Ice Breaker: New Sea World Coaster Coming Next Year

Ice Breaker at Sea World Orlando will join Mako, Manta and Kraken next year and will have a height requirement of 48-inch, which is what Sea World considers a family thrill category, albeit with dialed-down thrills.

Using linear synchronous motors, the unique coaster will feature a quadruple launch. After leaving the station, the trains will enter a track switch that will move them laterally into the launch section. They will first magnetically launch backward, then forward, then backward, and finally forward with enough momentum to hit the ride’s top speed of 52 mph and make it out of the launch area.

“What’s really cool about the launch experience is that there are camelbacks (airtime-generating hump-shaped hills) integrated into the track,” SeaWorld’s Smith says. “Passengers will experience airtime while they are launching. Airtime going backwards is very unique.”

Ice Breaker’s riders will navigate a 93-foot spike at 100 degrees, a full 10 degrees beyond vertical. They will also encounter an 80-foot top hat-shaped element that Smith says will be loaded with airtime. The coaster will be an “unusual, crazy, fun and thrilling experience,” he adds.