The concept of an inverted roller coaster with inversions was developed by Jim Wintrode, the general manager of Six Flags Great America, in the early 1990s. To develop the idea, Wintrode worked with Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard - from Swiss roller coaster manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard - and engineer Robert Mampe to develop which opened in May 1992. In early 1995, planning began for Montu, fourteen months prior to the ride opening to the public. The owners of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Busch Entertainment, entered into an agreement with Bolliger and Mabillard which would see them add Montu to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in 1996, followed in 1997 by the additions of Alpengeist at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and The Great White at SeaWorld San Antonio. On May 16, 1996, Montu officially opened to the public. At the time of its opening to the public, the ride was the tallest and fastest inverted roller coaster in the world.
Characteristics
The Montu stands tall. With a top speed of, the ride features seven inversions including two vertical loops measuring, respectively, an Immelmann loop, a zero-g roll, a batwing and a corkscrew. Riders experience up to 3.8 times the force of gravity on the 3 minute ride. Montu operates with three steel and fiberglass trains, each containing eight cars, each sitting 4 riders in per row for a total of 32 riders per train. Montu was launched alongside Busch Gardens Tampa Bay's Egypt section of the park, which reportedly cost approximately US$20 million. With an overall theme around Egyptian mythology, the ride is named after the god of war Montu, a man depicted with the head of a hawk. When the ride was first launched, a Nile crocodile exhibit was located underneath the first turn out of the station. These animals were later relocated to the park's main animal habitat.
Ride experience
The ride begins with the floor retracting which leads to the front gate opening. The trains leaves the station with a small dip and turnaround out of the station tracking towards the chain lift hill. Once at the top, riders twist down to the left and into a vertical loop, reaching speeds of up to. Following the vertical loop, the track passes through a tunnel and zooms into an Immelmann loop, providing a footchopper element with the pylon. After completing the Immelmann, the train goes through a zero-g roll, where riders experience a feeling of weightlessness. Following the zero-g roll, the track hits a batwing, entering a trench at the valley between the two inversions. Leaving the batwing, the track rises up in to the mid-course brake run. Following the second brake run, the track makes a dive to the right into a trench where it hits a vertical loop. The track then exits the trench, making a three-quarter clockwise turn. After passing under the zero-g roll, the track makes a left handturn over the first vertical loop's exit and dives into another trench to hit a corkscrew, before making another right turn onto the final brake run.
Reception
Montu has generally been well received. Tom Buckingham of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune commended the ride, giving kudos to the park "for designing its monster rides so that wait times put Disney to shame". He stated "you'll generally be on the ride and screaming" before riders get a chance to change their mind. Sabrina Rojas Weiss of the Lakeland Ledger stated "the way this ride twisted my body upside-down and sideways seriously confused my senses". The Los Angeles Times put the ride on their "high rollers" list of new roller coasters for 1996. In 2012, Montu was featured on the Travel Channel TV series Insane Coaster Wars in the "Hang 'em High" category. Although the ride lost out to Aftershock at Silverwood Theme Park, Theme Park Review's Robb Alvey believed Montu would beat the competition which also included SeaWorld Orlando's Manta and Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Alpengeist. In Amusement Todays annual Golden Ticket Awards, Montu has consistently ranked highly. Montu is also one of only seven roller coasters to appear in the top 50 for all 15 years. It debuted at position 3 in 1998, before rising to position 2 the following year.
