As his body is hurled along at 73 mph on the roller coaster, Brian Andrelczyk crosses his legs and folds hands like he’s lounging back on a Lazy Boy.

“I ride roller coasters to relax,” said Andrelczyk during an interview as he rode the Mako coaster recently in the SeaWorld Orlando theme park.

Andrelczyk is a coaster junkie who has ridden 835 roller coasters across the world. In his professional life, he helps build them.

As the new senior vice president of design and engineering for SeaWorld Orlando, Discovery Cove and Aquatica Orlando, Andrelczyk will play a key role as the company aims to keep building new things to try to boost attendance.

Orlando Sentinel Brian Andrelczyk counted 100 rides over those three weeks on Mako before it officially opened to the public in 2016. Brian Andrelczyk counted 100 rides over those three weeks on Mako before it officially opened to the public in 2016. (Orlando Sentinel)

“We’re working on new attractions and new shows, animals exhibits and thrill rides. There’s a lot going on in our company,” said Jonathan Smith, corporate rides director at SeaWorld Entertainment. “There’s a lot of things he has a responsibility for. He’s good at what he does.”

For a roller coaster fan, Andrelczyk’s job certainly has its perks.

Before Mako — Orlando’s tallest and fastest roller coaster — opened in 2016, employees rode it over and over again in the final testing period before the public was given a glimpse. Andrelczyk said he took 100 rides over those three weeks.

Gabrielle Russon/Orlando Sentinel Brian Andrelczyk, right, in the green shirt, appears briefly in the security video that visitors watch as they stand in line for Mako. Brian Andrelczyk, right, in the green shirt, appears briefly in the security video that visitors watch as they stand in line for Mako. (Gabrielle Russon/Orlando Sentinel)

Look closely if you’re waiting in line and you’ll see Andrelczyk appear briefly on the video explaining the rules. He was one of the employees tapped to be an extra.

He rarely screams on a ride. He’s quiet, listening for how the track sounds to hear whether a roller coaster omits an aggressive, deepening roar or a lighter, quicker woosh. He likes knowing how each seat in the train feels.

“He likes the mental part of figuring out how they move,” and deciphering what makes a great roller coaster great, said his wife, Jen Andrelczyk, an elementary school teacher who prefers museums over thrill rides but supports his hobby nonetheless.

The couple visited small amusement parks on their honeymoon in Europe. In 2018 alone, Andrelczyk calculated he rode about 115 coasters, his busiest year yet. He’s squeezed into the kiddie coasters up to some of the biggest ones in the world. One day, he crammed in eight small parks to add more to his list.

SeaWorld operates 31 roller coasters across the United States, and Andrelczyk still needs to check off the San Antonio park.

His quest won’t be over anytime soon. There are nearly 5,000 roller coasters in the world with several hundred still under construction, according to the Roller Coaster Database that keeps statistics about the attractions.

The couple’s home is decorated with 900 ride-themed shot glasses displayed in almost every room.

He befriends mechanics who give him odds and ends from roller coasters they no longer need, like a wheel with a baseball cap that somehow got wedged into it.

Her husband’s hobby impresses friends when they come to visit, his wife said.

“It’s all kind of quirky. It’s not traditional theme park souvenirs,” Jen Andrelczyk said.

As his personal and professional lives intersect, Andrelczyk acknowledges, “This is my dream.”

He went to high school in Georgia, traveling on weekends with his buddies to different amusement parks.

He studied architecture at Georgia Tech University and landed an unremarkable summer internship at SeaWorld Orlando selling photographs until he networked his way into the park’s engineering offices.

It landed him an engineering internship where he organized the construction documents. Reading the old roller coaster designs gave him glimpses of how to build them.

Andrelczyk was hired back at the company after he graduated in 2011 and over the years, worked his way up until he was promoted to a vice president in January.

“What I find most intriguing about his story is following your passion and your love of something and being able to manifest that into your career,” said Brian Morrow, a former SeaWorld creative leader who now runs his own company and remembered meeting Andrelczyk as an intern. “I look at him as a model that maybe younger generations can follow.”

Andrelczyk’s typical day might mean dealing with everything from a sewer line to a new gift shop to a major ride, like KareKare Curl, a water ride that opened last month at Aquatica Orlando, which he dotingly calls “my water slide” after being at the construction site every day.

A first look at Aquatica Orlando's KareKare Curl water slide »

“We take the ride from cradle to opening,” Andrelczyk said.

It’s likely more major attractions will be added to his workload. SeaWorld hasn’t officially announced a new ride beyond 2019, although the company confirmed in September a leaked drawing for a new roller coaster in Orlando was authentic but no final plan had been made.

Perhaps Andrelczyk can add another new coaster to his list.

Got a news tip? grusson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5470; Twitter, @GabrielleRusson

Scooters at packed Disney World parks spawn accidents, lawsuits and glares »

SeaWorld, Fun Spot inspectors ride roller coasters for a living »