Mako is a

steel roller coaster A steel roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its steel Railway track, track, which consists of long steel tubes that are run in pairs, supported by larger steel columns or beams. Trains running along the track typically rely ...

located at

SeaWorld Orlando SeaWorld Orlando is an animal theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Although separately gated, it is often promoted with neighboring parks Discovery Cove and Aquatica as well as Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, all of which are owned and operated ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, United States. Manufactured by

Bolliger & Mabillard Bolliger & Mabillard, officially Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers, Inc. and often abbreviated B&M, is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by engineers Walter Bolliger and Cl ...

, the

hypercoaster A hypercoaster is a roller coaster with a height or drop measuring at least . The term was first coined by Arrow Dynamics and Cedar Point in 1989 with the opening of the world's first hypercoaster, Magnum XL-200, which features a height of . Th ...

model opened to the public on June 10, 2016. Mako is named after the

mako shark ''Isurus'' (meaning "equal tail") is a genus of mackerel sharks in the family Lamnidae, commonly known as the mako sharks. They are largely pelagic, and are fast, predatory fish capable of swimming at speeds of up to . Fossil history and evolu ...

and is located in the Sea of Mystery section of the park. It reaches a height of , a maximum speed of , and features a track length of . The roller coaster was marketed as the tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster in Orlando and has been well-received, ranking every year since its opening in the top 50 of the annual Golden Ticket Awards publication from ''

Amusement Today ''Amusement Today'' is a monthly periodical that features articles, news, pictures and reviews about all things relating to the amusement park industry, including parks, rides, and ride manufacturers. The trade newspaper, which is based in Arl ...

''. It attained its highest ranking of 15 in 2019. The ride is one of eight roller coasters at SeaWorld Orlando and was the first since Manta opened in 2009.

History

In April 2015, SeaWorld officials began teasing an upcoming announcement of a new thrill ride for their flagship park in

. At the time, the only detail revealed was that the roller coaster would be 200 feet in height and would become the longest, tallest, and fastest roller coaster in the city. A month later on May 13, 2015, SeaWorld filed a trademark with the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency in the United States Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark ...

for the name "Mako" along with "Reef Hunter". On May 27, 2015, SeaWorld officially announced the construction of Mako, which was named after the

. The mako has been identified as the fastest species of shark in the ocean. During the time of announcement, a simulated

point-of-view shot A point-of-view shot (also known as POV shot, first-person shot or subjective camera) is a film scene—usually a short one—that is shot as if through the eyes of a character (the subject). The camera shows what the subject's eyes would see ...

was released depicting the ride's intended route along the park's lagoon. On August 17, 2015, the first pieces of track began to ship from Ohio to Orlando, and started to arrive on site two days later. On January 6, 2016, the roller coaster's lift hill was topped-out. The first car of the train was shipped and revealed on February 16, 2016, with the car design exhibiting the face of a mako shark. On March 15, 2016, the last piece of track was put into place. In April 2016, SeaWorld began showing a presentation called "Mako Rising" previewing the upcoming roller coaster in their Nautilis Theater, and later testing began on the ride with the park releasing an on-ride POV. Mako's soft opening was on June 2, 2016, with the official media day to introduce the roller coaster being hosted on June 9, 2016. A day after, its official opening to the public was on June 10, 2016. In addition to the ride's opening, a summer-dedicated event named "Summer of Mako" was hosted from June to August 2016 throughout the park and its sister water-park Aquatica Orlando.

Ride experience

Entrance and queue area

The roller coaster is themed to the mako shark. Similarly the 2-acre (0.81 ha) park area around it, entitled "Shark Wreck Reef", is themed to sharks. The area features recycled art, a mural created by

Guy Harvey Guy Harvey (born 16 September 1955) is a Jamaican marine wildlife artist and conservationist. His depictions of sealife, especially of sportfish such as marlin, are popular with sportfishermen and have been reproduced in prints, posters, T ...

