Busch Gardens Tampa Places Cobra's Curse Two Highest Points

© Busch Gardens Tampa

The updates keep coming with regard to Busch Gardens Tampa's new roller coaster, Cobra's Curse.  The Tampa theme park just installed the two highest points on the new coaster, the 70 foot tall vertical lift hill and the 80 foot tall snake statue that greets riders at the top of the elevator lift.

Here is the giant head of the snake statue, still on the ground waiting to be lifted into place.

© Busch Gardens Tampa

The 'snake king' statue weighs a massive 30,000 pounds, so this is certainly not a small addition to the ride!  For an even better grasp on the huge size of the snake, the two fangs are each four feet long!  The snake's body was already assembled when the giant head was carefully lifted into place.

© Busch Gardens Tampa

While the construction was done off-hours to ensure no park guests were around for safety, it also created some pretty lighting opportunities.  As described by the park, "dozens of artists united to design, engineer, fabricate and thematically paint the snake icon, creating a centerpiece for Cobra’s Curse that will bring riders just inches from its fangs. Standing at 80 feet tall, with 4-foot-long fangs and 3-foot-wide eyes, the icon was constructed of nine stackable pieces with an internal steel spine and an outer shell composed of carved foam and fiberglass."

© Busch Gardens Tampa

With the snake's head in place the park could show off this view from the top of the 70 foot elevator lift hill.  Trains will slowly move forward right toward the menacing open mouth of the snake.  If you look closely you can also see that the track that turns past the snake is banked outwardly, leaning riders even closer to it.

Before even boarding the new family spinning coaster, in the queue guests will be treated to a "400-cubic-foot snake exhibit which will include Jameson’s mambas, Angolan pythons and rhinoceros and gaboon vipers. The design of the multi-level exhibit not only reflects the theme of the ride, but also features several animal husbandry and enrichment components designed with the snakes’ welfare in mind, including naturalistic design elements, controlled heat sources and humidity control."

For more information on Cobra's Curse at Busch Gardens Tampa, click here.