originally posted on 9/24/2019
Photo: Courtesy SeaWorld San Antonio. View full-sized image.
Announcements of new coasters are always great news, but the addition of a wooden coaster to the American landscape is worth celebrating.
SeaWorld San Antonio joined its sister parks, making for a full complement of coasters debuting at every Busch Gardens/SeaWorld park in 2020. In Texas, it will be a new woodie from Great Coasters International, Inc (GCII).
Photo: Courtesy SeaWorld San Antonio. View full-sized image.
Texas Stingray, already well under construction, will be SeaWorld San Antonio’s sixth coaster. The new coaster will become Texas’ fourth wooden coaster. With two previous conversions of wood to steel, only three wood coasters remained in the Lone Star State, until now. Texas Stingray will stand 96 feet tall, which is the same as Kemah Boardwalk’s Boardwalk Bullet, tying for tallest. Using the terrain, the record is set with Stingray offering the state’s largest drop. The coaster’s first drop will plunge 100 feet. A top speed of 55 mph will be reached, another record for wooden coasters in Texas.
Photo: Courtesy SeaWorld San Antonio. View full-sized image.
A point-of-view teaser video indicated a right turn off the lift before the initial dive. A straight first drop is not always the norm with GCII, but Texas Stingray will take off with a series of curves swooshing in all directions beginning with a curving second drop. A sizeable track length of 3,379 feet is good news, and park officials confirmed that a 100-foot tunnel would be included. SeaWorld San Antonio reports the ride will feature 16 airtime hills.
Any further speculation comes from eyewitness accounts, as construction of the ride has been well under way for months. The lift is complete, and a large portion of the coaster’s structure is in place. Visitors can already see some dramatically banked turns, some at 76 degrees.
Clair Hain, president of GCII, recently shared at Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards that the ride will be testing by winter, possibly by the end of this year. If that pans out, an early spring opening is a logical assumption.
As SeaWorld does, its message of conservation and animal care will be incorporated into the attraction, educating guests about the beautiful animals in the gulf and oceans.
— Tim Baldwin
ACE News Editor
Looking forward to getting stung?
Video: Courtesy SeaWorld San Antonio.
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