Sea World
August 22nd, 1999
S T A T S
| Sea World August 22nd, 1999 S T A T S |
Sea World Adventure Parks have decided to add coasters to their oceana theme and we're already drooling about Sea World Orlando's Y2K coaster, Kraken. But the Texas park led the way into the steel thriller era with Great White, a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted looper that's so tightly packed in on itself, the intensity is of shark-attack magnitude. They upped the ante' this year with the southwest's only hypercoaster, gleaming yellow and green in the the deep southern sun. It's a magnificent looking beauty, the Steel Eel. After the first plummeting drop, the track undulates gracefully across the park, providing an excellent scenic joyride--if you manage to keep your eyes open. We boarded the slick bullet-train styled cars and fastened our seat belts, pulling the lap bars down. We noticed with some shock that there was nothing to hold onto inside the trains, just the lap bar or the head rest in front of you. With this in mind, we were dispatched silently and slipped around the corner and engaged the lift. We drove straight back, relishing in the fact that this year's tour went nearly as planned and was a rousing success. I think we finished off things on a good note and it was home again, home again--jiggety-jig.
We drove straight from Los Angeles without stopping, the two of us sharing the driving from Santa Monica to San Antonio. It was a long journey down Interstate 10, we blew a tire in Phoenix, home was looking pretty good at this point and there were just two more parks to hit on our final day of the tour. As we approached Sea World, it was evident that we were getting off to a good start on the day, bright and early at ten o'clock.
As was suspected, the view of the lagoon below and the rest of the park layed out is a stunning one. But all eyes turn back to the front as the trains tease with a slow push over the edge and into a 150-foot drop. We cruise down and then pull up and into a camelback hump that lifts me off of the seat. Air-time! Then down into another, smaller drop and over the crest to Drop Three, which really tickles the tummy and seems even larger than the first plunge, at least in effect. At this point, the train's are pretty much cookin'--until the mid-course brakes, which nearly bring us to a stop. Down below is a 180 degree swooping dive to the right, and as we hit it, we're brought right back up to speed again. I can't help but wonder what this next section would be like without brakes, I thought--looking at the delicious assortment of camelback hoop-de-doos stretched out between us and the station. As it was, we maintained upwards pressure on the seat belt and lap bar for each rise in the track--plenty of air-time on this scream machine, and a smooth ride to boot.
The back seat didn't disappoint and we were surprised to discover that the front ride was smooth and not too forceful. Walking through the park, the cars whisper past--that's some silent engineering there. With our eyes towards Six Flags Fiesta Texas, we climbed into the car and headed out--but the clouds had already begun to gather, the weather warnings in full force--it was looking ugly and hurricane Brett was approaching Corpus Christi, just south of us. Without a moment's hesitation, we grabbed a couple of Breakfast Jack's and arranged to hit I-10 for home. Didn't need to ask us twice.