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Universal Studios Florida
Orlando, FL
NBC Universal / Blackstone Group
Click to buy Universal Studios Tickets
 Park News - (11/6/09) I’m told that the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit apparently valleyed again yesterday, in the usual spot just after the non-inverting loop.
(10/13/09) A new unique iPhone App has been developed specifically for the Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit coaster. They call it the Pocket Rockit Rollercoaster Setlist and it is hooked into an online database that keeps track of all the official and hidden song tracks available for the Rockit coaster. Of course, it’s so much more than just a list of songs however, as it includes animated instructions to show you how to access the hidden tracks, allows the users to rate the tracks, keep a time/date history log of which tracks you have chosen, so you can make a check list of which songs you have tried and which you still need to do. As new songs are added to the ride, the database will be updated so you will always have the current list. In fact, if you find that you have discovered a new hidden track, you can even submit it the list for confirmation.
(8/21/09) We’ve heard one minor rumor claiming that Universal may be looking into a cost evaluation to see what it would take to bring back a modified version of the old Wild West show. Apparently they are just looking at all the options, so nothing to get excited or upset about yet…
(8/18/09) Fear Factor Live has closed down once again, this time to make way for the new Bill & Ted show for Halloween Horror Nights. However, we’ve heard that Fear Factor is likely gone for good this time around. So far the rumored replacement shows sound too crazy to be true, but it got me thinking… why haven’t NBC/Universal attempted to take advantage of the popular Heroes TV show yet? A small live action show based on Heroes could be quite popular and fun in the old Wild West Arena.
(8/11/09) While nothing has been said by Universal one way or the other, I’ve heard several stories and rumors about the various problems and complications taking place with the Hollywood Rockit. At this point in time, I’m not going to explain everything that I’ve heard, especially since there is no way of knowing what is true and what isn’t, but when I take a look at the big picture from it all, I’ve got to think that we may not see the Rockit fully open until Halloween Horror Nights at this point. In the meantime, enjoy some new pictures of the Rockit posted to Orlando Rocks.
(8/8/09) It was quickly pointed out that there is no Transformers project in the works for Universal Orlando, due to the fact that Transformers will re-use the basic Spiderman ride system so there no point. It seems Michael Bay was simply visiting the park to learn and check out the amazing Spiderman ride system first hand to get a better idea of how it will be used to create the Transformer rides for USS and USH. So in short... “No Transformers For You!” (and somewhere... a fanboy begins to cry tears of sadness...)
(8/7/09) While it’s hard to verify this kind of rumor, we’ve heard it said that Michael Bay, the director of the Transformers films, had a meeting with the Orlando Universal Creative staff the other day. While they could be talking about a Transformers project, Bay has also been a producer for the remakes of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday The 13th and an upcoming Nightmare of Elm Street project out in 2010. Still… I just can’t see Universal Orlando sitting still without some kind of Transformers ride of their own while Singapore and Hollywood versions are already confirmed.
2009 - Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit - (10/20/09) A reader sent in a picture taken  on Sunday showing the work crews pulling the Rockit car that ‘valleyed’ the night before up the hill to the mid-course brake run. While I don’t know anything for certain, witness who saw it running Saturday afternoon reported that the morning’s test runs seemed to be quite slow, and were barely making it through the course due to the cold weather. They shut down the ride until the sun came out and warmed things up a bit, and when they did finally open the ride in the afternoon it seemed to be running fine. However later that night, when the temperature dropped, is when the empty train valleyed just after the non-inverting loop. Rumor has it that they may not attempt to test the cars without some weight in them again until things warm up in the spring.
(10/16/09) According to the latest buzz, the Rockit has been testing at night with the moving floor finally moving. This has led some to believe that they could follow through with that earlier rumor and open Rockit for HHN, but so far the official word is that it wont happen. I’ve also heard that it could be December before they finally get the moving floor working with the coaster.
