Manta: Ride the Flying Ray at SeaWorld OrlandoOperation Pixie Dust

Thrill seekers may previously have been disappointed with SeaWorld’s coaster offering – but all this is set to change in the summer of 2009 when Manta: Ride the Flying Ray is set to open at the Orlando park

Inspired by the underwater flight of powerful stingrays, guests will fly face-down underneath the belly of a coaster shaped like a giant manta. With a wing span of 12 feet SeaWorld is billing this “the most graceful flying coaster ever created”.

Manta Video

Here’s the official SeaWorld commercial for the new Manta: Ride the Flying Ray coaster.

Want to ‘ride’ the Manta from the safety of your arm chair? Be careful if you get motion sickness though I got vertigo just watching this one!

Gliding, swooping and diving at up to almost 60mph riders will find themselves just inches from the water as the Manta’s wings skim the waves. “The sensation of Manta will be like none other in the world – guests will be inspired by the grace and power of live rays, then feel as if they, themselves, are gliding through air and water,” said Joseph Couceiro, chief marketing officer for SeaWorld’s parent company, Busch Entertainment Corporation

The 140-foot-tall attraction will be located inside the main entrance, and will become a park icon with its unique design.

The new coaster boasts four inversions on its 3,359 feet of track so it will not be for the faint-hearted. If like me you’d prefer to keep your feet on solid ground then there is still plenty to see at this new attraction. Floor to ceiling windows will offer face-to-fin encounters with 300 rays, from shark rays to leopard rays as well as thousands of fish and other mysterious creatures

“This ride is uniquely SeaWorld,” said Dan Brown, vice president and general manager of SeaWorld Orlando. “SeaWorld is famous for connecting guests with the sea and its amazing creatures, and Manta does this in a way that has never been done before, creating a true sense of oneness between human and animal.

Manta is set to open in the summer of 2009 – and I can’t wait to see it.