Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit (closing EOD August 17, 2025)

[Skold]

Might be time to revive and then retire this thread , What's Your RRR song?.

Maybe a final vote would be a fitting send-off.

Can we do polls?

 

[Viator]

On the final day of operation: Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit will be having characters from the attraction meeting guests all day. Additionally, all those who ride will be given free guitar picks.

 

[Mike S]

On the final day of operation: Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit will be having characters from the attraction meeting guests all day. Additionally, all those who ride will be given free guitar picks.

That’s actually pretty cool.

 

[Rhian]

It’s neat to have this little memento.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

On the final day of operation: Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit will be having characters from the attraction meeting guests all day. Additionally, all those who ride will be given free guitar picks.

This is so good.

 

[Viator]

This is so good.

It’s the kind of thing I wish Disney did for Muppetvision. Genuinely mad respect to Universal for going all out, even if it’s not for a good attraction.

Reminds me of when USH closed T23D honestly.

 

[Disneyhead]

I rode HRRR on the first day of soft opens. I had the option of swinging by today for it's last day. I went to Publix to buy cat food.

 

[USO92]

One of my fondest memories of this ride came long before it ever opened.

My grandfather worked for Universal from the time it opened up until the mid 2010’s. He was an HVAC mechanic and I was obsessed with Universal. Anytime we were together, I would burn his ears talking about the theme park.

He was the one the initially told me that USF was building a new roller coaster that you could listen to music on. We sat for a while chatting while I, starry-eyed, hit him with question after question. This was before it even was announced!

He doesn’t remember who I am anymore. He’s late into the stages of dementia and we recently lost my grandmother. I will always cherish this ride for one reason: it reminds me of my Papa and the life that we used to share.

RIP HRRR…you truly were the worst.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

I had two last rides on my last visit. One of them was one of the worst rides I’d ever had on HRRR. The other was one of the best. I will miss it!

 

[Acandrews12]

Such a bittersweet feeling. This ride wasn’t always my favorite one, but it was always fun when I did ride it. I have had fun times on it though.

When my wife and I first became passholders, the first ride we did was RRR. We ended up on the front row at night to christen our new annual passes.

I remember riding with my brother during one of our HHN trips and him realizing he’s too old for rides like that (He was only like 32).

I remember riding it during HHN 31 and listening to the Chucky audio track threatening me the entire ride.

I usually went with Lose Yourself on RRR. I listened to Sandstorm the last time I rode it, and it was the perfect finale of the ride for me. That song is so well timed to the ride I wish I did that song more often.

So while I didn’t ride it every time I went to the parks, now that I won’t ever get to ride it again, I am a bit sad.

Here’s to hoping something new and exciting fills the void. Some rumors are fun, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

 

[TheUniC6]

Such a bittersweet feeling. This ride wasn’t always my favorite one, but it was always fun when I did ride it. I have had fun times on it though.

When my wife and I first became passholders, the first ride we did was RRR. We ended up on the front row at night to christen our new annual passes.

I remember riding with my brother during one of our HHN trips and him realizing he’s too old for rides like that (He was only like 32).

I remember riding it during HHN 31 and listening to the Chucky audio track threatening me the entire ride.

I usually went with Lose Yourself on RRR. I listened to Sandstorm the last time I rode it, and it was the perfect finale of the ride for me. That song is so well timed to the ride I wish I did that song more often.

So while I didn’t ride it every time I went to the parks, now that I won’t ever get to ride it again, I am a bit sad.

Here’s to hoping something new and exciting fills the void. Some rumors are fun, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

Our family friends would always listen to "I will survive" when they rode it.

This is the end of an era, while we all have fond memories of HRRR, it's on to bigger and better, and some might say faster things.

 

[Speed]

Lots of memories made on this coaster. RIP RRR!

 

[Circ]

RIP RRR, your vertical lift was freaky as hell so I tended to not want to ride you. I prefer being strapped in like I'm a baby in a car seat if I'm going that far on my back. They won't let me listen to Rush or the Beastie Boys on any other coaster though because I'll take out someone's eye if I go on with Airpods, so I can't do that anymore, and that's kind of a bummer. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll get to at least do Rainbow Connection again on a coaster at some point, but probably not.

A lot of parks mention interactivity as a thing for their big new attractions but you actually delivered in a way that was really cool. I wish you weren't made by a company that went out of business so that you could have actually not been a hell ride in your later years. I don't really mind you being gone that much and I'm excited about what replaces you, but I hope it takes some lessons from you because you got a lot more things right than you got wrong. I think that any attraction that does that's a success.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

I can rest easy knowing that my last ride in May was relatively ok roughness wise (my penultimate ride was by far the roughest I've ever experienced on the coaster) and Vogue was my final song. This was a milestone coaster for me with a lot of good memories, but it's a miracle it survived as long as it did. This truly marks a new era for USF and hopefully kickstarts a major overhaul of the park we know today.

 

[Brian G.]

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit officially closed at Universal Studios Florida

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit has officially closed at Universal Studios Florida after 16 years. Fans and guests came out to be some of the last riders of the roller coaster, where they were handed a souvenir guitar pick of the "Farewell Tour". Universal Orlando even debuted Meet & Greet characte

www.insideuniversal.net

 

[Rhian]

It was exciting to see all the people who showed up to celebrate the final day. The pictures people were taking of themselves with the ride, the characters Universal brought out, and catching bits of conversation people were sharing about their memories of the ride as I walked by or waited in line was a unique experience.

