Admittedly, I used to loathe this ride very much. This is because I thought it was very overrated for a long time; I still do, but to a lesser extent. Cheetah Hunt is a pretty good launch coaster, alb...
Admittedly, I used to loathe this ride very much. This is because I thought it was very overrated for a long time; I still do, but to a lesser extent. Cheetah Hunt is a pretty good launch coaster, albeit lacking the snappy transitions, wild airtime and insane G’s of its Ohioan cousin (Maverick, my 3rd favorite coaster). The first boost of acceleration into that overbanked turn is nothing much, merely a slight kick to start things off. The dive into the second launch provides some laterals and then you are pushed back into your seat, only to be lifted out of it at the top of that figure-8 hill. I remembered floater airtime being there, but I got some pretty substantially sustained airtime at that part of Cheetah Hunt to my surprise. The winding part at the top of the hill gives a nice panoramic view of Busch Garden Tampa, but you are lifted out of your seat once more as the train dives into a trench. An awkward straight section ensues as Cheetah Hunt clears the railroad tracks, followed by a gently twisting airtime hill over the skyride. The heartline roll provides a split second of hangtime, but it is interrupted by a mid course brake run. You’re whipped to the side as the train dives into the quarry that Rhino Rally — As a young one, this was my favorite ride at Busch Gardens; it was a jeep tour ride with an awesome collapsing bridge scene and enjoyable narrative — used to travel through. After some trim brakes and a sharp turn, Cheetah Hunt zigzags between the rocks in a thrilling series of back-and-forth S-curves — my personal favorite moment on the ride — and curves around into the third and final launch. The Maverick-esque airtime hill immediately following it provides a great pop of ejector airtime, followed up by another awkward section — a series of S-curve hills with no reminiscence of force, airtime or whip whatsoever. And at long last, Cheetah Hunt ends with a hop into the final brake run.
All in all, Cheetah Hunt is a very solid ride. It straddles the line between a family-thrill coaster and an all-out thrill machine carefully, meaning that this coaster has much inconsistence in its layout — some moments, like the rise up the first hill with sustained floater airtime, heartline roll, S-curves in the rockwork and sharp airtime hill after the third launch are flat-out awesome, and more what you’d expect from an amazing ride like Maverick or Storm Runner — however, other parts of Cheetah Hunt appear much more tailored to the families; some that come to mind are the figure-8 element at the top of the first hill, the pointless meandering sections just before the second launch and final brake run, as well as the gently twisted hill that hops over the skyride. Cheetah Hunt is definitely far from being a bad coaster; however, when one inevitably associates it with top-tier Intamin rides like Maverick, Storm Runner, Skyrush and Intimidator 305, it pales in comparison.
