SeaWorld Orlando

Visited: September 9, 2023

Attending: Just Brian

In September 2023 I finally decided to take a long-delayed trip to Orlando. I've been planning this since around 2019, when I ended up with a bonus plane ticket. Since then it seemed like the Florida Parks just kept adding more coasters to my list. Originally I wanted to wait until Iron Gwazi was open but with the pandemic and other things going on, I just didn't make it down there. However, with some unexpected unemployment and a plane ticket that I had to use, I decided to spend five days to come down and sweep up all the credits I could, which means trying to visit a lot of parks in not very many days. I was also competing with the various Halloween events that the parks put on, which I have no interest in, but they do draw a crowd.

I flew down on Saturday the 9th and while it wasn't a lot of flying, I was a little delayed in Atlanta and I knew that I’d be arriving with very little time to spare in Orlando. SeaWorld Orlando was a park where I only had a handful of credits to get, although they were important ones by my standards. I had picked a hotel by Seaworld because it's centrally located for the Orlando parks, but I also thought that if I needed more than one day at SeaWorld I could go back anytime I wanted to with my season pass. So I picked up my car at the airport, headed directly to SeaWorld, and got there around about 4:00 in the afternoon. I knew that the park would be closing at 7:00 for their Halloween event, which I didn't have a ticket to. What I didn't know was that they would be shutting down the major roller coasters at 5:30 to prep for the event. So I was on a mission.

Mako

Mako is a coaster I've wanted to ride for a while. I love B&M hypers, and Mako is supposed to be one of the best. I had some doubts, but a lot of people gave the same opinion: that it was pretty much a pinnacle of what a hyper should be, with lots of floater air time, which I love. It's at the back of the park, so I had to hustle to get back there. The line was roughly 20 minutes when I got there, which isn't too bad, but it was awfully humid. Once I got to the station, I decided to get a back row ride if I was only going to get one. Fortunately I didn't have to wait too long to get the back row seat that I wanted. As for the ride itself, I'd have to say it does impress. Like a lot of hyper coasters, 200 feet just doesn't feel all that tall anymore compared to the giga models. However Mako has quality. I enjoyed the first drop quite a bit, and the first turn with the overbank was a lot of fun. The second hill had a ridiculous amount of floater air time. Unfortunately it does turn around at that point, which is a common problem to hypers. I think every hyper coaster probably feels like it could be a bit longer and this is no different. I was expecting some better airtime from the tiny hill right before the mid course but that didn't happen. The bit of turns and fun track that it does after the mid course and before the brakes were a lot more fun than I anticipated, with great views and interesting forces. I'll have to ride it again before I can decide whether it's really the best hyper of all. A front-row ride would also be a good test. Right now it's really good, but I don't know if it's better than Nitro.

Pipeline

Pipeline was an interesting experiment, if an unplanned one. It's the newest coaster in Orlando and an entirely new type from B&M, a surf coaster. I've ridden stand-up coasters from B&M before; in fact I’ve ridden all of them in the United States, and they range from “just okay” to actively bad. However I’d heard really good things about the surf coaster design, and while it wasn't something I particularly anticipated, I wanted to see how it would work. Pipeline is certainly eye-catching; it's right in front of the park, and pretty much the only thing you see when you enter. As it happens the entrance to the ride itself is around the back, so you can't go right to it. I got in line around about 5:00, which is when I found out that the rides would be shutting down at 5:30. Although the line was a 60-minute wait, it looked like they were going to let anybody in line finish the ride. As it happens, I think I got the next-to-last train of the day, for which I’m grateful.

So was it better than a stand-up coaster? Yes, absolutely. The “seats” are not that different from a stand-up seat, but they have a lot more springiness in the support, which allows you to flex with your knees with the hills. It has the same vest restraint that you find on dive coasters and wing coasters, and that's kind of a bummer. The vest actually cut into my collarbone somewhat uncomfortably. But I'd rather have some pain from the restraints than some pain from the seat. The coaster starts with a launch, not a particularly forceful one, which is sort of the theme for this ride. However it does the trick that recent launch coasters do of rising up or hitting a hill while it's still accelerating, which is an interesting feeling if you don't know it's coming. The first element is sort of a big turnaround, meant to simulate the motions that a surfer would make on the ocean, and in that sense it succeeds. The spring loaded seats go up and down with the air time, which means when you get air, your feet come off the floor. I knew that might happen, but it was still a very strange sensation to just rise up into the air while on a coaster. I guess that's the real definition of “standing airtime.” It's not a long ride and it's not particularly forceful, but it's not a kiddie ride either. It's fun, it's swoopy, and I think it's supposed to be that way. There are some moments of air that take full advantage of the seat mechanism, and some moments of positive forces as well that push you down. I found myself laughing while I was riding, which is usually a good sign. I had the back row, which was a natural instinct for a first ride but I do wonder what it would be like from the front. It's a shame I didn't have more time because I really think this would benefit from a reride.

Ice Breaker

This was the only credit I didn't have yet, but I ran out of time. I didn’t even get near the ride, just a view from across the lake.