Sea World Orlando: Thrillography's Great Floridian Expedition Trip Report - Part I

Hello and welcome to sunny Florida!

We have an exciting adventure ahead! 

Are you ready? :} 

Park #1 of the Great Floridian Expedition is a new one for me: Sea World Orlando! 

The last time I rode roller coasters in Florida was over a decade ago: a long weekend with my dad at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. 

Before that, it was a 1999 visit to Walt Disney World and the then newly-christened Universal Orlando Resort.

Before that, I'd never been to Florida. 

Obviously I had some work to do. 

So yeah, there's a flying coaster themed to my favorite sea creature. 

I can't believe it took me seven years to ride this one!

(and yet only three pictures to commit a tilt-shift)

Sea World San Diego's Mack multi-launch coaster of the same name is not without its charms, but I would say that Orlando's incarnation is the superior batoid. 

Snorkelers beware! This wild ray's forceful pretzel will incapacitate you faster than you can say "Steve Erwin".

Yeah ok I know that joke was in poor taste but I saw the opening and I had to go for it.

Sue me.

Manta was once the the undisputed king chondrichthyan of Sea World, but now a certain mackerel is here to challenge that. 

Get a load of those gills!

Mako calls the Shark Encounter home. :}

Beside the great B&M giants of Sea World is this great giant tunnel of fish and fish-like creatures. 

Shark Encounter has a pretty spectacular coral reef. 

The days of orcas at Sea World are now finite, but an impressive network of aquariums helps ease the transition. 

These yellow tangs are happy to see you. :}

This lionfish says "hello give me a big hug yes."

Obviously the missed opportunity here was threading Mako through its own aquarium tunnel.

Here we have Jonathan filming the aquarium with his 360 cam!

Next order of business: Sea World's impressive penguin exhibit. 

The attached dark ride is down for routine maintenance, but the penguins themselves are ready for their closeup! 

We didn't hang around too long; the penguin exhibit is loud, cold, smelly, somewhat hostile, and poorly decorated. It's basically LaGuardia Airport. 

Over here we have Kraken, which I hear is an octopus-type creature, but apparently is also some kind of eel-ish-thing? Maybe both??

Kraken has a picturesque swoop near the end of the ride, which is honestly less about  ride experience and more about curb appeal. 

Look at this tree. What is it hiding?

Behind the leaves hides the outstanding, game-changing, industry-revolutionizing Journey to Atlantis coaster!

When it opened in 1998, Journey to Atlantis became the first functional, large-scale water/coaster hybrid. It was also Sea World's first foray into themed, storytelling-style attractions in the tradition of Disney and Universal, AND it was Mack's first major thrill ride in North America. 

Journey to Atlantis is the prototype of what is now the only successful line of water coasters, which helped establish Mack as the amusement industry's reliability gold standard. 

The Sea World Entertainment parks have become one of Mack's best customers, with marquee Mack attractions featured at all 3 Sea World and, as of this summer, Busch Gardens Tampa (epic foreshadowing).

However, Sea World Entertainment's main squeeze is still B&M. Between Sea World Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa, all but two of B&M's entire line of products call central Florida home. 

And as for those two remaining products; while the sun has set on the stand-up coaster, I would be surprised if a wing coaster wasn't currently in the works at Busch Gardens Tampa. 

I had to stand in a bush to get this shot, so you better enjoy it. 

Yeah so there's lots of Manta pictures in this update cuz the other coasters here are kinda shy. We could've gone across the street and gotten good Mako and Kraken pictures but the lighting wasn't great.

This guy is single and ready to flamingle.

Manta's signature "wing dip" swoop!

Okay, Manta! Roll over!

Good boy!

Do you see these empty seats? I can't remember the last time I saw empty seats on a flying coaster. Unacceptable! Everyone come to Sea World and ride Manta right now!

If you come visit Manta he'll do tricks for you.

Jonathan and me! One of the only selfies I took with the big camera this trip.

 

Thanks to the park employee who took this great picture!

At this point we felt like we kinda wanted to go visit Shamu, but sadly there's no way to see him other than to sit through one of Sea World's saccharine cheeze-fest productions. 

So I guess it's probably in writing somewhere that every B&M coaster at Sea World has to have that photogenic swoop ending.

If Mako didn't have its sweeping curve at the end of the ride, there really wouldn't be any way to see it up close from inside the park. 

The same can be said for Kraken.

One of the easiest coasters to get pictures of here is the Shamu kiddie coaster, but I failed to do so because my camera was in a Mako locker when Jonathan and I ran over to snag the credit.

I know, I'm a failure as a roller coaster photographer. 

Even though Jonathan lives here, he hadn't brought himself up to whoring himself out to the Shamu Express yet; he was waiting for another coaster enthusiast to provide some moral support. x}

Jonathan and I escaped the humidity for a bit in Sea World's awesome passholder lounge. It has free soda and air conditioning! 

New lizard exhibit. 

Mako swoosh from the bridge across the lagoon. 

Kraken is a good friend to Mako despite struggling with whether to identify as a chordate or a mollusc.

Mako gives an excellent ride. With a relatively short 7-car train, it's more nimble than your typical B&M hyper. Each seat produces strong airtime without the lag-ish side effects of long trains. 

We took our time on the bridge and soon it was sunset color time!

The bad news is Mako has a trim on one of its larger hills. The good news is that the mid-course brake is basically turned off. 

One last swish of the fish before we depart!

This is the part where Jonathan and I leave Sea World and then hit Fun Spot America Kissimmee and Fun Spot America Orland just a few hours later! 

(but you have to wait until the next update to see! Sorry guys)

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