SeaWorld Orlando (SWO) Discussion Thread

[KrakenKing]

So, is anyone else wondering why there's this "grass path" with no fence?

 

 

Could it be for private events? Or are you actually able to go walk under the ride if you wanted?

[Billy]

i would assume thats there as a guide so a small crane can get in there or a truck god forbid something happens in that area.

[PhantomNick]

WOW. I thought before that Manta looked like it would be a great addition to Sea World, but I never expected it would look this stunning! The layout is great to begin with, but the landscaping just takes this over the top. Boy, do I wish I could make it to Florida to check this park/coaster out!!

[jjune4991]

i would hope they put at least a rope fence around the area. one person can walk there, and we may have a batman incident

[Jive]

The low areas are fenced off. That area that's open isn't going to hurt anyone.

[justint87]

Whats so great is that the scenery/themeing looks so beautiful yet the main scenery/themeing area is still under construction. We can only imagine what the ocean, beach area, waterfall at the entrance and the waterfall off the aquarium building will look like once completed.

 

This is a guess but maybe the grass walkway is for people who want to take a nice stroll through. Before Manta, this area had a nice relaxing canopy of trees and nice places to just sit and relax. Maybe this is what it is for, only difference is now there will be a coaster flying overhead. Just a guess.

[texashorns82492]

Such a beautiful coaster on beautiful landscaping. Looking forward to this one!

[4rturo]

Or are you actually able to go walk under the ride if you wanted?

 

Actually it seems you can, if you look closely you can see that some sort of path is marked by those small rocks....

Not sue what it is for though.

[revilolee]

It's looking beautiful. Can't wait til all the scenery is finished.

[CD]

I thought that all you Manta fans would like this "Concept Art Update" from OrlandoUnited...

 

http://www.orlandounited.com/news/revealingmantaart1.html

 

enjoy.

 

[themeparkman25]

Looks fantastic. Here is a couple questions though.

 

-The building facade is currently a mix of colors and in the concept art it is covered in rock with vines and stuff. Are we seeing the recession at work or just a change in plans?

 

-Also, the non rider section features vast tanks with lots of rays. Is this located inside the building or is there just a big hole somewhere that I am not seeing?

 

-Will there be rays in the splashdown region where water is being shot? The pipes shooting the water, will they be inside of some kind of scenery?

[CD]

Looks fantastic. Here is a couple questions though.

 

-The building facade is currently a mix of colors and in the concept art it is covered in rock with vines and stuff. Are we seeing the recession at work or just a change in plans?

 

-Also, the non rider section features vast tanks with lots of rays. Is this located inside the building or is there just a big hole somewhere that I am not seeing?

 

-Will there be rays in the splashdown region where water is being shot? The pipes shooting the water, will they be inside of some kind of scenery?

 

-The queue/aquarium facade is a mixture of the colored buildings and the rock.

 

- I believe that all of the rays will be placed inside of the aquarium, I don't think that there will be any marine life in the "ocean" aka splashdown. I'm not positive on that one though.

[themeparkman25]

That makes sense, but there still is a lot more color in the real deal than there is in the concept art.

 

But I guess the biggest question I have still stands. Those pictures make it seem like the tank is HUGE, and I just am not seeing anything of that size in the building. I took a stroll through johnnyupsidedown, and the closest and biggest section of the building that I saw can be found here and that still doesn't look that huge. In the middle of that picture is a decent sized tank, but I highly doubt it can hold the hundreds of rays that are supposed to be apart of this attraction. I don't get it, but I guess patience is a virtue.

[CD]

^ Ya that is a small tank...

 

I don't know for sure where the rays are going but I would think the wing-dip area would be too shallow. Also with the water jets and the waterfall I think it may be too rough, but you never know.

 

Like you said patience is a virtue.

[justint87]

Its great to finally see concept art of the interior surfaced. Gets me more excited to see what else we could experience from this new attraction.

 

About the building theme; construction has not been completed on it yet so that would explain why it doesn't look like the concept art. If I remember correctly, the last time I was there, a large side of the building was getting a "rock treatment" so we'll see.

