SheiKra

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Ride at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

title: "SheiKra" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["roller-coasters-in-tampa,-florida", "roller-coasters-in-florida", "roller-coasters-opened-in-2005", "busch-gardens-tampa-bay", "2005-establishments-in-florida", "dive-coasters-manufactured-by-bolliger-&-mabillard"] description: "Ride at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay" topic_path: "general/roller-coasters-in-tampa-florida" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SheiKra" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Ride at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox roller coaster"]

Field	Value
name	SheiKra
logo	SheiKra Logo (2).png
logodimensions	150px
image	SheiKra (Busch Gardens Africa) 05.JPG
imagedimensions
caption	SheiKra in 2009
location	Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
section	Stanleyville
coordinates
status	Operating
opened
soft_opened
year	2005
closed
cost	$13.5 million
type	Steel
manufacturer	Bolliger & Mabillard
model	Dive Coaster
track	Twister
lift	Chain lift hill
height_ft	200
length_ft	3188
speed_mph	70
inversions	1
duration	2:20
angle	90
gforce	4
restriction_in	54
carspertrain	3
rowspercar	1
ridersperrow	8
virtual_queue_name	Quick Queue
virtual_queue_image	Quick Queue availability logo (Busch Gardens).svg
virtual_queue_status	available
single_rider
website
rcdb_number	2662
::

SheiKra (, ) is a steel Dive Coaster roller coaster at the Busch Gardens Tampa Bay amusement park in Tampa, Florida, United States. The roller coaster was proposed by Mark Rose, vice-president of design and engineering for the park, and designed by Bolliger & Mabillard. The ride was planned to be 160 ft high, but the park's executives rejected this and the height was changed to 200 ft. SheiKra reaches a maximum speed of 70 mph and has a total track length of 3188 ft. It first opened on May 21, 2005, and was converted to a floorless roller coaster on June 16, 2007, following the opening of its sister Dive Coaster Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg that year.

SheiKra was the first Dive Coaster to be constructed in North America; its track includes a splashdown and an Immelmann loop, both a first for its kind. It broke the records for the world's longest, tallest, and fastest Dive Coaster, but lost these records when Griffon in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States and Dive Coaster at Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou, China opened. The name SheiKra is derived from the word "shikra", an Asian-African hawk that is known to dive vertically for its prey. In 2005, *Amusement Today*s annual Golden Ticket Awards voted it the fourth-best new steel roller coaster of that year in a three-way tie and the 28th-best steel roller coaster.

History

Original attraction

Mark Rose, vice-president of design and engineering at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, proposed a roller coaster that would be 160 ft tall; the experience would be "like riding a barrel over Niagara Falls...straight down into water." Peckham Guyton Albers & Viets Inc (PGAV) also helped plan and design the roller coaster.

Rumors of a new roller coaster being built at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay began to circulate after a roller coaster enthusiast emailed the park and received a response saying that a roller coaster would be built. These rumors stated that the roller coaster would include a splashdown and an inversion on a Bolliger & Mabillard Dive Coaster, both a first for its kind. Later in the season, the park began to remove part of the track of Serengeti Express. On April 26, 2004, construction permits were discovered that confirmed that a roller coaster, restaurant, and gift shop would be constructed.

In May 2004, further details were leaked including the height, speed and trains. A month later, Tiki masks with quotes relating to the project were placed on the construction walls, including: "I'm a bird with no feathers, a beast with no equal, a fall that never hits the ground. What am I?", "What is taller than 10 giraffes and faster than a charging rhino?", and "What is too fast to see, but has a bird's eye view?".

On October 20, 2004, Busch Entertainment Corporation (owner of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay) A week later, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay announced SheiKra, North America's first Dive Coaster, as part of a deal with Bolliger & Mabillard. At the time of the announcement, about half of the ride's foundations were complete. Testing began in late April 2005 after the track had been constructed. After testing was completed, a media day was held on May 19, 2005, for international media outlets to promote the ride. Two days later, the roller coaster opened to the public on May 21, 2005.

Bolliger & Mabillard took approximately six months to design SheiKra and four years to complete the entire project. After Busch Gardens Tampa Bay announced SheiKra, the park contracted with Bolliger & Mabillard so that the layout of the roller coaster could not be reproduced for several years. In 2009, after the deal expired, Happy Valley Shanghai built an identical copy of SheiKra called Diving Coaster.

Modified attraction

In 2006, speculation began that Busch Gardens Tampa Bay would be removing the floors from SheiKra's trains. On January 31, 2007, the park confirmed the rumors at a press conference that was also broadcast on the internet. In late April 2007, a month before the temporary closure of the ride, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay placed billboards along Interstate 275 and advertisements in newspapers announcing that SheiKra's floors would soon be removed.

