Kumba

Everything you expect from a roller coaster, is here. We rode it after Sheikra, so that’s probably why I didn’t give this 4 stars. But definitely worth the ride. Ride if if you love coasters. You won’t be disappointed! But try to ride it first!

This roller coaster is a whirlwind of action packed fun. A ton of twists and turns that will make you forget which way is up! If you consider yourself a roller coaster aficionado, then give this one a try.

This is a great coaster and one of my favorites at Busch Gardens. The ride is very thrilling as it has several loops and it goes very fast. My only issue with Kumba is that the large shoulder harness that you pull over your body rests too high up. My head comes right between it so that my ears bang against the harness at every sharp turn. This can lead to a bit of a headache after the ride.

The first time I rode this coaster, it made me sick as a dog. I got off the coaster and tried to act like a He-​Man in front of the kiddies who seemed to have had not issue with the ride, while all the while I wanted to find a place to puke and curl up in a ball.
The second time I rode this, I enjoyed every moment of the ride and felt fine afterwards, so I am not sure what the difference was.
This ride has a large number of inversions and corkscrews and is fast. It is a little bumpy for a steel coaster but I really enjoyed it.

Solid coaster. Not the smoothest of the looping coasters at Busch Gardens, but a fun time! It had some large, sweeping loops, fun twists and good speed! Busch Gardens has some newer coaster, which I end up ranking higher on my list of faves but I’d still make time to ride this coaster each trip!

It was 1995 — I was in 5^th grade and we took a school field trip to Busch Gardens for an overnight trip. There were a couple of firsts on this trip… some of which I would like to share.
1) This was the first time I heard Bone Thugz & Harmony’s hit song Crossroads. My buddy AJ had a discman CD player (don’t try to age me) with him and he let me take a listen. Became one of my favorite songs.
2) This was the first overnight school field trip that I ever took — and the only one that didn’t include me and my buddies plotting how to sneak in booze (it was a simpler time in elementary school — though high school was a lot more fun haha).
3) This was the first time I ever rode Kumba. And the second, third, fourth and possibly fifth — if memory serves me correctly.
Kumba will always hold a special place in my heart. Even riding it in recent years I get flashbacks to this field trip and while it’s often overlooked by the brand new, shiny rides that have been added since 1995 — it still holds it’s own!
It is nearly 3 minutes long — has 7 inversions — top speed of 60 MPH and the color combination of the track is one of the best you will see. That aqua and yellow (with some red) is iconic at this point.
A quick search turns up that even though it’s pretty old as far as coasters go — it’s still consistently ranked in the Top 50 (most recently #33) on roller coaster rankings. You’ve done well old friend. I hope they never decommission you — cause if they do… I guess I’ll meet you at the crossroads…

Kumba is showing her age, but every time I walk across the entry bridge and the coaster goes whirling around me — I remember their ad slogan for so long — «Feel the Roar». LOVE love love this coaster and one of my happiest memories of high school was coming to BG with my physics class. Kumba was still pretty new and BG provided us all sort of data to allow students to take time measurements and calculate speeds, car weights, etc. We also had some awesome «hands on» activities asking us to try and lift our feet, etc. at various points during the ride and then explain the physical forces at work. I still think Kumba has one of the best track designs/​layouts of any coaster and the «thrills» are perfectly paced to really make you feel it!

Kumba is the Old Man of the roller coasters at Busch Gardens, since this steel roller coaster was first opened in 1993. At the time this was the tallest, fastest and longest roller coaster in Florida, but of course those records have since been bestowed upon other coasters long after Kumba was up and running.
Even though this is a steel roller coaster with a «smooth» track, I still find this ride to be jarring, and it does have a bad habit of making people nauseous. I’ve watched people with motion sickness totally lose the contents of their stomach on this ride, and the BG crew seems to be constantly cleaning up «biological spills» after Barfing Bertha crawls off this ride on her hands and knees.
The name Kumba supposedly derives from the translation of the word «Roar» in an African dialect, but I prefer to think that it’s more closely derived from the word «Barf»… (see above).
Kumba begins with a right-​hand, 90-​degree turn out of the station which leads into a 143-​foot-​tall chain lift hill. From there you drop off to the left and then launch into a vertical loop around the lift hill. You’ll go through a total of 7 inversions including interlocking corkscrews and a zero gravity roll that leaves many people’s stomachs wayyyyyyyyy behind. The coaster zips along at 60 mph for just shy of three minutes, and you’ll pull 3.8 G’s on this ride.
It’s not my favorite ride in the park, as the coaster tends to slam you back and forth against your padded headrest, and the loops and twist can be very disorienting and bang you around in your seat. Try this ride at night for a very different experience!

An oldie but a goodie, Kumba was once known for having one of the largest inversion loops in the country. It’s pretty cool to watch, as it roars around you on the entrance bridge. I advise against the back for those who get nauseous. This coaster has lots and lots of loops that make it super fun. It’s also amazing in the dark, as it adds to the fun disorientation.

Loved this coaster. Lots of speed, twists, turns, loops. Also liked that my feet weren’t dangling — sitting firmly on the floor of the car. I did feel a bit like my brains were knocked around in my skull when all done — I guess everything it should be!

This ride was not for me. It is not a smooth ride so you will bang your head throughout. It was three of us and everyone felt dizzy afterward. This one got me a little sick actually. So if you are a kind of person who gets motion sickness on some rides, Kumba is not for you. If you like lots of loops, twists and G-​force, and have very strong balance towards crazy motions, then you will definitely enjoy this roller coaster.

Just like montu and cheetah awsome!!!

We started our evening on this coaster at HowlOScream. The line was short and we had a thrilling ride. It was fun and got our adrenaline pumped up for the rest of the night. A good place to start and worm your self up a bit because it is a bit shorter ride than some of the others.

This is a damn ride.
Ironically the best ride in Busch gardens from a technical perspective is also one of the oldest, as Kumba was built in 1993. It’s 144ft tall with a top speed of 60mph and features a diving loops, a zero G roll, a cobra roll, and two interlocking loops. And as if that wasn’t awesome enough, another thing this great oldie but goodie has going for it is that it was built… by B&M, today’s number one coaster maker in the world
b&M is known for making coaster that are smooth as silk and that move like water. They flow naturally, heavily and they feel like a dream, even when they are as fierce as Kumba, trying its very best to tear your senses out of your body.
This is, 20 years later, still, in my opinion the best full on sensory overload at Busch Gardens.
5 out of 5 stars for Kumba