Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Sustained airtimeriders rate it 7.7 of 10 The figure eighta great view of the park

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Tampa, Florida

Cheetah Hunt

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POV
Ride it: back row POV
Back row
What riders love
  • The second launch is one of the highlights of the ride to me. It's fast and forceful.
  • I love the roaring soundtrack that goes along with the launches, and I could imagine myself as a cheetah throughout the ride.
  • Every launch hits and this is a top tier family coaster.
  • I saw people of all ages, shapes and sizes go on this one, so its really family friendly, while not being underwhelming.
  • Some solid airtime on some hills, the first launch was amazing, and the whole ride was just pure enjoyment.
  • One of the most over-hated rides I know of, its a really fun experience that provides some good if not overly strong forces throughout a fantastic layout filled with interactions.
  • Flying over and diving into the Serengeti is so much fun.
  • The S-turns with the flowing river below was an amazing feeling.
  • Also I really love the scenery of this ride, I mean just going all over the park’s exhibits is just a real wonder, and it’s a very enjoyable and scenic ride.
Cheetah Hunt Watch Performance Should I ride it? Specifications Reviews Planning History

Watch POVs and more

Cheetah Hunt's Water is BACK ON! | Front Row 4K POV | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay - 2023

youtube.com › zooder loopers

Cheetah Hunt 4K BACK ROW POV Busch Gardens Tampa

youtube.com › CoasterMaven

Cheetah Hunt 4K POV | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

youtube.com › Busch Gardens Tampa Bay & Adventure Island

Cheetah Hunt Off-Ride Video (4K) - Busch Gardens Tampa Bay - Non Copyright

youtube.com › ElToroRyan

Cheetah Hunt Review Busch Gardens Tampa Intamin Launch Coaster

youtube.com › Coaster Studios

Cheetah Hunt Review, Busch Gardens Tampa Intamin Blitz Coaster | Is This a Family Coaster?

youtube.com › Canobie Coaster

Cheetah Hunt Review - Busch Gardens Tampa (Intamin Blitz Coaster)

youtube.com › XscreamThrills

When Someone Says Cheetah Hunt isn't the best ride at Busch Gardens Tampa

youtube.com › Coasterzilla

Performance

Vs. other coasters at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

I remembered floater airtime being there, but I got some pretty substantially sustained airtime at that part of Cheetah Hunt to my surprise.

Kw6sTheater

The launches are powerful (although not as good as the launches on Hagrid’s at Universal Studios), and the airtime is absolutely fantastic.

Makai Marshall

I expected the second element (the half-top hat followed by a helix) to be a dead spot, but in the front of the train, the half-top hat gives very nice ejector airtime.

Michael M.

It has some solid airtime and intense launches and an inversion but the rest is just elongated transitions that are designed to make you feel like a cheetah.

Gwazi Three Two Five

This one is really elongated, so it offers absolutely no airtime.

Canobie Coaster

The launches are fun and decently forceful, the figure eight thing after the second launch gives a great view of the park, and it’s really smooth.

Majorian

The trains are comfortable and the ride itself has aged well.

Jack Jack J.

I found it to be smooth and the river section was so beautiful it made me wish the entire ride followed a river bed.

David

Smooth and comfortable with cool layout through the safari area.

Gordon R.

They are some of the worst out there you bang stuff, your head or your neck, no matter what you do.

Henry Japha

...BAD THINGS ABOUT IT ARE the wait because of slow operations AND THE RESTRAINTS Ive ridden it enough to just know how to not hit my head but I used to do it SO MUCH WHEN WILL IT GET NEW RESTRAINTS???

Billy bob joe jr the third Dont ask about the other two

The second launch into the windcatcher tower is absolutely breathtaking and the perfect combination of intensity, excitement, fear and thrill.

Fjårt Lorin V

It is barely considered a family coaster, but really only is due to it not having anything too intense, other than the launches being decent.

Liight .

Cheetah Hunt does it’s job very well as a family thrill ride, but naturally, my personal preference is for more intense and thrilling attractions.

Slovis Celery

great speed at times, the layout has great points and then low points, overall good coaster, not one that I will go out my way to ride.

Raymond Jackson

good launches, the singular inversion on this coaster is quite great, and, despite the dead spots, it has some great speed to it during its more low to the ground sections.

Jamie Óchi

What’s weird is that about 80% of it seems just like meandering around and not really doing much yet the ride is still very fun for some reason.

Inverted Thrills

So many dead spots and the only good part of this ride is the future 8 element and the launch before that every thing else sucks.

Riley Morris

Also props to the staff at Busch Gardens, they were pumping out trains for this ride so quick, I was able to quickly get on the front row.

