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SeaWorld San Antonio Discussion Thread


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yeah, it's strange how Goliath is so much more forceful than many of the Batman clones

(the only one that I can compare it to is Batman at SFOG in terms of forcefulness)

I've not ridden Great White, but will in May (Planning to go to SWSA for the 7 Seas Food Festival)

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Ok so we were there on last Friday and I totally get the "80's vibe" and they definitely need to give some attention to updating the theming/atmosphere/look of the park (whatever you want to call it) Every coaster was doing one train ops with the exception of wave breaker and Steel Eel stopped every single train that I saw or was on, on the lift hill until somebody who had taken their mask down put it back on. So just getting through one cycle was tortuously slow. We really should not have needed QQ with the amount of people there but the ops were so slow I am glad we had them. Water rides all running which ended up being nice since it was mid 90's that day. 

I will say that the food festival was fairly well run and the items I sampled were all pretty tasty. However, the park was open til 6 and at about 5 we looked at each other and shrugged that we were more than ready to head out since there was really nothing left that we wanted to do. Keep in mind we had fooled around at the Alamo in the morning and didn't even get there until about noon. And that included the time it took to go through the dolphin encounter and aquarium right after the entrance but before you went through the turnstiles which is odd to begin with. So to me this is definitely a half day park.

One super annoyance was that we did not redeem our QQ voucher on the way in at guest services because the line was predictably long and I foolishly assumed we could do it at some location inside the park, like every other park I have ever been too 🙄 My bad I guess. Nope. We were told after we entered the park that we had to go back out and go to guest services to get the wristband, which after doing that were told by guest services that they were out of wristbands and just to use the paper. Seriously. So we had to go through the entrance queue again, for no reason. 

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^^I ran into the same issue with the one-time Quick Queue use last month (no wristbands at guest services), but I just entered the QQ line at Wave Breaker, showed the ride operator my pass on my phone and explained the situation, and she was happy to let me on the ride.  I'd say as long as you're honest and the employee is friendly enough, they *should* let you enter without a problem.

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I don't remember to be honest so it may have but it didn't say it was the only way, keeping the paper in tact all day in your sweaty pocket and constantly dragging it out is annoying so we usually just get the wristbands. The thing that I was irked about was that when we asked we were told to go back out to guest services and then it turned out that was a wasted trip back out and standing in line.

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On 4/12/2021 at 9:14 AM, coasternut said:

^ This park has TERRIBLE OPERATIONS. I was there last month and left disgusted. Orlando is sooo much better.

When I was there they had 3 people checking restraints on Steel Eel. 1 person checking all the seats on the left side, one person checking all the seats on the right side, and one person checking all the seats on the left side a second time. They couldn’t get a full train out even with one train ops because the one person grouping and assigning seats was constantly having to deal with parents insisting their undersized kid should be able to ride. 
 

Aside from ride ops, they could really use some infrastructure upgrades. Guest services inside the park closed before the park did, probably the only theme park I’ve been to without a large gift shop near the entrance/exit, and the restaurant lines were long and slow despite many people dining at the festival booths. San Diego does a good job getting me to open my wallet inside the park, but I left San Antonio without buying any food or drinks and only buying one magnet. 

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3 hours ago, clippers6 said:

When I was there they had 3 people checking restraints on Steel Eel. 1 person checking all the seats on the left side, one person checking all the seats on the right side, and one person checking all the seats on the left side a second time.
 

This sounds like one of the checkers on the left was in training.  It happens.

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It is interesting to hear about all the terrible operations, because I think I just go to visit them on a really good day. When I visited Sat., March 6th, Texas Stingray, Great White, & Wave Breaker all had two trains running, with two ops checking the train and an additional op at the dispatch panel. They were consistently putting out trains within 30 seconds of the previous train parking behind the station, and I had even a few roll-throughs on each without stacking.

Steel Eel still had numbers on the platform so the attendant there didn't have to physically direct people where to go, just tell them the row number. That ride started and ended with one train on my day, but had two trains in the middle of the day with maybe a minute of being stacked on the brake-run before rolling in to the station. I'd heard on odd rummer that they weren't letting the train on the brake-run roll into the station after the previous one was over halfway up the lift, but that wasn't the case for me. 

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So I originally wasn't going to do a trip report for my visit on Saturday, March 6th, primarily because I was being lazy, but after my previous post here and having some time, I figured I might as well. 

