Abandoned Rhino Rally: What's Left of the Busch Gardens Ride - Confessions of a Theme Park Worker
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Busch Gardens closed Rhino Rally a few years back. First closing out the water portion of the ride for a new roller coaster, then finally closing the entire ride and the area leading up to it. What is left of this family favorite ride where I was privileged to be a driver for 2 years? On a recent visit, I took a look at what used to be Rhino Rally.
A behind the scenes look at what a former worker at Disney World, Silver Dollar City, and Busch Gardens Florida experienced in his time working at the parks. From driving large safari trucks around live wild animals while cracking one silly joke after another, to spending 5 years as a #PhotoPass photographer at #WaltDisneyWorld and seeing and experiencing all sorts of things, to being a conductor and #trainrobber on the famous Frisco Silver Dollar Line at #SilverDollarCity. With 10 years of working in the parks, there's lots of stories to tell. Here is some of them...
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2 notes/ corrections:
yes, I say the name of the roller coaster wrong a bunch. The coaster is Cheetah HUNT, not Cheetah CHASE, which used to be the name of the wild mouse style coaster that is there (and that I worked on some)
Also had someone point out to me that the wash station/ gate that I show near the end of the video is the wrong one! Ack! The Rhino Rally wash station is much later on the train (2 stations later!) and on the other side of the train from the one I showed (which is actually a station for the serengetti safari trucks). Thanks zbugger on Reddit for the catch of what I should have known. :-)
How sad for the ride. It is amazing to see how things get reclaimed by nature. I'm glad that you had a chance to see it. Thank you for sharing a part of your world with us! God bless your journies!
I worked at this ride many years ago too. Some of the best memories Ive ever had were with the friends I made on that ride. Great times!
What a great video of a great memory ... kudos for such a detailed video, quite impressive!
I loved this ride. I miss it so much. I hope maybe they will bring it back.
The yellow train at bush gardens is from six flags st louis
Now they've replaced the whole area with their new Serengheti Flyer ride. If you look on Google Earth Pro Historical Imagery you can see the swing sits in the middle of the round area the trucks drove round. The original coverings for the queue etc have been removed and now it has more modern shade coverings.
Was basically unrecognisable when I rode it recently.
They're putting a S&S Screamin' Swing where the station is!
This is really cool Sir Willow. It was really neat seeing how the old ride was and the new coaster fits in to the old footprint.
Great video!! Rode it once in the mid 2000’s. I have a photo with the Land Rover in front of the ride plus a few pics on the ride. Sad for you to see it abandoned. Cheetah Hunt was awesome !
I'm still surprised they havent done ANYTHING to the rest of it by now, I would have thought Zoo Ed would have taken some more areas besides just the elephant pen.
Great video, I'm glad others let you use their footage!
me too. Especially since I never did hear back from Busch directly.
@@SirWillow Not sure if I should like that you're happy or dislike they never responded...
lol I'm definitely not happy that I never heard back. And not sure why. Several emails and a phone message
When Cheetah Hunt went in, There used to be water in that water section of the ride, I noticed that there is no longer water in the trough , why they take the water out? I thought it was a great addition to cheetah hunt
apparently, from what I read, they are keeping Rhino Rally empty/abandoned until they find a use for the land in the future,
something is happening at rhino rally right now there tearing out the start of the ride. you can see the line poles have been removed along with other parts of the ride
yes, they're finally tearing out the old station, queue house, etc. No word yet on what is going to happen with it. Sad to see it go, but at the same time at least it's not sitting there rotting now.
All the track is still there expect the water area. I think they’ll reuse this area next imo!
The only place that had "track" was the water area. The rest of it was just roads. They were, after all, just oversized land rovers that could be driven anywhere. They weren't on a track. And as you can see, those roads are in really bad shape now.
Next expansion is Iron Gwazi. We'll see what they decide to do after that
If the road breaks up some more it will be suitable for Land Rovers.
I wonder if you had called out to the older elephant he would have remembered you? Elephants are said to have impressive memories and will react to people that they haven’t seen in years.
