SeaWorld Orlando Announces Manta Attraction for 2009

The Manta flying coaster will create a new level of immersion into the animal world - in a way only SeaWorld can do - enveloping riders in a sensation of oneness with the ocean’s most powerful and graceful creature as they soar, dive and plummet through the air . . .  and at times within inches of the sea.

The journey begins the second guests enter a mythical village filled with artisan-created engravings and artwork that celebrate ray legend and lore. No ordinary queue line - the attractions starts with the first step inside. Anticipation builds as guests wind through caverns adorned with ray-inspired art in marble, jewels and mosiacs, all hand-created and left behind by artists who were moved to pay tribute to the beauty, grace and intrique of these animals.

Whether guests choose to ride or not, the attraction is a world unto itself. Floor-to-ceiling windows create mesmerizing face-to-fin encounters with 300 rays, as well as thousands of fish and mysterious creatures native to oceans all over the world. Shark rays, spotted eagle rays, leopard rays, cownose rays and oscillate river rays float past guests with fluidity and grace in a view new to SeaWorld Orlando. Enhancing the feeling of awe, elaborate lighting, sound and rushing waterfalls further submerge guests into this underwater universe.

The experience then evolves from seeing  . . . to being!

Inspired by the underwater flight of these powerful creatures, guests will fly face-down, in a horizontal position, underneath the belly of a coaster train shaped as a giant manta. With a wing span of 12 feet, the giant manta will soar over sea and sky in the most graceful flying coaster ever created.

Gliding, swooping and diving up to nearly 60 miles per hour, through four inversions on 3,359 feet of track, riders will feel as if they are a ray, taking flight effortlessly from sky to sea - so close at times that the Manta’s wings skim the waves.

The seven-acre, 140-foot-tall attraction will be located inside the main entrance to SeaWorld Orlando, and become an icon in the park with its unique design. Towering over SeaWorld’s 200 acres, the manta-themed coaster - cloaked in hues of dark purple, ultramarine blue and cobalt - will lure guests into the world of the mysterious ray.

SeaWorld Orlando is working with the renowned Swiss coaster design company, Bolliger & Mabillard, for the design of Manta.

Manta Flying Coaster Video