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Just returned from Sea World's Media Day for Manta. The coaster officially soft opened today at noon, so they invited the media out to take some pics and ride the ray!
Since there have already been a ton of pics of the coaster in action, I took shots of the queue line as well as the yet to be open Aquarium/non-rider area.
The ride itself is great but intense! We rode in the front seat, and you get some nice negative G's at the top of the pretzel loop. But the bottom of the loop is pretty intense, and when I rode it in the back, I nearly greyed out!
The coaster is in an ideal setting right in the middle of the park, and the ops crew did a great job of keeping the trains running. Since there is a double loading station and 3 trains, you actually exit from the opposite side from where you entered.
Thanks to John from Marketing for showing us around!
Enjoy the pics, and Bryan should be uploading some video he shot as well!
Dive Deep. Fly High -- A theme park visit gets turned upside down for riders on Manta, SeaWorld Orlando’s new attraction. The only flying roller coaster of its kind in the world, Manta is a blend up close animal encounters with a head-first, face-down thrill ride. Manta – Orlando’s must-see for the summer – is now open. Go to RideTheFlyingRay.com to discovery more.
The thrill seekers are (top to bottom) Brittany Tollerton, Donnie Gallagher, Mari Delgado and Emily Ludder.
Photo credit – Jason Collier, SeaWorld Orlando
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Top of the Drop – Riders on Manta, SeaWorld Orlando’s new attraction, get ready to drop over 100 feet and find out what it’s like to spin, glide, skim and fly like a giant ray as they experience the only flying roller coaster of its kind in the world. Manta is a blend of up-close animal encounters with a head-first, face-down thrill ride. Orlando’s must-see for the summer, Manta is now open.
The thrill seekers are (l- r) Brittany Tollerton, Emily Ludder, Adam Shipton and Alison Valentino.
Photo credit – Jason Collier, SeaWorld Orlando
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Surrounded by Rays – At SeaWorld Orlando’s must-see new attraction, Manta, hundreds of rays – including the cownose rays shown here -- surround guests as they wait in the queue line for the only flying roller coaster of its kind in the world. Manta is a blend of up-close animal encounters with a head-first, face-down thrill ride. Manta is now open, only at SeaWorld Orlando.
Photo credit – Jason Collier, SeaWorld
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Immersed in the world of the Rays – Standing in the queue line at Manta, SeaWorld Orlando’s all-new, must-see attraction, guests find themselves immersed in the mysterious world of the ray. Soon enough, though, they find out what it’s like to spin, glide, and fly like the biggest ray of all – the manta – when they go for a ride on the only flying roller coaster of its kind in the world. Manta is a blend of up-close animal encounters with a head-first, face-down thrill ride. Manta is now open, only at SeaWorld Orlando.
Photo credit – Jason Collier, SeaWorld
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Another beautiful day at Sea World
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The view as soon as you turn the corner at the front of the park
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The splash effect. Later on it's hard to see the jets as the water keeps moving.
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More theming
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The sign
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Some local media were out and about
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Signage
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And more signage!
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O minutes! Sweet!
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As soon as you enter the queue, you pass under this waterfall. As the trains zoom by, they tend to spray the waiting guests.
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The bridge to the indoor queue
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Exterior of the Aquarium and Station
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Inside is dark ( I used a flash) and air conditioned. Very comfortable on a hot day.
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Without a flash
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One of the many tanks. Some were still waiting for their fish to arrive
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The big tank with lots of ray swimming about.
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Hi Mr. Ray!
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Another tank with some cool rays
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After the tanks, the line splits into two sides, each with a set of stairs leading to the station. The far right side was for Quick Queue as well as Single Riders.
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Looking down the stairs from the station. There is cool lighting that simulates being underwater.
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The station and one row
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The whole train
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The lead car
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Wheel enthusiasts rejoice!
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In the non-rider aquarium side, there is a cool pop-up window similar to the one at Jungala. Eventually, there will be tons of fish swimming all around you.
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Help! I'm trapped!
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It's pretty awesome!
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The big tank as seen from the other side.
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There is a cool tank with an octupus. It even has a pass thru so he can go from tank to tank!
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Here's the octopus.
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The final room (or maybe it's the first room depending on where you enter) has a tank with an overhead viewing area. Basically, the ceiling is all water and the rays swim right over you.
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A ray from underneath
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He looks happy!
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Finally, they are growing a living reef/coral in this tank.
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There was a diver working in the area at the time.
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Outside more theming
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The aquarium
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And a beautiful mosaic on one of the outside walls
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The opening day crowd
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One of the many cool light fixtures. Can't wait to ride this at night!
Thanks for the pics and video. Really great to see how they incorporated the animal atttractions with the coaster. It's quite stunning. I can only pray that one day that whoever winds up owning Seaworld San Diego can install such a great ride.
So in the first pictures, the ones I am assuming came from the media, why do they keep saying that its the only coaster like that in the world? I can only assume that they mean that its the only coaster to have animals and waterfalls and stuff like that built in?
Still though, I am simply in awe at the attention to detail for this ride, its stunning. Wasn't planning on going out to Orlando til HP opens, but this just changed my mind!
themeparkman25 wrote:So in the first pictures, the ones I am assuming came from the media, why do they keep saying that its the only coaster like that in the world? I can only assume that they mean that its the only coaster to have animals and waterfalls and stuff like that built in?
That is exactly what they mean. SeaWorld says that this is the only coaster like this in the world referring to combining a roller coaster attraction with animal interaction and a story seamlessly. There is basically a whole story that begins right when you walk into the line. Going from being with the rays (seeing) and then becoming a ray (being).
Want to understand the storyline and see the queue? Brian Morrow gives us an inside look with a tour of the queue while explaining the "story." Great footage! A must see in my opinion.
That...looks...stunning! Thanks to everyone for the great pictures and videos. It seems like they've accomplished just what they were aiming for, with a seamless aquarium/coaster/atmosphere experience. I cannot wait to get down to sea world and check it out in person.
I just have a quick question concerning the queue (pardon the alliteration). Is there any area where the queue has some sort of cattlepens or other means of containing the extra long waits? Not that I prefer standing in a seamless mass of people, but I'm just wondering how much of the line will fit into the interior queue. For example, if the wait is 45 minutes, does that fill the queue house/aquarium and spill onto the path, or is it big enough to hold at least an hour or more of wait?
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