Joshua

The crazy long and boring queue needs theming and why wait over an hour when you can ride kumba 5 times in that space of time is stupid.

Dylano. F.

Our first day they were running 4 trains and capacity was great but then next day only running 2 trains which made things much slower...

Daniel Hertzman
Worth the queue

Long, slow moving line but worth waiting for at least once.

Gordon R.

The wait is usually on the longer side but this ride is worth it to me.

Paige Schmid

Should I ride it?

Organize by

Specifications

102 ftHeight
206 Iron Gwazi 200 SheiKra 150 Tigris 150 Montu 102 CheetahHunt 70 Cobra'sCurse
130 ftFirst drop
206 Iron Gwazi 195 SheiKra 135 Tigris 130 CheetahHunt 128 Montu
60 mphTop speed
Iron Gwazi76 SheiKra70 Tigris62 Cheetah Hunt60 Montu60 Cobra's Curse40 076 mph
1Inversions

What riders say

Praised for

FunGreat launchLong rideGreat viewsGreat layout

Criticised for

Uncomfortable restraintsSlowed by trimsLong waitsOften closedPoor inversions

This ride is one of the best family coasters in the world, if you’d even call it that.

CoasterKing, Captain Coaster review

If you are over 6ft tall or have larger shoulders, the intamin plastic OTSRs will ensure that you get off this ride with pain.

ChefTD, Captain Coaster review

The launches are fun, the pop into the big tower is great as is the drop but besides the s turns over the water it’s pretty weak.

Cooper Zimmerman, Captain Coaster review

I will never understand the hate for cheetah hunt, the launches are fun and i don’t mind the restraints tho they’re not my favourite.

AlpenFury Glazer, Captain Coaster review

The ride has a good layout, the inversion has some nice hang time, the launch is good and it is a nice long ride, but the restraints are awful.

Henry Japha, Captain Coaster review

The launches are all awesome and you can get some good airtime going into and dropping out of the big tree element.

Chris Jones, Captain Coaster review

Photos

Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
supercrewboy, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
supercrewboy, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
supercrewboy, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
supercrewboy, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
supercrewboy, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
supercrewboy, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
supercrewboy, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Adog, CC BY-SA 4.0
Serengeti Express & Cheetah Hunt
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0

9 photographs. Swipe or drag sideways.

Planning your ride

History and awards

May 27, 2011Opened

Built by Intamin, designed by PGAV Destinations.

$20 millionTo build
4 gStrongest force on riders

Past incidents

  1. February 2014On 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.

Golden Ticket Awards, top steel coaster: ranked in 8 polls, 2014 to 2023

48th2014, its first poll
29th2017, its best placing
47th2023, most recent
0incidents blamed on the ride

Sources

Restraint types: Captain Coaster. History, incidents and awards: Wikipedia. Specifications and status: Coasterpedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. From the park and maker: Busch Gardens Tampa Bay guide. Also read: Captain Coaster (converted to feet and mph). Rider sentiment and performance scores: rider reviews on Captain Coaster, youtube.com, read and scored by AirtimeFever.

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons: Gordon Tarpley from Tampa, USA (CC BY 2.0), supercrewboy (CC BY-SA 3.0), Adog (CC BY-SA 4.0), Jeremy Thompson (CC BY 2.0). Video thumbnails remain the property of their channels and link back to them.

Live wait times: Powered by Queue-Times.com.

What riders love, by theme (themes in the order riders pick them most on Captain Coaster): Fjårt Lorin V, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The second launch into the windcatcher tower is absolutely…”; Jack Jack J., rider review on Captain Coaster: “The second launch is one of the highlights of…”; Coaster Bird, rider review on Captain Coaster: “I love the roaring soundtrack that goes along with…”; OutlawRun Glazer, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Every launch hits and this is a top tier…”; Daniel Hertzman, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Went with the kids and this ride was super…”; Basil Robinson, rider review on Captain Coaster: “I saw people of all ages, shapes and sizes…”; Waluigi’s Perfect Potato, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Some solid airtime on some hills, the first launch…”; Tom F., rider review on Captain Coaster: “One of the most over-hated rides I know of,…”; MapleFlakes, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Ripping through Busch Gardens' savanna right over the animal…”; Jack Jack J., rider review on Captain Coaster: “Flying over and diving into the Serengeti is so…”; caden, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The S-turns with the flowing river below was an…”; Joshua, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Also I really love the scenery of this ride,…”.

The photo slider at the top and the fading stills: CoasterMaven's back row POV, Cheetah Hunt 4K BACK ROW POV Busch Gardens Tampa (YouTube), and the page's Wikimedia Commons photographs.