{"id":340298,"date":"2026-07-15T00:13:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/340298\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T00:13:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:13:53","slug":"busch-gardens-tampa-bay-retiring-kumba-roller-coaster-after-33-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/340298\/","title":{"rendered":"Busch Gardens Tampa Bay retiring Kumba roller coaster after 33 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/kumba.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"764\" height=\"432\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-v-653d32e2=\"\"\/> article <\/p>\n<p data-v-653d32e2=\"\">Courtesy: Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; Busch Gardens Tampa Bay announced that award-winning coaster, &#8220;Kumba,&#8221; will take its final ride next month as the theme park unveils its new &#8220;Kumba&#8217;s Revenge.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   When will Kumba retire? <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">Timeline:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The iconic Kumba roller coaster, which has been operating at the park for 33 years, will take its final ride this summer. Guests will have until August 2 to ride the legendary coaster one last time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Annual Pass members for Busch Gardens Tampa Bay will get the opportunity for exclusive ride time from 8-11 a.m. on August 1 ahead of the ride&#8217;s retirement. For anyone interested, Annual Passes start at $13 a month and include unlimited admission, access to seasonal events, free parking, exclusive discounts and Pass Member-only experiences.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;Kumba has inspired generations of thrill seekers and earned its place as one of the world&#8217;s most iconic roller coasters,&#8221; said Jon Vigue, the president of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. &#8220;As we celebrate its incredible legacy, we&#8217;re also looking ahead. Kumba&#8217;s Revenge will honor everything guests loved about the original while delivering an entirely new level of thrills.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> Legacy at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Kumba first debuted in 1993, and officials with Busch Gardens said it redefined the roller coaster industry as Florida&#8217;s tallest, fastest and longest coaster \u2014 even featuring the world&#8217;s tallest vertical loop.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The three-minute roller coaster ride has had guests plunging 135 feet, reaching speeds of 60 miles per hour and racing through seven inversions, the park said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">According to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Kumba has consistently been ranked by enthusiasts among the world&#8217;s greatest roller coasters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Kumba&#8217;s Revenge <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Officials with Busch Gardens unveiled Kumba&#8217;s Revenge on Tuesday, saying it&#8217;s the next major milestone for its more than $100 million investment to enhance the park&#8217;s experience for visitors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">It&#8217;s the latest in a series of significant enhancements for Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, which has included new attractions, immersive experiences and park-wide improvements that officials hope will drive excitement and inspire repeat visits to the theme park.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;Our more than $100 million investment represents our commitment to the future of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and to creating extraordinary experiences that keep guests coming back,&#8221; Vigue said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: The information in this story was gathered from Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, who issued a press release detailing the ride changes.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/theme-parks\/busch-gardens\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Busch Gardens Tampa Bay<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Courtesy: Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.\u00a0 TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; Busch Gardens Tampa Bay announced that award-winning coaster, &#8220;Kumba,&#8221;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[19617,47,629,115,135,137,136,2411,628],"class_list":["post-340298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-busch-gardens","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-theme-parks","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}