There’s a Snake King at Busch Gardens.
He wants to educate you, frighten you and then maybe…
Steal your soul for all eternity!
After a three-week delay for safety testing, the theme park’s latest project, “Cobra’s Curse,” is opening Friday, June 17.
Of course, the coaster aims to thrill, but you have to walk through a habitat of venomous African snakes to get on board.
It's a little pre-scream education -- all for the park’s conservation mission.
"Most often, if you know more about something, you are more likely to save that thing," said Phil Hillary, Manager of Zoological Operations at Busch Gardens.
Nothing like an air-conditioned, snake-filled queue to get you warmed up for this all-direction coaster.
And we got to ride it with one of the creators—Busch Gardens Engineer Jeff Hornick.
And yes, we performed part of our interview at 40 miles-per-hour.
Step 1
“It’s 3 1/2 minutes, 2,100 feet,” Hornick said as we coasted toward the ride’s first step—a 70-foot vertical lift.
At the top of this outdoor elevator of doom, an 80-foot cobra is eyeballing you.
Then, a booming voice -- the “Snake King” -- says something about you being his “for all eternity.”
And then, you turn.
And then you plummet.
You plummet 70 feet.
Step 2
After the drop, you twist and turn right up to a platform where you slow down --- not to fix your hair or readjust you clothes — but to be turned around.
Yes, your car -- filled with three other people — turns around, and you go down another drop and a length of twisty rail BACKWARDS!
Step 3
You writhe on up to a second platform.
And here’s where it get crazy, as Hornick explains.
"We're gonna release the ride vehicles, and we are gonna free-spin finale to the end," he said.
Free-spinning comes down to Physics, according to Hornick.
But there is no formula to explain the extreme alarm when your four-person car turns so much that you can see the people riding in the four-person car behind you.
And you are twisting and turning backwards and then backwards at an alarming angle.
Thanks. physics.
Your truth is as scary and the Snake King’s magical threats to be his captive for “all eternity.”