This Manta will be a Mack Launch Coaster, smaller in size and intensity than the Bolliger & Mabillard Flying Coaster that shares the same name and theme in SeaWorld Orlando. Like its Orlando sibling, however, San Diego's Manta will incorporate underwater viewing of rays in its queue. The park will enhance its existing Forbidden Reef section, where visitors can touch and feed bat rays, and incorporate it as part of Manta, as well.
"We are delighted to bring energizing new attractions to our guests year after year," SeaWorld park president John Reilly said in a statement, "and Manta does just that, combining the thrill and excitement of a coaster, with the educational and entertaining value of an incredible marine-life exhibit."
San Diego's Manta will blast riders out of a launch tunnel within which larger-than-life images of rays will be projected onto a 270-degree screen, using a projection system that the park calls the first of its kind in the United States.
Despite the high-speed launch, don't expect a too-intense experience, though. This Manta's speed will top out at 43 mph and the biggest drop will be 54 feet. (The coaster's maximum height will be just 30 feet; tunnels will allow the coaster to drop farther.) Compare those stats with the 113-foot drop, 140-foot height, 56 mph top speed and multiple inversions for the Orlando Manta, which won the 2009 Theme Park Insider Award as the year's best new attraction.
Thoughts? Questions? How do you think this Manta will match up with other new attractions coming on line in 2012?
Update: Here's a (rough) concept video from SeaWorld. The train on the video doesn't have the promised manta ray decoration, nor do the surroundings match what's in the park at that location. Nor is the launch tunnel included. But it does give you a rough idea of what the track layout will be like.
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That makes it subject to the coastal commission's regulations on development. One of those regulations restricts the heights of buildings within certain distances from the waterfront.
Where Manta is to be located, the height limit is 30 feet. So unless SeaWorld wants to bankroll a statewide ballot initiative to overrule the commission (please, for dear God in heaven, don't go there), that's what they're stuck with for now.
Now, you can correctly point out that height restrictions are widely inconsistent up and down the California coast. Port equipment soars above 30 feet. So does development along the waterfront in San Francisco. The Santa Monica Boardwalk and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk each have waterfront attractions that exceed 30 feet.
But the commission is trying to hold the line on new development along the coast. And local support for the coastal height restrictions in San Diego County appears especially strong.
Personally, I think there's a huge difference between a roller coaster track 100 feet in the air and a 100-foot tall building. (Think total mass of the structure.) But that's not a distinction that's built into the California Coastal Code.
Regardless, this coaster seems to capture the spirit of a manta ray better. The sudden acceleration and drifting curves are more reminiscent of a manta ray's movement than a slow, steady climb followed by corkscrews, loops, and barrel rolls.
However, After watching the video...... It seems like the not flying along part takes away from it seeming like the Manta experience somehow.... like sitting up right does not make as much since with the concept I guess. Had I not seen the flying version before, and seen how it seems to go with the swimming through the water type vibe a little more than sitting up right, I may not have thought this.
Can't wait to learn more about the layout of the ride.
Is always interesting when you get different versions of rides of attractions in the same brand parks. I personally don't like when they get the same name. It makes it less unique. For now on, there is going to be Manta- San Diego and Manta- Orlando. I would like more it they would name it differently avoiding the "Superman" attractions situation. But I understand the "Theme" side of the Manta appeal. Is always great to have new roller coasters, no matter what they're named...
-Francisco-
(For background, look at what happened to Journey to Atlantis as it was copied from Orlando to San Diego, and then to San Antonio.)
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