From The Vault: Busch Gardens Tampa 1995 Map

Busch Gardens Tampa is no stranger to roller coasters, building their first back in the mid-1970s.  That ride, Python, no longer graces the earth, but was only the start of a long line of coasters to come.  This week's Vault piece is the park's guide map from 1995, when one of Busch Gardens Tampa's largest coasters was still the big news in its junior season.

That ride is Kumba, one of only a handful of traditional sitting coasters that B&M have done.  While it opened in 1993, the park was still singing its praises in 1995, when this map is from.  As we well know the park was just about ready to open another thriller in 1996, when the inverted ride Montu debuted.

Naturally I suggest clicking the image for a much larger version of the map.  There's so much different today than from 1995, which really wasn't that long ago all things considered.

The brewery is still located in the center of the park, which means that the dueling wooden coasters collectively known as Gwazi do not yet exist.  When Montu was added an entire new area, Egypt, came with it, and that's missing from the lower right corner of the park.

No Elmo here, since Land of the Dragons was the premier children's area at Busch Gardens Tampa.  Stanleyville still featured two water rides, but with no SheiKra towering over and casting shadows on them.  Even the Serengeti Plain is much different - the Edge of Africa path hasn't been created, and Cheetah Hunt isn't running through the edge of it.

Can you imagine how different things will look in another 18 years?