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Busch's ride locks horns with rival
By MARK ALBRIGHT © St. Petersburg Times, published April 12, 2001 TAMPA -- Busch Gardens invited 200 broadcast and print media from around the world for a spin on its new Rhino Rally ride Wednesday, even though it's far from completed. They learned that only a third of 150 animals have moved in to get acclimated to their new home. They saw lumber mill labels still stapled to some logs on the supposedly rickety and weathered wooden bridges. A waterfall that's supposed to spray the ride vehicles was shut off because it still tends to drench a few of the riders. For the first time in the park's 42 years, Busch used a version of a "soft opening" that's standard operating procedure when the big theme parks in Orlando debut sophisticated rides that need weeks of fine-tuning. The event attracted radio remote broadcasts from all over Florida and travel writers for outlets as far afield as Brazil and Germany.
Staged as a road race among British Land Rovers through an African veldt, Rhino Rally is 16 acres of bad roads, mud wallows and rock walls capped by a surprise flash flood. The ride will be included in the standard park admission, which now costs $51.18 a day for adults, including tax. Officials say Rhino Rally will open full time sometime in early May. Between now and then, the intricate ride will operate sporadically as it is tested and retested, the landscaping is made thicker, elements like a monsoon storm and the flash flood are perfected, and more animals are mixed comfortably into the herd of 17 species. "It's a first-of-its-kind ride that needs three or four weeks so we tweak everything to exactly the way riders like it best," said Robin Carson, general manager of the park. Until now, Busch Gardens bought customized variations of standard amusement park thrill rides, staged splashy grand openings and advertised the heck out of them. For both Disney and Busch, the promise is to get visitors closer to the animals than ever before in a highly themed adventure experience. Rhino Rally, which is not tumultuous enough to qualify as a thrill ride, is the closest Busch has come to building a Disneyesque ride. "This attraction takes getting close to the animals to the next level," said Glenn Young, Busch Gardens' vice president of zoo operations. "I prefer to say it keeps us right at the leading edge of all zoological parks." Still, the St. Louis brewer that owns the theme park is spending only a fraction of the tens of millions Universal and Disney invest in blockbuster rides at Orlando, running the risk of being compared unfavorably to the gold standard of ride creators. Park executives would not say how much Rhino Rally is costing, but it's clearly more than $20-million. Rhino Rally is among the first attractions to blend newer styles of unobtrusive animal habitat enclosures with an entertainment-based ride. Busch bought 16 Land Rovers built to its own 17-passenger specifications. Drivers with attitude (with nicknames like Dan the Man, Fearless Frank and Hubba Bubba) narrate the action while negotiating a rutted, rock-laden road. Animals wander about as the vehicle passes hidden barriers that separate the rhinos from the elephants and cape buffalo. The animals are coaxed by hidden feed containers but also can stay hidden from the road racers. Low voltage wires shoo animals off the six bridges. The vehicles cross a foot-deep stream filled with eight live crocodiles. Herds of gazelle, antelope, zebra and warthogs can mingle freely with any of the largest animals. The other animals are kept a safe distance from the five-foot-long crocs, which at one year of age aren't as threatening-looking as they will be at maturity next year. The twist in the story line: Things go wrong when the Land Rover driver misses a turn. A monsoon rain creates a flash flood. "Basically, we empty a 5,000-gallon swimming pool down a canyon in about three seconds," said Mark Rose, vice president of engineering and design. The Land Rover escapes onto a pontoon bridge that breaks into pieces. The vehicle floats downriver, seemingly uncontrolled under a waterfall. Actually, the Land Rover remains connected throughout. The breakaway bridge locks onto the vehicle axle, then travels along an underwater track similar to a steel roller coaster. What seems to be aimless drifting is governed by a computer-controlled motor that spins the vehicle and bridge 180 degrees. Busch executives are concerned some roller-coaster regulars will be disappointed that Rhino Rally actually is quite tame. The vehicles never go faster than 8 mph. The sharpest lurch is 13 degrees to the side. And Busch is fine-tuning the ride so passengers emerge at the end somewhere between "misted and soaked," Rose said. The Rhino Rally animals also can be seen from a more distant train ride. Busch has yet to decide whether to offer less-adventurous Rhino Rally riders an option of riding only the animal-viewing part of the attraction. - Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8252.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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