Manta soft opening starts Tues., May 5*

April 30, 2009, 1:34 PM · SeaWorld Orlando just announced that its new B&M Flying coaster Manta will "soft open" to the public on Tuesday, May 5, at noon.

Since I can't be there for the opening, I am asking all Orlando-area Theme Park Insider readers, as well as visitors in town for the day, to submit your write-ups and reviews as soon as you ride. You can post to the Blog Flume here and post photos to our Facebook page.

* Update: SeaWorld just released this POV video:

* Update 2: You can win a free on-ride photo or a front-of-the-line pass on the SeaWorld website.

Replies (26)

April 30, 2009 at 1:58 PM · Dang!!! Park hours show 9AM-7PM and I work that, so won't be til Friday when I'm off!!!! Grrrrrr.....
April 30, 2009 at 5:16 PM · I'll be there, but I'm wondering whether Robert will actually post my report. He has already failed to post my trip report to Busch Gardens Williamsburg from the dates of April 25-26th??? I guess we'll see....?????
April 30, 2009 at 6:36 PM · Where did you post the report, the blog or the board? I didn't see it.
April 30, 2009 at 8:04 PM · According to the Orlando Sentinel it might be limited. Opening every day at noon on Tue 5th through at least Sun 10th.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_orlando/2009/04/seaworld-orlando-manta-roller-coaster-sneak-preview-may-5.html

April 30, 2009 at 8:26 PM · FYI - The Prowler at Worlds of Fun opens this weekend as well, weather permitting. I will try to get some pictures and a review up by late Saturday.
May 1, 2009 at 5:13 AM · Looks great! Won't get to ride it until 2011 so be sure to get lots of pics!! :)
May 1, 2009 at 8:30 AM · Robert, just read your reply. FYI to you, I posted my trip report to the discussion board on Tuesday the 28th of April regarding my trip report of Busch Gardens Williamsburg on the 25th and 26th of April. No problem if you didn't receive it, but I had no problems on my end sending it.

Now to all... I'm heading to Sea World Orlando right now to meet up with some people and hopefully I'll get to ride the Manta and view the area around it???

May 1, 2009 at 8:36 AM · Very nice.... Looks fun - Too bad we are only going to Disney next week.... We usually go to Discovery Cove and Sea World…. But we are trying to save a little $$ this year…
May 1, 2009 at 10:48 AM · Jeff is right, Robert you must have a problem in the sever.
because i send some question to the board and you never publish them.
May 1, 2009 at 11:33 AM · My "fill your row" referral code on the SeaWorld Manta website is 7d7d20fe-8c83-4a67-9800-8d93858b88f6

Feel free to post yours.

May 1, 2009 at 11:54 AM · VG, ....no worries.... Robert likes some of us and others he just passes to the side in hopes we'll go away????


:) smiling as I type......

May 1, 2009 at 12:20 PM · And I'm gonna be on it at 11am, yes, thats right, 11am on Tuesday. Taking lots of pictures :D
May 1, 2009 at 1:08 PM · FWIW, I approve everything that isn't (a) a dupe of something I just approved, (b) robot-generated nonsense or (c) clearly libelous (and that's extremely rare.)

Now, the system will eat posts that contain certain foul language or HTML code, but it should throw you an error notice when it does that.

So basically, if you put something up that's original, didn't result in an error message, and haven't seen it approved within 24 hours, please e-mail me. FWIW, I never saw the BGW reports and would like to track down what happened there. Don't know if you want to resubmit - but if you would, I would be very happy to approve it - or to release the technical hounds to find out why it isn't getting to me.

May 1, 2009 at 1:09 PM · Looking forward to your report, Gareth!
May 1, 2009 at 1:55 PM · Robert, I appreciate your response regarding the lack of accepted posts. Speaking solely of my post, I DID NOT have any duplications of something you have previously just approved, NO robot-generated nonsense or any clearly libelous reports, etc....

My trip report was VERY long and detailed due to the fact I did my trip with my family and not for business purposes!!! I used NO foul language or HTML code, yet I received NO error notice as you mentioned!!! My trip report was completely original and I think that your servers may still have a problem???

Without too much detail to bore everyone, you need to check your time codes in server receptance of messages sent to you. I would suggest that you do look further into things if you really want to. Since there is another person who has stated the same as I.

