Re-Ranked: The Top 9 Attractions at SeaWorld Orlando

Welcome back to another “Ranked” article here on Laughing Place. With the opening of Pipeline: The Surf Coaster at SeaWorld Orlando, I thought it would be a good time to revisit my ranking of the park’s attractions. My opinions have definitely shuffled around slightly since I initially did this list, so if you want to see my original ranking, click here. This list will not include any shows, animal exhibits, most of the attractions from Sesame Street Land, or the Flamingo Paddle Boats. So aside from those, here’s everything else at SeaWorld Orlando, ranked!

9. Super Grover’s Box Car Derby

Super Grover’s Box Car Derby is a simple kids roller coaster that offers minimal thrills for adults, but is just perfect for what it is. If you’ve been on The Barnstormer at the Magic Kingdom or Flight of the Hippogriff at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, then you know exactly what to expect here.

8. Sky Tower

The Sky Tower provides a six minute slowly rotating view of all that SeaWorld Orlando has to offer. You get great views of all the coasters from 400 ft in the air, twice the height of the park’s tallest coaster, Mako! It’s great to have the attraction back, as it reopened within the last year after a pandemic related closure. It’s a great way to escape the heat and relax during the middle of your day at the “Coaster Capital of Orlando.”

7. Infinity Falls

Infinity Falls is perhaps the best river rafting ride in the Orlando area. The theming is pretty minimal, however there is a lot of beautiful landscaping in addition to flamingos on display at the start of the ride. Things start off with a fun rapids section featuring some slight, but sudden drops. You then go up a regular lift hill, through more rapids, and then up a vertical lift and down one of the biggest drops on any river rafting ride in the world. Be forewarned though, you will get very wet!

6. Journey to Atlantis

Sadly, Journey to Atlantis is a sad shell of its former self. While the impressive facade, queue and sets still stand, a previous storyline to the attraction was ripped clean before I ever had the chance to ride. What still remains is a fun and pretty ride that unfortunately lacks any real substance. I must say though, I really do enjoy the music that plays during the second half of the ride. A jazzy tune that definitely gets stuck in your head.

5. Ice Breaker

Even though it only opened last year, Ice Breaker is now the park’s second newest coaster. Repeat rides have heightened my opinion of Ice Breaker. On the whole, I thought this was a very fun ride. Not quite as crazy as say Tigris at Busch Gardens Tampa, but still providing some fun moments and decent pops of airtime. Probably the best part of the ride is quad-launch at the beginning, that gets faster each time you pass through. By the end, you’re flying out of your seat as the train goes over the airtime hills. Now that the park has removed the cumbersome comfort collars from the trains, I’m excited to try Ice Breaker out and see if that change bumps it up in my ranking at all.

4. Kraken

Kraken is SeaWorld’s first major coaster, and even though it's over 20 years old, it still holds up alongside its brothers remarkably well. Featuring 7 different inversions on a floorless coaster car, Kraken is intense and smooth. Some of my favorite moments on the ride come when the ride dives down into trenches, adding an extra level of thrill to the proceedings.

3. Pipeline: The Surf Coaster

Pipeline: The Surf Coaster was a wild surprise to me and many other coaster enthusiasts. This is the first stand-up coaster built in over 20 years, and the design has been updated to allow for more comfort. There’s a little extra give to the seat, which is not firmly fixed in one place, allowing you to “bounce” a little during the ride. This updated design not only allows for more freedom, but also more airtime. There are a few moments where your legs will go flying, a sensation unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Add to that an excellent presentation with a lightly themed station, wonderful water effects, and Pipeline really is the sleeper hit of 2023.

2. Manta

SeaWorld Orlando’s largest high thrill coasters are all designed and built by Bolliger & Mabillard (including Pipeline). One of the more unique ones is Manta, a flying coaster that sends you twisting and careening over fountains, next to a waterfall and through the sky. The most intense part of the ride is undoubtedly the pretzel loop, named so because it looks like a giant pretzel. This inversion thrusts you onto your back and is one of the most intense feelings on any coaster. If the intention truly is to make you feel like you’re flying, then this ride really does the job!

1. Mako

Mako is not only my favorite coaster and ride at SeaWorld Orlando, but it's also one of my favorite coasters, period. This hypercoaster (or coaster over 200 feet tall) is just pure fun. The anticipation is really built by an excellent queue soundtrack that gets more epic as you get to the station and even while going up the lift hill. Once the car disengages from the lift, that’s where the real fun begins, as you plummet down a 200 ft drop, and into a series of airtime hills that really do provide that floating air sensation. Mako always gives me a big grin and is just one of those coasters that is simply pure fun.

I hope you all enjoyed this ranking of my Top 9 attractions at SeaWorld Orlando. If you want to see some more theme park rankings, feel free to check out some of my other “Ranked” articles listed below: