BabaSD

Stopped by the park today to see how this Manta stuff was working out - I was very impressed with the ride. When we got to the ride the line was LONG but it moved very fast. I was actually surprised how fast the line was moving. Maybe it will slow down with the quick queue thing hits it, but we shall see. The queue was very long and parts of it was very nice. There is a part where you are close to the 'splash' area and underground by the aquarium (warning no cell service down there!) and the last part you are out in the sun with no theme... kinda strange if you ask me to have the theme so nice up to the last part then *poof* nothing. But the ride itself was very fun. Great? No, not quite... close but not in that great status. The first part when you are in the screen area is cool and the train rocking back and forth makes it seem that much more like you are really underwater. The ride was long - which is great in these days of short 30 second rides. I would make this a must do on any trip to SWSD. Took a few pics, even took a video of the screen area but it came out unwatchable so nevermind. You can take a camera on the ride - I asked if I could and they said yes, no problem. just be sure to have a strap with it. But I rode the in the front row and had my camera out in plain sight for the other employees I did not ask could see the camera and they said nothing. I thought I got a POV video.. guess when the ride took off I stopped recording (lol, fail). One thing that I am not too crazy about is the boarding. They have it set up so you can get in whatever row you want so everything is just random. So if you have more than two people in your party then good luck riding on the same car. . SeaWorld San Diego Manta opening weekend by PadresFan619, on Flickr . This is taken from the line.. I did get splashed just a tad one time. But it is a cool viewing area. SeaWorld San Diego Manta opening weekend by PadresFan619, on Flickr . The water in the underwater viewing area is still VERY murky. Made it hard to see anything. SeaWorld San Diego Manta opening weekend by PadresFan619, on Flickr . These were very cute - hope they last. SeaWorld San Diego Manta opening weekend by PadresFan619, on Flickr . And after the nice part of the line... when you get close to the end you go outside and get no theme... so sad SeaWorld San Diego Manta opening weekend by PadresFan619, on Flickr . I know the details are not finished yet - but just a heads up, if you need some free internet you can hook up to this ethernet cable they have just hanging out going to the store above. ITS FREEEEE! SeaWorld San Diego Manta opening weekend by PadresFan619, on Flickr . These are the oldest ride ops I have ever seen lol - they must have retired from SFMM... SeaWorld San Diego Manta opening weekend by PadresFan619, on Flickr . The end of the ride... SeaWorld San Diego Manta opening weekend by PadresFan619, on Flickr . I *hope* this is just part of the 'we are not done yet' part of the ride. But I have a feeling it is not and they are going to leave a very large part of the park just covered in wood chips and rocks. There are small parts that are covered in grass, so that leads me to think this will not be a 'grassy knoll' or anything. I sure hope I am wrong. SeaWorld San Diego Manta opening weekend by PadresFan619, on Flickr . And this made me laugh pretty hard... the area where the stinky flamingos will be soon (where they were before). But for now they are not there and some light harted SWSD employee put these little guys here for a fun little photo op. SeaWorld San Diego Manta opening weekend by PadresFan619, on Flickr

As much as I love Belmont, the only thing really worth doing ther is the coaster. Ride it a few times and be good with it. And for the travel day, as noted above you do not need a full day for it. My only concern is the day before and the day after seem to be jam packed, making travel at the night or in the morning a rough call. If you are going after the openings at DCA I would plan 2 days there simply because it will be PACKED. Maybe drive up in the morning and then the parks that day and the next? I would really say you need more time at the DL resort than one day if you plan on doing both parks. I would look at the price savings by not doing the hopper if you are doing 2 days. Or this may be a good day to explore LA - drive up in the morning then do LA and then you will be close to DLR for the next day. Bottom line is this travel day is wide open for you here. Oh - Long Beach. There is a few things there that you may want to check out. And that is in the middle of the two areas. Now that is a full day. VERY full.

Now that darklingscribe has posted some pics from today I figure I should post some also. lol - it was such a nice day at the park and the ride is looking good! two updates in one day! OMGZ. BIRD POOP! really it is, there is bird poop ALL OVER the track and the supports. See one of the pictures I posted below that mentions it... It has been two weeks since my last visit and I wanted to check up on the coaster progress. Looks like the track is almost done and I can see the difference from my last trip. Here is some updates... You can click on any picture for full size. In this picture you can see 3 different sets of construction walls... yay for off season! SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr Now that the track is almost done, and the skytower is up and running you can get an even better idea of the scope of the ride. SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr More track from the sky! SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr ALMOST done.. still has some sudden ends lol. Looks like there is a conflict of space here... SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr cuuuuuurve SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr more cuuuurve SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr cuuuurve.. with bird poop! really bird poop is ALL OVER the track and supports. Makes you think of that bridge that collapsed because of too much bird poop.... SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr Not curving off the curve theme... SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr I posted a picture in the last batch with a fence in it and wondered if it was THE fence, looks like this is the fence that will keep us all safe from the ride. SeaWorld San Diego Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr I thought SWSD was a Coke park now? Did the Shamu trainers not get the memo? Do they still stick the employees with the lower quality Pepsi products? Hmmm.... SeaWorld SD - PEPSI?? WHA?? by PadresFan619, on Flickr And even SWSD has its low-end shopping area. You did not want it at full price, maybe you will but it for 9.99? SeaWorld SD Cheap Stuff by PadresFan619, on Flickr And here is a link to my video where you can see the coaster in a moving ride, if you like that sort of thing. Sorry about the glare - it was bright and hot day today! They have updated the recording to talk about the ride to explain it if you are not talking over it or have no idea what you are seeing lol.

