Infinity Falls, Sea World’s
new raft ride, will have a 40-foot drop, the world’s tallest for such an attraction.
Seeking to broaden the appeal of its rides, SeaWorld Orlando said Thursday it will open a new raft attraction called Infinity Falls next summer.
Though it will have the world’s tallest drop for such a ride at 40 feet, SeaWorld has designed it so that younger children can ride, too. It will have a height restriction of 42 inches, similar to Cobra’s Curse at SeaWorld Entertainment’s Busch Gardens.
“It’s a family ride,” Orlando park president Jim Dean said. “It’s going to balance our portfolio of rides.”
SeaWorld has three roller coasters and a water thrill ride, a combination roller coaster and flume ride that opened in 2008.
“It was time for another water ride, and we’re SeaWorld — we should have all the ownership of water we want,” said Brian Morrow, SeaWorld’s vice president of theme park design experience.
SeaWorld Entertainment’s Busch Gardens has the Congo River Rapids. Dean, who ran Busch Gardens in Tampa before coming to SeaWorld Orlando earlier this year, said the new ride will surpass Congo River Rapids.
The ride will last more than four minutes and simulate Class IV whitewater rapids.
Features of the attraction, which Intamin Amusement Rides of Switzerland will manufacture, will include an elevator that lifts the eight-passenger rafts through a simulated jungle canopy. Infinity Falls will go in the Sea Garden area, near the passholder lounge.
During Thursday’s announcement, the company also gave more details about Kraken, its roller coaster getting a virtual-reality makeover this summer. It will close Monday and reopen with the addition of VR goggles June 16, though soft openings earlier in the month are possible.
SeaWorld is working on a system that allows guests to bypass standing in line for that attraction. It gave few details Thursday.
“We know that’s something that our guests want, to make sure they’re getting the most out of their day,” said experience design manager Erik Essig.
Universal Orlando just opened a Jimmy Fallon-themed ride with a virtual line, meaning visitors must reserve times to board.
Using such a system can prevent potential problems with long waits. Virtual-reality rides have a reputation for longer loading times because of the time needed to clean headsets between uses, and for riders to don them.
Riders will be able to see employees cleaning the headsets in between each use.
Reporters got a chance to try the headsets Thursday.
The experience starts at a base station. Riders then will plunge into underwater depths through a crack in a volcano.
On one of the coaster’s drops, they’ll encounter a hungry anglerfish lurking at the bottom. They’ll narrowly miss having the fish bite them. They’ll also see the fictional Kraken sea creature, and they’ll end seeing the lost city of Atlantis rising out of the water.
Also, a bubble show begins Memorial Day weekend at the Nautilus Theater. It will run through summer. Fan Yang, world-renowned for his unique bubble artistry, will perform up to four shows six days a week.