Busch Gardens Tampa: Timbuktu

Tampa, Florida: Timbuktu is an African Kingdom located in the middle of Busch Gardens Tampa. Behind the walls lies an open mall featuring rides, shops and games. Timbuktu is also home to several of the parks children’s rides and two of the theaters, Timbuktu Theater and Desert Grill.

The center core of the park, Timbuktu was opened in 1980. Timbuktu consisted of a German dinner theater, dolphin theater, rides and midway games.

Busch Gardens then introduced its second roller coaster, the Scorpion and added it to Timbuktu. The Scorpion is a single loop coaster that drops guests 45 feet in to a vertical loop at 50 miles per hour.

In 1984, Timbuktu received another new attraction, the Phoenix. On the Phoenix, guests are on a Egyptian vessel that swings through a series of loops sixty feet in the air.

Timbuktu saw a refurbishment in 2003. As part of the facelift, the dolphin theater was closed and transformed into the Timbuktu Theater. The Timbuktu Theater is a 4-D movie theater that is originally showed R.L. Stein’s Haunted Lighthouse. In 2006, the Haunted Lighthouse movie was replaced with Pirates 4-D movie.

Also part of the refurbishment, the German Festhaus was transformed into the Desert Grill. The 1,000 seat dinner theater is currently home to “Dance to the Music”, a 70’s style song and dance show. The theater was the former home to many other shows including Irish Thunder, American Beat and many holiday themed shows. The Desert Grill serves ribs, pasta, sandwiches and salads.

In 2004, Timbuktu received its latest attraction, Cheetah Chase. Originally built at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, the wild mouse style roller coaster was relocated to Tampa and named Cheetah Chase. The Cheetah Chase replaced the Crazy Camel that was located in Timbuktu when the area was opened in 1980.

Timbuktu is also home to several other rides:

• Sandstorm, orbiter ride with three arms that spins around several cars.
• Carousel Caravan; traditional style carousel featuring exotic animals.
• Bush Flyers; a airplane ride for kids
• Mini Train
• Motorcycles

Timbuktu is themed to look like a bazaar inside an Egyptian kingdom. There are several midway style games located here along with plenty of shopping. There is also a video game arcade located here called the Sultan’s Arcade.

For more pictures, click on the photo above to visit my Busch Gardens Tampa photo page.

Updated: November 7, 2009

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