SeaWorld Releases POV of Mako

Looks like a very nice B&M hyper; which is something I'm very excited to finally see in Orlando/Florida. SeaWorld will definitely have a solid line-up of coasters with this, Manta, and Kraken put together. Final thought, I'm curious to see if the train will fly through the mid-course brake like that when the ride opens to guests.

Looks like a solid layout. I look forward to riding this later in the year.

And yes - that thing flies through the second half. I could see the midcourse brakes hitting a little harder once it opens. But you never know!

It looks very fast.

This will certainly be the best coaster at a major park in the Orlando area. I'm hoping it does very well for them.

A friend of mine who watched Mako test noted it was hitting the MCBR hard the other day. Hopefully just testing, but I'm sure it will be at some middle ground between what we see in that video and a hard stop. We can only hope its closer to the "fast and furious" lack of braking as shown in that POV.

MakoMadness posted a new video over on another coaster forum of Mako testing... as predicted the trims, softer wheels, and MCBR have resulted in it now running MUCH slower than the POV video posted by the park. Gone is the ejector air and speedy second half of the ride... replaced w/ B&M's notoriously controlled floater air and a leisurely jaunt back to the station.

I don't see why anyone expected B&M to start unleashing their hyper coasters when we've never seen them do it.

Another satisfied B&M poopypants!

RollrCoastrCrazy, have you ridden Fury 325? If that isn't considered unleashing, I don't know what is, and that comes from someone who is a huge fan of SkyRush, I305, El Toro, Batman - The Ride, etc.

I really love Diamondback, which is what I'm hoping for (generally) with Mako. Sounds like that's what I'll get. Perfectly content with floater air as long as it is plentiful, which it should be with those hills.

...and that's where I differ, but I know I'm in pretty scarce company when it comes to my view that Diamondback sits near the bottom of my B&M hyper list. I'm hoping for an what would basically be a slightly more impressive version of SFOG's Goliath.

sirloindude, I consider Fury and Lev to be "giga" models, which seem to have a different style than B&M's "hyper" models. The gigas put less emphasis on the tightly controlled camelbacks and feature more low to the ground speed elements. There is slight trimming there but it's nothing compared to the trims and mcbr's on nearly every other B&M hyper. Goliath at SFOG seems to clip along a bit faster than the others though.

Also, not sure why I'm being called a 'poopypants' for pointing out the fact that their hyper models are a bit more controlled than what we see from other designers. I like several of the B&M hypers but feel that most of them would benefit from "loosening up" the controls a bit, hardly a 'poopypants' mindset. That's my opinion on them but I know the parks have maintenance and ride comfort concerns that supersede the wishes of an enthusiast. Some of them, like Raging Bull's airtime hill trim that often invokes audible groans from the riders, just seem so pointless though. I didn't engineer the ride, obviously, but most of us would agree that there's no reason to wreck the best hill on the coaster every time right?

They aren't wrecked, they're operated in precisely the manner they were designed for.

I got a good laugh out of someone on another site labeling Sea World's Mako POV "disingenuous" because it didn't represent what the final product would look like with trims and different wheels.

First World Problems.

Why is that not disingenuous? No human will ever experience a ride anywhere close to what that official POV suggests that you would receive if you come to ride SW's exciting new 'record-breaking' ride for 2016.

If Cedar Point posted a POV video of TTD launching at 140mph would that not be disingenuous? No humans could ride it that way then either, same deal as Sea World.

An uneducated consumer would view that original POV (where the 2nd half of the ride absolutely hauls) and think that Mako is going to be a really intense ride. Soft wheels, trims, and that brake run mean that Mako will never be that advertised "really" intense ride. I don't see how this is so difficult to understand.

EDIT: For clarity, Mako still looks like a really fun ride. I'm not saying that it isn't. I'm simply stating that people on this forum and others were believing the hype when they saw that "official" posted POV and are now trying to downplay that since we've seen how Mako will truly run... like every other B&M hyper model.

