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SeaWorld Orlando: General Discussion

DistortAMG said:
Yes, yes it is Matt. Have you noticed, it appears from the limited information those pictures show that this could be something we have never seen before. In what I assume is the maintenance shed, notice the placement of the catwalks.

They butt right up to the edge of the rails, just placed higher than the rails. You could not place cat walks like that on most other B&M's as most, if not all of their trains have a slight overhand each side of track, which means more of a gap would be needed between the catwalk and track when, even more visible when viewing from an elevation like these plans. Even if the overhang is small, they have a little overhang. This appears to not be the case with this.

Saying that, it could have a flat platform at the bottom where your feet stand that could stick out each side, the cat walk allows for that but it appears it could not accommodate the rest of the train / bogie configuration from existing trains. As the overhang on most existing rides extends for the height of the train. Could we be seeing a more central riding position here, perhaps the riders being sideways to the way the train moves, this cat walk supports that theory. This is also like surfing, as you generally stand sideways to the way of motion when you surf.

The placement of those catwalks, do not appear to be able to accommodate any existing B&M train. That is interesting indeed. Unless of course, I am looking at the plans wrong, but I do not think I am. This plan does support a brand new type of train, I am sure. Amazing what information you can extract from a simple catwalk eh!
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Yes thanks for summarising that @DistortAMG as I couldn't tell what the plans where showing (being partially sighted). It is indeed interesting that the catwalks are not placed in the usually position which indicates a rather different train type. Could be infer that it could be that you are standing in a 'surfing' position by standing up as the catwalks are raised to allow this?
 
JAperson said:
Yes thanks for summarising that @DistortAMG as I couldn't tell what the plans where showing (being partially sighted). It is indeed interesting that the catwalks are not placed in the usually position which indicates a rather different train type. Could be infer that it could be that you are standing in a 'surfing' position by standing up as the catwalks are raised to allow this?
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Well they are raised as they have to fit the train bogies and wheel assemblies onto the track, so that is a normal thing and seen on most coasters. But it is how close they are in a left to right sense, rather than up and down, when looking at the plans, that is interesting and unique. How close they are in a lateral sense simply would not work with traditional trains as the footprint of the train is usually always a little wider, these cat walks are butted right up. The wider trains on other B&M's has the riders or part of them in that extra overhand too as the overhang usually extends to the whole height of the train in order to fit the seats on the train properly. As these catwalks are butted up, there cannot be any riders in the overhang, the only room for an overhang would be a floor area. This suggest the seating setup is going to be more centralised, exactly how it would be if you were sitting or standing in a somewhat sideways position.

Yeah, after seeing that, if they are real, we will be seeing you in a surfing, or almost side on position to the direction of travel of the train. I know we sort of knew that already, but these plans give more of an indication of how it is going to be executed specifically. At least, I think they do!


Edited to explain myself a bit more.
 
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DistortAMG said:
Yeah, after seeing that, if they are real, we will be seeing you in a surfing, or almost side on position to the direction of travel of the train. I know we sort of knew that already, but these plans give more of an indication of how it is going to be executed specifically. At least, I think they do!
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So effectively if we think that's the case and also that we know it's launched. We are effectively looking at the first standing launch coaster which will be an odd sensation I'd imagine? Can't even begin to think what that would feel like but I'm looking forward to seeing how this progresses. The surf coaster has interested me for a long time just because of how little we knew about it but from this we can basically guess what sort of ride it's going to be.
 
I guess so yeah, but it won't be marketed as a stand-up I do not think, even though you are possibly standing, standing sideways would be marketed as surfing or something close, rather than standing up.
 
DistortAMG said:
I guess so yeah, but it won't be marketed as a stand-up I do not think, even though you are possibly standing, standing sideways would be marketed as surfing or something close, rather than standing up.
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Yes I think that'll be theme and marketing strategy especially with it being at SeaWorld and being right next to a lake (?) so it makes sense to market it that way.
 