This was my first time in San Antonio, and thus my first time at the park. I got there about 9:40ish, & the Covid & security checks were a breeze. My platinum card/quick queue/dining pass were set up at guest relations, then into the line to get into the dry park itself, all before 10. It was not a very busy day at the park, and with the quick queue & multi-train ops most of the time, I never waited more than maybe 10min for a ride. Food lines weren't too long either, again waiting maybe 10min max, and I got four or five uses out of dining deal (VERY worth it). All the food I had was delicious, particularly the barbecue grill place near Texas Stingray. For Covid procedures, they were spraying/wiping the trains down every hour or so (wasn't able to discern the actual timing), and Wave Breaker was the only coaster loading every row. 

I also split may day at the park with a quick pop over to ZDTs for Switchback, leaving about 2pm and getting back at 5pm. It was certainly a quaint little place, definitely an FEC, but one that managed to shoehorn in a great unique coaster. Switchback was running one train, with the middle seats closed, and being wiped down between each cycle. Fortunately, since it wasn't much to do, the ops were still able to clean, load, and send the next train in under a minute each cycle. The line was never more than 12-15 people, but I waited about 15min max for one of my front-row rides due to an amassing of kids there that took up probably four cycles. 

As for the rides themselves, here are my thoughts in the order I rode them. I only rode the major coasters between the two locations, but with not much else for my tastes at either, I was very satisfied with the amount of rides I got in. I'm going to rate the coasters by listing where they stand in my current rankings. 

Steel Eel - 5x

This was my first-ever Morgan coaster, and though my first ride near the front did not give as much airtime as I was told there'd be, all my subsequent rides across the train did. I think I prefer the back of the train, as though the airtime was better in the second half in the front, the first drop and larger hills were genuinely intense in the back after the ride warmed up. For not actually being a hyper it still felt plenty tall and fast, too. Overall, I was impressed and look forward to comparing it to other Morgans when I'm able to get them. #17 of 68.

Wave Breaker - 5x

I was very excited for this ride, as it was the latest new-to-me Intamin coaster I'd ridden since first riding my local Half-Pipe, an eight-year gap. The riding position was interesting, as it felt very exposed but still comfortable, and being able to hunch over & grab the handle bars was unique. I'd heard people bash this ride for being boring, but I thought it was a wonderful family-oriented coaster, with more intense launches and laterals than I was expecting. Flying over the water was cool too, and it was perfect to just let go and enjoy the ride. #30 of 68.

Great White - 4x

I hadn't been on a Batman clone in almost a decade, not since last riding the original at SFGAm in late 2011. This coaster was fun, and though it slouched a little bit compared to its sister coaster a few miles down the road, I found it to still be plenty intense on the positive G's, while running smooth and having some solid whip. Truly can't go wrong with a B&M invert. You can tell Great White was adjusted for its' terrain, and I thought the coaster's color scheme, landscaping, and station design all worked very well together. #20 of 68.

Texas Stingray - 22x

This GCI was my most anticipated ride in this park, and that shows by how many rides I squeezed in. I think it's a work of art, and it (very) slightly edges out GoldStriker as my current favorite wooden coaster, though I didn't get to ride GS nearly as much as this ride. Definitely a back row ride, especially for that first drop, which provided increasingly-strong airtime as it went. Being a warm day, this ride showed its masterful pacing that held a sense of speed to the end, and it is still very smooth. I love the variety of sensations among the airtime and laterals that are packed in to this course. Night rides here were some of the best I've ever had too. I'm partial to enjoying wood coasters, and GCI has become my favorite manufacturer of them with the three I've been on, so it is no surprise I thought Texas Stingray was excellent. #6 of 68.

Switchback - 4x

Gravity Group really showed their engineering ability with both how this ride works, as well as how much they fit into such as small space. While this coaster was much shakier than the other San Antonio-area woodie, and the seats were a bit less comfortable (I'm not a large guy, but it surprisingly felt like a tight fit), the first half of this coaster was dramatically intense. The air hill after the first drop shoots you out of your seat, and then it feels like the train further pulls out from beneath you as it suddenly banks to the right. Going forward, up until the hill prior to the spike, is just jam-packed airtime and laterals, with the fun overbank too. I preferred the ride in the back, but the spike was better in the front, with just a second or so of weightlessness, and it is definitely weird for a wood coaster to suddenly just fall backwards and complete the course that way. Not a bad ride to have in rural Texas. #18 of 68.

Now for some photos:

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The view from across the lake was great!IMG_20210306_100949650_HDR.thumb.jpg.67b8a448ca01580b1b38ba9808a93c43.jpg

I didn't get any specific photos of Wave Breaker, so this will do.

