Infinity Falls will feature a vertical elevator that will lift rafts into a 40-foot drop into the river, which the park is calling the world's tallest drop on a river rapids ride.
"To bring Infinity Falls to life, designers were inspired by the rainforests of South America and the flowing rivers found within," SeaWorld said in a statement. "Each raft will twist and turn through a lush jungle environment as guests experience the feel of exhilarating Class IV rapids."
The 1,520-foot, four-minute ride will be the centerpiece of a new rainforest area in the park, which include animals native to South America, as well as other interactive, educational activities.
Infinity Falls is scheduled to open in Summer 2018.
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By the way - delighted that Seaworld are meeting the challenge of dropping attendance with investment in big new rides. Rapids rides are perfect for Florida and always popular.
However, the real question is will this even move the needle? I know water rides can be popular in Orlando because of the climate, but guests don't go to theme parks because of a raft ride. Even the best ones (like Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Barges and Grizzly River Run) aren't big draws compared to other attractions in those parks. They also tend to be rather low capacity even when compared to log flumes and water coasters. I just don't think this was a needed addition with so many issues going on in this park - Antarctica's dark ride being boring, Wild Arctic being out of date, Blue Horizons going back to a stock dolphin education show, and the whole Shamu conundrum. A raft ride doesn't do anything to improve Sea World's position in the market, and is probably the last place where this park should be spending its limited (compared to Disney and Universal) resources.
This isn't about creating necessarily a huge draw, however river raft rides have proven to be a marketable attractions at parks around the world. Instead I view this as serving two purposes for SeaWorld. One it creates a new attraction they can market in 2018 and more importantly, it creates yet another attraction in total, rounding out what they have to offer in terms of big rides.
SeaWorld is also looking to select ride systems that they can use to tell their stories and raft rides are perfect for that purpose. Besides a river raft ride is very fitting for the warm Orlando climate. It's also a staple attraction at the two other SeaWorld parks and they're not low capacity attractions either as you state. Raft rides depending on the seating configuration, 6 or 9, have rated capacities of up to 1,600 pph. In real operation a nine-seat system can easily do over 1,000 pph.
Doing nothing will be the death of SeaWorld. Everyone wishes they had a Harry Potter they could put to use, but when you don't it's rapid rides and roller coasters that will have to suffice. At least they're investing in the property and that's what is important.
James- Gwazi was garbage the year it opened, and every year thereafter. Even with new trains it was still junk. The fact that it is sitting there unused has no impact on the experience at Busch Gardens Tampa and the rest of the lineup of attractions is fantastic.
The Sky Tower has always been a problematic attraction, not only from an operational side, but also from an economical side. Sea World really wants to operate the attraction as an up-charge, but there simply isn't enough demand for it. Thus on the days that it does run, very few people actually ride it, meaning that equipment that should be operated continuously is only run intermittently, accelerating the decay.
Gwazi was a bit of a maintenance nightmare for BGT (as many GCIs built in the late 90's have become), but I think something will be done by 2018. The MF trains purchased for Gwazi a few years ago are now on InvadR at BGW, meaning BGT is either going to RMC Gwazi, or will raze and rebuild something new on the site (a very valuable piece of real estate in the park). When I mentioned RMC to Jonathon Smith (in charge of rides for the entire chain) at the InvadR Media Day, he didn't make any denials, but noted that "Gwazi now lives in Williamsburg". I wouldn't be surprised to see something like what happened to Colossus to be done to Gwazi.
I agree that doing nothing is unwise, but I don't think this is the time for Sea World to add a raft ride. They need to swing for the fences to try to get some of the guests they're bleeding to UO and Disney (and Legoland). A relatively stock raft ride is nothing special (even though their marketing may make it seem like it is). I do think it fills a void, but it's not what the park needs right now, and will not have the desired impact of stopping the bleeding.
It's true, the park is in transition, and needs to bolster its ride lineup to pick up the slack from reduced interest in their animal shows. However, they really needed to do something more impactful. Whether it be an update to the Wild Arctic simulator (the same simulator system is getting a VR upgrade at BGW), or some other unique attraction to the Orlando market. I think the people at Sea World sat around and looked at the parks and said, "what don't we have at SWO", then they spun a wheel, and it landed on white water raft ride. Sorry, it just doesn't cut it when in 2017 they're only adding a VR upgrade to Kraken. If Sea World is going to compete in the now ultra competitive Orlando market, they need to build a new attraction every single year (or at least complete a major rehab). A raft ride like Infinity Falls would have been perfect for 2017 with a larger addition in 2018, but with 2 years between builds, Sea World is getting lapped by the competition, and will continue to lose market share.
They are never going to compete with Disney and UO. They have to be different. Mako and Discovery Cove are both wins. Big Thrills and Education are both wins. Sea World operates on a different ethos. It's not Disney magic, but magical nonetheless. Audiences need to temper their expectations.
And what about when Shamu gets shuttered at the end 2018? SW's problems will continue. Blue Horizons was transformed into Dolphin "Doze" - nothing you can't already see at many regional aquariums.
Our family loves SW passionately. But the writing appears to be on the wall long-term for them.
I think the coasters are a hard sell in the Orlando market. You can have one or 2, but all three (3) of SWO's coasters (Shamu Express aside) require guests to be 54" tall. For a typical family of 4, that means 1 or 2 of the members are not going to want to ride the 3 biggest rides in the park. It's a hard ask to get a typical family to come to the park if they're going to be fractured for half of the day.
Don't get me wrong, I love Manta and Kraken (haven't been on Mako yet), but most people visit Orlando to be with their family, and the other parks try hard to make sure there are attractions they can all ride together, even many of the roller coasters. Sea World needs to recognize the market their aiming for, and start catering to it.
All very good points. While Infinity Falls will no doubt be a very popular ride among guests (the same way Journey to Atlantis is), I don't think a raft ride will increase the number of spins of the turn style by a very large margin.
My other concern is hourly capacity. One only has to look at sister park BG's new Cobra's Curse coaster. A great and unique family attraction with a low height restriction. And a painfully low hourly capacity. I've timed Cobra's Curse on several occasions and capacity is as follows ...
1 dispatch approx. every 38 seconds (95 dispatches per hour)
8 riders per dispatch
Approx. hourly capacity of around 750 ... ouch!
This is my fear for Infinity Falls. Journey to Atlantis, Antarctica and Manta already suffer from this as well. And when VR hits Kraken, well that's anyone's guess what happens to hourly capacity there. I guess we will have to wait and see.
With that being said, the concept art for Infinity Falls looks like the attraction will be a great addition to the park.
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