text: kraken ( roller coaster ) kraken ( named for the fictional sea monster of the same name ) is a steel floorless roller coaster located at seaworld orlando in the united states . manufactured by bolliger & mabillard , the ride features a total of seven inversions including two vertical loops , a dive loop , a spiraling camelback ( zero - g roll ) , a cobra roll and a flat spin kraken opened on june 1 , 2000 . it is also the world 's second longest floorless coaster at 4 , 177 feet ( 1 , 273 m ) . history in 1999 , six flags great adventure spent $ 42 million on new attractions including a prototype floorless coaster by bolliger & mabillard , medusa ( later bizarro ) . the immediate popularity of the ride , led to seaworld orlando and three other amusement parks to announce plans to install floorless coasters in 2000 ; aside from the announcement of kraken on may 6 , 1999 , six flags discovery kingdom announced medusa , geauga lake announced dominator , and six flags fiesta texas announced superman : krypton coaster . kraken was announced as costing approximately $ 18 – 20 million . kraken 's announcement more than one year out from its opening was an attempt by the park to drive international attendance . construction for the ride was well underway in january 2000 . during construction , superior rigging & erection was responsible for erecting the supports and track of the roller coaster . on june 1 , 2000 , kraken officially opened to the public . at the time of opening kraken held the record for the tallest and longest roller coaster in the state of florida . it held this record until 2006 when disney 's animal kingdom opened the 4 , 424 - foot - long ( 1 , 348 m ) expedition everest . characteristics statistics the 4 , 177 - foot - long ( 1 , 273 m ) kraken stands 153 feet ( 47 m ) tall . with a top speed of 65 miles per hour ( 105 km / h ) , the ride was the fastest roller coaster at seaworld orlando until the opening of mako in summer of 2016 . the ride features seven inversions including two vertical loops , a dive loop , a spiraling camelback ( zero - g roll ) , a cobra roll and a flat spin ( corkscrew ) . trains kraken operates with three floorless trains . each train seats 32 riders in eight rows of four . this gives the ride a theoretical hourly capacity of 1500 riders per hour . the open - air trains feature seats which leave riders ' legs dangling above the track . riders are restrainted with over - the - shoulder restraints ( ) . as the trains are floorless , the station has a retractable floor for safe boarding . theme kraken is themed after the mythological sea monster of the same name , kept caged by poseidon . much of the ride is located above water , with three sections featuring subterranean dives . the ride 's station and surrounding area are themed as kraken 's lair . eels are said to be kraken 's young and therefore feature throughout the ride 's queue . a seaworld orlando spokesman stated " although it 's a roller coaster , the theme of the ride brings it back to the sea , and to our ( seaworld orlando 's ) core " . ride experience after riders have boarded the station floor is retracted and the front gates open , kraken departs with a right u - turn out of the station . this leads directly to the 153 - foot - tall ( 47 m ) chain lift hill . at the top , the train crests the lift hill and follows a fairly level turn to the right before dropping 144 feet ( 44 m ) towards the ground . the ride then enters the first vertical loop followed by the dive loop . a spiraling camelback ( zero - g roll ) , where riders experience a feeling of weightlessness , is followed by a cobra roll . a banked turn to the left leads into the mid - course brake run . the exit from the mid - course brake run drops down directly into the second vertical loop . a subterranean dive into kraken 's lair is followed by a flat spin the ride concludes with a final brake run and a short path back to the station . reception the orlando sentinel commended the ride for " perfect timing and keeping folks guessing " , giving the ride ratings of 4 out of 5 for both thrill and theming . sentinel reporter dewayne bevil , ranks the ride at number 7 in his top 50 orlando theme park attractions list . although it was reported that the ride would be more exciting than the incredible hulk at the nearby islands of adventure theme park , mike thomas of the sentinel concluded that " hulk the competition " , with kraken taking the number two spot . in an interview for the los angeles times jerry dane of the florida coaster club described the floorless experience like " you are hung out there open and free " . dane also commended the ride 's ability to provide different , yet equally good experiences in a variety of seats . in 2012 , kraken was featured on the travel channel tv series insane coaster wars , and received first place in the public - voted " wrong way up " category . theme park review 's robb alvey shared the view the kraken was better than the competition which included dollywood 's wild eagle and dorney park 's hydra the revenge . in amusement today 's annual golden ticket awards , kraken was ranked in the top 50 steel roller coasters numerous times since its opening . it debuted on the poll at position 48 in 2003 , peaked at position 26 in 2005 , before it off the poll in 2009 . in mitch hawker 's worldwide best roller coaster poll , kraken entered at position 12 in 2001 , before peaking at 10 the following year . the ride 's ranking in subsequent polls is shown in the table below .