Riding Tigris at Busch Gardens - Florida's tallest launch coaster
 

Busch Gardens says...

Tigris will catapult riders through an exhilarating array of looping twists with forward and backward motion, breath-taking drops, a 150-foot skyward surge, and an inverted heartline roll, all at more than 60 miles per hour. Tigris will race riders along more than 1,800 feet of steel track designed to mimic the awe-inspiring agility of the world’s largest and most powerful cat –the tiger.



As Tigris only opened on 19th April 2019 I had not ridden it before. So did it live up to the expectations?

Tigris has a single train with 3 cars. Riders are arranged 2 across in 3 rows for a total of 18 riders per train. Due to the compact design of the track it cannot run more than one car at a time. But as the ride is pretty quick it should see a good turnover per hour.

Tigris launches out of the station up into a partial twist. The train then falls back through the station, where it is accelerated backwards into another twist.



The train goes forwards into the station and riders are accelerated to a top speed of 62 miles per hour.

It then travels up to a height of 150 feet where it completes a non-inverting half-loop, a heartline roll (ranking it among the tallest inversions in the world) before exiting in a second non-inverting half-loop. It then enters a full non-inverting loop before returning to the station with a drop of 135 feet.

A heartline roll? What on earth is a heartline roll?

https://youtu.be/JUGMMSLano0

A heartline roll, also known as a barrel roll, is a roller coaster inversion in which the rider performs a 360-degree roll. The center of the train rotates on one axis. Rotating, pivoting around where your heart is. The track changes in elevation to keep the train moving around that same point.

The acceleration is smooth and controlled, not like some launch coasters that want to stick your head back into the middle of last week!

The heartline roll was a deliberately slow rotation so you know you are upside down. Just make sure you don't have anything loose on you or you won't see it again.

It is a quick ride. Over in about a minute. But it is a great feeling and doesn't come with the suspense or trepidation of some other rides at Busch Gardens like Sheikra or Falcons Fury.

Next time you visit Busch Gardens you must ride Tigris. You won't be disappointed.

I shouldn't have read this at breakfast time.

That Astro ride at MK makes me feel ill so I've no chance with Tigris.

We did this in May and I wouldn’t do it again! I’m up for most coasters but there was something about this backwards acceleration then slow inverted roll that made me feel very queasy.
Glad I tried it but never again!

Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m up for trying this when we visit next year.

My son and daughter would love this, but not for me

Thanks for the review- looking forward to trying in a month.

DH loved it last month

We did this yesterday and I am still in shock and cant decide whether I liked it or not. It is so different to anything else I've ever been on but I was a bit shaky afterwards!

We did it last week, loved it, there was no queue, so ran round and did it again 🤣

We did this earlier this week - stayed on 3 times in a row as there was no queue!
Also rode it at the front and then the back. Completely different experiences so if the queue is low, its worth waiting and going on again.

The “comfort straps” as they call them - (the harness) is a bit tricky to get over your head and clicked in to the lap bar.