SeaWorld Orlando (SWO) Discussion Thread

[dwfan42]

Finally got to ride the Mako this past week and all I can say is Wow! This is a great ride hands down and the themeing is top notch. I rode in the back and middle and got some great out of my seat airtime. Sea World has a winner here and I hope this gets the park back in the good numbers column again. They have done a great job with the coaster selection for this park and I look forward to what they do next.

 

How does it compare to the other B&M Hypers, and what was the best airtime hill? Thanks a lot and God Bless

[CPmillenia94]

^Ive gotten plenty of rides on it now so I can give you my thoughts. I would say the airtime is stronger than other B&M hypers, BUT depending on how much the trim catches.. The first hill and speed hill consistently offer mild ejector, the return run hills vary from strong floater to ejector, and the post mid brake hill is usually mild floater. The first drop is definitely the best out of all the hypers, except for maybe apollos chariot which is on par in the very back row. For reference I think Nitro offers strong floater, and AC more mild.. still Id say it ranks about evenly with those. Maybe because its missing one nice forceful helix, but also because the post brake section feels like it dies out a bit. Though it seems it has been getting a bit faster lately in that post mcbr.. Either way its a damn good coaster!

[Sneetch2]

I was just on Mako and Nitro in the same week and I will have to agree with the people who say it's not a top 10 coaster by any means but great for Orlando. The first half is incredible and then that trim ruins things and after the mcbr it's a snooze fest. But I think SeaWorld has a winner on their hands. But maybe it's just me but I think the theming is terrible. They did a fantastic job with rides like Manta and Journey to Atlantis but I feel like they missed a huge opportunity by not putting real sharks in the queue and the whole shipwreck thing is poorly executed. But hey that's just my opinion.

[dwfan42]

^Ive gotten plenty of rides on it now so I can give you my thoughts. I would say the airtime is stronger than other B&M hypers, BUT depending on how much the trim catches.. The first hill and speed hill consistently offer mild ejector, the return run hills vary from strong floater to ejector, and the post mid brake hill is usually mild floater. The first drop is definitely the best out of all the hypers, except for maybe apollos chariot which is on par in the very back row. For reference I think Nitro offers strong floater, and AC more mild.. still Id say it ranks about evenly with those. Maybe because its missing one nice forceful helix, but also because the post brake section feels like it dies out a bit. Though it seems it has been getting a bit faster lately in that post mcbr.. Either way its a damn good coaster!

that sounds awesome! thanks for the reply!

[BGThrillseeker]

I'm gonna keep this as short as possible- what if the 400 ft tall Skytower at Seaworld Orlando was converted to a drop ride? The infrastructure is there, cables to lift the car, emergency brakes (which should be strengthened for regular use) and the tower is already built. Busch and Seaworld share many things in common- 200 ft tall roller coasters (Sheikra and Mako) Inverted coasters (Montu and Manta) and classic B&Ms (Kumba and Kraken). Why not add a drop tower to that list? Seaworld Orlando always seems to make more extreme versions of BGT thrill rides ie. Flying and floorless coasters. Falcons Fury could be matched with that 400 ft drop tower, making it the 2nd tallest drop tower in the world, and 4th tallest thrill ride overall after Kingda Ka, Top Thrill, and Zumanjaro and would be twice as tall as the next closest ride in Florida, Sheikra. It could have a similar facedown mechanism to Falcons Fury, but be held at 30 seconds to a minute at 400ft to raise the intensity, and then drop, not lowering the seats until it reaches the station. Honest thoughts: Is this viable? It seems far fetched, but maybe if we generate some buzz around this idea and spread the word, there's a possibility that Seaworld might build it! After all, it would be a low risk proposition, much, much cheaper than building any such thrill ride from the ground up, even after the cost of new hydraulics and an open rider gondola. Spread the word, 1000 miles starts with one step

[coasterbill]

1) I believe it's only about 330ft tall with a 70 foot crown and antenna.

 

2) No

[I love pie]

Isn't looking down at a 90° angle for 30 secs a little bit too extreme?

[Henry M]

Well, converting it into a drop tower is not a bad idea, however it does not need to have the tilting seats. It has been done before at Liseberg on Atmosphere and it is quite successful as a low intensity drop tower. However, Seaworld is a very family orientated park, and people of all ages can go on the observation tower, and for small kids, this could be quite thrilling, and it is fun for everyone, not just those over 1.4m tall.

[SteelForceless]

I doubt this would happen, but could they make a drop tower and an observatory tower in the same tower? On the tower would be two gondolas: A gondola made to drop as a thrilling attraction, and the other as an observation gondola that doubles as a catch car.. Both would rise to the top of the tower. After about 30 seconds, the drop gondola would fall to the ground. The observation gondola would then slowly descend to the ground and hook to the drop gondola, where both could be unloaded and loaded again.

[LiftThrill]

I doubt this would happen, but could they make a drop tower and an observatory tower in the same tower? On the tower would be two gondolas: A gondola made to drop as a thrilling attraction, and the other as an observation gondola that doubles as a catch car.. Both would rise to the top of the tower. After about 30 seconds, the drop gondola would fall to the ground. The observation gondola would then slowly descend to the ground and hook to the drop gondola, where both could be unloaded and loaded again.

 

That's actually a really cool idea. The only issue I could see would be the observation gondola not staying up all that long, but it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

[DoinItForTheFame]

Maybe it's just me, but if you left me hanging face down for 30 seconds to a minute. . . I'd get bored. Hanging there for a few seconds is scary, but anything longer than that and the shock/wow/fear factor leaves and then it's just sitting around waiting.

