Family, travel, mom blog | Theme Park Mom (Leigh Caldwell)

You can spend the night with manta rays when you choose a sleepover inside the Manta aquarium at SeaWorld Orlando.

There’s a new option for a fun time at SeaWorld Orlando – a sleepover inside the Manta aquarium.

That’s right – families and groups can now spend the night inside the building housing Manta’s floor-to-ceiling aquariums. Sleepovers start at 6 p.m. and include a pizza party, craft, animal encounters and other fun inside the theme park. They end at 9 a.m. the next day, after a continental breakfast.

Rates start at $78 per person for families with children in kindergarten through fifth grade. If you would like to include SeaWorld admission the next day, the price is $103.

For groups such as Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, the price is $78, and one adult chaperone is admitted free for every 10 students.

You will need to pack your sleeping bag, but your meals and activities are included in the price. If you are an annual passholder, there are discounts available.

What a fun idea for an animal-loving kid’s birthday party!

You can book a SeaWorld Orlando sleepover online or by calling (866) GO-TO-CAMP.

There are also sleepovers available at SeaWorld’s sister park, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.

See that roll up there? See how some of those people are facing down toward the ground and some of them are facing up toward the sky? Yeah, that’s pretty intense. And that intensity is part of Manta. Sure, it’s got a softly lit aquarium in the queue line, where 300 rays glide peacefully around you, but this is still a roller coaster. And that’s what Theme Park Mom wants all you moms out there to know: This ride is serious.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t go. I just don’t want you to get on with the wrong impression. SeaWorld Orlando’s Manta begins with a 140 feet climb into the air before dropping you, practically head first, down 113 feet. And then comes the twists and turns of the pretzel roll. Make it through all that, and you have a pretty smooth ride from there on out. This part near the end, where the coaster seems to touch the water (it’s an illusion) is really fun, even if you were just screaming your head off: (more…)

Courtesy photo: Sea World

If you’re planning to ride Sea World‘s new roller coaster Manta this summer, you may want to give these fun promotions a try.

At ridetheflyingray.com, visitors can register to perform six different social media acts, such as uploading a picture to flickr, making a video for YouTube or tweeting about the new ride. (more…)

I am getting increasingly excited about the debut of SeaWorld‘s new roller coaster, Manta. It’s going to open on May 22, the Friday before Memorial Day.

The cars seat 32 people, under a flying manta ray design. Manta is visible throughout SeaWorld, and guests are already seeing test runs of the ride.

One of the most exciting parts of this new attraction for me is the massive aquarium that you’ll wind through as you wait in line for the ride. (more…)