SheiKra stands tall, towering over just about everything inside the park.
In May of 2005, Busch Gardens introduced the tallest, fastest, and most breathtaking rollercoaster in the entire Southeastern United States.
SheiKra, this hemisphere’s first dive coaster, towers over the park at 200 feet tall, boasting a spectacular 90-degree first drop. The ride has been critically acclaimed by many as being one of the most unique experiences known to man and been compared akin to sky diving. Recently, park officials have taken the coaster experience to a new level as they removed SheiKra’s floor to create a psychological aspect that toys with the minds of its riders; riders teeter helplessly over the first drop, hanging there for the longest 4 seconds of their lives.
On Friday, 15 June 2007, RCPro had the opportunity to experience the modified version of this ride, one day before its public opening. Site Administrator, Justin Surguine, and I had the opportunity to experience SheiKra in all its glory. From the minute the floor drops, to the moment your harness releases as you exit the ride, SheiKra delivers nonstop intensity that has been heightened by the absence of a floor.
To put it plain and simple: the ride delivers, and it delivers a lot. From the get go, you are seated in a train that is double the width of any other Bolliger & Mabillard coaster in the park. The girth of the train is so wide that it allows for the outer two seats on each side to literally hang off the track. This design was extremely effective with the floorless feature as riders literally have nothing above, below, in front, or to the side of them.
As riders exit the station, the massive floor panels drop vertically, shift laterally, and then descend into the station floor again-in a stair step like fashion. As the train starts to move forward guests literally begin to notice the difference in the design. Now, they are able to see many of SheiKra’s mechanical features as opposed to the ride design with the accommodating floor.
The ascent to the ride was practically unchanged. Riders make their way out of the station into the first block, and then gradually dive to their right into a 180-degree turn before engaging the lifthill. During the ascent, riders literally feel as if they are lying on their backs and floating into the heavens above, due to the slight pitch in the seat, and the added 45-degree loft of the lift.
Leveling back out, riders reach the crest and are elevated 200 feet above the Tampa Bay skyline. In the distance, guests note the sudden appearance of the bay, downtown Tampa, and even St. Petersburg-a startling 40 miles southwest of the park! Their breathtaking view comes to an unnerving halt as riders make their way to the edge of the drop to find nothing in front of them. Gradually they inch their way to the crest, and ever so slowly they are positioned into the reverse chain that acts as a holding device.
What has been described as “the longest 4 seconds of ones life” comes next, as riders are held at the mercy of the almighty bird of
Riders experience an extreme sense of weightlessness as they dive down the drop.
prey, SheiKra. From the moment riders leave the station to this point, the floorless aspect has been a pleasant feature, but now it’s evident.
“Never in my life have I felt so vulnerable, so exposed and so petrified,” explains one of the lucky few who were first to take a journey on the new attraction.
As riders anxiously wait at the peek of the 200 foot dive, they instantly lose their breath. This is the highlight moment of the ride, and it makes the conversion worth every penny spent. Suddenly riders are let go and they hurl towards the ground at speeds exceeding 70 miles per hour. The airtime is exaggerated due to the floorless cars as riders have nothing to brace themselves with. As the train navigates the valley of the drop, they are exposed to a positive force of 3.5 G’s before entering the infamous Immelmann loop to which Mark Rose, Vice President of Design and Engineering, claims to be 165 feet in height.
At the apex of the Immelmann loop, riders are subjected to a sudden “pop” of air time before diving over the station and around the lift into the 360-degree climbing carousel turn. The train rises again into the block brake, elevated at about 120 feet above grade. Riders are given a moment to breathe before the second signature plunge is commenced into an ancient stone tower. The second drop is taken without a holding device, so the airtime is more extreme than the first 200 foot dive. Riders are ejected from their seats as they plunge 138 feet into the black abyss. One rider commented saying, “That second drop is extreme. My feet literally rose above my chest as we dropped. Pure insanity…”
As the train speeds out of the tunnel, riders are lifted 60 feet above the Smoke House before landing into the water splash, creating a “rooster tail” water effect that can be seen by spectators. Before the conversion, the water element didn’t do much for riders, but with the absence of the floor, riders on the outer seats feel like they can skim their feet as the train rushes by. Many claim this to be another notable spot on the ride where the floorless aspect becomes evident, aside from the drops. The ride finishes in its classic fashion with a hop out of the splash pond and a 270-degree helix before entering the magnetic brake run.
An empty train cycled, showcasing the design without riders.
Overall the difference made by omitting the floor from the design is significantly improved, yet it maintains a certain refinement contrary to what many expected. From a personal standpoint, I thought the ride was much improved as each seat provides a different ride now, opposed to the previous design incorporating the floor. For guests sitting in the front, you will get the full effect of the floorless feature. If you sit on the sides, you are exposed to nothing but the ground, 200 feet below you. If you sit towards the back, you experience a more extreme ride where positive and negative gravitational forces become more evident. Now that the ride is open, I’m most certain that it will be an instant hit with the public. From the announcement in January to the final conversion, Busch Gardens has done it again. Taking the impossible and turning it into a reality. The floorless concept of SheiKra is an instant classic and I’m sure it will thrill riders for years and years to come!