[johnnyknottsville]

I'm not sure if it works like your idea but I believe Intamin does offer Observation/Drop ride combo towers. I'm also 100% sure with the right amount of money Intamin would convert Seaworld's tower into whatever they wanted, a 400 foot Falcon's Fury does sound amazing and I hate drop rides. Far as SeaWorld being more family oriented that is true but if that's the case they wouldn't have just opened a 200 foot hypercoaster. You'll be amazed some kids have more balls to ride some of these rides than the adults and I'm one of those adults lol I trip out at the kids I see getting on and off Lex luthor ready to hop back in line and ride it again, I rode it once and never will I again in LIFE!!!

[Henry M]

Maybe it's just me, but if you left me hanging face down for 30 seconds to a minute. . . I'd get bored. Hanging there for a few seconds is scary, but anything longer than that and the shock/wow/fear factor leaves and then it's just sitting around waiting.

 

I get you on that, I was on Detonator, and they held me up there for about two minutes, and I got bored. On the other hand, I pooed myself on Apocalypse, due to the fact I knew that as soon as I reached the top, the intense free fall was imminent.

[LiftThrill]

Maybe it's just me, but if you left me hanging face down for 30 seconds to a minute. . . I'd get bored. Hanging there for a few seconds is scary, but anything longer than that and the shock/wow/fear factor leaves and then it's just sitting around waiting.

 

I'm with you there. I think the dive coasters have the timing just about right (or Valravn at least, haven't been on any others).

[BGThrillseeker]

Sorry if I didn't clear up the whole 30 sec thing

 

The idea is that pretty much every ride imaginable drops you after roughly 5 sec. This one would last longer to create suspense and anticipation. You would feel bored, but by the time that you would think it is stuck, it catches you off guard when you are least expecting it, and delivers a real surprise, unless of course you are reading these forums lol. Being stuck on Falcons fury facing down for a few minutes is more intense than you would think

[DoinItForTheFame]

^ Think about capacity. If a drop tower sits at the top of the tower for "a few minutes" thing of how much that would impact the capacity of the ride.

[Six Flags Haiti]

^ Think about capacity. If a drop tower sits at the top of the tower for "a few minutes" thing of how much that would impact the capacity of the ride.

 

We haven't used any sort of logic throughout this thread, why start now?

[ericthewanderer]

I doubt this would happen, but could they make a drop tower and an observatory tower in the same tower? On the tower would be two gondolas: A gondola made to drop as a thrilling attraction, and the other as an observation gondola that doubles as a catch car.. Both would rise to the top of the tower. After about 30 seconds, the drop gondola would fall to the ground. The observation gondola would then slowly descend to the ground and hook to the drop gondola, where both could be unloaded and loaded again.

I think Intamin is capable of retro-fitting their old sky towers to do both:keeping the observation gondola while adding the "tracks" for the freefall gondolas.

[BlahBlahson]

Not that I'm supporting the OP's idea, but Skytower at Seaworld is down for maintenance/high winds/whatever for what seems like half the year, it was down on both my visits last week in fact. So I could see the park doing something different with it. But they really don't need to convert it into a drop tower, the park really needs a stellar all-demographics attraction now that Mako has opened. Antarctica, Turtle Trek, and Wild Arctic are all just okay, hopefully the Sea Rescue attraction happens and hopefully it's actually really great.

 

That and something flashy for the Waterpark to retain those non-disney guests who will probably choose Volcano Bay over Aquatica soon.

[gerstlaueringvar]

1. SWO is like 2 hours away from BGT and I bet 80% of the people that has been to BGT has already been to SWO.

2. BGT and SWO doesn't have the same target audience.

3. How much extra airtime will you get anyway?

4. About the combo idea, I'm not sure if the structure can take the amount of stress from two rides not to mention one of them is a huge a$$ drop tower that pulls 4G's during brake.

[johnnyknottsville]

1. SWO is like 2 hours away from BGT and I bet 80% of the people that has been to BGT has already been to SWO.

2. BGT and SWO doesn't have the same target audience.

3. How much extra airtime will you get anyway?

4. About the combo idea, I'm not sure if the structure can take the amount of stress from two rides not to mention one of them is a huge a$$ drop tower that pulls 4G's during brake.

 

http://www.intaminworldwide.com/amusement/Towers/Combination+of+Rides/tabid/142/ProductNumber/Combination+of+Rides/language/en-US/Default.aspx

[coasterbill]

1. SWO is like 2 hours away from BGT and I bet 80% of the people that has been to BGT has already been to SWO.

2. BGT and SWO doesn't have the same target audience.

3. How much extra airtime will you get anyway?

4. About the combo idea, I'm not sure if the structure can take the amount of stress from two rides not to mention one of them is a huge a$$ drop tower that pulls 4G's during brake.

 

http://www.intaminworldwide.com/amusement/Towers/Combination+of+Rides/tabid/142/ProductNumber/Combination+of+Rides/language/en-US/Default.aspx

 

Double the downtime, double the fun!

[chadster]

You thought Blackfish was bad, now it looks like the dogooders are taking aim at the Beluga Whales.

 

www.indiewire.com/2016/06/born-to-be-free-documentary-beluga-whales-blackfish-seaworld-1201689393/

[bert425]

I hope SWO isn't 2 hours from BGT (since the website says less than an hour).

 

cause we're going to BGT on Sunday, and doing a day trip to SWO

[anonymouscactus]

They are roughly 1 hour from eachother