(10/15/09) Screamscape has heard an  interesting report claiming that a few music groups or music labels have been informed about the whole fun section of hidden tracks available on the Rockit coaster, and have apparently informed Universal that they would like to have their songs removed. Yeah… makes sense doesn’t it? Fans of your music are going out of their way to find and access a HIDDEN track in the ride software to play these select songs over the official song selection list… and you want to take this away from them? Sigh…
I haven’t heard any specific band of song names, but I’d be willing to bet that Metallica may be behind some of this, given their history of fans and free music access (ie: the Napster Bad animated shorts from about 10 years ago). Anyone know more? If the certain songs havn’t been removed yet, it may be before too much longer.
(10/7/09) A fairly detailed video showing off about every element on the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit coaster has been embedded below.
(9/21/09) I’ve got a few interesting items of note about the Rockit from readers. We know that at most they are only running 4 trains at a time right now, instead of the 7 that they are supposed to have. This is said to be a temporary item until they get all 7 trains on site (one still had yet to arrive) and get the final block brake programming set. Then they will be able to run more trains as well as use that moving platform as intended to speed up the process. However, until that time comes an interesting problem has been reported from a few readers.
It seems your audio selection comes to and end when you hit the brake run, at which point the touch screen resets to the starting point again. However due to the stacking of trains in the brake run, due to the slower than intended unload/load process, riders have begun to play with the touch screen, often selecting new songs for the next set of riders. On average, the new riders have little time to realize what has happened, back out of the menus to start over and select their own song before it is simply too late. People have started to watch the trains running from over in Citywalk to listen for that odd “flat tire’ sounding noise coming from the trains, as seen in a previous video link. According to the latest reports, of the four trains running, two had it and two didn’t, so you’ve got about a 50/50 chance right now.
(9/14/09) RCPro has posted their own review of the Hollywood Rockit here. I’ve also heard that at least on one day, Universal did close the Hollywood Rockit down for a Rock The Universe concert event. Funny, I thought that the ride was designed so it could keep running during concerts. To paraphrase something an old co-worker of mine used to say, “If you can’t be heard over the roller coaster, then your not Rockin’ hard enough!” Now to be fair, apparently the Rockit did still run during at least one concert, since they had a 3 hour line in the queue when they did close the line they kept the ride open for those people at least.
(9/7/09) A few weeks later and rider opinions have not changed on the Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit. Some claim it was a glass smooth great experience while others come off feeling like their spines were just jack hammered. For some time now I’ve felt that perhaps the problem and reason for this was the trains themselves, as I’ve been told that there are currently 6 trains on site and Universal is expecting the delivery of a seventh train very soon, however on average it sounds like they have only been running 3 or 4 trains at a time, so I doubt many of the general public have had the chance to ride it in all of the current trains. That said… take a look at this very very interesting video I’ve embedded down below, and turn up the sound and LISTEN to the difference in the sound two different trains make as they go around the track. You will hear a distinct noise that sounds like something just isn’t right with one of them.
(9/4/09) I added a few new Rockit tracks to the list (see sidebar) and you can see some new fun pictures of the Rockit in action at Orlando United.
(8/31/09) Johnny Upsidedown has posted a photo trip report from the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit this week, showing off the ride in great detail. I’ve also got a few more track confirmations added to the list and removed a few ‘rumored’ tracks that have been proven to be false.
(8/30/09) The list over on the sidebar for all the Secret Rockit Tracks has grown by leaps and bounds this week. By the way, a few readers tried track #666 and got nothing, so the Crazy Train rumor seems to be false. Tracks #333 and #999 also came up blank according to another reader. Anyone try #911? I’m wondering if they would have put in something by The Police. In case anyone needed a little extra help to see just how to access these bonus tracks, check out this video posted to YouTube by Park Sleuth.
(8/27/09) I don’t know how true it is, but a reader claims to have put in track #666 and got Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne, which is very appropriate, but would also make it the only known track in the 600 series if true. Can anyone else verify this? We’ve also heard rumors of an AC/DC track or two, but no known track numbers.
(8/26/09) I’ve had a couple more Rockit tracks identified. #128 is Vertigo by U2 and another reader identified #724 as being an empty track, as it would only play the default song, Busy Child, when entered.
