Wednesday, February 12^th was a normal day at Tampa Bay’s popular amusement park Busch Gardens until 2:38 P.M. when Busch Gardens’ newest ride addition Cheetah Hunt, made its last departure from the station. Sixteen people were riding the attraction at this time, when it became stuck at one of the ride’s peaks. Once the ride initially got stuck, it took three hours for the guests to be unloaded in the rain. After they all emerged from the ride, the visitors were provided umbrellas, drinks, and towels. Apparently it is not the first time the ride has stopped, although it was the first time it has been stuck with patrons on it.

Ever since it opened on May 27^th 2011, Cheetah Hunt has not had any reported malfunctions as serious as the most recent suspension of 16 visitors 60 feet in the air, however there have been some difficulties with the ride such as seatbelts coming undone.

“About two years ago, I was at Busch Gardens with a friend and we decided to go on Cheetah Hunt. It was still fairly new and I only rode it a few times before. It was my favorite ride and the line was short, so we went on. As soon as we hit the first drop my buckle came undone, and I could not push it back in. The only thing holding me in was the bar that was over my head and shoulders. After I got off, I told them what happened and they told me they would fix it. A couple of my friends have told me the same happened to them.” said freshman Brienna Snyder.

Luckily, no one was injured during the ride malfunction, but there have been previous incidents where not only patrons, but workers were wounded or killed.  For instance in late June 2001, one of the parks attractions Rhino Rally, had an incident that incapacitated multiple riders when the vehicle capsized. In 2009, a twenty year old Busch Gardens employee and USF football player, Maikon Bonani, was sent to the hospital in a sky ride incident. Bonani suspected that the sky ride door was open and grabbed onto it to check. The ride kept moving as he was grasping the door until it reached about 50 feet when he released his grip over a Jungala attraction. No one was injured and surprisingly Bonani was not paralyzed.  Thankfully, no one was hurt when Cheetah Hunt was stopped.