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!"
That
is a good point. I still lean more towards ride experience (air time) vs height, but I DO catch myself looking towards Sea World whenever I'm passing by on I-4 East. I also remember, around the time Kraken was built, seeing it from the turnpike and me wanting to go to that park to ride it even though I hardly knew a thing about SeaWorld back then. So, I can see the coaster putting the park "on the map" for tourists here for Disney and Universal. However, I don't think it would make much of a difference whether the ride is 200' exactly or, say, 232', as long as the ride is designed well. Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain (built by Giovanola) in California is 235' tall and has a 255' drop, BUT, the ride provides very little airtime. However, Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia (built by B&M), is "only" 200' with a 170' drop, yet the ride provides TONS of airtime (especially in the front seat!).
Also, random I know, but I'm kinda disappointed in the location of the ride. Although it makes perfect sense logistically, especially for a hypercoaster, I always wished that SeaWorld would build a hyper coaster alongside of the SeaWorld entrance off of Central Florida Drive, similar to how Apollo's Chariot hugs the entrance to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Seeing a huge coaster as you drive into the park draws a huge sense of excitement to me. I know, given the constraint of having a little over a year to build, that the lake location provides a far better backdrop, but it would have been cool to use a portion of the parking lot in that area for building the coaster. It could have provided bigger kids and adults something else to do around Shamu Stadium. Maybe one day in the future, that can be a spot for a different big ticket attraction? A guy can wish, right?