May Vacay 2009
SeaWorld - Manta Media Day
So the call was out that Sea World was looking for some folks
to ride a rolley ride.
Naturally, we knew some peeps who knew some peeps and just like that we were
standing around Sea World at 6:30 in the morning.
This is Chris, Jarsh, Jodi and me. It looks like Chris
has a growth on his right shoulder.
Jodi, Dave and Brandi. Can you guess who had their coffee?
So we were told to wear non-branded clothing, but it ended up
being
unnecessary since Sea World gave us all Manta t-shirts to wear.
Brandi and Jarsh model the stylish tees (and it looks like someone
could use a bit more coffee).
Want.
I was actually quite impressed that these guys shot live every time there was a
train
with media on it. Lazier companies would shoot it once and use that
footage for everything.
This is our first time at a media day, so we weren't sure what to expect.
We were warned that there'd be a lot of sitting and waiting, so it was
surprising to be led straight to the coaster to ride.
They had enough riding volunteers to fill at least one train.
We had to wait for the next train to get our ride on.
My only previous B&M flyer was Superman at Six Flags Over
Georgia.
The restraints on Manta are much more comfortable, and I felt much more secure.
We didn't pick our own seats. The Sea World rep, Brittany, sent me and
Jarsh
to the back row for out first ride.
By the way, kudos to Brittany. She really represented the park well and
was
super nice to everyone...except for maybe the people who claimed they were
media but weren't on the media list. But I'm not going into that one...
You can't see it here, but there are a series of shallow
troughs built into the floor of the
station. It seemed perfectly aligned with where a person in the flying
position would vomit.
Every time I got into a seat, my stupid shorts pockets would
catch.
It was a bit annoying. I'm going to blame my shorts instead of the ride.
Coming off the back row ride.
The last time Karen saw this look on Jarsh's face, he had just eaten 8 Krispee
Kreme doughnuts.
So, Manta...it's amazing. Before riding it, I thought it looked a bit
short. After
riding it, however, I can't imagine it lasting any longer. This is a very
intense ride
that really doesn't let up once you're off the lift hill.
I don't feel comfortable calling it the best flying coaster I've ever been on,
mostly because the competition is a Superman clone and a pair of
flying dutchmans. I don't think that qualifies my opinion as being
well-informed, and I leave that sort of thing to people on other sites.
What I can say is that this is the only flying coaster I've ever wanted
to ride more than once. The flying dutchmans are one time only
for the credits, and I'll only ride Superman if someone else
wants to.
I can't imagine being at Sea World and not wanting to ride Manta.
It's the real deal.
Oh, I guess we should show the coaster some. Obligatory lift hill shot.
Coming off the lift hill and making the drop to immediately
roll into the pretzel loop.
(totally exclusive behind the scenes shot, by the way)
Coming out of the drop and about to hit the pretzel loop...