SeaWorld Orlando (SWO) Discussion Thread

[Rollercoaster Rider]

Not sure if going with Intamin is a good idea. I'm guessing it was 1/2 off cause of Falcon's Fury. I would've bet on Mack (I know Mack doesn't build Rapids rides but I'm sure they could, Or Zamperla)

[DirkFunk]

Not sure if going with Intamin is a good idea. I'm guessing it was 1/2 off cause of Falcon's Fury. I would've bet on Mack (I know Mack doesn't build Rapids rides but I'm sure they could, Or Zamperla)

 

People can say whatever they want to about Intamin, and lord knows I have. But raft rides are pretty much something they do better than anyone else.

[Rill'o'beily]

Zamperla? Mack?

 

If a park was to get a rapids ride there's a high chance it would be Hafema or Intamin. Especially since they do it the best. I actually originally thought this was going to be a hafema since it said it has a vertical lift like river quest at phantasialand.

[Cyrbuzz]

Now there will be two parks in the company in Florida with elevator lifts. The other park of course Busch Gardens with Cobras Curse.

[colinx]

Now there will be two parks in the company in Florida with elevator lifts. The other park of course Busch Gardens with Cobras Curse.

Make that three, SeaWorld San Diego's Journey to Atlantis.

[bgtlover]

Now there will be two parks in the company in Florida with elevator lifts. The other park of course Busch Gardens with Cobras Curse.

Make that three, SeaWorld San Diego's Journey to Atlantis.

 

That's not in Florida...

[colinx]

Now there will be two parks in the company in Florida with elevator lifts. The other park of course Busch Gardens with Cobras Curse.

Make that three, SeaWorld San Diego's Journey to Atlantis.

 

That's not in Florida...

Oops missed that part

[cfc]

I'm surprised that this park has never had a rapids ride before. Looks like Infinity Falls should be a good one.

[AUWent]

Wow, this looks great! Unfortunately, I fear a lot of these "activists" aren't going to be happy unless they're shut down for good, never mind the fact that SW ended the very thing they were calling for to end.

[Alice Kane]

Hmmmm....d'ya notice during the presentation that the dinosaur critter never ONCE takes his eye off of host, Brian Morrow?!? Just saying......

 

Thanks Elissa, for your excellent SeaWorld update. I hope to get down there one day and check out this ever-changing theme park.

 

Alice

[Philrad71]

I mean an 85 foot drop is pretty significant and should feel pretty wild spinning in a rapids raft.

 

40' drop off an 85' tall tower. Still world's tallest, but don't get your hopes up for that crazy!

 

Seems like it's been forever since a park has built a major rapids ride, so I like this announcement.

 

 

I agree. And given that it's a Busch park, the theming will undoubtedly be awesome.

 

It will give that area something new and refreshing...now if they could do something about that mostly uninhabited area at the right front quadrant of the park. Granted I know that they have pavilions in that area along with Wild Arctic, but it just seemed so desolate around the Bayside Arena area.

 

Seems like it would be a great area to throw in a few decent flat rides...or another great coaster at some point.

[Zero One]

Photos from this weekend. The Seven Seas Food Fest continues with the Commodores as the musical guest. Next week switches to Latin music and a new Latin booth replaces the BBQ. There is also a last look at Kraken as we knew it and the animals of the soon to be removed Sea Garden.

 

View all the pictures on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/gp/cchard/rxsGm7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Philrad71]

Great photos...thank you for sharing!

 

Always good to see more new food festivals opening in theme parks...love it!

[chickenbowl]

Not sure if going with Intamin is a good idea. I'm guessing it was 1/2 off cause of Falcon's Fury. I would've bet on Mack (I know Mack doesn't build Rapids rides but I'm sure they could, Or Zamperla)

 

Dumb post.

[RollerManic]

^ Technically, Wave Breaker was the last Intamin SeaWorld purchased, so if this made any sense at all to begin, then wouldn't they have gotten a half-off deal with Wave Breaker and not Falcon's Fury lol?

 

I'm pretty sure the decision making process went something like this:

 

Guy 1: "Hey. Let's install a rapids ride at Orlando!"

 

Other dude: "Yeah, great idea! What manufacturer should we purchase it from?"

 

Guy 1: "Well... only essentially two manufacturers make them, and every other rapids ride we own across the company is an Intamin one, so... uh, Intamin".

 

Other dude: "Oh, ok."

 

It's not rocket science lol.

[MARK]

Really like how Sea World/Busch Gardens have forged their own distinct style/aesthetic. The sculptural drop reminds me of Cheetah Hunt's sculptural supports, and is really out of the box and different for a rapids ride. Kinda futuristic meets natural. Looking forward to see how it turns out.