On April 24, 2007, during the park's High School Journalism Day, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay unveiled the first floorless train for the roller coaster. SheiKra closed for the conversion on May 28, 2007. Just under two weeks before the scheduled reopening, the new trains were tested. On June 16, 2007, the modified roller coaster soft-opened to 100 roller coaster enthusiasts, news reporters from 40 media outlets, and 37 radio broadcasters before opening to the public later that day.

Ride experience

::quote

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Sheikra_Layout_Fertig_(en).svg" caption="The layout of SheiKra" alt="SheiKra's layout."] ::

After the floors retract and the front gate opens, the train leaves the station and makes a downward right turn, immediately followed by an upward right turn, which leads to the 47-degree inclined chain lift hill. and then descends the 90-degree drop. As the train reaches the bottom of the first drop it reaches its maximum speed of 70 mph. Then, the train enters a 145 ft Immelmann loop before making a banked, upward, 3.5 g left turn into the mid course brake run. The train slows down and descends a second 138 ft, 90-degree drop into an underground tunnel. Next, the train makes a right overbanked turn leading into a splashdown that sprays two 60 ft lines of water in the air and takes approximately 1.9 seconds to pass through. The train rises, makes a downward right turn, then enters the final brake run that leads directly back to the station. One cycle of the ride lasts about 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

Characteristics

Track

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/SheiKra_(Busch_Gardens_Africa)_04.jpg" caption="One of SheiKra's floorless trains on display at the park" alt="One of SheiKra's floorless train on display"] ::

The steel, box track of SheiKra is 3188 ft long and the lift is approximately 200 ft high. The track and rails were shaped in Italy and fabricated by Clermont Steel Fabricators in Batavia, Ohio, which manufactures Bolliger & Mabillard's roller coasters. SheiKra's track spine is wider than those of Bolliger & Mabillard's traditional roller coasters because of the extra weight of the trains compared to Bolliger & Mabillard's four-abreast cars.

Trains

SheiKra operates trains that are made from steel and fiberglass, each of which are three times wider than the track. SheiKra's trains are fitted with nylon and polyurethane wheels to reduce the amount of friction created on the track. Underneath are a pair of anti-rollback devices that prevent each train from rolling down the lift hill should the chain break. There is also a "drop chain dog" mechanism that allows the trains to slowly enter the first drop.

Records

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/SheiKra_(Busch_Gardens_Africa)_03.jpg" caption="The "splashdown" is the first element of its kind on a Dive Coaster. Water is ejected through scoops located at the rear of each ride vehicle." alt="One of SheiKra's floorless trains going through the "splashdown" element"] ::

When SheiKra opened in 2005, it introduced two new roller coaster elements to the Dive Coaster. The splashdown causes the train to come into contact with water through "scoops" located on the last car of each train.

SheiKra was also the first Dive Coaster to feature a 90-degree drop. When SheiKra first opened, it was the tallest, fastest, and longest Dive Coaster ever built, and was the first Dive Coaster in North America. However, SheiKra lost the height and speed records in 2007, when Griffon opened at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and it lost the length record when Dive Coaster opened at Chime-Long Paradise in 2008.

Reception

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/SheiKra_(Busch_Gardens_Africa)_02.jpg" caption="One of Sheikra's trains hanging over the first drop" alt="One of SheiKra's trains going over the drop"] ::

SheiKra was mostly well-received from the public and critics. Arthur Levine from About.com rated the roller coaster four and a half stars out of five, and awarded it a thrill rating of eight and half out of ten, writing, "It's an unapologetic thrill ride that coaster lovers will adore and coaster wimps will avoid." Joel Bullock from Coaster Critic rated SheiKra seven and a half out of ten and awarded it a thrill rating of four out of five. He wrote that the attraction was "underwhelming" and "didn't live up to the hype" due to the ride's short length and the lack of special elements. Bullock also said, "Overall, SheiKra's no masterpiece, but is still an experience." He praised the ride's Immelmann loop, writing that the delay between the rise, inversion and finish of the maneuver was the highlight of the ride." Jeremy Thompson from Roller Coaster Philosophy awarded the coaster a "B", and wrote that, "riding the coaster is all about the visual experience", and that, "Despite the 70mph top speed it's quite gentle on the human body, although from the last row it easily wins the award for Most Airtime on a Roller Coaster in the State of Florida".

Jay Cridlin from the Tampa Bay Times wrote that guests should expect long waiting times to ride, although the length of the ride is "probably a fair tradeoff." Cridlin called SheiKra, "a majestic, one-of-a-kind roller coaster experience", and mentions that the attraction, "may be the world's finest dive coaster". In a 2005 article, Cridlin mostly praised the 90-degree drop and wrote that, "Despite its sheer size and dominance of the Busch Gardens landscape ... the coaster likely will still inspire debate among park visitors." Eric Michael from Orlando Sentinel wrote, "The 200-foot monster, Florida's tallest, wins my vote for best drop, straight down at 90-degrees, and most shameless tease (riders hang at the top for a few seconds)". In 2007, SheiKra was featured on Discovery Channel's television series Build It Bigger.

