Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa will go down as one of the most influential coasters of all time, a trailblazer that broke no records but still changed the industry. Upstart Bolliger and Mabillard would open their sixth coaster in 1993 as a new model of a sit down coaster, and at a far larger scale than anything they had attempted before. After setting the amusement scene ablaze with their first inverted coaster Batman the Ride the year before, Busch Gardens Tampa would get their first unique and large coaster Kumba, tying the inversion record with seven and debuting multiple groundbreaking elements, most notably its signature interlocking corkscrew finale. Also including a famous gigantic loop at a scale never seen that would thread the loop, the first dynamic diving loop, and the second ever whippy zero G roll, Kumbas layout would lay the blueprint for nearly every looping coaster Bolliger and Mabillard would build after it, featuring a series of elements executed so perfectly that everything after would feel like an imitation. Operating 33 years including a rocky last few, Kumba was not only a pioneer for the coaster world at large, but also Florida, being the grandfather to a lineup of coasters unthinkable in 1993 when the beast debuted. For me personally, Kumba and Montu operated as one of the most sensical and fantastic duo of coasters at any park in the world, a symbiosis of inverting sensations with smooth rides that pleased and truly thrilled riders, and its absence of the park will leave a permanent scar that will take a truly great replacement to overcome.
Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa will go down as one of the most influential coasters of all time, a trailblazer that broke no records but still changed the industry. Upstart Bolliger and Mabillard would open their sixth coaster in 1993 as a new model of a sit down coaster, and at a far larger scale than anything they had attempted before. After setting the amusement scene ablaze with their first inverted coaster Batman the Ride the year before, Busch Gardens Tampa would get their first unique and large coaster Kumba, tying the inversion record with seven and debuting multiple groundbreaking elements, most notably its signature interlocking corkscrew finale. Also including a famous gigantic loop at a scale never seen that would thread the loop, the first dynamic diving loop, and the second ever whippy zero G roll, Kumbas layout would lay the blueprint for nearly every looping coaster Bolliger and Mabillard would build after it, featuring a series of elements executed so perfectly that everything after would feel like an imitation. Operating 33 years including a rocky last few, Kumba was not only a pioneer for the coaster world at large, but also Florida, being the grandfather to a lineup of coasters unthinkable in 1993 when the beast debuted. For me personally, Kumba and Montu operated as one of the most sensical and fantastic duo of coasters at any park in the world, a symbiosis of inverting sensations with smooth rides that pleased and truly thrilled riders, and its absence of the park will leave a permanent scar that will take a truly great replacement to overcome.
