Mako at SeaWorld Orlando is the tallest and fastest coaster in Orlando.
This Bolliger and Mabillard hyper coaster dominates the park’s skyline and delivers
oodles of airtime.
But how does it stack up to the other hyper coasters out there?
Find out in this review of Mako.
SeaWorld Orlando and the SeaWorld chain in general has an extensive history working with
Bolliger and Mabillard.
SeaWorld Orlando previously added Kraken, a giant floorless coaster in 2000, and Manta,
a picturesque flying coaster in 2009.
SeaWorld San Antonio has their own B&M in the Great White inverted coaster.
And both Busch Gardens parks feature 3 different B&M coasters.
And it’s not hard to see why the chain loves these coasters because of their reliability,
capacity, and smoothness.
Bolliger and Mabillard debuted their hyper coaster model in 1999 and the prototype was
Apollo’s Chariot, which went to Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
The coaster was praised for its smoothness and abundance of airtime, and it routinely
places in the top 10 of Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards.
For years, it was speculated that Busch Gardens Tampa would receive their very own B&M hyper
coaster since the additions between the Williamsburg and Tampa park often mirrored each other.
And the fact Busch Gardens Tampa lacked an airtime machine made it seem like a natural
fit.
However, SeaWorld Orlando’s attendance was dropping.
2013 saw the release of Blackfish, a scathing documentary criticizing SeaWorld’s treatment
of its orca whales.
This caused SeaWorld’s attendance to drop.
Meanwhile, Busch Gardens Tampa’s attendance was relatively stable.
To stop SeaWorld Orlando’s attendance decrease, the chain decided to shift its focus towards
rides.
And Mako was quite the statement.
Opening in 2016, Mako would be a record-breaking coaster for the Orlando area.
Standing 200 feet or 61 meters tall, Mako reached speeds of 73 mph or 117 kph over its
4760 feet or 1450 meters of track.
An addition like this seemed like a slam dunk to increase park attendance.
However, SeaWorld Orlando’s attendance continued to slide, as it dropped another 8 percent
between 2015 and 2016.
I’d be hard-pressed to think of another time a park opened a hyper coaster and saw
an attendance decrease…outside of 2020 when the covid-19 pandemic negatively impacted
the entire theme park industry.
But that is how damaging Blackfish was for SeaWorld and it took a few years for the chain
to reverse the attendance drop off.
But the attendance slide was no fault of Mako.
The coaster immediately became arguably the park’s most popular attraction and received
overwhelming praise.
Mako is themed to the mako shark, which is the fastest species of shark known to man.
The coaster is part of the Shark Wreck Reef section of the park and Mako was integrated
into the area beautifully.
The coaster’s finale whizzes past the queue line and hops over the midway.
The supports in this section are themed to reefs and every time the coaster passes through
the area, a thematic musical score plays.
SeaWorld excels in the presentation department and Mako is no different.
The coaster’s first half is set really far back from the midway, as it wraps behind Kraken
along the park’s perimeter.
For this reason, the best views of the coaster can actually be had from outside the park.
And Mako is a beautiful coaster to watch with its parabolic airtime hills and vibrant purple
and teal paint scheme.
The queue line doesn’t have much theming, just a few signs and facts about Mako sharks.
But from experience, you won’t have to wait long in this queue line.
On weekdays, it’s rare to see this coaster with a wait even if its on just one train.
On weekends, the park usually runs multiple trains on this coaster and it’s an absolute
people eater.
Since this ride has no seatbelts and just the B&M clamshell restraints, the park staff
are able to check the trains quickly.
In my most recent visit, I think the crew only stacked the trains once which was very
impressive to see.
If the park is busy, the ride does offer Quick Queue, which dumps you off in the station.
It looks like row 5 is the designated Quick Queue row, but the grouper was allowing Quick
Queue guests to select any row they wanted.
I’m not sure if they sometimes restrict you to just row 5 or not.
Unlike the early B&M hyper coasters that often featured 9 row trains, Mako features a shorter
7 car train.
This allows the coaster to perform more agile maneuvers, particularly towards the end of
the ride.
It also allowed B&M to shape their airtime hills a bit differently.
And it resulted in stronger airtime that was sustained better throughout the entire train.
On the early B&M hypers, I always preferred the back by a long shot.
With Mako, I only have a slight preference for the back, mostly because of the first
drop.
The front has equal airtime for the remainder of the ride, plus you get that added sense
of speed.
Mako’s dispatch is another cool theming element.
The station has this screen above your head showing some sharks slowly swimming by.
But once you dispatch, an entire fleet of sharks appears overhead and they start swimming
rapidly.
Plus this is accompanied by an epic soundtrack.
And the musical score continues as you ascend the lift.
The music choice really builds a sense of danger and gets you amped up for your ride.
The lift faces away from SeaWorld, but if you turn around you get a birds-eye view of
the park.
But Mako’s lift is pretty fast for a B&M hyper, so you don’t have much time to take
in the view.
Once you reach the top, you are thrown over the steep 200 foot drop.
And the drop is excellent.
If you’re in the back, you get some powerful and sustained fl-jector airtime the whole
way down.
It’s one of the strongest airtime moments B&M has ever produced.
But the front row even gets airtime up front.
