Funworld August 2009

SEAWORLD ORLANDO’S NEW “MANTA” is a study in dichotomy. It is a roller coaster unlike anything else in Central Florida. You can hear guests’ screams from across the park’s lagoon, all the way over at Shamu Stadium.

Directly below this sparkling blue beast, however, is one of the park’s most tranquil locales: a quiet, dark, soothing aquarium Gary Violetta, SeaWorld’s aquarium director, calls his favorite in the park.

“The reason ‘Manta’ works so well is you actually have two experiences,” Violetta says. “I’ve never seen anything quite like this before, where you have a major attraction tied so directly into an aquarium. Either one can stand on its own.”

Aquarium: Calm Before the Storm
The “Manta Aquarium” serves dual purposes: The coaster queue is on one side of the 238,000-gallon main tank, allowing guests to view its approximately 3,000 sea creatures as they wait in line for the ride. On the other side, SeaWorld constructed a separate space specifically for those who don’t want to test their mettle on “Manta” but still want to experience the aquarium.

“We wanted it to clearly be SeaWorld when you walk in that gate. Here’s a thrilling ride, but here’s how we make it Sea- World,” says Brian Morrow, the park’s director of design and engineering. “We’ve reinvented the aquarium experience at SeaWorld. No longer are there big 20-foot-wide corridors with carpet and walls—it’s not that. It’s unique and special.”

ndeed, the “Manta Aquarium” is heavily themed with rock work, offering guests the feeling of ducking down underwater— a sensation reinforced by one viewing window that is directly overhead, allowing rare underside views of the 130 rays floating by.

Coaster: Dive Deep, Fly High
SeaWorld filled the coaster’s pipes to dampen the sound so as not to disturb the animals, but “Manta” still makes itself known quite clearly: It swoops right by the midway at the end of the park’s entrance plaza and dips its fin into a lagoon as jets spurt water high into the air. In development for more than five years, it is now quite literally at the center of everything in the park, and its lush horticultural and rock theming make it look as if the attraction’s been there since SeaWorld opened in 1973.

“Manta” is a “flying” coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard, just the seventh of this type the Swiss design and engineering firm has built in the world, and the first in Florida. Guests ride beneath the track in a headfirst prone position, as if they are actually flying, Superman style. In this case, the coaster mimics its namesake’s movements as if gliding through water. Tim Carrier, director of operations for Sea- World Orlando, says of “Manta”: “It’s an intense ride, but it’s not terrifying by any means. It’s meant to be graceful and smooth.”

“Manta” opens with a 140-foot climb to drop 113 feet back toward the ground. It then rises again, offering a little pop of weightlessness before plunging into its most extreme element, the pretzel loop—a headfirst dive where, at the bottom, the track tucks under itself so riders end up “on their backs” before coming up the other side.

The ride’s second half features more gentle, graceful movements such as the aforementioned fintip dive to the lagoon. There’s also the “Manta Kiss,” as Morrow calls it, where the ray-shaped blue trains come within three feet of the main building’s signature waterfall.

“It’s a home run for us,” Morrow says. “‘Manta’ is the next generation of thrills and animal experiences at SeaWorld.”
www.divedeepflyhigh.com
www.bolliger-mabillard.com

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO DESCRIBE UNIVERSAL STUDIOS FLORIDA’S NEW “HOLLYWOOD RIP RIDE ROCKIT”? How about: an iPod—wrapped in an XCar. With a light show.

According to Louis Alfieri, creative director for “Rockit,” when Universal Creative set out to build this new roller coaster, the team started drawing some crazy ideas on a napkin, coming up with brand-new maneuvers the industry hasn’t seen before. To make those moves a reality, though, required a ride vehicle that can handle tight turns in small spaces.

“The X-Car has a smaller wheelbase, which allows us to move the vehicle into maneuvers and directions you weren’t necessarily capable of doing before with a larger train assembly, ”Alfieri says. German manufacturer Maurer Soehne provided the vehicle and the track, which opens with a 167-foot-tall, 90-degree lift hill, making “Rockit” the tallest coaster in Orlando.

“Rockit” has seven trains, each with two X-Cars back-to- back for a total of 12 riders. The trains launch every 23 seconds, with five on the course at a given time and two more in the station. Each train is tricked out to the max with its own color-changing LED light program, making “Rockit” a veritable nighttime spectacular all by itself.

Rockin’ Before, During, and After the ‘Ride’
If they choose, guests can begin their “Rockit” experience before stepping foot inside the Studios. “Rockit’s” entire soundtrack can be sampled on the ride’s web site, so guests can know exactly what song they want to listen to when they strap into the X-Car.

The X-Car’s signature cummerbund lap restraint is outfitted with a touch-screen panel similar to an iPod, where riders select their favorite genre and song. Six onboard cameras and eight cameras on the ground capture each rider’s journey, which can be used to create a seven-minute personalized music video of the “Rockit” experience right there in the park or online after returning home.

Redrawing the Skyline
Though “Rockit” squeezes into a relatively small space between the park and the studio buildings next door, the coaster nevertheless dramatically alters a skyline that’s remained largely unchanged since Universal Studios Florida opened in 1990. Not only does the coaster extend out toward CityWalk between the Studios’ entrance and the Hard Rock Café, a small portion of the “Treble Clef” maneuver (see sidebar) bursts through the fire station flat in the New York City area at the rear of the park.

Alfieri says these dramatic visual changes were a “huge part of the development of the coaster,” and handled with “a lot of sensitivity.”

“There was a lot of concern over the area in front of the New York flats,” he explains. “We wanted to be respectful to the guests who have come over the years and are fans of that area, but we also want to take the park in a new direction froman excitement and energy standpoint. We thought that would be an exciting moment for the guests who ride the coaster, and that’s why we incorporated it.

“It energizes and activates the entire area and adds to the sense of that Hollywood opening,” he continues. “We’re adding a lot of energy to the skyline. You’ll probably see the lighting on the trains from several miles away.”

www.hollywoodripriderockit.com
www.maurer-soehne.de