Manta Coaster @ SeaWorld Behind-the-Scenes Tour Report

[ECG]

Let me start off with saying that this is the first time I have attempted a report like this and I think the best way to approach it is with my usual Trip Report format (albeit not as huge as you might expect - much to the relief of some of you I'm sure).
I also ask your forgiveness if the videos & photos are not quite up to my usual standards as I was video taping with my right hand while taking pictures at the same time with my left hand.
That being said, let's begin:

After a quick introduction to Busch Entertainment Corporation's Lucy Howell, PR Manager UK & Ireland and Nick Gollattscheck, Director of Marketing Communications, it was straight off to the construction site.

Everyone hustled through the gate…

…where we were given hard hats (as modeled by Lucy) and a safety briefing.

My first full glimpse of the coaster…

…and the aquarium that serves as the ride entrance.

There was a group of about 20 of us from various coaster websites, including RCDB, ACE & TPR.

We were then introduced to Gary Violetta, Curator of Fish at SeaWorld Orlando, and Brian Morrow, Director of Design & Engineering aka Design & Engineering Project Manager for Manta (pictured below).

After a brief comment by Gary about the animals in the aquarium (I posted a full interview at the end of this report) it was Brain’s turn to tell us all about the coaster entrance.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7kri2TgwRY[/youtube]
I only managed to take one picture over near the aquarium…

…before moving even closer to the coaster...

…where Brian explained more about the ride itself.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBUnN3q2Wxo[/youtube]
Here is the section under the lift he spoke of, where there will be some netting…

…but most of the lift will not have any netting…

…until the beginning of the drop.

The views from here…

…are going to be spectacular…

..as you watch your family & friends on the coaster…

…go through the pretzel loop…

…zipping by just a few feet away…

…back up over your head…

…through the banked curve…

..and the inline roll…

…away out over the park…

..and back through the eye of the needle (the supports in the photo above & below without the track attached).

After the Q&A with Brian…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v80SstPUy58[/youtube]
…we made our way back toward to site gate, where drinks & snacks were made available with a poster of the layout of the ride…

…and the new artwork.

(Sorry for the glass reflection)

(This was the best I could do)

After the short break we headed back out of the construction site (Nick was the last man out)…

…over to the observation tower.

Here we got a better look at the progress of the aquarium entrance…

…the lift & first drop…

…and the pretzel loop.

The construction site is massive…

…and completely dominates the skyline.

Next it was back over along the pathways, where there are more great views of the coaster (too bad there will be netting here),…

…to check out the view as you head up toward the Blue Horizons stadium…

…and some more Q&A with Brian…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl1BrLA2UN0[/youtube]
…who wrapped things up…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXeVB6I_r4U[/youtube]
…before my exclusive interview with Gary…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eNZO76REDI[/youtube]
…who gave more insight into the aquarium.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfq2-oFXOhU[/youtube]
On the way out of the park I even persuaded all three into taking a photo with me.

I managed to stop back by the park the following day on my way to the airport…

…to check out the progress they made overnight, since the construction site is active 24-7 (and has been since March).

It’s really amazing to see how fast the track goes up…

…in such a short period of time.

I would have liked to stay here all day…

…in order to see them attach more track…

…and make their way…

…through the eye of the needle.

I’ll finish this up with a scan of the layout so you can see all the details…

…and all the ride stats.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Thats pretty wicked man, and you wear that hardhat pretty well if I do say so myself .

Whether the layout is good or not, I can still see this being fantastic with the fish and the theming and what not. Although, it's hard to believe it's opening next summer when it seems like they have made so much progress so far.

Good stuff though, Jerry.

Oh, also, if the construction site is open 24/7, they're still working at like, three in the morning and such?

 

[Rach]

Excellent Jerry!

Manta looks and sounds fantastic, I love the aquarium idea for the entrance, that should work a treat.

I'm glad I left the Manta section of the n00wsletter until I saw this as now I can actually give some more precise information from this report.

A credit to CF Jerry, well done!

 

[Slash]

Great photos and a great insight. I haven't been able to watch the videos as I'm on a portable device but from what i've seen you got some superb pictures and really saw some amazing things. Hope you had fun and hope to see you do more, as from the pictures and text, this is brilliant.

I think Manta is going to be great. The overall experience, the coaster, everything.

 

[Emmett]

Awesome report Jerry, the amount of work gone into it.

Great photos and video clips. It has really come along very fast and I particularly like the look of those pretzel loops.