, and educational pieces about human and shark interactions. As guests go through the

queue area Queue areas are places in which people queue (first-come, first-served) for goods or services. Such a group of people is known as a ''queue'' (British English, British usage) or ''line'' (American English, American usage), and the people are ...

, various educational displays and an additional Guy Harvey exhibit can be seen. The queue of the ride consists of a wooden pier, where the riders are situated under while waiting. During the queue, guests take on the point of view of a mako shark as it traverses through preying grounds. The theme of Mako's station is a

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

. Different sections of an original musical score is played throughout the queue and loading station, as well as the plaza area beneath the coaster's climactic loop. SeaWorld commissioned the 32-minute score, which was composed and produced by Rick McKee. Before the ride's train dispatches, a panel located above the riders shows scenes of shadowy figures consisting of a group of sharks migrating forward with accommodating visuals and sound.

Layout

After leaving the station, the train makes a small right turn to a 200-foot (61 m)

lift hill A lift hill, or chain hill, is an upward-sloping section of track on a roller coaster on which the roller coaster train is mechanically lifted to an elevated point or peak in the track. Upon reaching the peak, the train is then propelled from t ...

(which is right next to Kraken's dive loop) to begin its ascent. After reaching the top, it enters a 200-foot (61 m) drop, in which the train reaches at a top speed of 73 miles per hour (117 km/h). Then, the train makes a tall, overbanked turn, hugging the side of the lake, before an airtime hill. After the hill, the track reverses direction via a Hammerhead turn. Traveling over another camelback hill, there is a series of airtime hills as the track travels back along the lake before hitting the mid-course brake run. Off the mid-course brakes, the track makes a small left turn under the lift hill and goes into another airtime hill. After it makes a banked turn to the right, the track goes into another banked turn to the left over a part of the park's lagoon and then hits the final

brake run A brake run on a roller coaster is any section of track that utilizes some form of brakes to slow or stop a roller coaster train. There are various types of braking methods employed on roller coasters, including friction brakes, skid brakes, a ...

Characteristics

Track

The steel box track of Mako is long and the lift is approximately high. The track pieces were shipped on flatbed trucks from Clermont Steel Fabricators in Batavia, Ohio to Orlando, Florida where they were assembled. The track of the roller coaster is purple with the supports colored blue. The roller coaster was designed to have nine airtime moments and a third of the layout traverses over water.

Trains

Mako operates with lead and fiberglass trains each containing seven cars. Every seat has its own lap bar restraint and each car seats four riders in a single row for a total of 28 riders per train. The trains were designed with the physiology of a mako with gills on either side of the train, and feature

polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) is a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane term ...

wheels that help to reduce friction on the track. They were manufactured by

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Reception

Mako has been positively received among guests and critics. Dewayne Bevil from the ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...

'' described the ride as "breathtaking" and stated "SeaWorld has delivered on its marketing promise with the fastest, tallest, longest coaster in the Orlando market". Marjie Lambert from the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

'' commented that the ride was like a "retro coaster" and mentioned "its design is reminiscent of old wooden coasters where the track couldn’t be shaped into the pretzels and upside down loops that are so popular in today’s steel coasters". Sharon Wynne from the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute ...

'' suggested "it will likely to take two or three more trips on this coaster to appreciate all its tricks" and coaster enthusiast Jim Terry attending the soft opening had acclaimed it was the best roller coaster in Florida. Arthur Levine of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' remarked that "it's more than enough to get pulses racing and senses heightened, but not so much as to cause tunnel vision, grayouts, or other unpleasant side effects". Elle Gordon of the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'' likened the "weightless airtime" as a highlight of her park visit and added it was well worth a night time ride. Russell Meyer of ''Theme Park Insider'' observed the themeing of the roller coaster and its surrounding area was "excellently done" with the accommodating effects and music a "nice touch".

Awards

References

External links

Official attraction page

Video Onride
{{SeaWorld Orlando SeaWorld Orlando Roller coasters in Florida 2016 establishments in Florida Hypercoasters manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard