Nick: It’s IAAPA week here in Orlando, and while all eyes are on the new rides coming in 2020, Busch Gardens Tampa has quietly filed plans for a new attraction we likely won’t see until 2021. Read on to find out more!



Code named “Project Jethro”, these plans depict a 1.83 acre project area involving demolition, grading and drainage work around the former Rhino Rally queue. We’ll start by taking a peek at the demolition plan for the area, which calls for the removal of some of the paths leading up to the old queue, the first covered area of the queue, and the concrete/infrastructure around the former loading area:

Next, we take a look at the new paving and grading plan for the completed area, which shows the reconfigured path leading up to the queue building, two new paths connecting the queue building with a large concrete pad, a new exit path, and a new back of house gravel road, presumably for maintenance access:

I’ve thrown together this handy overlay so you can see how it all fits in within the park:

Since the entire project area is only 1.83 acres and consists mostly of new concrete and path re-configuration, we’re definitely not looking at another major coaster project here – but coming right after Iron Gwazi, I don’t think anyone was expecting that anyway. So what could it be? Our best guess is a Screamin’ Swing, just like Finnegan’s Flyer at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. The layout of the new concrete pad seems to indicate that riders will be split into two groups before boarding the ride, which lines up pretty well with the configuration of these dueling Screamin’ Swings:

Unfortunately, these plans don’t tell us much more than what we’ve shown above, so our guess could be totally wrong! If you think it might be something else or we missed something obvious, let us know in the comments below!