Another great read.

 

[ryan462]

Fantastic report ! Thanks for taking the time to post all of those pictures and video's for all of us to see.

 

[Bitter]

I find it interesting that the first inline twist you can see constructed isn't on the official layout diagram, must've been a very late addition.

 

[marc]

Great report thanks for all the information.

 

[Ian]

I never actually released how immense Manta actually is, after reading about the aquarium and seeing all the artwork.

I'll get round to watching the videos at work tomorrow, but from that report, you can tell that they're not skimping on the trimmings. Although they do say don't judge a book by it's cover so hopefully it'll ride well too.

Cheers Jerry - ace reportage!

 

[Hixee]

^I agree. I knew Manta was going to be bit, but I'm surprised to see actually how big!

Great report Jerry, you've provided us with a great "behind-the-scenes" look at Manta. The photos and videos are great.

Thanks!

 

[Ali]

i never thought manta would be that big, god i miss america
poxy UK with its height restrictions

 

[ECG]

Thanks for all the compliments everyone!
I did not have the time to make transcripts of the videos, so viewing them is a must! Please take the time to do so as they are jammed packed with loads of fasinating information. If you do not have the time to view them all, I recommend watching the 2nd & 3rd ones for Brian's insight into the coaster itself & the last two for Gary's brilliant description of the wonderful aquarium entrance.
Please also post any questions you might have, as much more was discussed between Brian & myself (i.e. this is his first major coaster design) and Gary & I (we rode the observation tower together) in private. Gary was also quite open in discussing the purchase of Anheuser-Busch by Inbev.

 

[Hyde]

Awesome Tour Jerry!

I love the insight to how the queue was designed and what to expect when waiting in line for the coaster.

This aquarium sounds absolutely awesome, especially as a coaster is waiting for you at the end of the line! :lol:

 

[Mr Nash]

Nice report.

Must admit,I'm not really one for watching ride construction,but that Pretzel Loop is so aesthetically pleasing.

They are rapidily becoming my favourite looking inversion.

 

[jokerman]

Great. It's amazing how much progress they make in such a short space of time. I'm so looking forward to riding this now. And that construction site is massive.

 

[Anonymous]

I might be the only one who is a little disappointed in this ride ............ not because it looks like a "bad" coaster or anything, but when it was first announced my first idea was just so so cool, but alas impossible. I wanted this ride to have a section where your like just in the "flying position" a mere few feet above the water and looking down into this aquarium full of manta rays as your speeding. Kind of like your looking down into the aquarium because the ride is making you, and for about a couple hundred feet (we'll say 10 seconds) you were actually riding WITH the manta rays. Obv this idea is unsafe for the animals (kids spitting into the aquarium, losing stuff in there, people doing all sorts of disgusting things into the pool) but probably wouldn't be too safe for the ride itself (massive flooding could make the water rise or something i don't know), but the ride would truly be epic if you could just almost "skim" the water with the manta rays ..........

 

[ECG]

Yeah, I was a little dissapointed about that too. It was one of the first questions I asked Brian (off camera) and he explained that there wouldn't be any fish or other animals in the lagoon because of the reasons you mentioned about it being open to the public and difficult to manage (unlike the other lagoon in the park where the Mantas are currently located). So you will be able to fly face down low over the lagoon, albeit without any Mantas to view while doing so.
But it's still going to be an awesome ride!

 

[marc]

I would have been more worried about the animals being hit by the coaster than people throwing stuff in.

But as I have seen on the 2 flyers that I have been on, people seem to love spitting their gum out on the final brake run. I really hope this does not happen here, and if it does they clean it.

 

[ECG]

Marc, if you look at the scan of the layout I posted at the end of my report you can see that both the final brake run & the MCBR before the wing splash are located on either side of the maintance shed, located too far away from the lagoon for that to happen. That doesn't mean that riders won't do so as they fly over the water anyway. I'm sure they will keep the final brake run clean of gum & other debris as the rest of the park is kept spotless (as you well know from your time there).
If you look at the splash section you will see that there is a black line seperating that section from the rest of the lagoon and that (glass?) wall could have been used to seperate any fish or other animals from where the coaster touches down to prevent any animals from getting hurt. Thus my question to Brian about fish/anmals being in the larger portion of the lagoon.

 

[marc]

Yes the park has always looked clean, I just think its bad that people do that.

Sorry am being a complete twat and not thinking, its like the other coasters with a splash down a thin strip out of the main tank. Am not with it today.