I do not have the time to re-type my long and detailed report which I only did since I truely felt it would have aided others in learning a few things about BGW. I did it only on your site due to my acceptance of your site procedures.

In closing....please do not think I'd waste your time or other readers to this site with jibberish just for attention! It's your choice if your interested in finding said report.

I'm getting ready now to have dinner with some Sea World Orlando personnal and hopefully a ride or many on Manta??? If I can speak of my personnal experience within a NON-business related experience, I'll send in what I can.... Thanks again for running a great site, and to all who take part in this site....give Boo-bie (Robert) a welcome shared thanks!

May 1, 2009 at 3:05 PM · I keep watching for the Manta train on a test run but have yet to see it. I can see a portion of the track from right outside of my construction trailer.
May 1, 2009 at 3:32 PM · Has anyone tried to register for the Sea World website to take the quizzes for the front of the line access thing? Every time I try to register, it always says Error registering account.
May 1, 2009 at 4:33 PM · Cool Deal! I was hoping for a soft open.. we will be in Orlando April 8th through 17th. Was going to go to SeaWorld at the end of trip, but I may have to rework that plan!
May 2, 2009 at 4:06 PM · It soft opened today at 2. Should be open every day from here on out...
May 2, 2009 at 5:51 PM · I will say that out of ALL the B&M flying coasters this one is by far my Favorite!!! You just seem to to actually fly over things! The theme is great and I can only say that people who ride this coaster later on will get the complete experience!

You see, The tanks holding the salt water fish need a bit more time to "cycle" as I'm told. This basically means that the tanks of H2O need to build up a significant amount of bacteria and algie growth to substain marine life! I understand that more aquatic like will be brought in as well as time goes by!

A personnal note, thanks to all the Sea World personnal for making this ride worth the wait! People....please believe me that you won't be dissappointed with this one! The theming and special touches are all around! If you ride this early....then expect a bit of haze to the visual tanks due to their "cycle" system! I bet this will just be great after a few months!

I'm sorry to not have additional photos, but may I just say that this coaster/attraction should NOT dissappoint! If it does to anyone, than you just are too picky on things. The coaster is top notch! (personnal opinion...Front car is great if your looking for the visual thrill, but the rear gives the most g-forces).

please feel free to ask me any questions. I will say say that this business trip to Sea World Orlando was better than the past.(without getting into details) I can only state that the Manta is a must see attraction regardless if you ride or not. If you do take part in this attraction, please take the time to notice all the small details placed into the queue, etc.... Reminds me of Disney past attractions!!!


Everyone enjoy... I'm now flying home to wallow in my experienced fun for the past couple of days. Sorry if I'm rubbing things in, but I truely did not expect what I experienced!

May 2, 2009 at 7:48 PM · Photos: http://pointpics.com/categories.php?cat_id=524
May 2, 2009 at 8:44 PM · Thanks for the reviews and photos. The ride looks just amazing. SeaWorld may not have a lot of "ride" attractions, but the ones the do have, by and large, are amazing. I simply cannot wait for my Orlando trip in 2010!
May 2, 2009 at 9:56 PM · That's a remarkably poor "official" video. Poor cutting choices and they really should have tweaked the audio (wind noise is sooooo exciting). And why the heck isn't it widescreen?
May 3, 2009 at 7:30 AM · I think the reason for the quality of the video is because they were going for an amateur rider video style.

This is my guess because the video was first released to the public through Shamu's Twitter page where he said: "We taped a camera to an employee's head and made him ride Manta. Truly." It then provided a link to the video.

May 4, 2009 at 8:54 AM · Jason - Were you able to resolve your issue with registering on the Manta site? I was able to do so with no problems.

On another note, I was able to ride Manta yesterday at SeaWorld - it was great! I agree with the previous poster that the ride is much more intense in the back than the front (I rode in the front row and the back row). I was really impressed with the aquarium area as well. I can't wait to hear what everyone else thinks.

Jamie

May 4, 2009 at 9:31 AM · Nope, still says "Error registering account" every time I try. I've tried both of my email addresses, multiple passwords, and tried using a different computer, but to no avail. I have no idea what's going on.

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