(8/25/09) I’ve got a couple of track updates for everyone. Track #131 which was said to be a remixed / edited Blue Man Group track is now said to be a major edit of their Klein Mandelbrot track, cutting back the 8 minute song to fit the ride length. However we’ve heard that the edit is quite good and seems to have been done with the coaster’s layout in mind, as it matches the action quite well. Perhaps we should call this the Blue Man Group: The Ride Edit. The Judas Priest song also has a name, “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”.
There has been a lot of reports lately about long lines, broken audio seats and delays… everything you should expect from ride a ride that just opened. However there are some operational oddities… with many reports about how the ride isn’t opening until 11am on many days, when it does open it sometimes only has 1 train operation, adding a 2nd train maybe 45-60 minutes later, and adding the third train 45-60 minutes after that. Of course I believe the ride was intended to run 5 trains at the same time, but this has yet to happen. Still… it is a break-in process, but I don’t get the 1-2-3 train operation phased in start-up, when combined with a delayed opening has been giving the ride consistant 1.5 to 3 hour long lines.
(8/24/09) A good collection of photos from the Rockit have been posted to Behind The Thrills this week. I’ve also been told that there are now test seats installed in front of the Rockit. It seems that for whatever reason the restraints in Row 3 are a little bigger.
(8/23/09) I’ve got quite a few new mystery Rockit tracks reported and added to the list (see sidebar) as well as a few songs reported by people who just forgot the number they pushed. I’ve also heard that tracks 31 to 100 are blank, as are a number of other number slots in the mix, so there are not 969 songs to choose from, but still many more to discover. It’s a theory sent in so far that the tracks are only in the 100’s, 300’s, 500’s 700’s and 900’s, with nothing at all in the even numbered hundred numbers. This may be true, as I have yet to be sent a report about what #666 is… which would seem to be an obvious choice for some to try. No word on #333 or #999 either however.
I’ve also heard that you might want to hold off on buying one of those DVDs of your ride. The current version of the video you get apparently features a mostly computer animation effects filled version of the ride mixed with very short live action clips of you here and there. Unfortunately the amount of airtime you get yourself is limited to only about 10-15 seconds of the entire video. I believe you can see a good version of the video seen here, just jump ahead 2:33 into the video to get to the start.
(8/21/09) I’ve got a few more secret tracks to add to the slowly growing list today, along with one report claiming that all 999 codes may not actually work. Track #710 is said to be something by Judas Priest and rumor has it that many of the 700’s may also be Heavy Metal tracks, with #702 rumored to possibly be Metallica. The 500’s series is rumored to feature quite a few local bands with #508 said to be a local band that features the son of a Universal Attractions Developer. Track #123 was described as sounding like some kind of “modern metal” that our reader just thought sounded terrible. #127 is said to be Urgent. One more update on the choosing custom soundtracks, I’ve now been told that the cameras still record your ride, only that the audio portion on the recording uses a default song which is said to be “Busy Child” by Crystal Method.
(8/20/09) I’ve been kind of shocked by the very Bipolar nature of all of the Rockit reviews coming in. In short... people ether seem to love the ride to point of already calling it their favorite ride, while others are reporting an almost nightmare like experience of painful transitions and neck-jarring shaking. Its almost as if people were riding two very different rides, so I’ve got to wonder if perhaps there might be a major difference in the ride experience depending upon which train you rode it. Of the 7 trains at Universal’s disposal I’ve heard that lately they’ve only been able to run 3 trains for the most part, sometimes 4. Perhaps there is a “good train” and a “bad train” out there? Anyone been on it enough to have experience both sensations?
A review (postive) and new pictures have been posted to Orlando Rocks this week, and you can watch a new video showing off the ride down below.
(8/18/09) Secret song track #901 is now identified as Moving Right Along, sung by Kermit & Fozzy.
(8/17/09) The soft opening of the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit has been a success so far, and as rumored, people have quickly discovered how to access a large number of hidden unofficial music tracks loaded into the trains. From what I’ve been told the correct way to do this is to push and hold the HRRR Logo for about 8-10 seconds, which will bring up a numbered touchpad. From here you can enter in any 3 digit number from 001 to 999 and each one features a different song. Tracks 1 to 30 are just the featured songs they tell everyone about, but the other 969 tracks are all waiting to be discovered by you. We’ve already been sent a short list of a few of them:
112 – Freebird
311 – a R&B song that was unknown to the rider
901 – A Muppet Song (unknown track)
902 – Rainbow Connection (another Muppet Track)
If you happen to try it and find a new song, please do send it in and we can eventually make a list of them all. One word of warning however… if you do choose to enter a song this way, this will deactivate the video camera recording system, as they don’t have the rights to sell copies of the song on your video clips, so it is for your listening benefit only.
