Manta

Janis and I got to ride Manta this past Sunday and Monday multiple times. We had been on all the Vekoma versions in the US and on the two Superman B&M flyers (SFoG and Great Adv). Manta really is the best of the bunch, the forces are greater and the ride is much more interesting. The flips are all designed over the sidewalks and the dip to the water is interesting. But we thought it was going to be a scoop on the side of the train like on Griffon and Sheikra, but the train never makes contact with the water, its fountains that are timed to go off in sequence when the train skims above the water, very good affect and the timing is good. The duel loading station makes the wait time a lot less, it runs three trains, the two Superman ones seem to take forever to load, but this seems to have helped speed things up. The Vekoma's for some reason never figured out how to get the duel stations working (at least when I have been to the various parks).

Manta was up and down like a yo yo, I guess that can be expected from a brand new ride, the bugs should be worked out by mid summer.

We also got a chance to ride the Daniah Beach Hurricane in Fort Lauderdale, we had not been on it before, nice little "forgotten" wood coaster. The three bench trains kind of fight the fan turns a little. We rode in the pouring rain which made for some good rides.

Also on this trip we rode a new Mountain coaster in Ohco Rios, Jamaica while on a cruise, you can read about that in another post under general buzz.

Is Manta drawing well? I half-suspect that it might be a bit too aggressive for the averge Sea World guest, but hopefully I'm wrong...

Brian Noble said:
Is Manta drawing well? I half-suspect that it might be a bit too aggressive for the averge Sea World guest, but hopefully I'm wrong...

I believe it is. It had about an hour and 15 min wait on avg. The crowds seemed to love it when they got off.

According to one of the higher-ups at SeaWorld, only about 40% of their guests ride the coasters. Which is why it was SO important that Manta have non-rider attractions built-in. Fabulous visuals, the aquarium enjoyable from both the queue and viewing area. I could count at least a half-dozen areas around Manta that attracted groups of "looky-loos"....and Manta was perfectly designed for them.

I'm surprised it is as high as 40%.

I was going to take advantage of the Disney annual pass summer discount, and spend a bit of extra time with the Mouse this year. Maybe I should go to SWO instead...

Agreed. That particular park is one I always thought that the rides were a bonus. I'm very nostalgic for the SeaWorld Ohio stuff, and as such I've found myself in past visits being really into the marine life stuff.

Personally, from the show perspective I prefer the Sea World in San Antonio, I thought they were better there but I suspect that the original park has both of them beat.

Touchdown said:
Personally, from the show perspective I prefer the Sea World in San Antonio, I thought they were better there but I suspect that the original park has both of them beat.

Each show at each park can be different depending on the day and the trainers and how the animals are feeling and if they want to put on a "show" or not.

Personally, my favorite park in Orlando is Seaworld, its almost the "forgotten" park to most, everyone knows Disney and even Universal now, but people seem to not think about Seaworld when going to FL. I am talking about non coaster folk...

One of the best moves IMO for SFoT was putting in all the flats at the entrances to the bigger rides. Gives something to do for people who don't want to ride the monster coasters.

I am also surprised that the number is as high as 40% but then I'm also surprised that the wait was an hour+. You'd think with two stations and three trains, they'd be ripping people through there.

And are the flyers that much slower to load than inverts or floorlesses that they need the extra stations? It seems like a lot of cost and I can't imagine it would have been that much different from Kraken in terms of loading and unloading.

rollergator said:
According to one of the higher-ups at SeaWorld, only about 40% of their guests ride the coasters.

Brian Noble said:
I'm surprised it is as high as 40%.

ApolloAndy said:
I am also surprised that the number is as high as 40%

Anyone have any solid info on how this compares to ridership at a more traditional ride/thrill park like a Six Flags or Cedar Fair park?

Lord Gonchar said:

rollergator said:
According to one of the higher-ups at SeaWorld, only about 40% of their guests ride the coasters.

Brian Noble said:
I'm surprised it is as high as 40%.

ApolloAndy said:
I am also surprised that the number is as high as 40%

Anyone have any solid info on how this compares to ridership at a more traditional ride/thrill park like a Six Flags or Cedar Fair park?

Reminds me of the old saying "Those who talk don't know and those who know don't talk." ;)

Since I don't know, and I only guage from what people talk about, I feel that a dedicated ride park is around 70%, with a hybrid park (Holiday World, Hershey come to mind with their water parks) somewhere around 40% sounds right. Again, I know nothing, so I guess it doesn't matter!

No need to quote the entire previous post. We know who you're responding to.

I would guess that even at a Six Flags park which is more thrill than family, less than 50% ride the monster coasters (Nitro, KK, even El Toro). I mean, I would guess a good portion don't even meet the height or health requirements.

Anyone have any solid info on how this compares to ridership at a more traditional ride/thrill park like a Six Flags or Cedar Fair park?

Hard to get unique riders, but you can approximate it given CP's published ridership per-attraction plus the annual TEA attendance estimate.

And, if you count "any coaster" it's probably something like 2/3.