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It’s what now?

Sea World Orlando I hate opening a trip report like this, especially about a park I have always really liked, but our experience at Sea World Orlando was the worst of our trip. I feel guilty saying that because nothing about it reflects negatively on the park’s offerings during normal times. But, as we are constantly reminded of every day, these are not normal times. Every aspect of park operations has been affected by Covid-19. That’s as true for Six Flags as it is for Disney. For now, we can only compare what parks are offering under present conditions, not under ideal ones. With that in mind, I think Sea World Orlando is handling the pandemic worse than any park I’ve visited this year. Kraken was closed. Journey to Atlantis was closed. Empire of the Penguin was closed. Wild Arctic was closed. Infinity Falls did not open until 3pm (when the park closed at 5). Countless restaurants were closed. Sure, who cares about Empire and Wild Arctic. I don’t, but with so few rides to do, the park felt lifeless and depressing. Kind of like how Six Flags Magic Mountain feels when all rides are running. Sea World is not all about rides, but that is less the case now than ever. With the chain’s focus shifting further towards new ride additions over animal exhibits, it felt like the core of the modern Sea World experience was absent. Animal Kingdom and Universal Studios face the same limitations Sea World does right now, but at least they opened the vast majority of their major rides. Our day at Universal was wracked with breakdowns, but the effort was there. This is how Infinity Falls looked throughout most of the day—but its pumping soundtrack always made it feel like a careening raft with cowering riders was just around the corner! I’m not much of a rapids guy, but a big, flashy, new one like Infinity Falls still appeals to me at least to try it out. We didn’t get the chance for the five hours it was closed and didn’t feel like waiting the full 50 minute posted queue for the remaining two hours it was open. It’s something I’d willingly have waited 25-30 for, but with the operating day drawing to a close our time was better spent doing walk-ons on Manta and Mako. Still, it’s a visually spectacular ride and a great use of what was previously unused space, something SWO still has a lot of. Missing out on Kraken was especially disappointing for us. There are five coasters I feel a particularly strong sentimental attachment to: Big Thunder Mountain (both DL and MK), Viper (SFMM), Millennium Force, and Kraken. Each of them marked formative moments in my development as a coaster enthusiast. Each one was also the benefactor of some truly memorable times I shared with my father. It means a lot that we’re still doing this together over twenty years later. We rode Kraken twenty-four times in one afternoon back in 2001 when Kraken still had its new B&M shine. It was my first real coaster marathon and Kraken was even my #1 for a few years in the early 2000s. I’ve ridden Kraken myself lots of times in between, but we were really looking forward to riding it together again for the first time since 01. If Kraken alone were closed, my complaint would be little more than an emotional letdown and I wouldn’t dwell on it at length. But with so much else closed, learning we’d miss out on Kraken meant the day kicked off with a bad start. So what did we do? Well, we rode Manta and Mako a bunch of times, saw Shark Reef and Orca Encounter, and watched lots of Infinity Falls rafts with only 1-2 riders apiece from the midway. I’ve had worse days at parks, but if Universal can open shit like Jimmy Fallon and Shrek during a pandemic, I think the flagship Sea World park can at least run Kraken and Atlantis. The stillborn Icebreaker looks great and once it’s up and running will certainly add energy to this section of the park. I hope Sea World doesn’t skimp on the presentation though. The plot of land needs some faux icebergs and other bits of polar theming. The orange color may look odd now, but it matches the hull color of many actual ice breakers and will look great against icy tones if the park adds them. It won’t garner the kind of attention Iron Gwazi and VelociCoaster will, but it’s exactly what the park needs. Sea World Orlando lacks a large-scale family coaster like San Diego and San Antonio have—unless you want to count the second half of Mako. Ice Breaker looks like it could deliver some really nice airtime if it crests these hills fast enough. Doesn’t need to be (and probably shouldn’t be) ejector air, but some pleasant floater would be perfect. Manta To me, the day Dueling Dragons closed for good was the day Manta inherited the mantle of best coaster in Orlando. I don’t think it’s the best in Florida. Kumba and Montu still top it for me. I will also stop short of calling Manta an elite, A-level coaster. But in an area that, at least for a few more months, is home to lots of good and very good, but perhaps not great coasters, I think Manta has the most going for it. While no Flying Dinosaur, it has the intensity we’ve come to expect from the large B&M flying coasters, the visuals on-ride are satisfying, it’s well-themed and landscaped, and it’s still as smooth as the day it opened. No B&M rattle here and the train doesn’t vibrate at the bottom of the pretzel loop the way Tatsu has for a while now. Mine might not be a common opinion, but I can’t really say there’s another Orlando coaster I consistently enjoy more. Hulk and Mako finish weak, Kraken hasn’t aged well, Everest is playing a different game, Mummy needs an update, Rockit is too compromised from a designer’s perspective, Mine Blower runs Timberliners, and I haven’t ridden Hagrid yet so don’t ask. Hopefully VelociCoaster raises the bar, but until we find out, it’s Manta for me. A quick note comparing Manta to Acrobat at Nagashima. While obviously clones, they feel nothing alike to me and I’m not sure why. Manta is landscaped better, but that’s not it. Acrobat just felt lackluster and tame to me while Manta doesn’t. Maybe it’s the factor of having an RMC next door. 8.5/10 Manta is the most well-presented ride in the park. Empire of the Penguin and Journey to Atlantis are the best themed in the typical sense. What Manta has is the best full package. It fits in perfectly and feels wholly organic to its surroundings. Too bad the fountains are barely working these days. The drop of the midcourse delivers a nice punch of airtime in the back two rows. Something about the flying positions amplifies all the typical rider sensations. I don’t think Manta has another real highlight element after the pretzel loop. Nothing else stands out above the rest of the layout. Everything is all around very solid. Manta’s lift hill provides a nice view of the Orange County Convention Center area (it’s better than it sounds). The first drop feels like a slightly flattened version of Tatsu’s. While Tatsu’s pretzel loop is all about long-lasting positive g’s, Manta’s is a little different. You still get plenty of positives, but the best part is the surprise airtime at the peak in the first two rows. Mako If you slapped the ending of Candymonium onto Mako after the speed hill it would probably be B&M’s best hyper coaster (well maybe second best—Goliath’s helix and ejector bunny hills are pretty damn good). Everything from Mako’s drop up to the MCBR is great and then the ending just fizzles. Okay, so if you’re in the back left seat and the train is light enough not to get trimmed severely you can get a nice pop of air plus lats, but you shouldn’t have to place so many conditions on it to praise the ride experience. Mako’s final third comes across like B&M was so intent on mimicking the movements of whatever they think a shark is supposed to do that they neglected to design the best layout they could. I still think Mako is a very good coaster, but I put it fourth among B&M hypers after Goliath, Nitro, and Candymonium. 8/10 I find that Mako runs best when trains are about half-full. This way they still carry some momentum but are light enough to not get creamed by the trim brake after the hammerhead. It remained a walk-on for all but our first three rides of the day. I didn’t count my ride totals but it was enough to quell some of our disappointment over all the closures. Sea World’s three B&Ms complement each other nicely. That said, I hope the park sticks with other manufacturers going forward. I know nothing about the B&M “surf coaster” prototype they’re supposedly getting. I just know I’d rather the B&Ms go to the Texas and California parks now. Unless… Sea World wants to build a giga and call it “Long Fin Mako,” while reducing the existing Mako to “Short Fin Mako.” That would actually be an awful idea. Don’t do that Sea World. Mako asks “How come my cousin named after a snake gets a splashdown finale but I don’t?” I remember the first time I saw Kraken in person while riding along this road just after sunset. The trees were much shorter then and you could view the entire coaster across the glimmering lake. Now Mako rules the skyline.