(8/16/09) After running for Universal crew members for a day or two, I’ve heard that the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit finally soft opened to the public sometime yesterday afternoon. I’ve been told that it will open again sometime this afternoon, though it may not be until around 5:30pm. You can already find a video of it online which I’ve embedded below. So far the reactions have been between good and great. Oh… in case you were wondering what happened to that big banner on the side of the tower… apparently the wind ripped it to shreds within the first 24 hours so they’re working on a better solution. You can find full ride reports and other photos posted to Orlando Attractions Magazine and Theme Park Review.
(8/10/09) A reader at the park caught the workers in the middle of putting up the large banner
graphics on the side of the lift tower on Sunday. You can see another picture of it over at Orlando United, where they report that later that same day the banner was taken down again.
(8/7/09) A new picture of the ring lights being tested on the Rockit tower has been posted to Orlando United.
(8/4/09) There is actually a second poll that contains more songs that were not included in the first poll. So look them both over and choose the one you think will sounds the best on the coaster.
(8/3/09) The coaster may not have even opened yet, but this hasn’t stopped someone from building a poll for you to vote for what you think will be the best song soundtrack to choose on the coaster. Check it out.
(7/31/09) The latest word on the Rockit delays is that the issues may have been some simple programming issues that needed to be taken care of for the ride computer to keep track of all the trains at once. A fix is in the works I’ve been told and if no more issues arise over the next few days during testing, it could open sooner than expected. Speaking of testing, the construction walls near the back end of the coaster have come down and a new video has been posted showing off what a night ride and all those twinkley lights look like from that end.
(7/30/09) New construction pictures of the Rockit can be found at Orlando Rocks today but I’ve also heard a new rumor… of the bad kind. The latest buzz going around is that some other technical issue may have come up that could possibly delay the opening of the coaster until at least mid August. Anyone know more?
(7/28/09) The soft opening of the Rockit may be close at hand as guests claim to have seen the ride testing at nearly full-tilt speed on Sunday with four trains at once.
(7/27/09) Some new footage of the Hollywood Rocking testing can be found at this link today. Over the past few days there have been quite a few people reporting that park staff have been telling people that the ride could soft open any day now. It seems there have been no major technical hiccups of late and the testing of the trains has been going well, so I suppose it’s only just a matter of time, so keep your eyes open.
(7/23/09) Good news this week as those pesky rings have now finally been mounted to the Rockit’s lift tower. You can see pictures of them being put into place over at Orlando Rocks and IOA Central.
(7/22/09) A few new pictures of the Rockit testing can be seen at DiscoverUniversal.com. Meanwhile a new video showing it testing at night has been posted to YouTube and it seems that not only is the lift moving at full speed now (only 17 seconds to the top) it has been pretty much silenced as well. I’ve also heard that the ‘rings’ for the lift tower are also on site backstage somewhere, waiting to be installed.
(7/20/09) Today’s construction update on the Hollywood Rockit comes to us from Johnny Upsidedown. He’s got lots of new photos showing off the ride testing all over the place and the good news is that the soundtrack system is also working. Johnny tells us that while you can hear it a bit as the trains pass by, the bleed off of the audio is no where near as prominent as guests would hear from the Led Zeppelin coaster at Hard Rock Park last year.
(7/13/09) I’m not sure how true this is, but according to one rumor, if you fail to choose your own song on the Hollywood Rockit, the ride will randomly choose one for you. The odd part of the story is that the list of songs it may choose at random for you just might include some songs not part of the list of 30. However the downside to all this is that if you don’t choose a song, it also wont record a video of your ride experience either.
(7/10/09) A local area readers tells me that Orlando’s Monsters In The Morning radio show team (WTKS 104.1) has reported that their will be airing their show live from Universal Studios Florida and the Rockit coaster on Wednesday, July 22nd.
