Mako - SeaWorld

Now that most of my Orlando buddies have gotten on Mako (officially open) and Skull Island: Reign of Kong (still soft opening), I figured I'd post some reviews. Spoilers for Kong, so I'll do Mako first.

MAKO

SeaWorld officlally opened Orlando's tallest, fastest and longest coaster last weekend in Mako, a 200-foot hypercoaster from B&M. I'll start with the queue. Feel like SeaWorld really dropped the ball here unless they still plan on expanding on this later. They had really set the bar high for themselves with Manta's queue through the sting ray tank. Standard back and forth wooden rails with mist-blowing fans all the way up until you get to the stairs to the loading station. Added bonus is that they queue the line through an adjacent theater to keep people air conditioned. Anyway, you climb the stairs and get to the loading platform, which happens to be directly in the middle of the train and facing the train. That'll be a ride capacity dream once they start letting people pick their own seats. Now to the ride...

You expect a typical B&M hyper with some smooth air time in the back of the train. Wrong. The smooth air time is in the front of the train here, which still makes no sense to me. Anyway, you climb the lift hill, which actually seems steeper to me than Nitro or Apollo's Chariot. That in turn, makes it a faster climb to the top. If you're in the back, hold onto your hat; in the styling of Maverick, Mako whips the back over the first hill, throwing you FORWARD out of your seat. It's horrifying.

You head into the second hill knowing you'll hit an overbanked turn. What I found interesting was that the banking hit later than I expected, almost how a shark is moving forward and then snaps its head a different direction and proceeds in that direction... those B&M people. Oh wait, and there's some lateral air time going on there as well. You know, because that's a thing you're used to. Third hill solid airtime into the turnaround that leads into another hill with a trim. Don't let that deter you, you still get way more air than you bargain for on those hills. We hit our final run over the pedestrian walkways and a bank over a lagoon ala SFGAdv Runaway Train until we pull back into the station.

Mako tops out at 73mph, 200 feet tall, and 4,760 feet long. It rides very differently in the front and back, so I'd recommend going back-to-back rides if you can. As of now, the queue is painfully slow, which I'm hoping is just SeaWorld staff getting adjusted to the ride's operation, as three-train B&M's typically move with ease.

With SeaWorld's new direction they're taking over the next several years, I see Mako being an excellent kickoff point. 8.5/10