.

SheiKra was the first Dive Coaster to be constructed in North America; its track includes a splashdown and an Immelmann loop, both a first for its kind. It broke the records for the world's longest, tallest, and fastest Dive Coaster, but lost these records when Griffon in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States and Dive Coaster at Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou, China opened. The name SheiKra is derived from the word "shikra", an Asian-African hawk that is known to dive vertically for its prey. In 2005, Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards voted it the fourth-best new steel roller coaster of that year in a three-way tie and the 28th-best steel roller coaster.

History

Reception

SheiKra was mostly well-received from the public and critics. Arthur Levine from About.com rated the roller coaster four and a half stars out of five, and awarded it a thrill rating of eight and half out of ten, writing, "It's an unapologetic thrill ride that coaster lovers will adore and coaster wimps will avoid."[55] Joel Bullock from Coaster Critic rated SheiKra seven and a half out of ten and awarded it a thrill rating of four out of five. He wrote that the attraction was "underwhelming" and "didn't live up to the hype" due to the ride's short length and the lack of special elements. Bullock also said, "Overall, SheiKra's no masterpiece, but is still an experience." He praised the ride's Immelmann loop, writing that the delay between the rise, inversion and finish of the maneuver was the highlight of the ride."[56] Jeremy Thompson from Roller Coaster Philosophy awarded the coaster a "B", and wrote that, "riding the coaster is all about the visual experience", and that, "Despite the 70mph top speed it's quite gentle on the human body, although from the last row it easily wins the award for Most Airtime on a Roller Coaster in the State of Florida".[57]

Jay Cridlin from the Tampa Bay Times wrote that guests should expect long waiting times to ride, although the length of the ride is "probably a fair tradeoff." Cridlin called SheiKra, "a majestic, one-of-a-kind roller coaster experience", and mentions that the attraction, "may be the world's finest dive coaster".[58] In a 2005 article, Cridlin mostly praised the 90-degree drop and wrote that, "Despite its sheer size and dominance of the Busch Gardens landscape ... the coaster likely will still inspire debate among park visitors."[59] Eric Michael from Orlando Sentinel wrote, "The 200-foot monster, Florida's tallest, wins my vote for best drop, straight down at 90-degrees, and most shameless tease (riders hang at the top for a few seconds)".[60] In 2007, SheiKra was featured on Discovery Channel's television series Build It Bigger.[61][62]

logodimensions	150px
location	Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
section	Stanleyville
coordinates	28.03667°N, -82.42444°W
status	Operating
opened	May 21, 2005
soft opened	May 19, 2005
year	2005
cost	$13.5 million
type	Steel
manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
model	Dive Coaster
track	Twister
lift	Chain lift hill
height ft	200
length ft	3188
speed mph	70
inversions	1
duration	2:20
angle	90
gforce	4
restriction in	54
carspertrain	3
rowspercar	1
ridersperrow	8
virtual queue name	Quick Queue
virtual queue image	Quick Queue availability logo (Busch Gardens).svg
virtual queue status	available
rcdb number	2662

History

Original attraction

Modified attraction

Ride experience

Characteristics

Track

Trains

Records

Reception

Awards

External links

References