Now it's time for SeaWorld's flagship park to get its snowmobile coaster.
SeaWorld Orlando this morning announced its new ride for 2024 - Penguin Trek. The park's eighth roller coaster will be another family coaster with a "snowmobile styled ride car," like this year's Arctic Rescue and DarKoaster at SeaWorld San Diego and Busch Gardens Williamsburg, respectively.
But Penguin Trek will not be a clone of those Intamin launch coasters. Instead, Penguin Trek will come from Bolliger & Mabillard.
"This family launch coaster embodies the spirit of adventure and exploration, offering an immersive journey through the wonders of Antarctica while further connecting our mission and commitment to our animal care, education and research," SeaWorld Orlando President Jon Peterson said. "We know our guests were ready for a new thrill that the whole family could enjoy, and we're excited to redefine the family launch coaster experience alongside our longstanding partners at B&M."
Penguin Trek will reach a top speed of 43 mph on 3,020 feet of track. The height requirement will be 42 inches, with a max rider height of 77 inches. The ride will feature two launches and conclude at the park's penguin habitat.
The Antarctic setting makes this the global flipside of its older sibling in San Diego's Arctic Rescue, which debuted earlier this year.
Penguin Trek will open in Orlando next spring.
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"It will be interesting to see if the launches are LSMs like Pipeline or friction/tire launches like the chain's Intamin straddle coasters"
I'm assuming LSMs because booster tires have issues gripping the trains during and for long periods after rain, and it rains almost every day in Florida for much of the year.
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I feel like Sea World needs to get this right. They've gone with B&M, which indicates they "get it", but I worry that the recent decrease in thematic elements used on their coasters (Ice Breaker and Pipeline) will continue on this new coaster. Based on the concept image of the station, it looks like this coaster will hold 18 riders at a time, which is an improvements over the previous installations from Intamin, but it is still pretty lacking in capacity for a "family" coaster (though probably close to the throughput that Sea World got with Antarctica). Also, let's hope the advertised 42" height requirement will be maintained, because we've seen this story before with Ice Breaker being initially marketed with a 42" height requirement only to see it raised to 48" shortly before its debut.
It will be interesting to see if the launches are LSMs like Pipeline or friction/tire launches like the chain's Intamin straddle coasters. I also hope that the current penguin habitat will be left untouched by this (I assume it will be), because it is superb.