(7/8/09) While more of the queue signs are going up, a reader reports seeing that the Rockit’s height limit comes in at a weird... 51 inches. Off the top of my head, I think most other ride height limits are even numbers with Hulk and Dueling Dragons listed at 54”, Dr Doom at 52” and Revenge of the Mummy at 48”. I was kind of expecting another 48” limit for the Rockit myself... given the non-inverting family nature of the ride. To be fair, the only other X-Coaster operating in the US right now at Magic Springs has a 52” height limit, but it also features a ginormous Skyloop inversion hang at the top of the lift followed by a barrel-roll inversion too.
(7/7/09) Universal has finally released the entire list of all 30 song tracks that will be available when the Rockit opens. I’ve updated them in the box-out below!
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Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit -
Official Track List:
Classic Rock / Metal
Motley Crue - “Kick Start My Heart”
Hinder - “Born To be Wild”
ZZ Top - “Gimmie All Your Lovin”
Limp Bizkit - “Rollin”
Evenescence - “Bring Me To Life”
Finger Eleven - “Paralyzer”
Pop / Disco
KC & Sunshine Band - “That’s the Way I Like It”
Gloria Gaynor - “I Will Survive”
Donna Summer – “Bad Girls”
No Doubt - “Hella Good”
Fergie - “Glamorous”
M.C. Hammer – “Can’t Touch This”
Club / Electronica
Daft Punk – “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”
The Crystal Method - “Busy Child”
The Crystal Method - “Keep Hope Alive”
Beastie Boys - “Intergalactic”
Shiny Toy Guns - “Le Disko”
MAARS - “Pump Up The Volume”
Country
Charlie Daniels Band - “Devil Went Down To Georgia”
Allman Bros. - “Midnight Rider”
Kenny Chesney - “Living In Fast Forward”
Jason Michael Carroll - “I Can Sleep when I’m Dead”
Dwight Yoakam - “Guitars & Cadillacs”
Montgomery Gentry - “All Night Long”
Rap / Hip Hop
Beastie Boys - “Sabotage”
Black Eyed Peas - “Don’t Phunk with my Heart”
Black Eyed Peas - “Pump It”
Cypress Hill - “Insane In The Brain”
N.E.R.D. - “Rockstar”
Kanye West - “Stronger”
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I’m happy to see that the 25 tracks we already had before this have all very verified, though I am a little disappointed in Universal’s choice of using not just one but three “Fergie” tracks... one from the solo works and two Black Eyed Peas tracks. And honestly... no Nine Inch Nails? No AC/DC? No Metallica? Well at least there will always be time to update it in the future as Universal seems to want to keep this list of tracks updated as new popular songs come out to replace others.
On the ride side of things, we’ve got links to a few new videos showing off the night lights, another night test and another one showing off some human guinea pigs taking a test spin. They’ve really got to do something about that lift though... it is LOUD!
(7/6/09) The latest update on the Rockit claims that a few employees have been spotted taking test rides on the new coaster.
(7/5/09) A few new videos of the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit making test runs have been posted to YouTube. This first video shows off just how fast the cars will actually climb the lift hill and go over the top, now that they are testing it at full speed it seems. There is a good view of the track section as seen from CityWalk in this second video clip. This third video clip is a mixture of new and old footage edited together but it shows off pretty much the whole ride experience, including a better look at the quick lift hill action. This forth video shows off a lot of the new queue video screens in action as well as some more test ride footage, which they claim to have clocked in the entire ride experience taking 2:15 from the bottom of the lift to going back into the station brakes. If you can sit through the annoying song long enough to get to about 2:45 into the video clip they also caught the Rockit testing at night with the crazy light up panels running on the train giving a crazy lightshow. (Though the lift seems to be back to moving at a crawl in this night footage for some reason…) Oh… we’ve also got more photo links at Orlando United and Johnny Upsidedown.
