Mountain vs. Manta

The most daring roller coaster rides I’ve ever been on my previous Orlando vacation were the Incredible Hulk (which gave me an incredible neck pain afterwards) and Dueling Dragons at Universal Studios Orlando. Unfortunately, since I lost my digital camera on my last day there, I can’t share those photos. Neither did I buy the expensive souvenir photos from said rides. So instead, here’s a photo of the Everest Expedition Ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. There’s supposed to be a Yeti lurking in that mountain to scare you, and the roller coaster drops you backwards at high speed.

I never got to ride on this one due to poor time management and the fact that this particular theme park closes early--5PM. It didn’t help that we arrived at the theme park later than planned. But what’s great about these theme parks is that they let people swipe their tickets to get a “Fast Pass,” which assigns you a time frame (say, 1PM-2PM) to come back and skip the long lines and get priority seating. It’s a time-saving option rather than spend most of your day queueing. That way, you can grab a quick snack and maybe swoon over Capt. Jack Sparrow!

At SeaWorld, they have this new ride that invites you to “Ride the Flying (Manta) Ray.” To celebrate the opening of their new attraction, they have a contest which lets you win a “Front-of-the-Line” Pass. Just follow the six steps in the contest’s instructions for a chance to win. If you complete two of the Manta site activities, you get a free electronic photo of your Manta experience! So are you MAN enough to ride the MANTA? Check out this cool video for a preview!