SeaWorld Manta, Ride the Flying Ray

Following a teaser announcement during the official opening of Aquatica in April 2008, SeaWorld gave further details in late May 2008 of a new themed attraction and roller coaster planned for SeaWorld Orlando.

To be called "Manta, Ride the Flying Ray", the new attraction will open in the Summer of 2009 and will be SeaWorld's second real roller coaster to complement Kraken and the part coaster/part water ride Journey to Atlantis.

The new Manta attraction is in two parts, a themed village environment housing a large number of tropical fish and rays and a state of the art roller coaster ride.

SeaWorld have coined the phrase "from seeing to being" to emphasise how you can view the beauty of how rays swim in the water and then experience the same type of flight yourselves on the roller coaster.

Note that if you don't want to ride the roller coaster you will still be able to enjoy seeing the rays.

Manta Ray attraction

Set in a mythical village celebrating the legends of rays, the queue lines will be decorated with ray inspired art work.

A series of aquariums will then give the visitors amazing views of around 2,500 tropical fish and some 300 rays of various kinds including Shark rays, Spotted Eagle rays, Leopard rays, Cownose rays and Oscillate River rays as well as other unusual sea creatures like Sea Horses and Sea Dragons.

There is also an overhead viewing panel where you will be able to watch rays circling overhead.

All told there will be some 184,000 gallons of water in ten aquariums and a lagoon.

Manta Ray ride

The Manta Ray ride is a face-down coaster, the first to be built in Florida and will give the riders the sensation of swooping and gliding like a ray.

Riders will lie horizontally four abreast underneath a manta ray inspired car with a 12 foot wingspan.

The 3,359 feet of track includes four inversions, a 113 foot drop, speeds of up to nearly 60 mph and takes the riders only inches above the surface of a lagoon as it skims across the water.

The 140 foot high coaster is being built close to the park main entrance on a seven acre site including the former flamingo habitat. It will be painted in shades of dark purple, ultramarine blue and cobalt.

The roller coaster is being built by the renowned Swiss coaster design company, Bolliger & Mabillard who also built Kraken at SeaWorld, SheiKra, Kumba and Montu at Busch Gardens and Duelling Dragons and the Incredible Hulk Coaster at Universal's Islands of Adventure.