A sneak peak of SeaWorlds latest coaster - Manta

I was invited to the VIP opening of Manta, SeaWorld’s new adventure roller coaster, that is taking place on May 24th.  However, the ride opened earlier than expected to the public and my kids could not wait so we went and rode Manta today.

All I can say is WOW.  The entrance to the ride is pretty cool, literally, as much of it is indoors and nicely air conditioned.  There are aquariums along the route for viewing - nice for taking your mind off the long wait.  Fortunately for us, the wait was only 10 minutes.

You enter the ride and sit in a seat, very similar to Kraken (SeaWorld’s other roller coaster).  However, before you take off, the seat tilts forward so you are parallel to the ground.  The ride is called Manta because it mimics a manta swimming and gliding through the water.  However, this ride is a bit extreme – defiantly not for people who do not like roller coasters.  The g-force is pretty intense, especially the second drop where you roll through a full frontal loop – very extreme.  There are many twists, rolls and loops.  One part that is especially fun is where you drop down towards the water, nearly skimming it with your body.  We went on the ride 3 times, once in the front, once in the middle and once in the back.  The front has the best view while the back has the most g-force.

Huge kudos to SeaWorld as this is an awesome ride.  If you’re traveling to Orlando, make sure you check out.www.globalresorthomes.com for your lodging needs.

A Day at SeaWorld

After an enjoyable and relaxing Day at Discovery Cove, I headed back to Windsor Hills Resort and began planning for the following day.  I had been to SeaWorld as a child and was really looking forward to going back as an adult, so I decided I would spend day two exploring SeaWorld.

As I walked into SeaWorld I was surprised by the ambiance of the park.  Similar to Discovery Cove, the entrance is lined with beautiful plants and palm trees and you can’t help but feeling as if you stepped into a tropical paradise.  I grabbed a map of the park and headed straight to the sky tower.  The 400 foot tall Sky Tower is a six minute capsule ride that gives you a bird’s eye view of the entire park and slowly rotates the whole time.  On a clear day, you can actually see as far away as downtown Orlando!  After exiting the ride, I began roaming the park stopping to check out the vast amount of exhibits SeaWorld has to offer.

The highlight of the day for me was visiting the dolphin cove and the sea lion exhibit.  SeaWorld’s dolphin cove is one of the largest interactive dolphin pools in the world and home to a pod of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. The underwater viewing area was, in my opinion, the best part of this particular exhibit and allowed me to capture several amazing pictures of the intelligent mammals.  The sea lion exhibit, although nothing particularly special about it, was another highlight for me as they are one of my favorite animals.  I took several pictures of the lazy sea lions lounging around and spent a good amount of time simply observing their behavior. 

SeaWorld’s rollercoaster, Kraken, is Orlando’s tallest and fastest coaster and consistently ranked as one of the worlds top 10 coaster by ride enthusiasts.  I was excited to take on Kraken as I am a big fan of rollercoaster’s, but was incredibly disappointed when I found out that it was shut down for the day for mechanical repairs. 

After a few hours of walking around the park, I was getting tired and hungry and stopped for lunch at Sharks Underwater Grill.  I was impressed by the variety of food the restaurant offered, especially the amount of healthy choices on the menu.  As I sat and ate lunch, I glanced over show times for the various performances held throughout the day.  I had heard that “Believe”, featuring Shamu, was SeaWorld’s best show and a must see while I was visiting.  Sadly, my timing did not match up with the show times so I settled on going to “Seamore and Clyde Take Pirate Island.”

I had a few hours to kill before the show began, so I continued on foot checking out all the exhibits SeaWorld has to offer.  From sharks to penguins to turtles, SeaWorld has it all and you can easily spend an entire day at the park and still not fit in all there is to do!

Jordan

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