Busch Gardens Tampa Bay · Operating · 2005

SheiKra

200 ft · 70 mph

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ExtremeBusch Gardens Tampa Bay Official park siteStanleyville

Bolliger & Mabillard200 ft · 70 mph

Bolliger & Mabillard's SheiKra became North America's first dive coaster when it opened in 2005, holding riders face-down at the top of a 200-foot, 90-degree drop before releasing them into a 70 mph plunge through Stanleyville's jungle ruins. Beyond that signature first drop, the layout adds an Immelmann loop, a splashdown water effect, and a second 138-foot dive through an underground tunnel across 3,188 feet of track. The ride was retrofitted with floorless trains in 2007 to match its sister dive coaster, Griffon, at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Specifications

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Ride profile

Scaled against Busch Gardens Tampa Bay's operating coasters

DiveSteel

Park intensity

Height

200 ft

#2 of 7 at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

Height200 ft

Speed70 mph

Length3,188 ft

Inversions1

Ride experience

Dive
First drop200.00 ft
Steel

Ride details

Drop

200 ft

Specs from buschgardens.com

Learn more

All guides

Dive coasters

A held moment on a vertical edge, then a steep release — signature B&M dive machines.

Held drops and dive moments

When the train pauses before the fall, anticipation becomes part of the element.

Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M)

Swiss manufacturer known for smooth inverts, hypers, dives, and wing coasters.

Centripetal force in loops

Loops are engineered so the track pushes you into the seat — not so you “hold on by gravity.”

History

Sourced timeline and background for SheiKra.

Timeline

2005
SheiKra opens as North America's first dive coaster
Bolliger & Mabillard's Dive Coaster model debuts with a 200-foot, 90-degree drop, an Immelmann loop, and a second underground plunge.
Source
2007
SheiKra reopens with floorless trains
Following the debut of sister dive coaster Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, SheiKra's original floored trains are replaced with floorless cars.
Source

Background

Busch Gardens design vice president Mark Rose pitched a dive coaster for Tampa in the early 2000s; his original concept called for a 160-foot drop, but park executives pushed for something taller, and Bolliger & Mabillard delivered a 200-foot design instead. Announced in October 2004 as North America's first Dive Coaster and only the third in the world, SheiKra opened to the public on May 21, 2005, in the Stanleyville jungle-ruins setting it still occupies today.

The layout climbs to 200 feet on a 45-degree lift before tipping riders over a 90-degree vertical edge — holding them face-down over the walkway below for a beat before releasing the drop at 70 mph. Beyond that opening plunge, SheiKra adds an Immelmann loop, a splashdown water effect, and a second 138-foot dive through an underground tunnel across its 3,188-foot circuit, a combination no other dive coaster had attempted at the time. The ride originally ran floored trains; when sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg opened the floorless Griffon in 2007, Tampa retrofitted SheiKra with matching floorless cars that June.

SheiKra placed in a three-way tie for Amusement Today's fourth-best new steel coaster of 2005 and has stayed a fixture in national rankings ever since, its holding-brake moment becoming one of the most photographed instants at the park.

Two decades on, SheiKra remains Stanleyville's centerpiece thrill ride and one of only a handful of dive coasters anywhere with a second inversion-style drop built into the layout.