SeaWorld San Diego unveiled plans on Jan. 3 for its new attraction – the Electric Eel roller coaster – featuring multiple-launch elements, high-energy twists, and heart-pounding loops. It will expand the park’s new Ocean Explorer realm set to open later this summer as part of the park’s largest new attraction premiere in its history.
Following the opening of three new attractions in 2017 – Ocean Explorer, the new Orca Encounter and the all-new summer nighttime extravaganza Electric Ocean – Electric Eel will cap a 24-month period of growth for the 53-year-old park. Electric Eel will join Manta and Journey to Atlantis as the third coaster-type ride experience at SeaWorld San Diego. It will be constructed on an approximately two-acre site on the eastern side of the park between the currently under-construction Ocean Explorer attraction and Journey to Atlantis. The ride is expected to open in summer 2018.
“Electric Eel will bring a whole new level of excitement to SeaWorld,” said SeaWorld San Diego’s park president Marilyn Hannes. “This new, first-of-its-kind coaster at SeaWorld will give riders the rare opportunity to feel what it’s like to move like an eel as they twist and flip along nearly 900 feet of undulating track.”
Electric Eel will feature astounding loops, twists and airtime. Multiple-launch experiences will propel riders forward and backward as they speed through the ride’s station house accelerating to more than 60 miles per hour in seconds. Riders then rocket skyward nearly 150 feet where they will brave an inverted “heartline” roll and a twisting loop for an exciting feeling of airtime as riders crest the top before breathlessly returning to the station. This adrenaline-pumping coaster will offer riders the only upside-down view of Mission Bay.
Complementing the Electric Eel roller coaster is the Ocean Explorer experience, which will include a hypnotic live eel habitat featuring one of the world’s most extensive collections of moray eels. Through large viewing windows, visitors may view the eels as they swim and dart through the caves and crevasses of their tank.
With Electric Eel, SeaWorld’s Deep Blue creative design team will fuse the experience of a contemporary coaster with an interactive and educational eel exhibit. Guests may discover information about these animals, including their unique predation skills and diets, growth rates and sensory abilities.
“The future is bright at SeaWorld and we remain committed to long-term investment in the park,” said Hannes.