Manta's grand opening tomorrow at SeaWorld Orlando

(AP Photo/John Raoux)

It's the big day that SeaWorld lovers and theme park enthusiasts have been waiting for. Tomorrow (May 22), SeaWorld Orlando's latest roller coaster, Manta, will have its grand opening.

Considered a groundbreaking attraction that blends up-close animal encounters with high speed thrills, Manta takes its passengers on a journey "from seeing to being", as they enter the intricately-designed seaside caverns which lead into a walk-through marine habitat before they finally plunge from a 56-mph flying roller coaster.

Manta's queue line is straight in the middle of 10 aquariums that give visitors views of an aquatic environment home to over 3,000 animals including 300 species of rays, 100 species of tropical fish and a giant 12-pound octopus, providing pre-ride entertainment for those waiting for their chance to experience the roller coaster. Some portions of this exhibit can be viewed by tourists who don't wish to ride the coaster.

Those who ride the coaster are in for a thrill to remember.

Guests are seated onto one of the coaster's manta-shaped trains in an upright position, tightly and safely secured to the belly of the beast before gliding and zooming through the track's loops and jumps, almost as if they were a manta ray as it twists through the ocean.

Manta opened on May 5 in a soft opening (theme park jargon for a sneak preview) to work out any unforeseen kinks in its operation. But these kinks mostly involve the queue line. Orlando Family Travel Examiner Ken Black said the coaster was fully operational and passed all the necessary safety checks before the soft opening began.

Dewayne Bevil, one of Orlando Sentinel's Theme Park Rangers, revealed some of the changes to expect to the attraction in its grand opening, as reported to him by Manta design director Brian Morrow. Among these changes include the addition of a graphic panel and sign reading "Welcome to the Lost Cay" near the lockers area, tweaking of the waterfall and water effects, repositioning of some trees and light posts to improve the coaster's sight lines and the addition of more sea life in the queue's aquatic habitats.

Manta is the most expensive attraction in the history of SeaWorld and its parent company Busch Entertainment Corporation. Its grand opening comes at a crucial time for SeaWorld and Orlando's tourism industry as a whole, as it enters the peak tourist season amid the global recession. Ticket sales at Busch Entertainment's theme parks, which also include Aquatica and Busch Gardens, slid 18 percent during the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2008.