Python at Busch Gardens

About Python

The Python was a basic steel roller coaster at Busch Gardens Africa in Tampa, Florida. The coaster first opened in July 1976 amid great fanfare – with two inversions arranged in a treacherous double corkscrew, the coaster offered high tech thrills at the very beginning of the roller coaster boom. The ride was 1,200 feet long with a ride cycle of just over one minute long to travel more than 70 feet high, traverse a steep drop, go through the double corkscrew, and deliver passengers safely back to the station. As the oldest roller coaster at the park, Python enjoyed a classic status, but it also suffered the ravages that affect any aging machine. As the park opened taller, faster, and more intense rides, Python’s ridership slowed while its maintenance costs rose. In the fall of 2006, Python ran for the last time.

Importance of the Python at Busch Gardens

Python was the oldest of the park’s coasters; the next most senior ride still operating is the Scorpion, a compact coaster built in 1980 near the site Python formerly occupied. The Python at Busch Gardens fit well with the park’s cultural and naturalist themes: the earthy gray and bright yellow colors are similar to the coloration of its reptilian namesake, and the fact that the signature corkscrew twists were aligned along the ground was reminiscent of the mortal coils of the deadly snake. Tropical palms and other foliage grew to the very base of the track, embracing it with even more character and personality suitable to its moniker.

Python’s importance goes far beyond its paint job, name, and location, however. In the mid-1970s, thrill-seekers were just beginning to experience the various ways roller coasters could test their senses, endurance, and nerves. Python may have been a short ride, but its intense drop followed immediately by the double corkscrew element made it a favorite ride for generations of roller coaster fanatics who visited the Florida theme park. In fact, compact but thrilling rides such as Python paved the way for the more intense and technologically sophisticated rides that now make up the skyline of Busch Gardens Africa, including the inverted Montu coaster and the innovative floorless dive machine – one of less than a half dozen in the world – Sheikra. Without the success of Python, the taller, faster, and more intense rides may never have been welcome at the park.

Python: Part of Roller Coaster History

Corkscrews.

Today, Python at Busch Gardens may have physically ceased to exist, but the indoctrination to roller coaster thrills it delivered to millions of riders has created a legacy that Busch Gardens and hundreds of other parks around the world continue to cater to. The small, compact, simplistic coasters that were part of Python’s ilk are growing ever rarer as limited acreage forces parks to upgrade to more innovative rides, but this twisted track will always have a special place in the history of Busch Gardens and the track records of its riders.

Every roller coaster, no matter how small, old, or quick, has a distinct personality that adds to the overall roller coaster and amusement park experience of the riders who challenge it. Python at Busch Gardens was one of the first roller coasters to thrill riders with two consecutive inversions in just a few seconds, and while the ride may no longer offer thrills to Busch Gardens’ thousands of daily visitors, it will be fondly remembered.