On Friday, June 1st, SeaWorld San Antonio gave me the opportunity to tour their brand new Half Roller Coaster Half Spillwater Ride on behalf of Coasterdom. Known as Journey To Atlantis, the ride is manufactured by Mack of Germany. JTA is the first of it’s kind in the United States, and meets one of SeaWorld’s goal of providing unique attractions.

Before I met up with Fran and Ricardo from SeaWorld, I took a little time to view the area that the ride is located it. It stands on ground that was previously occupied by nothing but trees. The ride is located on the opposite side of the park from Steel Eel, Great White, and other attractions, which helps control the crowds. The first visual decoration that I noticed was various banners placed around the ride area. Colored with the same purples, greens, and blues of JTA, they are very simple decorations that look great. The walls that surround the area and make up the buildings are of a nice yellow that is very appealing to the eye. The colors already mentioned also decorate these walls. In addition to the walls, the ride is enclosed by vibrant pink fencing that lights up the area. Last but not least, Sea World added theming that depicts coaster environments. There are rocks along the turnaround at the end of the ride, and right next to them is a painted beach where lost treasure has come ashore. Last but not least, the area was very nicely landscaped and many plants and trees have been planted. It looks as if the ride has always been there! SeaWorld really impressed me with all of the detail they put into the ride area.

As I made my way toward the entrance to meet with Fran and Ricardo, I noticed two appropriately themed buildings. On the left there is a open air JTA gift shop, and on the right there is an enclosed on ride photo store. Beyond the gift shop and along the water is a very large Splash Zone, where onlookers can experience the ride without even getting on the ride. Both children and their parents awaited boats to come screaming down at 49 m.p.h. towards them, only to be splashed with very cooling water on a typical hot Texas afternoon. I really liked the method of having a splash area next to the ride, rather than over the ride itself like on most chute-the-chutes, as it makes the ride and the surrounding area look much more clean and visually appealing. Guests still get plenty of water coming at them, as there are rooster tails attached on either side of the boats that hurl water at awaiting guests. Fran later told me that they can be altered to send water in a different fashion, and one of the boats has a different setup than the others that they are testing.

Enough of the surrounding area though, I’m sure all of you enthusiasts want to hear about the ride itself. I met with Fran and Ricardo at the appropriately themed entrance pillars, and they proceeded to take me to a nice vantage point to observe the ride operating. When guests waiting in line reach the end of the queue underneath the dome structure, a JTA team member sends 16 guests onto the ride platform to prepare to board. I would like to mention that inside the dome there are 2 flat screen TVs that play a virtual video that gets the riders pumped to take their dive to Atlantis. Fran did mention that they plan to play around with the video once the busiest part of the season is over with. Anyways, a set of transfer tires carries the boat from the water onto the platform track, and then the gates open. They climb aboard the boat, and then are off. The method is very effective, and thus lines mover very quickly. After utilizing the photo ops, Fran and Ricardo took me on a ride. They gladly took me through the exit side of the ramp to board the ride. I thought it would be nice to sit in the back row, so Fran jumped onboard and I followed. Two other team members joined us. The seats on the boat were very comfortable, as are the lapbars. The crew signaled the OK and sent us off.

The lift was very quick, and we were up to the first turntable in no time. Immediately the first unique part of the attraction began to spin our boat more than 360 degrees. The turntables, which are simply rotating platforms, are dead quiet and provide an excellent view of the Texas hill country and downtown San Antonio. When the spinning ended, we weren’t facing down the camelback, but rather at the friendly ride op at the top of the lift. The camelback was to be navigated backwards! The drop and following hill were very smooth, and provided a unique feeling. The second turntable did more of the first, but this time provided excellent views of the entire park. Before I knew it, we were facing one of the larger drops in the park. From the ground it may look small, but when you’re up there, it’s gut wrenching. The boat creeps up to the edge, and then plunges down 100 feet in no time! The boat reaches 49 m.p.h. as it reaches the bottom, and then the splash begins. It is one of the largest splashes I have ever seen, and was great fun. In the middle seats I got wet, but not as soaked as the outer seats. No matter what, the water felt extremely nice under the Texas sun. As riders exchanged their experiences with one another, the boat quickly made its way pass the beach and rocks to the boarding station where we could depart from our journey. All things considered, JTA is the perfect attraction for Sea World San Antonio. It is unique in many ways, JTA allows the entire family to ride with it’s 48 inch height requirement, and provides thrills and gets you wet (we are in Texas). I look forward to taking more plunges on JTA in the future!

I would like to thank SeaWorld’s Fran and Ricardo for giving me an excellent tour of the ride, Kami for setting up my tour, and Beatrice for getting me into the park.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 7th, 2007 at 10:09 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.