I really wanted to get a picture from the sky tower for more of an overview, but it was closed for refurb. So the only above ground pictures I got were from the Bayside Skyride and the top of the Sealion stadium. But it has lots of twists and turns and has a less than large footprint - so it does have a chance.

After a few weeks I made it back to the park. I really wanted to check up on how Manta was rolling along. But first thing first... COKE IN THE PARK! Really the best new thing I have seen in SWSD in a long time. COKE! by PadresFan619, on Flickr Ok, now on to Manta. The cars look good.. a little empty but good. After seeing the track I see why they have a good amount of open-ness in the cars - there seems to be lots of sharp twists and turns on the ride. I guess to make up for the lack of coolness that the Orlando park has. The person standing by the ride said one of the reasons SD got the shaft was because "The San Diego park has more of a focus on education". When really the problem is the grumpy old farts running the city and worried a true ride will kill all the fish in the area. SeaWorld SD Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr SeaWorld SD Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr And good news! Pass members will have early entry to get some rides in. Early Manta! by PadresFan619, on Flickr For updates: SeaWorld SD Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr That QR code takes you to this YouTube Video: [VIDEO] [/VIDEO] Now track pictures! I hope they finish this before it opens! can you say Final Destination? SeaWorld SD Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr And notice the fence here. I wonder if this is the final draft of keeping you from the ride area. Looks too fashioned to be a temp thing. SeaWorld SD Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr SeaWorld SD Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr SeaWorld SD Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr SeaWorld SD Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr SeaWorld SD Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr SeaWorld SD Manta Construction by PadresFan619, on Flickr The track is looking good, maybe this will be better than I thought, still not in the same ballpark as Orlando.. but that is something we should learn to live with at this point since we do not have the support from the city DL and SWO has.

lol. saw your pics in the coaster thread. What day did you go? We were also there on Friday but the area was un-walled, but still closed up. Here are pictures of the Turtle Reef area to go along with the Riptide Rescue pictures and video that made the last post on the previous page (hate it when that happens!). But you really should go back a page The viewing area was really not ready, there was only a few turtles in the tank and the "interactive" areas were still closed off. But what was there looked great and the shop was awesome! Really lol - the merch was top notch and puts most of the other shops in the park look bad. Turtle Reef by PadresFan619, on Flickr Fakers by PadresFan619, on Flickr Glue by PadresFan619, on Flickr Just keep moving... by PadresFan619, on Flickr Pohot op by PadresFan619, on Flickr Turtle Reef viewing area by PadresFan619, on Flickr Turtle Reef viewing area by PadresFan619, on Flickr Turtle Reef viewing area by PadresFan619, on Flickr Upskirt! Turtle Reef viewing area by PadresFan619, on Flickr Turtle Reef viewing area by PadresFan619, on Flickr Turtle Reef viewing area by PadresFan619, on Flickr Turtle Reef by PadresFan619, on Flickr wait for the bags! by PadresFan619, on Flickr Um, ok? by PadresFan619, on Flickr Dead turtles you can buy... Dead Turtles! Buy two! by PadresFan619, on Flickr

Thank you so much for the pictures - we let our passes expire just before the water park opened up. Looks like a nice area.

We were down in the park today and they had the ride and reef area opened up - not finished yet but still. The ride was short! some pictures of RTR: The area can get very busy... Packed. by PadresFan619, on Flickr Soft Opening by PadresFan619, on Flickr I do not know, are these locks normal for this type of ride? The load/unload time was 5 minutes while the ride was only 1 minute - and the boats did nto even swing that much during the ride: DSC06896 by PadresFan619, on Flickr DSC06901 by PadresFan619, on Flickr The blue board with long screws holding area lol Nice board by PadresFan619, on Flickr What ride is this? sign, side by PadresFan619, on Flickr Huss-ness What button? by PadresFan619, on Flickr No theme, no shade - no problem! Q by PadresFan619, on Flickr Damaged... scratched by PadresFan619, on Flickr