I wish Uni had reinstalled the banner on the lift hill, or put up a new one celebrating its last few months. Everything else about the sendoff was great but that piece missing was obvious.

As we went down the first drop I had buyer’s remorse once the roughness set in. But I got a neat guitar pick out of it to add to my theme park trinket collection so that’s something.

Bring on what come next!

 

[Galactus]

Now this ride closure is the first one that really makes me feel old. I got into theme parks and especially Universal around the time that this was being built. I remember lurking on the OU forums, reading IOA Central, listening to the Coaster Buzz podcast and following the construction. I remember the rumor (?) that the coaster would be available from Citywalk and accessible after the park was closed. I remember being insanely excited with the choices of the songs. I think I actually got into the Crystal Method after they had two songs on the soundtrack, a band I still really enjoy.

My dad took me to the World Series in Tampa in 2008 from out of town and to be fair, he took my brother to Universal in early 2009. I was so jealous that he got to go but he brought along my camera and got some shots of the construction. I think I was a little too intimidated of OU to post this shot here then but I'm doing it now, 16(!!) years after the fact.


The ride undeniably looked awesome. It's a shame that it never quite rode as good as it looked. Even when the ride was newer and my memory had it a lot smoother, the element -> block brake -> element -> block brake -> element -> block brake ... layout was always disappointing, especially after I got the chance to experience the much superior Hollywood Dream at USJ. I know there are a lot of rumors about why we never got what they got but it's definitely a what could have been for me.

But I'll definitely miss HRRR for what it was. It's a ride that has a lot of personal meaning to me and a signifier of the passage of time. Hasta HRRR and onward to something better!

 

[GA-MBIT]

Was able to go this morning and give it a nice send-off with Rainbow Connection. Was going to do one more run with Crocodile Rock, but it was hit with a weather delay and I had places to be. Was able to learn that they apparently offered a physical sheet with the secret songs on it at the merge point, which was the first time I'd seen UDX publicly acknowledge the secret song list. I'm sure that sheet has been in rotation for awhile now, but it was surprising to see nonetheless.

The characters were an incredible surprise! For a moment I honestly thought it was superfan guests cosplaying or something, until I saw the attendants hanging off to the side. Got a great picture right before Raven and Rodriguez went backstage, but after Tummy-check Tiny came out to greet; it was all four of us hitting the Hasta pose together. Really fun time there! I also appreciated the little guitar pick!

@Viator brought up Muppet-Vision, and it's crazy and rather unfortunate in hindsight how little fanfare Disney gave that closure compared to the love that Universal is showing towards Rock-It.

- - -

It didn't work great, the song list was ancient, it was rough as hell, it was an aging symbol of the 2000s permanently etched into the skyline, and it probably cost Universal a metric ton of money over the years in fixes and licensing. It's incredible important to Universal history, but has a really polarized reaction from hyperfans, for many valid reasons. Despite all of that, I have really fond memories with Rock-It.

It's been around for not all, but the majority of the time I've been a Universal fan, and I've created really fond memories with this coaster from incredibly different and disconnected parts of my life. I loved that vertical lift. The song selection idea was flawed but also really cool and gave a coaster with a limited layout a lot of re-rideability, and there were tons of genuine bops on there! I love how the lift, loop, and brake sections accent the skyline from Men in Black. I loved seeing the bird's eye view of USF from the different vertical sections. I had a tradition of riding to Night on Bald Mountain during HHN nights, and spending most of the ride gazing out towards the scarezones from the highest point in the park.

Honestly, it wasn't terribly proficient in anything that it tried to do, but for me, it consistently delivered a damn fun time. Just a simple, slightly above average, but consistently enjoyable experience, that I will genuinely miss.

But also, an experience that I won't miss too much haha! I am very excited for whatever comes next. This resort has been on a wonderful positive streak with coaster layouts since 2019, and I have no reason to expect this next attraction to end up any different. These next few years and HHNs will be ... interesting at USF without Rock-It around to soak up crowds. Here's hoping our replacement is here before we know it.

Thank for the legitimate memories, and also all the chiropractor visits. Rip Ride will always be a USF icon in my heart. Hasta!

 

[HHN Maddux]

One bittersweet closing down, one to go with Simpsons in due time.

Rip Ride was my first real big coaster, 5-year old me was absolutely terrified and extremely hesitant to ride, yet I still remember after we got off, while I was shaken up and scared, my parents asked me what I thought, and I ended up giving a half-thumbs up because despite the fear, I did end up liking it! I remember for a while when it was still relatively smooth, it was a must-do ride, and I'd always pick either Rainbow Connection or Kick Start my Heart, then just jam out.

Then ya get older and realize just how rough it is, to the point where even Hulk seems tame in comparison. It got to the point where while normally if I can't request the row I want on a coaster, I'll just go with what I'm given, this became front row or no ride, as it was the only row I could tolerate without coming off feeling terrible and wanting to go home, and even then it was still rough! Add on the song removal, and that was the final nail in the coffin.

Like I said, this is a bittersweet closure, but I will not miss RRR. It's gonna be hella weird not seeing that skyline anymore though. Bring on F&F or Ghostbusters!