Mako: Finally a "big" roller coaster in Orlando!

I know Mako has been cycling with people for much of the week, but I finally had a few laps this morning. The verdict is that it's fantastic.

Contrary to what I've seen enthusiasts say, the airtime is pretty serious, out-of-your-seat, just short of ejector air. It's not that floater stuff at all. On the flip side, the bottoms are pretty tight. It's not gray-out forces, but it's pretty close. Not at all what I expected. It's the first time in any clam-shell seat that I recall strong negative G's followed by drop-your-ass hard positive G's. The trim on the return trip that people of course bitch about does not detract from the ride. The hills that follow have the same hard up-and-down as those before it.

I'm pretty excited to finally have a tall ride, and a hyper no less, in Orlando. It's long overdue. Really nice show elements in the station and out on the midway, too.

I stopped listening to enthusiast bitching long ago. Glad to hear it's as great as it looks from my drive down Central Florida Parkway. Can't wait to try it out.

I'm sure that Lightning Rod will put the 7mph that it took from Mako to good use.

On a serious note, the hotel I stay at in Orlando for work is right next to SW. 2 weeks ago I walked along I-Drive and got a great view of Mako. I gotta say, it looks amazing! The hills are steep and narrow and look to provide serious air. (which you just confirmed) The turns look extra tight and the one on the return run, under the giant outbound turn, looks ridiculous. I'm hoping to get a few more nights in Orlando to justify a season pass, as I'm never there long enough to make a 1-day admission worth the cost.

I missed the soft openings by just a few days, sadly.

Last week I was able to catch from test runs from inside the park and it did indeed look a bit slower than the runs I saw on Youtube (probably trying out different wheel mixes) but nothing about it looked slow. I'm especially intrigued by the low and speedy-looking hill before the MCBR which you don't see on a lot of B&Ms.

Perhaps the coolest part was walking by the entrance and seeing all the artist painting the rocks and coral stuff out front. What a neat job!

Yes, that little hill before the midcourse definitely pops you up and down pretty hard. That's the thing that's so different from the other B&M hypers I've been on (which don't include many newer ones, unfortunately... Diamondback was the last for me), is that the up and down force is so great and switches so quickly. I've never felt that out-of-my-seat on any coaster.

I did observe that it's a ride that has to be warmed up. First runs look slow, but it gets faster.

I guess that's the trouble with coasters in Florida - the cold weather really screws them up!

Glad to see I'm not the only one...I was beginning to think I was crazy. Most people are throwing around "typical B&M floater air" and "nothing out of the ordinary," but aside from Fury, this is the best B&M hyper I've been on. Super fun and re-ridable (5 rides one day, next day went back and did another 3) I'm glad to finally have something different in town that satisfies my need for airtime.

And the speed hill before the MCBR is my favorite moment of air on the ride.

Mako is a great coaster, and the airtime is definitely more than just floater air. I think night rides may be my favorite on this one (got 5 or 6 of them on the pass member preview night), the view looking north on I-Drive towards the Eye on the hill before the hammerhead is beautiful. Definitely a home run addition for SeaWorld.

So you were there after dark? Did you notice lighting effects on the midway? It was described as, "Fish scattering before the shark approaches." I want to know what that means!

Yep, I was there until they closed the line (10:15). There's just a ton of white LEDs embedded in the ride sign and shipwreck themeing around the first part of the turn over the midway heading down to the water that light up and flash just ahead of the train right after the audio cue starts playing. They're harder to see during the day, but the effect is still on during the day. It is a kind of cool effect to watch a few times but isn't anything elaborate.

Nice. I know on the construction tour a few weeks ago that their design people seemed to be really proud of it (ditto for the sweet ceiling in the station). I like that they spent time and money on a little bit of story telling with the ride, but didn't arrive at something like the whirling hockey pucks to see penguins.

I know this is an old post, but I have to disagree about the mcbr. It slows it down too much. Mako has one of the most boring sections after a mcbr that I can think of. First 2/3 is fantastic. The rest is too boring and slow.

Given you had 30 months to prepare, I would expect a more compelling argument.

The first 1/3 of your post was OK. The rest was boring.

^And what does that have to do with Mako? Should I have made my judgment before riding it like so many others like to do. I finally got to ride it, last month, and based on everything I read, saw and heard about this ride, including this thread, I expected to be blown away. It wasn't even close and it WAS because of the mcbr which, in this thread, was said to be no big deal.

I don't share your assessment, and I've been on it quite a bit. I time out a bit when enthusiasts even type "mcbr" because it seems like more of a psychological phenomenon than anything else.

After 7 or 8 visits last year, I have to say I agree with Zoug. The first 2/3, or whatever fraction exists before the naughtyword, is probably the best B+M Hyper I've ridden. (Every one in the US except Intimidator.) The part after is total Meh. Is it because the MCBR "neuters" the ride? I don't know, maybe, maybe not, who's to say? I've never had a ride with it off. It's just that there's not much else going on after it, aside from the totally awesome turn above the water. Love that part.

I'll say that the trim brake on the hill after the turnaround does absolutely nothing to diminish the ride. I've had rides where it does grab, and rides where it doesn't, and they are consistent.

I think it’s a kind of B&M thing. So many of the latest gigas from them have a brake that kills the second-half action. Or third quarter. The only one I wasn’t mad at was Nitro’s, as it gave me a chance to wake up after a helix-induced blackout.

Then there’s Fury 325 and Georgia’s Goliath that manage to provide end-to-end thrills and speed without one at all.

I gotta say Mako is my favorite Hyper- (with Diamondback a close second)... I had no complaints with the MCBR or anything afterward. In fact my only “gripe” was the puke green water underneath it.

Yesterday temperatures were cooler. . . . which means the MCBR's were not catching as hard. The last third was fantastic, you can definitely feel the difference. I have NEVER seen MaKo run 3 trains so having the MCBR is a puzzle to me.

Among my list of "overly entitled asinine enthusiast gripes" is the post-MCBR portions of most B&M's (speed or looper) seem pretty weak. In general, I feel like it's "we really need to get back to the station, so what's the least amount of interesting things we can do to get there." Occasionally the drop off the MCBR itself has decent air, but most of the time I hit the MCBR and then feel like I'm just waiting for the ride to be over. Maybe that's psychological or maybe it's pacing,

SFoG's Goliath is easily my favorite B&M because the last few hills don't seem like a weak way to just get back.