Ranking the three roller coasters at SeaWorld from best to worst

Did you know that SeaWorld has more to offer than just fish, sea life, and Orcas? They have roller coasters as well. Three currently with one more on the way sometime in 2021.

The next rollercoaster at SeaWorld will be called IceBreaker and is located on the waterfront near the arctic pavilion. It isn’t open yet but should be sometime later this year. That leaves three others to enjoy. The Mako, the Kraken, and the Manta. If you are going and can only ride one, which one should it be?

Before we get to ranking them, we should also point out that Infinity Falls wich is a water rafting type ride and Journey to Atlantis, a log plume type ride is not listed. Infinity Falls is currently closed for off-season maintenance and Atlantis isn’t a rollercoaster either.

All three of the rollers are pretty darn good and frankly, you can’t go wrong with any of them. On my last trip to the park, I invested the money and bought the Quick Queue passes for my kids and myself. We were a bit strapped for time and my oldest who hasn’t ridden a coaster since he was little decided to conquer his fear. With my 17-year-old on board, quick queue in hand it was time to hit the rollers.

Kraken

I have ridden the Kraken before and it is a great roller coaster. I have never been to Universal Studios in my life so I can’t relate to the coasters they have. I have been to Cedar Point in Ohio but it has been decades. My experience with the Kraken has always been a good one.

Located near the Journey to Atlantis ride, the Kraken is a twisting turning loop-d-loop that is a smooth ride from start to finish. For all the twists and turns, there isn’t much movement in the seat and that is good because the pull-down bars, while padded, probably wouldn’t help much if you were slamming your head side to side.

For as nice as the Kraken is, it is not the best of the three.

Mako

If I am being totally honest, Mako is my favorite of the three but I am going to rank these based on the impressions of my three kids as well as my own. Mako is a fast coaster that starts with a steep climb and a steeper first fall.

Throughout the course of the track, you get to feel the weightlessness of each hill that lifts you off the seat only about 1/4 of an inch. The lap bar holds you tightly in place but you do feel it, especially on hill number three that takes you upwards quickly and then down just as fast.

Mako doesn’t have any loops but there are plenty of quick turns and banks that will give you plenty of G-force on the ride. We rode this one twice as the wait time wasn’t very long compared to the Manta but still more of a wait than Kraken which was only about 25 minutes without the passes.

Manta

This was my first time riding Manta as well and it didn’t take me too long to ask myself why on this Earth was I subjecting myself to it. I’m not a fan of heights so every roller coaster offers me a frightful experience to say the least. My 17-year-old was trying to “conquer” his fear and I don’t think he stopped yelling the whole ride, yelling OMG OMG OMG.

At the onset, you sit into a chair and pull a bar down over your shoulders and then an ankle/leg bar comes up to lock your legs in place. The carriage then slants forward until you are facing the floor and the rest of the ride is exactly that. A flightless fantasy of nerves and exhilaration.

As you move to the first hill, the screen below you falls away and you continue to rise not really knowing when you are making the first drop but then, you are falling forward fast and with each twisted roll of the ride your view breaks from looking down at the ground below to looking straight up to the sky. it is a surreal feeling of helplessness.

This ride is unique compared to the others and is the reason why it is ranked as the best ride that the park has to offer. I can’t say how many other parks around the country offer similar rides but from my experience, it is the one roller coaster you need to be on if you are only riding one on your trip to SeaWorld in Orlando.