Tigris launch coaster opening April 19 at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

What has been dubbed Florida’s tallest launch coaster now has an opening date.

Tigris, a 150-foot-tall triple-launch steel coaster, will open at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay on April 19.

“Tigris will catapult riders through an exhilarating array of looping twists with forward and backward motion, breath-taking drops, a 150-foot skyward surge, and an inverted heartline roll, reaching a top speed of more than 60 miles per hour,” Busch Gardens said in a press release. “Tigris will race riders along more than 1,800 feet of steel track designed to mimic the awe-inspiring agility of the world’s largest and most powerful cat –the tiger.”

The ride takes over space in the Stanleyville section of the park formerly occupied by the Tanganyika Tidal Wave water ride, which closed in April 2016. Tigris was first announced in September 2018 and the coaster track was completed in February.

Annual passholders to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay will get exclusive ride time on Tigris before the park opens to other guests for the first two weekends in May.

The park, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, is already working on a larger coaster project set to open in 2020.

Using infrastructure from the shuttered wooden coaster Gwazi, Busch Gardens is building a new hybrid steel and wood coaster that is being promoted as the fastest and steepest of its kind in the world. The Federal Aviation Administration recently approved permits that set the coaster’s height at 210 feet — five feet taller than what is currently the tallest hybrid coaster, Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.