Kraken (roller coaster)
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| Kraken | |
 Upside Down on Kraken |
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| Location | SeaWorld Orlando |
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| Type | Steel - Floorless |
| Status | Open |
| Opened | June 1, 2000 |
| Manufacturer | Bolliger & Mabillard |
| Designer | Werner Stengel |
| Model | Floorless |
| Track layout | Out and Back |
| Lift/launch system | Chain lift hill |
| Height | 149 ft (45 m) |
| Drop | 145 ft (44 m) |
| Length | 4,177 ft (1,273 m) |
| Max speed | 65 mph (105 km/h) |
| Inversions | 7 |
| Duration | 2:02 |
| Capacity | 1500 riders per hour |
| Max g-force | 3.9 |
| Kraken at RCDB Pictures of Kraken at RCDB |
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Kraken is a steel roller coaster located at SeaWorld Orlando. When it opened in 2000, it was the first floorless roller coaster in the Southern United States, and it remains the only coaster of its kind in this region. It held the record as the longest roller coaster in the state of Florida until the completion of Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom.[1] Kraken is also the fastest roller coaster at any SeaWorld park.
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[edit] Attraction theme and design
Kraken is, as its name suggests, a mythological sea monster. In SeaWorld’s vision, the kraken is a giant version of the dragon eel, a multicolored cousin of the moray eel. The kraken can be seen emerging from its "lair," a rock formation near the attraction entrance. Within the rock is a small cave holding the creature's "eggs," in actuality spherical aquariums in which reside another variety of eel.
The roller coaster's layout combines both characteristics of such a creature. It lies alongside a lagoon, referring to its aquatic habitat. Further, the coaster dives underground three times, a nod to the caverns and crevasses that it would call home.
The track is sky blue, with beige supports. Its three trains each feature eight cars, with each car carrying four guests sitting side-by-side, for a total of 32 passengers per train. Guests are secured using an over-the-shoulder harness with locking seat belt. As with other floorless coasters, mechanisms under the loading station track raise temporary platforms into position to allow guests to board, then retract them out of the way so the train may leave the station.
[edit] Track layout
Kraken departs the station through a U-turn to the right that leads to the 149-foot lift hill. At the top of the hill, the roller coaster makes a right turn and drops to the ground below. It enters its tallest element, a 119-foot-tall vertical loop, where the on-ride camera awaits as the roller coaster returns to ground level. It then climbs to the top of a 101-foot diving loop that sends the roller coaster back the way it came. It climbs again to enter a zero-gravity roll, then drops down to enter the two-inversion cobra roll, which exits into a wide sweeping U-turn to the left that brings the roller coaster to its mid-course brake run.
As Kraken exits the brakes, it drops down to the left sharply, diving underground as it enters and then exits a smaller vertical loop. The roller coaster climbs a gentle hill before diving underground again into another U-turn, this time to the left. It then enters its final inversion, a flat spin before entering its brakes, returning to the station via one more U-turn to the right.