There were enough people around that I would have felt rather awkward trying. Especially if I hadn't gotten a reaction. :-) Plus I was just someone that waved and talked to her a bit for a few minutes at a time here and there. Not a lot of interaction that would have been real memorable.
Busch gardens does allow filming on rides, it just must be with an attached go pro
It's only supposed to be done with clearance and permission of the media department. Be careful with that. :-)
SirWillow I don’t see anything on the website about park permission. I only filmed on the rides once and will probably never do it again anyway.
There are rules about loose objects like phones and cameras. Secured or not the gopro falls into thar category and is not supposed to be done without permission. This is true of coasters at almost every park out there. And having it on the ride without permission of PR/ media to verify you are ok it can get you thrown out of the park. And in some places arrested. I always clear agead of time when i film on rides, even dark rides. And yes i even clear with Disney before each trip and have it in writing
They hid all of the Rhino Rally items pretty well.
did all of you catch the smiley out of rocks? No? watch again!
What would happen if, you went to a park and said "Oh! I used to work here"? Would they just smile and nod or would you get special access? (Backstage....?!?!)?
they don't give backstage access to anyone who doesn't work there currently or isn't there through clearance of media/ PR/ upper management (such as a film crew). No, they don't allow former employees in the back areas. Insurance alone wouldn't allow it, or safety reasons.
Honestly, when people told me they used to work at the park I was working at, my thought was, "gee, that's nice. Happy for you but it doesn't really affect me." Might share some stories, but that would be about it.
Why does this guy sound like Wallace Shawn?
Inconceivable!
Anyone there recognize you, either from working there or from your UA-cam videos?
Not at Busch Gardens on this trip. Though I did meet with a couple of viewers (you can actually see them walking behind me in the intro). I did at Disney though
I know you have been on too many coasters to name yet would you say the cheetah coaster is in your top 20 or no?
I dont rank my coasters by number. That would be too hard. Instead I do tiers, or groups. I would probably put it in the second tier, which are very good to great coasters. But with Iron Gwazi in the park you can see the difference between it, a top tier, and Cheetah.
@@SirWillow I'm aware you don't rank by number that's why I was being vague by saying top 20 yet second tier answers my question. Could you please tell me a few of the coasters your rode that were the longest length of track. Thank you for your response happy new years to you and your loved ones
Easiest way to see what I've been on is to check out my online list at Coatser counter. www.coastercounter.com/SirWillow It's mostly complete, only missing a hand full of traveling or defunct coasters.
@@SirWillow woah I always wondered what you coaster list was thank you so much for this gift
Where did they put the animals
They're still out on the Savannah. it's a large area that Rhino Rally only took up a small portion of
@@SirWillow are the guest able to see them Still
Cheetah Hunt brother...Cheetah Hunt
Sorry, it's because I worked on the mouse coaster as well, which at the time was called Cheetah Chase, and constantly switch the names.
You called Cheater Hunt, Cheater Chase the whole video
Sorry, it's because I worked on the mouse coaster as well, which at the time was called Cheetah Chase, and constantly switch the names.
I actually despise the amusement industry's obsession with coasters affecting more tame rides... I hate 99% of coasters, I like the heavily themed, more "family" coasters, like the ones that are almost dark rides, Revenge of the Mummy, Escape from Gringotts, etc. Besides that I hate coasters, I like dark rides and stuff like this and Kilimanjaro Safaris.
Also the environment looks awful with the coaster running in it, my lord, it's just so badly themed for the coaster...
I much preferred Rhino Rally to Cheetah Hunt. I don't like roller coasters and Rhino was a perfect family ride, very unique and much better than what Disney's Animal Kingdom has. BGT is a great park, but it was much better when Anheuser-Busch owned it. I also miss all the great stage shows throughout the park. The Moroccan Palace deserves much better than a tacky ice show.
no disagreement here. the parks were Augustus Busch's babies, and it showed when they still owned the parks.