SeaWorld lands more rides
New “coasters” coming to parks in CA and TX
Epcot legends will be featured at this year’s IAAPA Expo. More info is available at the bottom of this article. As you’ll see, I’m seeking your input.
The SeaWorld parks continue to aggressively evolve from places to ogle orcas into parks packed with coasters and other rides. All three U.S. locations will introduce new coasters in 2023, despite debuting thrill machines at two of them this year.
Although host park SeaWorld San Antonio is referring to one of the new rides as the “world’s first launched flume coaster,” it may be a stretch to identify it as a coaster. Let’s unpack that description of Catapult Falls and dive deeper into the new attraction.
Similar to log flume and shoot-the-chutes rides, the over five-minute experience will use eight-passenger boats that will float through a water-filled channel. What will distinguish the new attraction is that it will include a launch that will “catapult” the vehicles to about 20 mph. Instead of using water jets or magnetic motors, it appears that the ride will incorporate a conveyor belt-like launch system. (Think of a grocery store checkout register belt going crazy fast.) Some water coasters, including the Zip Coaster at the Kalahari Indoor Water Park resort in Ohio, use a similar system to accelerate their rafts. The launch won’t be particularly fast, but it should get passengers’ adrenaline going at least a bit.
Catapult Falls will also feature a vertical lift which will swiftly raise the boats about 55 feet and then release them into an arresting 53-degree drop that will hit a splashdown pool at 37 mph. SeaWorld is billing it as the steepest drop of any flume ride. The park is also declaring that the new attraction will include “North America’s only vertical lift in a flume coaster.” That’s a curious pronouncement given that the chain’s own Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld San Diego (as well as water rides at other parks) uses a vertical elevator lift. But is Journey to Atlantis a “flume coaster?”
What makes Catapult Falls a “flume coaster” for that matter? Judging by the ride animation, the boat vehicles would seem to include wheels, but it does not appear that the ride includes any coaster-like rails (unlike Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld Orlando, a hybrid ride that alternates between coaster track and a flume channel). Then again, dry rides such as Reptilian at Kings Dominion in Virginia and other bobsled coasters use troughs and don’t have fixed tracks–but are considered coasters.
Whatever it is, or is not, Catapult Falls looks like it will be a great addition to SeaWorld San Antonio. It will provide a nice combination of family thrills, cooling water relief from Texas’ punishing heat and humidity, and a novel ride experience.
There is no question that Arctic Rescue, the ride debuting at SeaWorld San Diego next year, will be a coaster. But it won’t be a traditional roller coaster. Instead of a lift hill, it will use a tire-propelled launch system; and with a maximum height of 30 feet, it will stay relatively low to the ground.
SeaWorld is calling this a “straddle coaster,” the same term sister park Busch Gardens Williamsburg is using to describe its 2023 attraction, DarKoaster. Both rides, which will be manufactured by Intamin, are more commonly known as “motorbike coasters.” Passengers will straddle a motorcycle-style seat and grab onto handlebars. As with the Busch Gardens ride, the vehicles for Arctic Rescue will be themed as snowmobiles.
Whereas DarKoaster will be completely indoors and may incorporate a fair amount of effects and themed elements, it’s unlikely SeaWorld San Diego’s outdoor ride will include much themeing. It will be probably be similar to Wave Breaker: The Rescue Coaster at SeaWorld San Antonio, which is also an Intamin motorbike coaster. That ride offers a hint of a story in a scene that’s presented just before its trains launch. Arctic Rescue will use the show building for the park’s former Wild Arctic motion simulator attraction as its queue and loading station and may also present a scene to passengers just before they launch outdoors.
The family thrill ride will include three launch sequences and hit a top speed of 40 mph. With 2,800 feet of track, it will be a tad longer than Wave Breaker at SeaWorld’s Texas park. That ride is about two minutes in length including the brief show sequence before its first launch.
SeaWorld Orlando will also be debuting a new coaster next year. It was supposed to announce it last week, but postponed the event due to the hurricane in Florida. A surfing-themed ride, it will reportedly be the first next-generation stand-up coaster.
What are your thoughts about the two new SeaWorld coasters that were announced? Do you want to enter the debate and offer your opinion whether Catapult Falls qualifies as a roller coaster?
One of the IAAPA Expo highlights to which I always look forward is the Legends Panel hosted by Bob Rogers, the founder and chairman of BRC Imagination Arts. Earlier in his career, Rogers worked for Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) and had a hand in developing some of the pavilions at Epcot. As such, he will be able to chime in with his own stories for this year’s panel, “Epcot: 40 Years in a State of Becoming.” It will be presented on November 16 at the Expo, which will be held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
Joining Rogers to reminisce and celebrate the park’s 40th anniversary will be Bob Weis, WDI global ambassador and the organization’s former president; Jodi McLaughlin, WDI executive portfolio producer; Kartika Rodriguez, EPCOT VP; and Rick Rothschild, FAR Out! Creative Direction founder and CCO and longtime former WDI executive. As always, it should be a lively, entertaining, and candid session.
Bob has asked me to put out the word to my savvy readers. Please suggest some questions that he could ask the esteemed panel about Epcot. What are you dying to know about the unique park and its history? It’d be great to have About Theme Parks represented at the Legends Panel!
I know it’s a touchy subject, but I always want to know about the future of World Showcase - are there more pavilions coming? Maybe since it’s a panel focusing on history, they could ask about the great lost pavilions that “got away” ie Brazil, Switzerland, etc. I know their history has been discussed elsewhere at length, but maybe there are some new anecdotes to uncover.