Busch Gardens offers a variety of gravity-defying rides, more recently Falcon’s Fury, but since 1999 the park has also offered its visitors a classic treat. Enter Gwazi, a sprawling wooden roller coaster. After 15 years, Busch Gardens’ retro wooden roller coaster is bracing for its final ride. Gwazi, revamped in 2011, will be closing early next year, park spokesman Travis Claytor said.

Claytor says, “Visitor surveys and a lower percentage of park visitors riding Gwazi prompted the decision.”

Busch Gardens will be closing down Gwazi roller coaster sometime in the first part of next year. Gwazi is the park’s dueling wooden roller coaster reaching speeds of over 51 miles per hour.

“The closing of the ride is not related to the cost cuts and layoffs across SeaWorld and Busch Gardens that occurred earlier this month when the company CEO resigned.” Claytor continued, explaining that he did not have numbers on how many were laid off at Busch Gardens at that time.

“Wooden, all parks used to have them, but steel roller coasters passed wooden back in the 1960s and now there are five times as many steel as there are wooden,” said Paul Ruben.“They are classic roller coasters. Everyone or almost everyone enjoys riding a wooden coaster,”

There are no details about what will take the place of the high-maintenance Gwazi. Fans reacted on social media, expressing their sadness over the news but hope for what may replace Gwazi. Many people commented about how rough Gwazi’s wooden twists and turns would be. Busch Gardens later confirmed that Gwazi would officially close on February 1, 2015.

FSA Connection  Questions

1. What is the main idea of the piece?
2. In the piece, the word “sprawling” is used to describe what?
3. Does the author seem to show any bias? Explain why or why not.
4. Select the best 2 sentences from the story that summarize it the best.
5. What is the connotation of the word “dueling” in the story?