Sand Serpent

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Sand Serpent is a steel Wild Mouse roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Florida. It began its life at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 1996 as Wild Izzy, later renamed Wild Maus and running there until 2003. In 2004 the ride moved to Tampa Bay and became Cheetah Chase, opening in the Timbuktu section. In 2011 the ride was rethemed to Sand Serpent to reduce confusion with the park’s newer Cheetah Hunt.

The coaster was built by Mack Rides (Wild Mouse / Compact Mobile model) and designed by Werner Stengel. It stands 45.9 feet tall, is 1,213.9 feet long, and reaches speeds of 28 mph. A single car carries four riders in two rows, and a complete ride lasts about 1 minute and 50 seconds. The layout features a series of tight, parallel turns and a final brake, with the car leaving the station into a left turn and climbing the lift hill before the twists and turns. Unlike some Wild Mouse models, it did not have dips before the brake run.

Over the years the ride’s color scheme changed: it started with green track and yellow supports and Olympic-themed cars, and later appeared with blue track and orange supports, with cars in blue, orange, or red. The ride opened to a positive reception in Williamsburg, though its Tampa debut received less major press coverage.

Sand Serpent operated in the Pantopia section of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. It closed on July 9, 2023, to make way for a new family inverted coaster, Phoenix Rising, which opened in July 2024.