Awards

::data[format=table]

Golden Ticket Awards: Best New Ride for 2005	Ranking

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| type = steel | access-date = September 15, 2019 | 2005 = 28 | 2006 = 13 | 2007 = 16 | 2008 = 19 | 2009 = 18 | 2010 = 19 | 2011 = 22 | 2012 = 30 | 2013 = 32 | 2014 = 38 | 2015 = 42

References

Albright, Mark. (April 3, 2011). "Busch Gardens engineer found his calling designing thrills". Tampa Bay Times.
(April 15, 2008). "Busch Gardens Master Plan & Improvements". Peckham Guyton Albers & Viets Inc.
"BGT – Finally a ray of hope for 2005". Thrill Network.
Mervine, Bob. (February 8, 2004). "New thrills in Tampa? Busch says no". MSNBC.
"SheiKra Construction Diary". BGTGuide.
"Project 248306 Summary". City Of Tampa.
Albright, Mark. (May 5, 2004). "Busch planning its 7th coaster". St. Petersburg Times.
"SheiKra". United States Patent and Trademark Office.
{{cite RCDB. link
(January 8, 2013). "SheiKra at Busch Gardens closed for repainting". Tampa Bay Times.
Albright, Mark. (October 28, 2004). "A sky-high nose dive". St. Petersburg Times.
"Testimonials". Superior Rigging & Erection Company.
(January 28, 2005). "Busch Gardens Tampa Tops Off New Dive Coaster". Ultimate Roller Coaster.
(April 24, 2005). "Busch Gardens Testing SheiKra In Preparation For May 21 Opening". Ultimate Roller Coaster.
Diamond, Randy. (May 19, 2005). "Getting The Scoop On SheiKra". Tampa Bay Online.
Whitaker, Aja. (October 27, 2004). "New Busch Gardens coaster promises unique thrills". Tampa Bay Business Journal.
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(January 30, 2007). "Busch Gardens to announce makeover of Tampa thrill ride". Orlando Business Journal.
link
Albright, Mark. (June 16, 2007). "SheiKra ups shriek factor". Tampa Bay Times.
Thrash, Rodney. (May 12, 2007). "SheiKra shows her sexy side". Tampa Bay Times.
"SheiKra's Floorless Train Unveiling". Johnny Upside Down.
(April 24, 2007). "SheiKra first floorless train unveiling". Derkeiler.
(June 15, 2007). "'Floorless' SheiKra Raises the Bar on Thrills as the Bottom Drops Out On America's First Dive Coaster". Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
(June 6, 2007). "And Then The Bottom Drops Out". St. Petersburg Times.
"SheiKra". Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
(January 4, 2013). "Busch Gardens closing SheiKra roller coaster temporarily". Tampa Bay Online.
Gershman, Rick. (May 5, 2005). "Everybody has something to celebrate". Tampa Bay Times/St. Petersburg Times.
Fodor. "Quick Queue Review". Fox News.
"All Extras". Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
Albright, Mark. (January 31, 2007). "Summer could be one long scream". Tampa Bay Times.
Albright, Mark. (April 29, 2012). "Work schedule flexibility is a major attraction at Busch Gardens". Tampa Bay Times.
"SheiKra at Busch Gardens". Tampa Bay Online.
(November 24, 2010). "SheiKra Front Seat on-ride HD POV Busch Gardens Tampa".
{{cite RCDB
Albright, Mark. (January 7, 2005). "Get into Busch Gardens in a flash". Tampa Bay Times.
Albright, Mark. (August 14, 2005). "King of the thill". Tampa Bay Times.
Guido, Anna. (November 7, 2005). "Steel plant's business on fast track". Cincinnati Enquirer.
(December 11, 2008). "Scott & Carol Present: Getting On Track With B&M". NewsPlusNotes.
During the night, SheiKra's track is illuminated with white lights.{{cite RCDB. link
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Levine, Arthur. "SheiKra at Busch Gardens Tampa Roller Coaster Review". About.com.
Bullock, Joel. (May 20, 2006). "SheiKra @ Busch Gardens Tampa – Coaster Review". The Coaster Critic.
Thompson, Jeremy. "Busch Gardens Tampa Capsule Resviews". Roller Coaster Philosophy.
Cridlin, Jay. (December 14, 2008). "Which is the best rollercoaster at Busch Gardens?". Tampa Bay Times.
Cridlin, Jay. (May 21, 2005). "Built to thrill". Tampa Bay Times.
Michael, Eric. (March 31, 2006). "Coast through life". Orlando Sentinel.
(July 10, 2007). "Coaster Build Off".
(July 5, 2007). "BGA, Valleyfair featured on Discovery Channel's 'Build It Bigger'". Coaster-Net.
(September 2005). "Amusement Today – Golden Ticket Awards 2006". Amusement Today.

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