Finally we’ve got quite a few new artists and song tracks to add to the growing list (see box-out) from people who caught various bits and pieces of those new queue video screen videos. That said, I’m posting what we believe is the current known list of song/artist tracks reported so far. We’re doing good too, as so far we have a possible 25 matches to the possible 30 track list, with a reported 6 songs for each genre. I tried to break them down as best as I could, but I know I’ve got some stuck in the wrong catagories as they seem to not quite fit the list of 5. I’ve got to wonder one this though… can they build this thing right next to the very visible Blue Man Group theater and not include at least one Blue Man Group song from The Complex? Given the musical theme, “Time To Start” would be an easy pick, though The Current might also make a good track.
Wait… we’ve got MORE! Universal Orlando has also launched a new character to promote the ride named Syd Vinyl, who has launched his own YouTube channel (video below), Facebook page and Twitter feed.
(7/2/09) New videos showing off those new queue monitor videos I mentioned earlier this week have now been put up on YouTube. This one mentions the following artists: The Crystal Method, Beastie Boys, Marrs, Shiny Toy Guns, Daft Punk and ZZ Top.
(6/30/09) A Screamscape source was visiting the park this evening when they noticed some new large video screens set up in the Rockit’s queue area that were playing a short video loop about how you will pick your own soundtrack. While they couldn’t make out everything on the screen, they did see a few artists and song titles mentioned: No Doubt’s Hella Good, Fergie, Donna Summer’s Bad Girls, M.C. Hammer and K.C. & The Sunshine Band. You can also find some new construction pictures posted to Orlando Rocks.
(6/29/09) A minor mishap took place during the testing for the Hollywood Rockit this weekend as one train decided to valley between the non-inverting loop and the midcourse brake that follows. A good picture of this can be seen posted to IOA Central, while a good article that talks about the impact the delayed launch of the coaster could be having on the park has been posted at the Orlando Sentinel.
(6/25/09) Another new video of the Rockit making test runs has been added to Orlando Rocks this week. Here you can hear what has got to be the loudest part of the ride… the new anti-rollback system the installed on the lift hill. Otherwise this thing runs wickedly silent. Speaking of test runs… a couple of readers also claim to have heard an employee mention to them that the Rockit most likely wont open for another 3 weeks, and will likely miss that July 3rd preview date that was leaked out on a local radio station website, but has since been removed. Bottom line though, they’ll open it when it is ready to be opened…
(6/24/09) Universal Orlando was kind enough to send me a really good picture showing off one of the new Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit trains, where you can not only see the speakers in each seatback, but you can also make out the colored light panels on the sidepanels near the floor (lit up Red in the photo). Oh, and in case you forgot… notice that this sweet ride only has a lap-bar to hold you in. Universal also shared a bit about the audio and video technology involved in this new ride that have never really been put together in this way before.
The first thing you’ll notice when you plop down in the seat is likely that large lapbar clamping down, because embedded in here is your touch-pad panel where you can pick the exact soundtrack you want to hear during the ride. This is a Florida theme park after all, so these panels have been designed to meet the same durability and weatherproof requirements as military equipment, so it’s got to be damn near bullet proof. It’s also a wireless system that once you make your select, your track will be wirelessly uploaded into your stunt chair that is loaded with a 165-watt sound system, blasting your song up 90 decibels… and yet they promise you will never hear the song playing for the other rides nearby.
Next up, lets talk about the video recording system, which is made up of 14 different cameras. Six of those cameras will be installed onto your coaster train (1 per row) to capture your screaming mugg during the ride itself, while 8 more cameras are hard-mounted along the ride’s route to capture the highlights. These aren’t cheap little security camera units or web-cams… but production quality cameras designed for use under intense conditions, normally used on high-speed trains. Overseeing it all is a system of laser triggers that will time everything together to ensure that your music and video are always in sync.
At the end of your ride, each riders experience will be wirelessly downloaded to a kiosk system in just 25 seconds. Here you can check out, edit and purchase your own personalized Rockit experience video.
What else is different about the Rockit trains? They’ve are the only coaster trains to be covered with daylight LED color-changing lights. Each vehicle has 36 different lights that can stay solid, strobe, twinkle, race or pulse. Universal has also confirmed that the Rockit will feature the only “moving roller coaster load platform” that will use a peoplemover conveyor belt system in the station so that the trains (and guests) will never stop moving during the unload/load process. This will allow for a train to dispatch every 23 seconds at maximum capacity. It’s during this slow crawl through the station that the onboard systems (audio, video and lighting) will also receive a quick battery charge.
