Sand Serpent

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Sand Serpent

Overview of Sand Serpent when it was Cheetah Chase
Busch Gardens Tampa Location Tampa, Florida, USA Status Defunct Operated February 2004 to July 9, 2023 Rider height 46 inch minimum
Busch Gardens Williamsburg Location Williamsburg, Virginia, USA Operated April 12, 1996 to 2003 Replaced by Curse of DarKastle
Statistics
Manufacturer	Mack Rides
Product	Wild Mouse (compact mobile)
Designer / calculations	Ing.-Büro Stengel GmbH
Type	Steel - Wild Mouse
Riders per train	4
Hourly capacity	1,120
Propulsion	Chain lift hill
Area	144.3 feet × 62.3 feet
Height	45.9 feet
Top speed	28 mph
Length	1213.9 feet
Inversions	0
Duration	1:50
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Sand Serpent (formerly called Cheetah Chase) was a steel wild mouse roller coaster previously located at Busch Gardens Tampa in Tampa, Florida, USA. The ride originally operated at sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia. It first opened on April 12, 1996 as Wild Izzy and was renamed Wild Maus in 1997, operating until 2003.

History

Wild Izzy in 1996

The roller coaster originally opened at Busch Gardens Williamsburg on April 12, 1996. During its opening year, it was named "Wild Izzy" after the mascot of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games which were held in Atlanta, Georgia. The following year, it was renamed "Wild Maus". After the 2003 season, Wild Maus was dismantled.

In February 2004, the roller coaster reopened at Busch Gardens Tampa and was called "Cheetah Chase". For the 2011 season, it was renamed "Sand Serpent", presumably to reduce confusion with new roller coaster Cheetah Hunt which opened that same year.

In June 2017, Busch Gardens Tampa filed a permit to build a building around the ride and its queue area, hinting that the ride could have become an enclosed roller coaster for 2018. However, this was later shelved for unknown reasons.

On June 15, 2023, Busch Gardens Tampa announced plans to permanently close the ride on July 9. Following its closure, the ride was demolished.

Design

Trains

One of the cars

Single cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 2 rows, for a total of 4 riders per car. Riders are held in by lap bar restraints.

Images

• 

  The queue line

External Links

• 

  Sand Serpent on the Roller Coaster DataBase.

Articles on Busch Gardens Tampa
Coasters	Present Air Grover Cheetah Hunt Cobra's Curse Iron Gwazi Kumba Montu Phoenix Rising Scorpion SheiKra Tigris Former Gwazi Python Sand Serpent
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Articles on Busch Gardens Williamsburg
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