2016 SeaWorld's New Coaster Speculation
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Only got to do AC once, great coaster...I've been dying for something like that in FL
Great coaster with tons of airtime. I was out of my seat more often than not. Fun, fun fun!!!
I care less about height and more about air time. Some of my favorite coasters are under the 200 mark, but so damn amazing you don't even care. Some of my least favorite are over 200, and make me think that the park was so focused on building the biggest/tallest/fastest/longest that they forgot all about making the entire ride awesome. I can see a 200ish footer being great for Sea World. Lots of potential with this coaster. 
- Feb 15, 2012
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I care less about height and more about air time. Some of my favorite coasters are under the 200 mark, but so damn amazing you don't even care. Some of my least favorite are over 200, and make me think that the park was so focused on building the biggest/tallest/fastest/longest that they forgot all about making the entire ride awesome. I can see a 200ish footer being great for Sea World. Lots of potential with this coaster.
Totally. Height is a feature of a coaster, but should not be the be all end all. TTD at Cedar Point is pretty useless, but I love Maverick, which is 'only' 120 feet tall
I care less about height and more about air time. Some of my favorite coasters are under the 200 mark, but so damn amazing you don't even care. Some of my least favorite are over 200, and make me think that the park was so focused on building the biggest/tallest/fastest/longest that they forgot all about making the entire ride awesome. I can see a 200ish footer being great for Sea World. Lots of potential with this coaster.
You make a good point. As an example, Kennywood Park has an old classic woodie (Jack Rabbit) that's around 80 years old. But it has immense airtime, especially if you're in the back of the car. Subsequently it's more fun, and has more re r rideability, than some of these massive iron coasters. And their classic Thunderbolt is surely one of the most entertaining coasters ever built. A good coaster is more a work of art than statistics only. Kind of like the college football prospect that does great on all the pre draft drills, but when it comes to playing football they're a total bust.
Apollo's Chariot is less than 200ft, though it drops over 200ft, never ridden it but heard good reviews of it.
Perception has a lot to do with a drop thrill. I'd rather have a climb & then a long drop into a ravine, like the Griffin, Loch Ness Monster at BGW and Phantom's Revenge at Kennywood, rather than the parking lot coasters that take you up 200 feet & drop you 200 feet. Falling into a ravine is a heck of a lot more thrilling. So the terrain has a lot to do with the ride's entertainment factor.
doesn't HRRR technically drops into a ravine after the last block break before you go into the final helix up?
I know what you mean, but you can't look south from the Convention Center and see air time. You can see a 200' coaster. I think this is largely about reminding the traffic on I-Drive, "hey, we're still here!"
- Mar 16, 2010
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I've been pretty critical of the height simply because I fear it will not have the anticipated effect attendance they're hoping for. I just think the 200ft height advertising once it comes time to Open will be on peoples minds but with Kong and Frozen next year it will be an afterthought in many tourists vacations. Another thing to consider is SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Tampa have NEVER opened thrill rides in the same year? Both will open a new coaster next year so it's very possible SW's coaster outshines it's sister park and BGT suffers instead. So many possibilities but until I see the full breakdown I remain optimistic it will be the thing SW really needs in todays themepark wars.
SeaWorld doesn't need to worry about tourists coming in for Frozen and King Kong (altho honestly King Kong should be scared of Frozen too). They took enough of a hit that they'll be happy with more attendance from locals. I bet they're gonna really be gunning to sell annual passes too. Given that park's size, they don't need to bring in Disney/Universal size numbers to be successful on their own scale. You mention the "theme park wars" but really, SeaWorld isn't a part of that, they're just competing against their own standards.
Yes, I think the coaster will attract locals for the most part. It should give them a bit of an attendance bump. Many of the tourists will be coming from areas that are within driving distance of the large coaster heavy regional parks that have lots of coasters similar or better than what's coming so it probably won't be much of a draw for them.
Yeah that's kind of my line of thinking...this is a regional amusement park-type addition that will draw a regional-amusement park type crowd which is fine for SeaWorld. It'll also put them back on the map and hopefully make people forget about the whole Blackfish nonsense, which is hugely valuable. I also think the fact thay Florida doesnt have a big huge roller coaster like this will help too
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