After 33 Years, Busch Gardens' Kumba Roars for the Last Time Aug. 2 — 'Kumba's Revenge' Is Next

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay's oldest roller coaster, Kumba, will take its final ride on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026, ending a 33-year run that turned the park into a serious coaster destination and gave generations of Tampa families their first real scream. The park announced the retirement Tuesday, July 14, and said the towering steel legend will be replaced by a new, still-secret ride called Kumba's Revenge.

For local riders, the message is simple: you have until Aug. 2 to feel that unmistakable steel roar echo through the Congo one last time.

Kumba first opened April 21, 1993, and it didn't just add a ride to the lineup — it made a statement. Built by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard, the coaster became Florida's tallest, fastest and longest overnight, and it debuted with what was then the world's tallest vertical loop.

What made Kumba a Tampa icon

The name comes from a Central African word meaning "roar" — a nod to the deep rumble its hollow steel track sends across the park. Over a layout of nearly three minutes, Kumba drops riders 135 feet, hits 60 mph and runs them through seven inversions, including a diving loop, a zero-gravity roll, a cobra roll and the interlocking corkscrews that became the ride's signature image.

Its pedigree isn't just nostalgia. According to local media reports and the park's own account, Kumba has landed in the top 50 steel coasters in the industry's Golden Ticket Awards every year since that award began in 1998, and it debuted as high as No. 4. It is now the third-oldest B&M coaster still operating anywhere in the world.

It also became the park's elder statesman by default — the oldest operating coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay after Scorpion closed in 2024.

Your last chances to ride

Busch Gardens is giving Annual Pass Members a private send-off before the general public says goodbye. The ride will then stay open to all guests through its final day.

What is 'Kumba's Revenge'?

Here's the honest answer: almost nothing has been confirmed yet. The park says Kumba's Revenge is part of a broader $100 million investment across the property aimed at making Busch Gardens "Florida's thrill leader," and it describes the new ride as an extension of the original coaster's story rather than a clean break.

What the park has not said is whether Kumba's Revenge is a full retrack of the existing steel structure or an entirely new build. No height, speed, layout or opening date has been released.

Park president Jon Vigue framed the closure as a transformation rather than a farewell, saying Kumba earned its place among the world's most iconic coasters and that its successor will honor what guests loved about the original while delivering a new level of thrills, according to comments provided to local media.

For families who measured childhoods in trips down that first drop, the next few weeks are the window. After Aug. 2, the roar goes quiet — at least until the park is ready to reveal what comes roaring back.

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Header photo: neuro(talk) / Wikimedia Commons (Attribution)