 

I too have always thought the aquarium looked small while it was being built but the views we have aren't the best. Until we can go in to see for ourselves, we won't know for sure how big it is. From the concept art, the walkways aren't that wide to begin with so it does seem somewhat accurate.

 

Oh and if the entrance (riders and non-riders) turns out to be anything like the concept art; I would consider it as one of the best/beautiful ride entrances I have ever seen.

[KrakenKing]

After seeing the ride built and the first half without walls and with shrubbery put in, and the second half as well, I say the original concept art we saw was "Pretty" close to what was actually created.

 

So after seeing the concept art of the exhibit for non-riders and the ones for the queue, I have really high expectations for this.

[Lenaapple1974]

I know this was just found, but has anyone come across this any bigger than this? I am trying to read everything, and it is just too small.

 

This ride is really turning out beautiful! I cannot wait to see the inside. As far as the buildings not being big, I think that the queue may start going down, before it goes up! Sub levels equal more room! That is the impression the artwork leaves me anyway.

[BeemerBoy]

But I guess the biggest question I have still stands. Those pictures make it seem like the tank is HUGE, and I just am not seeing anything of that size in the building. I took a stroll through johnnyupsidedown, and the closest and biggest section of the building that I saw can be found here and that still doesn't look that huge. In the middle of that picture is a decent sized tank, but I highly doubt it can hold the hundreds of rays that are supposed to be apart of this attraction. I don't get it, but I guess patience is a virtue.

 

Trust me, that tank has plenty of room for hundreds of rays. Since housing an actual MANTA RAY was not in the plans (which I may or may not have mentioned is a HUGE fail), the tank doesn't need to be that enormous. There's dozens of species ranging in size. I imagine they'll probably throw in a couple large Eagle Rays for the "wow" factor, and the rest will be mostly common rays.

 

This whole project is still looking pretty impressive as a merger of ride/attraction.

[Wes]

They're really not gonna have an actual manta ray in there?

[BeemerBoy]

Shark rays, spotted eagles rays, leopard rays, cownose rays, and oscillate river rays float past guests with fluidity and grace in a view new to SeaWorld. Elaborate lighting, sound and rushing waterfalls further will submerge guests into the experience.

So says one of the original announcements. Yep, no Manta.

 

^ But you've actually seen one.....IN JAPAN! Bonus points.

[cfc]

They're really not gonna have an actual manta ray in there?

 

I guess, technically, you're riding a "manta." Or, at least, underneath one.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^Or on top of it, depending on if the pilot car's head faces the ground...

[themeparkman25]

Beemer-I forgot that they were not actually housing an actual manta ray. Inside the park they have the stingray exhibit (which IMO is terrifying trying to feed the rays the little fish), and the biggest ray in that tank is like 4 feet across. Now that you have pointed that out though, it would make sense that the tank does not have to be huge because I think SW will just have more of the rays already found in the park. Thank you for pointing that out!!

[Wes]

Shark rays, spotted eagles rays, leopard rays, cownose rays, and oscillate river rays float past guests with fluidity and grace in a view new to SeaWorld. Elaborate lighting, sound and rushing waterfalls further will submerge guests into the experience.

So says one of the original announcements. Yep, no Manta.

 

^ But you've actually seen one.....IN JAPAN! Bonus points.

 

I'm hoping they wrote that paragraph with the idea that having an actual manta would be a foregone conclusion or something.

[jmicha]

Manta rays are the rarest of the rays and as far as I know, there are only four places in the world with manta rays...a quick check of Wiki confirms this. I think that unless they were going to add a tank that was absolutely massive, there was never really even the possibility of having actual manta rays. Looking at the specs of Manta's aquariums shows a total of 184,000 gallons of water spread across several different tanks. For reference one of the aquariums housing a manta ray is 6.2 million gallons. This is quite a large difference. Granted, a tank of that size probably isn't the minimum size required but still, even a tank one tenth that size is still more than three times the size of all of Manta's tanks together. I don't know if a tank capable of housing a manta ray would actually be possible to fit into the site.