I love this coaster a lot and think it’s criminally underrated. When I first rode it in 2017 it was one of the first big coasters I rode and I thought it was insane. It was a complete blur while also ...
I love this coaster a lot and think it’s criminally underrated. When I first rode it in 2017 it was one of the first big coasters I rode and I thought it was insane. It was a complete blur while also being extremely fun, and I ranked it as my #1 at the time. Fast forward some time and I rode many more coasters and I became more of an enthusiast, so this ride dropped. I remembered the ride being intense and crazy but I thought I was just overplaying it in my head because of how new and scary it was to me at the time. 6 years later and I finally get the chance to ride it again, and my memories of it being insane were completely accurate, manta truly is a beast. It found it’s way into my top 10 with over 200 credits to my name. First of all I love the presentation of this ride, the colors are perfect, especially at this park and the landscaping and views you can get of the coaster are spectacular. The queue is cool as it is completely indoors and u pass several fish tanks. The trains look just as good as the rest of the ride and the restraints are comfortable and pretty open feeling for a Flyer, especially if you can get room which is pretty easy. Back right is my favorite seat and there usually isn’t too much of a line which is nice however the operations are terrible and this coaster does go down quite a bit. There’s also epic music playing throughout the whole queue and even on the lift hill, and there’s this really cool sound when you raise into the flying position, it sounds like you’re charging up to prepare for the insanity that is manta. Speaking of flying coasters, I love them because it adds to the fun factor a lot and it accentuates the forces and sense of speed quite a bit, it’s a big part of why I love this ride so much. After a relaxing lift you whip down the drop, in the back you get yankee over and then get violently thrown to the side and slammed with the first moment of crushing positive G’s in the flying position. After that you head into the massive pretzel loop, which offers super sustained, blackout level positives in the lying position. The exit of the element slams you back down into your seat and blasts you with a short bust of positives in the flying position before entering a graceful but fun inline twist. The following valley is the most sustained moment of positives in the flying position and you are absolutely hauling at this point, it’s a greyout moment but since it’s in the flying position, instead of the forces crushing down on you they push out and it feels like your eye are popping out of your head. It’s insane and unlike anything else I’ve experienced. Another graceful roll and forceful valley takes you into the mid course, which lightly taps the train so you fly into the 2nd half. The drop off of it provides a unique moment of airtime on a flying coaster. The rest of the ride includes more fun and intense valleys in the flying position and one last inversion, this one being an inline twist which has a little bit of snap to it. This part of the ride offers insane bear misses with the pond, trees and roc’s and some water will hit you. Overall the ride hauls from start to finish the entire time and leaves you breathless on the brake run, despite looking slow off ride. The positives in both the laying and flying position are very powerful and there’s other surprising forces sprinkled in the ride. The ride isn’t too long but doesn’t feel short at all, and is smooth and comfortable except for one jolt but it doesn’t hurt at all. Manta is also just plain fun as you fly around the park, flipping through enjoyable inversions and narrowly dodging trees and rocks. Manta isn’t objectively one of the best coasters out there but personally, the perfect combination of intensity and fun make this a special ride for me.
