Lance Around Orlando

Ride face first on the Manta!

The monthly meeting of the Central Florida Vacation Rental Managers Association was held at Sea World to allow us to ride the new Manta coaster. We arrived at 8:00am, an hour before opening, so there were no lines. At 9am, as we went from Manta to our meeting, we fought our way through the throng of Sea World guests who arrived precisely at opening time and rushed to Manta.

Here are some reviews from my colleagues in the vacation rental home industry:

“Manta–4 G’s of sheer excitement, terror & back-against-your-seat entertainment! The last row is the best place to be!” –Michael Crandell

“I didn’t ride Manta because of a back problem but the aquarium was fantastic.”-Nigel Worrall, F. Leisure

“Finally, a line I don’t mind waiting in…getting there is half the fun. -Sondra Steele

“Manta–Awesome, fantastic and other adjectives that cannot be printed.  What more can I say? -Ian Pardoe, President CFVRMA

“I was a little too fat to ride it.  Thanks, Sea World, for giving me the motivation to lose weight!” -# 1 Son

Stingrays while you wait

“I didn’t ride Manta because my brother couldn’t ride it to give me some confidence, but I did go in the aquarium.  It was absolutely beautiful. Even if you don’t ride Manta, ‘there’s always a compromise.'” -# 1 Daughter

“Manta was extremely exciting and thrilling; one of those rides you must go on at least twice. The best part of the ride is the spins.” -Ashley Cobb

“I rode a roller coaster in Kansas City and when the cars reached the port–The whole ride fell to the ground. So I didn’t ride Manta” -Judy Braland

“I hated it. Don threw up, Pluto urinated on one of the support beams. There are much better coasters at Disney.” -Mick E. Mice (Not my real name)

“Breathtaking! A roller coaster like no other. A must do at Sea World!” -Steve Kliamenakis

“Manta was all the thrill seeking adventure I could imagine bottled up into one ride. -Brad L.

“Unfortunately, I was too big to fit into the Manta seats.  Why is it that I can ride every coaster at Disney, but the coaster designers at Universal, Sea World and Busch Gardens can’t figure out how to build a coaster that fits everybody? -Anonymous

“Manta–Wow! I won’t ride it but the aquariums are incredible.” -Keith Brady

“Inconceivable!” -Vizzini, the Sicilian from The Princess Bride movie

After our Manta preview, we had a talk by Brian Morrow, the director of Design & Engineering for Sea World.  He began by telling us that he was responsible for the design of everything at Sea World from “bathrooms to roller coasters.”  I was not quite sure if it was a good idea for him to put both of them in the same sentence?

Here are some of the most asked questions and facts about Manta:

How tall to ride Manta?

“How tall to ride Manta Coaster?” 54 inches.

“How tall is the Manta Coaster?” 140 feet with the longest drop being 113 feet.

“How long is the Manta ride?” Just over two and a half minutes.

“How fast does Manta go?” Up to 56 miles per hour.

“How many loops, twists and spins does Manta have?” Manta speeds riders through four showcase inversions, including two in-line spins, one flat spin and one pretzel loop. But the specially crafted rails make Manta one of the world’s smoothest coasters. There are lots of other twists and turns as well.

“How many aquariums are at the beginning of the ride queue?” 10, including some that have stingrays circling overhead and one that smaller guests can “pop up” into with fish swimming all around them.

“Who manufactured the Manta coaster?” Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M) of Monthey, Switzerland.

Please feel free to add your own review by leaving your comments about Manta!

This entry was posted on June 22, 2009 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Busch/Sea World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.