RollrCoastrCrazy said:

An uneducated consumer would view that original POV ... and think that Mako is going to be a really intense ride.

A non-enthusiast consumer would view that original POV and not think about intensity.

Do you really think that the average what you call "an uneducated consumer" is even going to 1. watch the POV video in the first place or 2. really be able to notice that there is difference between that and the final product? The person that steps off of the ride and says "I wish it were 5 mph faster and my butt came out of the seat a half an inch more" needs to be hit over the back of the head with a tire iron or at the very least needs to rethink their ability to have fun.

Lord help me if I ever reach the asshat level where I worry about a coaster with a 200 foot drop that hits 70 mph not being "intense" or being a disappointment. File that under my attitude that a bad ride on any roller coaster is better than my best day at work or my best night of watching TV.

Amen to that. I will never understand folks who get so bent out of shape over stuff like that.

Jeff Flicko* was asked at No Coaster whether Fiesta Texas considers its 2016 addition Fireball (a Larson Giant Loop) to be a coaster. He said that enthusiasts are the 1% of amusement park guests -- well--informed and knowledgeable -- but that most guests don't care how a ride is classified as long as they have fun on it.

*Just saying. He's cute. He could eat crackers in my bed anytime, to quote Barbara Mandrell

I got to ride yesterday during its second day of soft opening. I'll preface my statements with the list of B&M hypers I've been on so you can see the basis of my comparison: Apollo's Chariot, Nitro, Intimidator, Goliath at SFOG.

I got four total rides, rows 6, 3, 7, and 1. Front row was the best of all, but every row I was in had excellent airtime and gave a great ride. Of the B&M hypers I've been on this one had the best airtime. Far more intense air than the others which offered more floater air. It's a similar overall experience to Goliath at SFOG, but with better airtime from what I remember. The trim on the third hill hits REAL hard, but you still great air time on the hill and get to the mid-course with a ton of speed so it's not a big deal. The second half (as expected) is not as insane as the original POV suggests, bit its still a nice fun ending to a solid ride.

Easily the best coaster in Orlando, also the best in FL in general IMO (although I can see some debate there as far as where it ranks with BGT 's coasters).

Rode it five times today. Assigned seating only right now, and I rode rows 7, 6, 1, 4, 3 (in that order). As a benchmark I've been on Fury 325, Intimidator at Carrowinds, Nitro, Apollo's Chariot.

The first drop is very well designed to get you out of your seat from any row, but the most air on the first drop is found in the back seat. Certainly one of the more forceful first hills from a B&M, right behind Fury. Again, whatever seat you're sitting in you will be out of it for the entirety of the first drop, but the back gives the best pop.

After the first drop, this really becomes a coaster where the closer to the front you are, the more airtime you're going to get. I'm usually a back seat kind of enthusiast on just about every coaster, but for me the front seat on Mako is the best on the ride, with more forceful air than any other B&M I've ridden. I was out of my seat for the duration of the second hill, fourth hill, and fifth hill (speed hill). As you can guess, the speed hill provides the best air, the closest to ejector, and after the first drop it's my favorite element on the ride.

The third hill gives floater air because of the trim on the way up. I heard plenty of groans from riders today when we hit those...it just kills more momentum than necessary, but it's not my coaster to run. You still get plenty of air on the next two hills before the mid course brake run.

The MCBR slowed us down as well, and that results in a pretty uneventful glide back to the station. You get a little touch of floater air on the hill after the MCBR, and the curves back to the station lack any real force.

Overall guest impressions were extremely positive so this will be an absolute hit for Sea World and their target market. Yes I wish the hill trim at the very least was off, but that's a calculated decision I'm not privy to make. The coaster is still extremely fun and is the best B&M hyper I have been on. In any row it beats Manta (in the back row) as my favorite coaster in Orlando.