So - for a more detailed review- I'll break it down by element since that's what people will want to hear --
The lift - to me, this was nothing different. By now I've been on quite a few different coasters with vertical lifts.
The drop - Great. Steaper than it looks. Cresting the top, you cannot see it all, which is always a great sign. Fast and smooth with a little air.
Non-Inverting Loop - one of the single most fun elements you'll ever find on a roller coaster - exactly what I expected it to be. It's fast, it's smooth and has a constant flowing motion. It's really, really good.
First block - really nice pop of air
Drop off first block - WAY steaper than it seemed like it would be. Felt like there was no way the train would make it into the firehouse because the firehouse is just way too close.
Bursting through the firehouse- very fun moment. Great way to "enter" the park for the first time.
Trebble Clef - Fun. Pulls some good G's winding up, but NOT enough to black you out which is VERY good news. The almost-but-not-quite-inverted peak didn't feel quite as exciting as I'd expected, but it was fun enough.
Second block - really nice pop of air, and feels way too close to the track above. Pretty neat.
Drop off second block - a little air
Twists leading to the Crowd Surfer - fun, but not as banked as I'd hoped.
Crowd Surfer - REALLY great. One of the better parts of the ride. VERY banked (95º) and very close to the buildings, queue, etc. At night, with all the LEDs around the queue, it verges on epic. Can't wait to see it with a full queue below at night.
Third block - really nice pop of air
Drop off third block - more air
Trick Track - very smooth, flowing feeling of tipping you from one side to the other plus airtime
Plot Twist- pulls some decent Gs (again, not enough to black you out) - but didn't feel as much like an incline loop even though that's really exactly what it is. Felt more like a standard helix.
Fourth block - really nice pop of air
Drop off fourth block - more air
Bunny hop before final brakes - more air
Final brake rune - really nice pop of air
Here's the thing - I haven't really ever said on here what my coaster track record is because I don't want to come off as being snobby or say "I'm better than you because I rode more" - but I'm going to say it once, and never again - Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit was coaster [HASHTAG]#731[/HASHTAG] on my track record. I've done and seen a LOT. What that does is tend to make you very jaded. It's harder and harder to really be impressed by a ride anymore. Everything starts to blend. Everything tends to feel the same. I've said for almost two years - long before most people even knew Rockit was being conisdered - that after seeing the plans, THIS would be the ride that feels different from everything else. It would be the stand out ride because it is so unque, and just downright fun.
Rockit was *everything* I expected it to be.
My friend from Creative approached me after one of my rides to ask what I thought - knowing my range of travel and knowing how cynical I am about new coasters most of the time. He was verging on speechless after hearing my glowing review, and shook my hand saying that a review like that coming from me, after all I've seen and done, is one of the best compliments they could have gotten.
Other things of note-
The queue, while just a standard Six Flags-esque compound of switchbacks was well done. The first portions of it behind Jimmy Neutron really do look great. The combination of the graphics applied to all the buildings around it, the giant LED wall, the LED text scrolling screens, and the track - right there - severely banked overhead makes for a very bold statement that excuses the switchback zoo feeling.
The music - In my eight rides, I had five different tracks, chose one repeat on purpose and two times that I ended up with no audio at all. First I'll start on the worst side of the spectrum - even without audio, the ride is just as fun. It's not like Disneyland's (or Disneyland Paris') Space Mountain, or California Screamin' where the audio is sync'ed to each twist, turn and drop of the track; on something like that, the music really enhances the ride and can mark the difference between an OK ride experience and a great ride experience (Space Mountain isn't NEARLY as fun without the sound track). Most of the tracks on Rockit - just as I expected - are just music playing on a roller coaster. They have nothing to do with what the ride does, its mood, its tone or anything. It's just there. It's nice that there's music playing; I'd rather have it than silence - but it doesn't add to the sensation of the ride. The one exception I've found thus far is Evanessence's Bring Me To Life - the song I chose twice. This song just WORKS - very well. It works so well in fact that if you didn't know it was an existing song that hadn't been edited or remixed, you'd be able to accept believing that it was sync'ed to match the coaster. It works so well going up the lift, gets VERY fast paced the second you start to drop, and matches in quite a few places. Most of note - a realtive slow part of the song matches to the first block and drop off it, and (assuming you are familiar with the song) there is almost silence at the bottom of that drop and the sudden fast paced "BREAK ME OUT!" happens *exactly* when you burst through the firehouse. It's epic. I also tried Sabotage by Beastie Boys, which worked decently well, Intergalactic also by Beastie Boys, which was pretty awful on this ride believe it or not, Born to be Wild by Hinder which was pretty ok, and Rollin' by Limp Bizkit which kind of worked. I'd heard that Pump It by Black Eyed Peas works pretty well, but when I tried selecting it, the screen froze and I got no music at all. The other time I got no music was when I'd tried to select one of the secret hidden bonus tracks. Although I did it right, it glitched and I got a silent ride instead. Whoops.
Oh yeah - there's more than 100 *other* songs hidden in this thing that can be accessed if you know how to do it. And that's all I'm gonna say.
It's worth the wait. It's really, realy worth the wait. You're likely never gonna see another review this glowing from me for a new ride. Rockit is awesome.
