SeaWorld Orlando (SWO) Discussion Thread

I wonder how this rides station will be. I'm guessing that there will be an aquarium inside the station, that would be so cool. I also can't wait to see some of the stats for Manta, I just hope theirs some creativity in some of the stats and layout.

Got some new information on the track deliveries and the photo contest that Sea World is doing.

Main track elements will start to ship on monday Oct. 6th with several trucks heading out that day and will last for a couple weeks.

On other coasters with a dual loading station, how does is the line split up? Do they have a greeter in the line that asks how many in your party and assigns you to a certain side and a row, or do you just get in whichever side you want?

 

Also, are the gates to board the coaster in between the two tracks, or on the outside?

Firehawk has a guy sit in the line and moderate how many people go through, and tells them which side to go to. You can pick your own row in the train, and the counter in the line keeps the station pretty organized. Also, it's load lines are on the outsides of the station, and share an exit ramp in the middle.

Gemini has the loading platforms in the middle, and exit ramps on the outsides. It's station is mass chaos, as there is no line counter, and groups are running back and forth between trains, switching lines, etc trying to line up correctly. You won't have to worry about that on Manta since it doesn't race, but the entrances in the middle seem to add more clutter to the station.

well I think a dual loading station looks pointless to me. I mean Kraken never has a long line even on busy days. busiest is probably 30mins. Manta will probably only need the dual loading station for the first year, and that's it.

Does this mean that Manta will have 4 trains?

3 trains, at least for now.. My guess on the Duel station will be based on how buisy the park is on a givin day.. Something like how Sheikra only uses both loadings on buisy days. So I would figure you will have one side operation during the less buisy season and both sides run on full season. I would also guess that you will exit to the middle of the ride. Most likely there will be a split off at ground level for either side of the station.

The dual loading station looks pretty neat. On other coasters with a dual loading station, how does is the line split up? Do they have a greeter in the line that asks how many in your party and assigns you to a certain side and a row, or do you just get in whichever side you want?

 

Is it likely that you will get to choose your row? When I went on Kraken you could choose your row, but the park was very slow that day, so it may be different when they are busy.

 

Also, are the gates to board the coaster in between the two tracks, or on the outside? It would seem easier to find an empty row if they were in between.

I don't know about the B&M flyers but on the two vekoma flyers with dual load stations the exit ramp is in the middle of the platform so that you load with the gates/queue line being on the outer walls of the station house just like any other coaster.The way Batwing's queue is designed is that just as you approach the staircase to go into station one the line splits to go underground to get under the dispatch/switch track & then emerges on the other side with a staircase leading into station 2 & on days when they're not using both stations(which is almost all the time go figure) they simply have that section of the queue blocked off with a rope or trashcan to prevent people from entering that side.

I suspect that Manta will probably have a similar system in place to handle both stations effectively & that,unlike the SF parks they'll actually make use of both stations on a regular basis.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe you would load on the outside and the exit for both coaster would be in the middle. I seen a picture (blueprint sort of) with a view of the station from up top and it looks like the exit would be in the middle. I could be wrong as the picture wasn't of the best quality...

EDIT:

Oh by the way, more pieces of the coaster track behind the switch track has been installed. This includes a left turn (if you were riding the coaster) as well as a portion of the brake run.

well I think a dual loading station looks pointless to me. I mean Kraken never has a long line even on busy days. busiest is probably 30mins. Manta will probably only need the dual loading station for the first year, and that's it.

 

Does this mean that Manta will have 4 trains?

You obviously just have good luck and go on the right days somehow.

I like the dual load station, It'd get rid of possible stacking (and knowing Sea World on a REALLY busy day there WILL be stacking.) Sure there employees can be totaly kick-ass fast (sometimes) but still ... it's nice to have a back-up plan. And they should TOTALLY have 4 trains running! That would be AMAZING!

For my 300th post (woot...woot), I'll just note that flyers take longer to complete the load/unload process, with the cars folding down and up, along with the somewhat different restraint system on them. It's a bit more complicated than Kraken's "sit down, pull down, go" routine.

Bottom line, I think the dual station is a prudent decision. It's there if they have dispatch time issues, but can be easily modified to just run one side on slow days.

Update September 28th, 2008

Stopped out at the park this morning as I wanted to get a few more photos of the first sections of track that have gone up. Some more track has been delivered out in the off site area. Lots more work getting done on the tank area and more footer work getting done.

Couple of photos below, check out the other 16 here

http://www.johnnyupsidedown.com/manta.html

is it me or does the brake section look tilted in towards the middle? new style of breaks?

I don't see anything strange with those brakes. Maybe the one on the track on the right need to be put in place like those on the one on the left.

^^I think you're seeing things.

haha wow i am such an idiot, i didn't realize they had to be put into place, i thought they were tilted in permanently

thanks alot for a new update!

Nothing wrong with the brakes in the photo.. They don't have all the mechanisms underneath installed so that brakes are just sitting in the closed position. Once track is installed they will install all the mechanical stuff that operates the brakes. I am wondering if all the brakes are going to be pneumatic or if maybe there will be a set of magnetic.. I haven't seen any magnetic brakes yet but they may just not be here..

Photos came out pretty good hope everybody is enjoying the coverage.. I love it, I like to see how, and what they do.. More soon

woohoo! more track lol

As far as mags go, I don't think there'll be any. I don't believe any B&M flyers have mag brakes on it.

Actually, I take that back. Tatsu has a small set of mag brakes.

Florida Thrills posted an update here. On page two there is a photo of the beginning of the lift. Those anti-rollbacks are with wheel launchers, I wonder why...

Hmm. Interesting.

Never seen B&M mix drive tires with a lift.

is it really part of the lift hill? or something else?

Superman has the same piece that enters the lift hill.

See http://www.johnnyupsidedown.com/new/su8a.JPG

Look close see the lift motor just to the right are the wheel motors and if you look close you can see the anti roll back between the yellow rails..

Its the same type set up..

Hmm. Interesting.

 

Never seen B&M mix drive tires with a lift.

I'm not 100% sure but doesn't Montu and the Dueling Dragons have tires at the bottom of their lifts as well?

^^Yes, but Superman doesn't have a set of drive tires.

The Manta section had drive tires around the anti-rollbacks.

Okay a different angle of Supermans pre lift. See wheels and the anit roll back in the middle.