KRAKEN Photographs
June 6, 2000
When exiting International Drive, soon-to-be guests at SeaWorld Orlando have the privalege of driving around the back side of the park and viewing this massive architectural wonder of twisted steel. Rising to an astounding height of 151 feet and incorporatng seven roll-overs over an extensive 4100 feet of steel, tubular track, Kraken delivers the most incredible roller coaster experience on the East coast of the United States. This is one terrific, silent, smooth, exhilarating, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride for the 21st century.
I must compliment Sea World for its effort of implementing the Kraken theme throughout the area adjacent to the entrance. However, I must also agree with one father who walked by this concrete monster and said, "I think some elementary school kid made that."
A great view of the breathtaking first drop and roll-overs to follow.
A close-up on the paint-job of Kraken.
The themed entrance to Kraken is very good. Notice how the giant lift-hill beckons guests to come and conquer this beast. There are a total of five separate rooms where the queue line travels before arriving at the loading station.
The coaster immediately dips when exiting the loading station. As you can see, the theme of the queue is correlated to the theme of Journey to Atlantis - the Greek/Meditteranean Sea fishing village. The buildings of Kraken's queue are rather plain looking with a few ocean-blue shutters here and there and a few black lanterns. However, after sixteen rides on Kraken within a few hours, I began enjoying the queue more and more.
Kraken dives underground through a misty cave before entering its seventh and final inversion - a tight corkscrew. I was a little disappointed with the unfinished underground sections of the ride. The press release hyped it up quite a bit. SeaWorld Orlando has advised me that they plan on adding many more effects to the caves.
2000 Florida Theme Parks Online