SeaWorld splashes into 2023 with water-themed coasters at all 3 parks
In 2022 alone, SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Diego launched record-breaking roller coasters, SeaWorld San Antonio debuted the world's largest "screaming swing," and SeaWorld San Diego opened the West Coast's first Sesame Place park.
To the delight of thrill-seekers everywhere, SeaWorld's quest to become one of the country's top roller coaster destinations is far from over. In recent weeks, all three SeaWorld parks announced new coasters for 2023. Staying true to SeaWorld's roots, the coasters all have an ocean theme, but each one is distinct in its design and storyline.
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Pipeline: The Surf Coaster — SeaWorld Orlando
Next year, SeaWorld Orlando will add Pipeline: The Surf Coaster to its lineup of world-class coasters. The ride vehicles on this stand-up "surf coaster" are designed to look like giant surfboards. Riders will "hang ten" through a series of twists and turns, including five exciting airtime maneuvers and a "wave curl" inversion.
Pipeline's surf theme gives even the most novice of surfers an opportunity to "catch a wave" and ride it to shore at speeds of up to 60 mph. Scheduled to open on May 27, 2023, this will be SeaWorld Orlando's seventh coaster.
Arctic Rescue — SeaWorld San Diego
When it opens in spring 2023, Arctic Rescue will be the West Coast's longest and fastest straddle coaster. What you'll be straddling is a snowmobile and where you'll be headed is into the icy "arctic" to "rescue" animals from the dangers of poachers and climate change.
Related: The 15 best things to do in San Diego
That may sound like an ambitious storyline for a roller coaster, but, as with many of the park's attractions, SeaWorld hopes to combine awareness and education with excitement in a way that appeals to park guests.
With three high-speed launches — each faster than the last — and a top speed of 40 mph, this family-friendly coaster has a minimum height requirement of 48 inches, allowing families to "ride to the rescue" together.
Catapult Falls — SeaWorld San Antonio
SeaWorld San Antonio in Texas is hard at work building the world's first launched flume coaster called Catapult Falls. Scheduled to open in the summer of 2023, Catapult Falls will also feature the world's steepest drop in a flume ride and North America's only vertical lift in a flume coaster.
A flume coaster, as the name implies, is a cross between a roller coaster and a water flume ride. As you may have guessed, you will get wet, but what you may not have guessed is exactly how you will get to the top of the ride's super-steep drop. Rather than a traditional lift hill, Catapult Falls will transport your raft to the top of the 55-foot-fall hill via an open-air elevator (hence the "vertical lift" designation).
With an exciting launch and multiple opportunities to get splashed, this combination coaster and water ride has the best of both worlds.
Bottom line
Building some of the country's tallest, fastest and steepest roller coasters in the country may not be what originally put SeaWorld parks on the map, but that is certainly what's keeping them there. While you wait for these thrilling new coasters to make a splash at their respective parks, here are a few great theme park attractions you can ride right now:
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