So there you have it… in a nutshell, the answers to almost any question you might have about this unique new coaster experience. Currently the long testing process has begun as we’ve heard that the park needs to log about 100 hours of operation time on each of the trains before they can put human riders to the test. Of course early word has also gone out to the Universal Orlando staff to prepare themselves, as full scale human testing on the employees will begin as soon as they are able.
(6/23/09) A new video of the Hollywood Rockit making a test run can be seen at Orlando Rocks this week. You should have no problem hearing the onboard soundtrack either it seems as this has got to be one of the most silent running rides that I’ve ever seen. (at least from the video footage…)
(6/22/09) New pictures of the Hollywood Rockit can be found at Orlando Rocks this week, as well as another one showing off the tower and loop at night as they work on the ride’s night look posted to IOA Central. I’ve been sent one report of another test run taking place again the other night, but no photos or video. Keep your eyes and ears open, because once they really start testing in earnest, they’ll probably be going nonstop to get it ready to open in time to make that rumored July 3rd opening date.
(6/17/09) A new construction update from the Hollywood Rockit can be seen at VinylNation and Orlando Rocks.
(6/15/09) New construction pictures of the Rockit can be found at Florida Thrills, JohnnyUpsidedown and Orlando Rocks this week, with the later showing off a good look at the new finished fence installed in Citywalk that shows off that section of the ride quite well.
(6/12/09) The good news is that I’ve been told that all of the removed Rockit track from the lift tower has now been put back. If everything goes as planned, I would expect to see testing start again very soon. While I don’t have a picture showing all of it back, Coaster Crew does have some pictures from two days ago showing off some track sections being put back on the tower.
(6/10/09) Check out the new Hollywood Rockit site that features three different animated preview videos of the coaster along with a good look at the train.
(6/9/09) Orlando Rocks has posted new pictures of the Hollywood Rockit this week and as you can see the crews have now removed the entire lift hill track sections. Be sure to check out Page 2 as well as see pictures of the entire lift tower. See? All gone… poof! No lift track. Where did it go you ask? It’s being fixed apparently. Remember when those rumors were going around about a problem with the lift hill that was going to delay things a bit?
Well, this is it… and it’s kind of a long story and since I don’t know all the details I’m not going to attempt to tell it since I’ll probably get some of the facts wrong. What I can say however is that the lift track sections are being modified to include a new anti-rollback system… which is kind of a standard thing as far as coaster lift hills go. Lets just hope it all goes well so that they can open this sucker…
(6/5/09) A couple of big news bits for the Hollywood Rockit this week as fans are reporting that a section or two of the lift hill track has been removed. I don’t know just how true the rumors are, but they say that the pieces are being pulled to install a new anti-rollback system.
Meanwhile if you want to get an idea of what the ride is like a new animated video showing off the entire ride experience, with quite a bit of POV view footage cut into the mix has been embedded below.
(5/29/09) With that other coaster down the street now open, everyone is now focusing their attention on the next big thing, the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. Now that all the track has been installed and the first test runs have begun, I think it’s time we take a closer look at all of the unique world’s first elements that will make up this one of a kind coaster.
In case you were wondering the coaster itself is the new X-CAR style coaster design from Maurer-Sohne. Looking at one of the trains, you’ll notice that the X-Car features a pair of small six-passenger cars linked together into a train. The X-Cars themselves have been designed to be the most maneuverable coaster cars created, which plays a big part in allowing for the variety of new track elements you will experience. Even better… (or worse depending on how scared you are) the trains will o nly feature a lap-bar restraint system, allowing your upper body feeling free.
Once your on board, the first thing you’re going to notice is that 17 story tall vertical lift hill sitting right outside the station. Well, you may notice the audio system first, but that’s a story for another time. If you’ve watching any of the test run videos caught so far, you’ve noticed how slow the lift hill is, but this is only a test mode. When the ride opens the lift will quickly pull you to the top at 11-feet per second, topping off in just 16.5 seconds. Peaking out at 167 feet in the air, you are now on the tallest coaster in Orlando… higher up than when you peer out of the top of the Tower of Terror. You’ll have a brief moment of peace at the top t o take in the view of the 3,800 foot long monster ahead of you before you take the plunge.
