ORLANDO, Fla. -- In this Attractions Insider exclusive, Spectrum News was the only crew on-site to capture a major milestone for SeaWorld Orlando's yet-to-open attraction -- Infinity Falls.
- Spectrum News gets sneak peek of 'Infinity Falls'
- First raft ride of its kind, hoisting rafts up by 30 ft
- SeaWorld says ride will open 'sometime this summer'
The water pumps are now in testing mode, and the water is flowing.
"What we've been able to do here is replicate the feeling of class 4 rapids, which is pretty intense," said Erick Essig, Experience Design Manager of SeaWorld's Deep Blue Creative Team. "You're going to get soaking wet."
SeaWorld took us around the active construction site exclusively on Monday. The space was jam-packed with construction workers, engineers -- you name it.
Spectrum News last visited the attraction on June 20, when there were few trees, and everything was bone dry.
But now, the landscape is filling in and detailing has begun.
"Just all those little details that make the theme park industry so cool are starting to arrive," Essig told us. "Every single piece of rock you see, for the most part, was hand-carved."
As you can see in our main photo above, the water still needs to be treated. That won't happen until most of the dirt has been replaced with permanent terrain.
Infinity Falls is the first raft ride of its kind in North America, with a lift system hoisting the rafts up 30 feet. The plunge is a 40-foot drop, the longest in the world.
We also spotted one of the rafts with water dummies in it, each about the size of an average grown-up. They still have work to do, as testing isn't over.
"Once that's done, a few members of the SeaWorld team before me, and then myself, get to climb into those rafts, take it for a spin, and get the attraction ready for its final little bits and pieces of finishing before the guests can get on it," Essig said.
To ride Infinity Falls, you much be at least 3 and a half feet tall.
SeaWorld hasn't announced an opening day -- all they're telling us is "sometime this summer."
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