Guests Racing Through Arctic on New Coaster at SeaWorld San Diego

© SeaWorld San Diego

SeaWorld's trend of adding roller coasters to its theme parks - and frequently at that - continued this summer much to the delight of enthusiasts.  SeaWorld San Diego saw the opening of a new Intamin designed family launch roller coaster named Arctic Rescue.  It was also billed by the park as the "longest and fastest straddle coaster on the West Coast," a very specific record to have.

© SeaWorld San Diego

The coaster is themed to riders being on snowmobiles blasting through the frozen Arctic on an animal rescue mission.  It is pretty brave to theme a ride to the Arctic when the park is located in Southern California, but all theme parks require a suspension of reality to some degree.  

The coaster utilizes tire launches - three in total - to move the trains at a maximum speed of 40 miles per hour over 2,800 feet of track.  Specifically, the launched are 34 miles per hour, 38 miles per hour and then 40 miles per hour.  The ride's layout stays close to the ground and features plenty of zippy looking turns and hills (30 feet is the ride's maximum height).  The ride is decidedly aimed at families, so no high thrills here, and for that it does look pretty fun!  Intamin has found relative success with this style of coasters, and I can see why.  

Earlier in the summer when the ride opened Park Journey shared some B-Roll footage of it both on-ride and off, check it out below!