The first element you’ll zoom into after the drop is what Universal is calling the Double Take, otherwise known at the world’s largest non-inverting loop. At each of the verticle ends, your X-Car train will twist completely around to the opposite side of the track, keeping your train upright at all times.
After a brief pass through a trim-brake, you’ll enter the Treble Clef, another first ever maneuver, named so because the way the track twists around here looks similar to that of t he Treble Clef music symbol. If that wasn’t enough for you, part of the track will blast through a hole in one of the building facades just outside the queue for Twister at this point. Fun Fact – According to Universal, the idea for the Treble Clef was first sketched out on a paper napkin.
Next up on the list of unique elements is a little something called the Jump Cut. The idea here was to create a negative-G airtime maneuver like a camelback, but to do it all while spiraling. The end result is supposed to be an element that gives you the sensation as if you are flipping upside-down through a corkscrew, but without ever going upside down.
While the unique elements are over, your ride certainly is not as you’ve still yet to experience the Crowd Surfer (95º angle fly-over the crowd), Drop Tuning (a drop underground as you pass the Blue Man Group theater) and Plot Twist (an incline loop, banking you up to 150º while performing a 360 helix turn.
If that wasn’t enough, they’re going to pack an intense audio system, a complicated camera system to capture your experience on the ride, plus lots of cool lighting to the coaster to really make it a wild new experience.
(10/20/08) A few new Rockit construction site pictures can be found at Orlando Rocks this week as work to form the footers starts at last. Speaking of the Rockit, Maurer has apparently released some new marketing details about the coaster. They claim that it will have the world’s highest vertical lift hill at 50m (165 ft) which will come with a “unique and extremely comfortable evacuating system [that] is ground activated at the push of a button and allows the guests a cushy board-off on the ground.” The Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit will also be the biggest X-Car coaster project built by Maurer and will use 7 X-Car Tandems, with 12 seats per train, giving the ride an estimated capacity of 1850 pph. On top of all this, the trains will have custom sound systems built in along with video cameras and be covered with a decorative color changing LED light system that will really make it stand out.
(3/20/08) Today I can add the official artwork and logo for Holl ywood Rip, Ride, Rockit. I’ve also posted the official descriptions of the ride from Universal Orlando below:
Adrenaline pumping and music thumping, you find yourself heading straight toward the sky. Suddenly, you are doing 65 mph, 17 stories over Universal Studios. Gasping with excitement, you rock out to a song you picked before strapping in. And, it’s all on video. Once the adventure is over, you edit the video to send to your friends.
This is true high-tech, customizable, multi-sensory entertainment. Scheduled to open in spring 2009, Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit will stake its claim as the most technologically advanced roller coaster in the world. The Universal Creative team is combining audio and special effects engineering, sophisticated on- and off-board video and one-of-a-kind guest personalization to create a roller coaster experience unlike any other.
“This is the perfect intersection of the digital age and theme park entertainment,” said Mark Woodbury, President of Creative for Universal Parks & Resorts. “Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit blends roller coaster intensity and guest interaction in a way where no two experiences will be the same.”
Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit touts six near-miss moments and first-ever thrills including a record-breaking loop. Ride vehicles feature the brightest and most innovative color changing LEDs in the world. High-energy visual displays fill the queue line. With up to four ride vehicles on the tracks at any given time, and with concert lighting and special effects mixed in, Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit will be a true high-intensity, multi-sensory experience that is unmatched.
Guests can customize their ride experience by choosing what song will play while they’re on the roller coaster. LED boards in the queue lines will display song options from five genres (classic rock, rap, country, pop and disco). Once on-board, guests can choose their song or let the coaster’s digital sound system choose for them. When the ride is over, guests will be able to customize footage from their experience and compile it into a take-home music video.
Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit will be located near the Jimmy Neutron attraction traveling the southern perimeter of the Universal Studios theme park, over to the CityWalk lagoon and back.
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