DistortAMG said:
I meant about the general marketing from B&M, but yeah I guess so too.
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Yeah I guess with the name 'surf coaster' your right. It'll be interesting how B&M manage a ride like this. They are usually all about capacity and I think a ride like this could well slow down capacity. I wonder if we'll see dual station's like the flying coasters?
 
JAperson said:
Yeah I guess with the name 'surf coaster' your right. It'll be interesting how B&M manage a ride like this. They are usually all about capacity and I think a ride like this could well slow down capacity. I wonder if we'll see dual station's like the flying coasters?
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I genuinely can’t picture how these trains / seating position is going to look

standing sideways??
 
Jb85 said:
I genuinely can’t picture how these trains / seating position is going to look

standing sideways??
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The simple answer is we just don't know what they'll be like. @DistortAMG and I both think it's likely stand-up in a strange position because of the catwalks and it may well be sideways. I also suspect we'll see vests in action rather than the traditional stand up restraints as we did see B&M file a patent a while ago for a stand-up restraint with a vest
 
JAperson said:
The simple answer is we just don't know what they'll be like. @DistortAMG and I both think it's likely stand-up in a strange position because of the catwalks and it may well be sideways. I also suspect we'll see vests in action rather than the traditional stand up restraints as we did see B&M file a patent a while ago for a stand-up restraint with a vest
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Have to be honest, I just can’t picture this

the images I have in my head show what could be a very painful and uncomfortable ride
 
Well, BGWFans have now posted their exposé of Project Penguin/the B&M Surf Coaster, and it unveiled some very interesting info indeed!

Some of the most interesting info about SeaWorld Orlando’s ride includes:
  • Contains one launch; this launch is encompassed within a launched airtime hill, similar to those found on Copperhead Strike at Carowinds and Ride to Happiness at Plopsaland.
  • Contains a mix of airtime hills and inversions; the model mocked up by BGWFans to show off the proposal contains 1 inversion, a couple of airtime hills and also some turns.
  • BGWFans have used the plans to decipher that the layout goes as follows; launch, large hammerhead turn, twisted airtime hill, corkscrew, downward helix, smaller hammerhead turn, s-hill, downward helix, s-hill, upward half helix, brake run, station.
  • Train design is still unknown (in terms of seating position), but ride in general is thought to be B&M’s take on Intamin and Mack’s LSM launch coaster products.
  • Train appears to have 12 rows (station features 12 passenger airgates), and these rows are not equally spaced, with a smaller gap between them and then a larger gap. This has led BGWFans to estimate that Project Penguin could have either staggered seating similar to the likes of Shambhala, in-line 2-abreast seating like the B&M trains on Steel Dragon 2000, or something entirely different.
  • Project Penguin’s current development status is unknown.
If you want some more in-depth info, here’s BGWFans’ full write-up: https://bgwfans.com/2021/bgwfans-leaks-seaworld-orlandos-project-penguin/
EDIT: Thanks for the POV @MakoMania; I meant to post that originally, but forgot!
 
Jb85 said:
This is all about what those trains are - as that layout it lame. Reminds me of AIR. Clearly a prototype
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I agree the layout looks a little bit rubbish. I hope the trains are really cool and we have to remember this is the prototype. Also how do we know what they have released is even slightly accurate?
 
JAperson said:
I agree the layout looks a little bit rubbish. I hope the trains are really cool and we have to remember this is the prototype. Also how do we know what they have released is even slightly accurate?
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BGWFans is an incredibly reliable source; practically everything they’ve ever said indicating a future ride or talking about a cancelled ride at a SeaWorld park has been accurate, even when it’s been really against the grain.
 
I wonder with there being 12 rows, could the trains have a spinning mechanism. 2 riders per air-gate for each side of one car would equal 12 air-gates. With 6 cars of 4 riders 2 either side.

Could it be a new gen stand up with rotations? I’m probably completely off the mark!
 
Will be interesting to see if this still comes to fruition. The layout looks a tad dull but B&M prototypes rarely have the best layouts.

As BGWFans state, all of these plans are pre-pandemic so it could either have been cancelled or changed by now.
 
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