[larrygator]

^ Technically, Wave Breaker was the last Intamin SeaWorld purchased, so if this made any sense at all to begin, then wouldn't they have gotten a half-off deal with Wave Breaker and not Falcon's Fury lol?

 

I'm pretty sure the decision making process went something like this:

 

Guy 1: "Hey. Let's install a rapids ride at Orlando!"

 

Other dude: "Yeah, great idea! What manufacturer should we purchase it from?"

 

Guy 1: "Well... only essentially two manufacturers make them, and every other rapids ride we own across the company is an Intamin one, so... uh, Intamin".

 

Other dude: "Oh, ok."

 

It's not rocket science lol.

 

Awwww! That's so cute the way things work in your world.

 

In the real world RFPs are sent to the manufacturers with the proposals evaluated before making a decision.

[RollerManic]

^ Technically, Wave Breaker was the last Intamin SeaWorld purchased, so if this made any sense at all to begin, then wouldn't they have gotten a half-off deal with Wave Breaker and not Falcon's Fury lol?

 

I'm pretty sure the decision making process went something like this:

 

Guy 1: "Hey. Let's install a rapids ride at Orlando!"

 

Other dude: "Yeah, great idea! What manufacturer should we purchase it from?"

 

Guy 1: "Well... only essentially two manufacturers make them, and every other rapids ride we own across the company is an Intamin one, so... uh, Intamin".

 

Other dude: "Oh, ok."

 

It's not rocket science lol.

 

Awwww! That's so cute the way things work in your world.

 

In the real world RFPs are sent to the manufacturers with the proposals evaluated before making a decision.

The main point of that is that only two manufacturers currently make rapids rides, but are you suggesting the uncommon possibility that any manufacturer would take on a proposal? I understand any company that doesn't currently make rapids rides could come out at anytime with one, but are you suggesting that Seaworld still sent proposals into say Mack or somewhere, even knowing they currently don't provide them?

[CoasterGuy06]

Just because they are building a rapids ride doesn't mean that was all they looked at. They could have said "let's build a water ride" and asked for a RFP from several different water ride manufacturers and chose to go with the Intamin rapids ride.

 

Dollywood didn't decide to build a wooden coaster for 2016. They decided to build a coaster and received RFP for both wood and steel coasters, for example.

[RollerManic]

Just because they are building a rapids ride doesn't mean that was all they looked at. They could have said "let's build a water ride" and asked for a RFP from several different water ride manufacturers and chose to go with the Intamin rapids ride.

 

Dollywood didn't decide to build a wooden coaster for 2016. They decided to build a coaster and received RFP for both wood and steel coasters, for example.

I understand that. I made the dialogue over-simplistic and made the assumption that they were making serious inquiries into installing a rapids rides for the sake of arguement, i.e. that they had a preferred mindset or inclination to a particular ride type already. Obviously the decision process doesn't happen that way, but that wasn't the point of the post.

 

So let's say they generically sent out RFOs for any and all water rides. I wonder how many other manufacturers besides Intamin and Hafema tried to sell them a rapids rides. To my knowledge, if any other company did sell one to Seaworld, it would be their first (ignoring knockoff clones here because a reputable park like Seaworld probably wouldn't send a knockout company any RFP's, right?).

[thePolemarch]

Kraken has closed for its transportmation into Kraken Unleashed, which opens June 16.

 

They just posted a facebook live about it and showed us behinds the scenes - here is the link

 

The gist is:

- Old Kraken sculpture leaving

- Old Theming in Queue leaving

-New "3D Objects" essentially new kraken/queue theming

-Queue will have videos instructing riders on how to put on the headsets

-Queue will be themed after a sea base

-One of the trains is already converted to VR (Screencap below)

 

Kraken VR Train

[bgtlover]

Eh....I'm not feeling how that looks...as much as I hate the VR being added. I'll never put it on when I ride. I'm sure for every one of us that don't care for this being added, there are several others who will ride it just for this. To each their own I guess. Hopefully they'll have everything worked out by the time I go back in September with wait times and possible technical issues. I will say the entry area and queue definitely need a refreshing. It would be great if they could enclose it with AC in the process.

[SharkTums]

^^I feel like that padded compartment for the VR goggles is a perfect 'puke catcher'. Seriously, isn't it going to get gross?!!?

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

Maybe I'm in the minority but I'm disappointed that the big Kraken head is going away. I really liked the entrance as it was, but we'll see what they do with it. Maybe the locals feel it was outdated.

[bgtlover]

^I'll miss the Kraken head....