^ this is an excellent point, and goes hand in hand with something I would be remiss not to point out to u4icmusic : of COURSE they now have the fudge pre-packaged. Less hands touching it, and having "fresh" fudge exposed to the air - during a pandemic with an AIRBORNE pandemic - would *appear* to some guests, like it's being unsafe (whether it would be considered unsafe or not). yet it's taken as "doesn't care about the guest experience". . . FFS - even having never been to the park, and not knowing the exact reasoning? I GET it. Same reason Six Flags has gone cashless in several parks, and is really pushing the mobile ordering.

The construction of the coaster is progressing well: source source

That's a great prediction and all, but it was made five hours after Indiana Beach announced the new coaster on Tuesday.

Funny story. I once bought a book called "Just enough Scandinavian" which was basically a travel language book for Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. The intro to the book stated "Most people in these countries speak really good English so don't worry about the rest of the book!"

Don't worry about it seeming rude to not know the language, nobody in Europe thinks that. We have so many different languages here in Europe so nobody can expect everyone to know all of them I for example do not expect anyone speaking Norwegian when they come to Norway, English is fine

I'm not sure if porn is allowed on TPR, but here are some recent photos from Walibi Belgium's Facebook page showing the new trains for their yet to be named hyper. Intamin are creating such beautiful trains at the moment. Also love the look of the wave turn in the background.

^^Come with us first, I make it easier.

The definition of chaotic good probably has a picture of you with a pint of your favorite beer as an example, that's why.

So a classic ride followed by a classic roller coaster. I hope this is a continued trend for IB. Another version of Knoebels would be great.

Now officially the tallest coaster in the Benelux. photo: Walibi