SeaWorld Orlando & Magic Kingdom, 1/31/22

[Yoshi]

After months (or years for others) of waiting it was finally time for Ice Breaker to open. I visited Monday because I thought with the previews for Platinum Passholders only, crowds would be low.

 

Previews started at 12 with maybe 75 people in line. The ride was having problems and opened at 12:15. The trains are the same as Tigris with the lap bar, shin guards and comfort collars. 

 

After the train is dispatched, there is a transfer track to move the train to the main track. Next is a backwards launch up the spike, a forwards launch up part of the top hat and another backwards launch that goes higher up the spike.

 

The top hat had more air time than expected. There are multiple high banked turns and what RCDB calls a junior scorpion tail. After more turns and a few small hills, you get to the brake run.

 

The part of the coaster after the launch is a little short with the whole ride 1900 ft.

 

It’s not too intense but not forceless either and a good fit for a park that lacked something more than a family ride but less intense than the B&M coasters. Mako is still my favorite ride in the park but Ice Breaker is a close 2nd.

 

I rode Ice Breaker 3 times and each time I had to show my Platinum Pass and a photo ID. They were very strict about checking to make sure everyone getting in line qualified. When Orca Encounter’s crowd emptied out at the stadium lots of people tried to enter the line and we’re disappointed that the ride wasn’t open to the public yet.

 

Mako had 1 train running with a posted 25 minute wait which seemed accurate. I waited 3 trains with Quick Queue. I later saw a 2nd train was added when riding Kraken and would have gone back for more rides but I was leaving to go to the Magic Kingdom.

 

Kraken’s repaint looks great. I like the sea green color of the track even though the old blue color was good too. 2 trains were running with no wait. It is a little rough and has a rattle but not enough to ruin the ride.

 

I won’t give a full report on the Magic Kingdom as this report is already getting long but it was very crowded for a weekday in January. Touring Plans predicted a 6 crowd level and the actual level was an 8. 

 

Meet and greets are back but at a distance. Surprisingly the wait to meet Mickey was only 5 minutes. I always like to check the progress of Tron from the People Mover and look forward to it opening. 

 

Later in the day waits dropped a lot and smaller rides like the Tomorrowland Speedway were walk ons. 

 

Overall it was a really fun day and I’m glad to have another local coaster to ride. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[29yrswithaGApass]

Really nice pictures!  It was good to hear you made it onto Ice Breaker without much of a wait.  It seems so many of the newer rides have switches and track segments versus a complete uninterrupted circuit.  Curious Yoshi, which do you prefer?  I can't help but think that all those sensors for moving track segments creates a great chance of rides shutting down.

[Yoshi]

Thank you 

 

I prefer an uninterrupted circuit. I don’t like pauses in coasters and as you said, they do seem to increase the chance of breakdowns. 
 

I also prefer single lift hills as well. I like with Runaway Mine Train, once you get to the top of the lift, the ride doesn’t really slow until the final brakes. Some other mine trains with the multiple lift hills are slowing down for the next hill ruining the momentum of the ride.

[GAcoaster]

I've been really impressed with Ice Breaker's throughput so far. Of course it's only open to passholders now, but they're still cranking through quickly. The station and switch system is much better that the closed circuit Skyrocket II models like Tigris. It seems to take just as long to unload and load as to run through the circuit, so trains are constantly cycling.