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Steel Eel's placement definitely makes that 150ft look very prominent.

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It felt like you could get very close to Great White's loop.IMG_20210306_114101254_HDR.thumb.jpg.4329476df0d99aedb19d43d17bfd5ba2.jpg

Great White is such a pretty coaster.

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Definitely glad this park has, what I consider, a truly stand-out coaster. 

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Spike!

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Was weird coming upon this coaster that not just dominated the park, but this whole section of town.

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Got this photo of the entrance at night. 

I left SWSA with a high opinion of it, and think that with the ongoing investment, this park will continue to be a worthwhile visit for those visiting San Antonio. Will probably do a trip report soon for my visits to SFFT in the two following days.

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When we were there a couple weeks ago we both thought Stingray was by far the best coaster in the park and I thought Wavebreaker was a lot of fun too!  I was a little underwhelmed by Steel Eel, liked Mamba at WOF much better. But to be fair I only ended up riding it once in the front row. Glad to hear they had multi train ops, maybe they will have better ops than we experienced going into summer.

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6 hours ago, teacherkim said:

When we were there a couple weeks ago we both thought Stingray was by far the best coaster in the park and I thought Wavebreaker was a lot of fun too!  I was a little underwhelmed by Steel Eel, liked Mamba at WOF much better. But to be fair I only ended up riding it once in the front row. Glad to hear they had multi train ops, maybe they will have better ops than we experienced going into summer.

I hate to be that person, but, yeah, you missed out and messed up! Steel Eel in the back car is AMAZING!!!!!

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18 hours ago, SharkTums said:

I hate to be that person, but, yeah, you missed out and messed up! Steel Eel in the back car is AMAZING!!!!!

I don't doubt you but the ops were so slow that day that even with qq a second ride was about a 30 -40 minute wait and eating apple strudel and ice cream at the Germany booth while listening to an accordion player do German tunes seemed a better use of my time.

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  • 1 month later...

I visited the park for the first time today. It was a wonderful visit!

Texas Stingray surprised me. What an amazing wooden coaster. It has some great turns, quick airtime pops, a nice first drop (reminds me of GhostRider’s), and a decent length to it. Even though this was my first visit, it seems like a great addition to the park that was very much needed. I am glad this coaster managed to open a few weeks before the shutdown, otherwise it would probably still be closed like the rest of SeaWorld’s new coasters…

Steel Eel was also good. You really slam into your seat at the bottom of the hills in the back cars, but the airtime was very sustained and floaty. Horrible operations but the park wasn’t too busy so it didn’t matter. This is probably the best “hyper” west of the Mississippi, to be honest!

Wave Breaker was fine. It was cool to “ski” over the water, and the launches had a bit more kick than I expected, but it was all around pretty mild and definitely a family ride. It was my least favorite of the “big 4”, however the operations were very good and they ran two trains with very little stacking.

Great White was…well…Batman. I LOVE the Batman clones so this was a great ride as usual, but yeah, I can ride these anywhere. So I snagged a front row ride and called it good.

Overall the park impressed me. It was my first non-San Diego SeaWorld park, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We ended staying until early afternoon and headed to SFFT for the rest of the day. Texas Stingray was really the highlight! I hear the park is adding a Screamin’ Swing soon based on the pieces that have arrive on site, that will also be a great addition. I think this park has a nice future ahead of them.

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SeaWorld San Antonio has announced details for this year's Howl-O-Scream!

https://seaworld.com/san-antonio/events/howl-o-scream/haunted-houses/

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HAUNTED HOUSES

NEW: THE SWAMP AT BLACKWATER BAYOU

 

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The Swamp at Blackwater Bayou transports unsuspecting victims deep into a mystifying and horror-filled Louisianan bayou. These unwanted guests will venture through the moss, muck, and mayhem of a foggy boathouse, swamp, cemetery, and mansion.

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Will you be able to escape alive or fall victim to the legends of The Swamp? 

New for 2022, The Swamp at Blackwater Bayou, transports unsuspecting victims deep into a mystifying and horror-filled Louisianan bayou.  These unwanted guests will venture through the moss, muck, and mayhem of a foggy boathouse, swamp, cemetery, and mansion. Voodoo curses will render victims blind, the undead and the cursed will torment, and animal-human hybrids will creep alongside as they try to make their way through 12 spine-tingling scenes of absolute horror.  Extremely brave explorers will be rewarded with three additional VIP scenes if they have enough courage to  risk a grizzly end! 

MILTON CREEK MANOR

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A beautiful and lavish hotel had to close its doors after mysterious murders and gruesome events began. After many years, the doors are opened for any brave individuals who dare to walk its halls… but you aren’t the only guest at Milton Creek Manor. Your room is ready, are you brave enough to check into terror?

ZOMBIE HORDE

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Romero Corporation welcomes you to Matheson's Corners. Beware of your invitation to these parts...one wrong move and you may become part of the Zombie Horde!

KARVER'S KRADLE

KK-464x286.jpeg.4a03a4e4049af4ac9988e7ec2f2d9134.jpeg

They say that Mr. Karver put his heart and soul into his puppetry. They had no idea....

UNEARTHED: SCARLETT'S REVENGE

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During maintenance at the park, an excavation crew uncovered a centuries old house buried deep beneath the ground. Upon opening its door, a sinister force is unearthed - Scarlett - a furious demon who wields a deadly deck of magical cards summoning creatures of Howl-O-Scream past.

TERROR-TORIES

NEW: THE SWAMP AT BLACKWATER BAYOU

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New for 2022, The Swamp at Blackwater Bayou, transports unsuspecting victims deep into a mystifying and horror-filled Louisianan bayou.  Venture through the moss, muck, and mayhem of a foggy boathouse, murky swamp, cemetery, and abandoned mansion... or is it? Voodoo curses will render you blind. The undead and the cursed will torment you.  

NEW: PREY-GROUND

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Not for child’s play! Enter the Prey-ground if you dare, where your childhood nightmares come alive.

NEW: THE SINDUSTRY DISTRICT

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Welcome to the SINdustry district… where your wants and desires come alive (or dead?). Enjoy drinks, music, and freaks in this fantasy where your imagination will run free. You might regret it!

RIPPER ROW

RipperRow-464x286.jpeg.1cb022cdfe6d65684b01ef6050d6f8e1.jpeg

Stroll through the alleys of 19th century London, but be careful of dark corners. The spirit of Jack the Ripper lies in wait to disembowel more bodies.

SHADOW STREET

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The demon dolls have found a new place to wreak havoc, stalking the pathway in front of Mr. Karver’s Kradle. Frightful surprises await those who dare to take a closer look.

VAMPIRE POINT

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The disturbing, grotesque, and outright terrifying collide as the world's most frightening urban legends descend on this decaying town for a night of terror.

ZOMBIE ZONE

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A horrible accident changed the residents of Matheson's Corner into the living dead. This Horde continues to spread the poisonous zombie making substance. There's always room for more!

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  • 2 weeks later...

SeaWorld San Antonio has announced Tidal Surge, the largest installation of an S&S Screamin' Swing!

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SeaWorld San Antonio Welcomes World's Tallest and Fastest Screaming Swing

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/seaworld-san-antonio-welcomes-worlds-tallest-and-fastest-screaming-swing-301360640.html

SeaWorld San Antonio is proud to announce the all-new, world record breaking, high-thrill attraction – Tidal Surge. Opening in Spring 2022, Tidal Surge will be the World's Tallest and Fastest Screaming Swing and will take riders on a journey above the clouds to feel the sensation of flying high above the park.

Tidal Surge will seat 40 riders and feature two pendulum-like arms that will soar progressively higher to a staggering height of 135 feet at its peak. The dueling arms will alternate sides and sway back-and-forth at 68 mph, creating multiple airtime moments that levitate guests out of their seats with each heart stopping swing. Riders' legs will dangle and hang as they soar over the waterski lake and take in the beautiful views of the park, while reaching multiple negative G moments before plunging back towards the earth.

The colossal Tidal Surge will mark a major addition to SeaWorld San Antonio's thrill ride portfolio, which currently includes four thrilling rollercoasters, a high swing, two animal rescue adventure experiences and a fun-filled family coaster perfect for families with younger children. With this new addition, SeaWorld San Antonio will feature even more adrenaline-pumping experiences, spanning a range of ages and thrills.

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Now there's a Screamin' Swing worth a line!  For comparison, Barnstormer at Dollywood hits 45mph and the swing height maxes out at 110 feet.  23mph faster and 25 feet higher? Sign me up!

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18 hours ago, KBrylczyk said:

Now there's a Screamin' Swing worth a line!  For comparison, Barnstormer at Dollywood hits 45mph and the swing height maxes out at 110 feet.  23mph faster and 25 feet higher? Sign me up!

ORRRR just fast enough and just tall enough to be taller and faster than Skyhawk, the current record holder.

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Crazy it took this long for it to lose its title!

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