Those up front get weak sustained floater the whole way down.
It’s exceedingly rare to get airtime on a drop up front, but Mako manages to do it.
You then fly over this giant hill that twists you to the left.
The element feels like it will invert you because of how severely it banks you, which
creates a really neat visual.
And if you’re in the back, you also get some weak floater airtime on the descent.
It feels like a more intense version of the second hill on Nitro.
The pullout from this turn piles on some strong positive Gs and then you soar over a giant
camelback.
And this hill may have the best sustained airtime of any coaster.
This hill levitates riders, regardless of where they’re sitting, out of their seat
for 4-5 seconds.
It’s pure bliss.
The airtime starts as fl-jector and you feel yourself coming out of the seat before you
even reach the top of the hill.
On the descent, the airtime morphs into floater.
It’s one of my favorite hills on any ride, mainly because of how long that airtime is
sustained.
Mako then rips through a hammerhead turnaround.
This one offers some disorienting visuals like the second hill and the pullout from
the element delivers another dose of positive Gs.
You then ascend another camelback.
This one has a trim on the way up.
It usually doesn’t hit if you visit the park on a cooler day, but in the summer, it
will grab the train fairly often.
While you will feel the train slow a bit, the trim doesn’t bother me because the resulting
airtime is strong regardless.
You get another several seconds of sustained fl-jector airtime.
Plus the descent features a great headchopper with a support and you really feel like you’ll
hit it because of how your butt isn’t touching the seat.
Mako then flies over another camelback, except this one twists to the right on the descent.
The element delivers several seconds of sustained fl-jector airtime like the prior camelback,
but there are three surprises on the descent.
First, those in the back really get whipped down this element.
Second, you get some laterals on this twist, which is heavenly when paired with that airtime.
Third, you have two frightening near issues with supports on the right side of the train.
The barrage of sensations and visuals make this hill an underrated part of Mako.
That’s followed by a speed hill and you haul over this element.
I’m really glad B&M is incorporating speed hills more into their designs because this
element is fantastic.
Because of the size of camelbacks on B&M hypers, you don’t always get to appreciate the ride’s
speed when you’re cresting a hill.
But you feel every bit of Mako’s speed as you zoom over the speed hill.
And you’re also launched out of your seat for a few seconds, getting another few seconds
of sustained fl-jector airtime.
You then rise up into the mid-course brake run.
And because of how much speed you have going into this element, everyone will be lifted
out of their seat, but those up front get the strongest airtime.
Now unlike the prior trim, the mid-course will very noticeably slow the train down.
The drop off the mid-course twists slightly to the left and it does offers some weak floater
airtime for those in the back.
Mako then crawls over a bunny hill.
This element feels really slow, especially compared to the hills in the first half.
And the airtime is understandably weaker.
Up front, you get some decent sustained floater airtime, but those towards the back get some
really weak floater airtime.
Then comes this twist that defies the rules of physics for me.
Depending if you’re on the left or right side of the train, this element will ride
quite differently.
And it’s jarring just how different it is.
On the left side of the train, you get laterally ejected to the left from the laterals and
weightlessness hitting simultaneously.
On the right side of the train, you sort of dangle to the right and it feels like you’ll
fall out of the train.
I think I prefer the element on the left side on the train, but I love how the element gives
two different experiences depending where you’re sitting.
The next twist is less extreme, but it does offer some faint laterals if you’re on the
right side of the train.
You then dive down to the lagoon and gracefully navigate a turn that leads into the brake
run.
This turn offers no force or laterals, but it offers a neat visual where it feels like
you can touch the water, especially if you’re on the left side of the train.
And you can also hear the ride’s musical score at this point, which helps elevate the
finale.
Some B&Ms have developed a rattle, but Mako is still glass smooth even in its 6th season.
This is among the smoothest coasters in the world and one of the easiest to marathon,
especially because of how comfortable those B&M clamshell restraints are.
So what would I rate Mako?
I would give Mako a 9.5 out of 10.
Mako has one of the best first halves of any coaster.
This coaster has some of the best sustained airtime anywhere between the quantity and
quality.
It’s truly remarkable how much time you spend out of your seat on each hill.
Plus, the first half has a good sense of speed since the train takes each hill faster than
some of the earlier B&M hyper coasters.
The second half of Mako is noticeably less intense.
While it has some great visuals and a few decent elements, it’s a definite step back
from the quality of the first half and doesn’t have the same pacing.
Really that’s the only fault with Mako in my opinion.
I think Mako is the second best coaster in Orlando.
Mako jumped over Hagrid’s after my most recent rides; I forgot just how sustained
the airtime was.
But Velocicoaster is now the state’s best coaster.
As for how Mako compares to the other B&M hypers out there, Shambhala is still my favorite
because the airtime is equally as sustained start to finish.
But I do think Mako could be the best hyper coaster in America.
It’s a coin flip if I prefer this or Hersheypark’s Candymonium.
Mako has a slightly better first half, but Candymonium has a superior second half.
So those are my thoughts on Mako, the signature coaster at SeaWorld Orlando.
What are your thoughts on this coaster?
How do you think Mako compares to the other B&M hypers or Florida coasters?
I would love to hear your thoughts down in the comments.
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