Bermuda Triangle (Sea World)

History

In 1980, Sea World opened a set of bumper boats located in a small lake in the centre of the Viking's Revenge Flume Ride. In 1987, these bumper boats were removed to aid in the construction of Lassiter's Lost Mine. Lassiter's Lost Mine was an indoor flume ride where guests would experience the flooding of a mine. The ride was built for only A$3 million - compared to a Disney estimate of A$20 million. In April 1993, Lassiter's Lost Mine closed. Less than one year later on 31 March 1994, the Bermuda Triangle opened. The ride utilised the same ride system as the original Lassiter's Lost Mine ride. After opening, the Bermuda Triangle is cited as a major contributor to an increase in attendance.

Since the ride's opening in 1994, Bermuda Triangle had several features removed. Bermuda Triangle originally featured a revolving load and unload platform which increased the ride's capacity. This was decommissioned in 2005 due to safety concerns. In 2008, the gas pipeline which allowed the main volcano to spit out fireballs was removed rendering the volcano dormant. Later, the pre-show was decommissioned and special effects were broken and never fixed.

On 18 October 2010, the Bermuda Triangle closed for routine maintenance until 30 November 2010. In late November, Sea World dropped the reopening date and has instead stated: "Bermuda Triangle is presently closed while we continue to develop new and exciting attractions at Sea World". In early December 2010, the maintenance page was changed for a third time to read "Bermuda Triangle is temporarily closed". A few days later, Sea World stated on their Facebook page that the "Bermuda Triangle ride has been permanently closed to make way an exciting new future attraction". After sitting dormant for close to one and a half years, Sea World applied for a permit to demolish the ride and the interior of the show building. Once the permit was granted, demolition began in August 2012.

Queue and Pre-show

Riders joined an undercover queue which was located between the final splashdown and Jet Rescue. A staff member in a Coast Guard uniform appeared at the front of the queue and ushered the group of riders up a set of stairs into the pre-show room. This same staff member then gave guests a briefing about their upcoming journey into the mysterious volcanoes. Part of the pre-show occurred on a television monitor to the front of the room. At the end of the pre-show guests were ushered out another door and back down stairs towards the ride's station in the centre of the outdoor portion of the ride.

Ride

Up to 16 guests would board a Research Probe vessel which would begin a slow journey towards the smaller of the two volcanoes. Throughout the ride, pre-recorded audio of the Coast Guard was played through the boat's speakers. At the entry riders would go up a small conveyor belt hill into the volcano. The boat would then descend the hill and splashdown in the main show building. After flowing around a corner, the boat would rapidly accelerate down a long passage. The water would cause the boat to decelerate with a splash. The ride continued with the boat flowing slowly around several show scenes which include various special effects including Pepper's Ghost which allowed a spaceship to seemingly disappear. The boat would come to a halt at what seemed like a dead end with a television screen in front. Through the use of a turntable, the boat was turned away from the screen. A set of doors open behind the boat before it began to travel backwards into another room. Here, several special effects were used to simulate the flooding of a building. The boat was then turned towards the main conveyor lift hill. It would rise towards to the top of the volcano where fireballs were shot. The boat would then descend the final drop and exits via the second, larger volcano.

Post-ride

After the ride, guests would disembark their boats onto the unload station before going up and over a bridge to get off the island station. Once back at ground level, guests were able to purchase on-ride photos taken during the final drop of the ride.