Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit

[Nitro_230]

- Never mind -

 

[TylerDurden]

I tend to agree with your post...but IMHO, USF isn't the park for a skyline full of coasters. Cedar Point DOES have a damn impressive skyline with a new mega-coaster that flies right over the front gate as you're coming in (the new GateKeeper coaster), but CP is an amusement park (not a theme park) and its huge array of coasters is what keeps customers surging through the gates. I mean, that's why you go to CP and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Heck, or ANY Six Flags or Cedar Fair park. USF is a park that's themed to an "actual working movie studio"--whether that theme stays or is phased out as it appears to be--so my question is which "working" movie studio have you visited that has a roller coaster in it? Too many outdoor coasters would ruin the ambiance/theme of USF.

Now with that said, Rockit's profile doesn't bother me personally, and I could live with a second major outdoor coaster placed in the park somewhere, but no more than that. Leave the crazy coasters for IOA, BGT, or Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks. I like the unique indoor ride creations that USF has and they're the main reason why I love USF so much. How many amusment parks have you gone to that have the bulk of their A-list attractions built indoors? None, that I can think of. Sure, many have an indoor ride or 2, but buildings cost money and that takes away from the budget of a stellar ride. Better to plop it in an open parcel of land and dazzle the people coming into the park or driving by it on the freeway...

Sorry to sound preachy, that's not my intent. ray:

I'd be all about Rockit staying for a long time too, if they can figure out how to fix it and make it the awesome experience it was originally supposed to be. I'd just like to be able to enjoy it without having my spine crushed to a bunch of tired songs that were huge 5+ years ago...

Nailed it. Really, HRRR is a beautiful coaster in its own right. Especially when you're approaching USF, you see the tower all lit up with the LED vehicles climbing up...the area with the helix is also very green and well-landscaped. The problem is they put it in the Studios. The coaster looks great from Citywalk to the Music Plaza...then it just destroys whatever theming Universal had going for it. The New York section used to be a beautifully-realized and immersive part of the park--now, the big red steel structure makes it kinda hard to get lost in the environment the original designers worked so hard to create (seriously, have you seen how much detail they put into those facades??).

The HRRR would be fine (aesthetically-speaking, maintenance-wise it still sucks) if it hadn't ruined something so great. Like you said, it's a studio park and studios aren't supposed to have roller coasters running around. IOA was built for traditional theme park rides, so you look at Rock-It and just gotta wonder what's the point.

 

[l-m-f-a-o]

so you look at Rock-It and just gotta wonder what's the point.

Idk, i look at rockit and think Sweet! Awesome..
It looks great i think...
Its a theme park, I like the roller coaster elements.

 

[AK-Jake]

The only real issue I have with Rockit aesthetically is the whole "blasting through the fire station" part. Sure, that sounds cool, and it looks pretty intense when you're riding it or when you're on the ground in NY watching it...but damn, that helix DOES ruin the whole visual aspect of looking into NY from the park entrance... If they could have figured out a way to make the turnaround go the opposite direction, or have it be a tighter turn that stayed behind the facades of Twister, I think it would have been less of an issue. Then there's that GIANT towering brake block section that is impossible to miss when you're standing in San Fran looking towards NY...that kind of kills the "theme" too. But again, it doesn't bother me too much and I understand why they built Rockit. If they can just fix the maintenance issues, I think it'll be the home run they were hoping for. I'd also love to see them revisit the ride and "plus" it with some of the features that got cut late in the design phase, such as the LCD lift hill, the dual-ending track, maybe an interesting backdrop on the sound stages... Yes, I know I'm dreaming.

 

[IzzyB]

I personally think the general park goer (which lets face it, is who Uni is building for, not us) could care less if it is in NY. They either look at it and get excited when they enter the park or look at it and get a sense of fear when they enter the park. Either way it gets your blood pumping as soon as you enter the park, which is a good thing for the general park goer. So no one is going to tear it down, they just need to fix the cars, get them smooth, and get capacity back to max. Which we know they can now do since the new cars are smoother. So once it is fixed, the customer feedback will even be more positive.

 

[Mad Dog]

I personally think the general park goer (which lets face it, is who Uni is building for, not us) could care less if it is in NY. They either look at it and get excited when they enter the park or look at it and get a sense of fear when they enter the park. Either way it gets your blood pumping as soon as you enter the park, which is a good thing for the general park goer. So no one is going to tear it down, they just need to fix the cars, get them smooth, and get capacity back to max. Which we know they can now do since the new cars are smoother. So once it is fixed, the customer feedback will even be more positive.

Yes.That sums it up pretty well.

 

[KRAKENvsMANTA]

Went on Rockit 8 times over the weekend, and I gotta say, I love this ride! Sat in the front, middle, and back, and all rides were pretty smooth. Just an overall fun coaster. I'd even go so far to say that it's my favorite coaster at UOR. It may not fit the theme, but I don't care. Nor do a lot of the other guests getting on/off the ride. They're just there to enjoy a cool thrill ride.

 

[AK-Jake]

When on it last weekend quite a few times as well. Logged a bunch of rides on Train 5 (one of the new trains) and in most seats, the ride is greatly improved. However, in the back rows of each car (row 3 and 6--the very back row of the train), the ride was still rough as hell. I suspect that's because you're sitting right on the rear wheels, but I was disappointed in the lack of improvement in those rows. But I figured out why I'm not a fan of the ride: I forgot that the little "hump" in the front of the seat that sits right between your legs absolutely CRUSHES my "boys" each and every time I ride it. I swear that damn thing made me sterile each and every time that I rode it. NOT fun.

An improvement, yes, but I'm still not excited about the future of the ride. That's my personal opinion.

 

[Enbee]

I think I've rode this ride for the last time until all the new trains are running. And when that happens, I will "test" those out. If you catch one of the first 3 rows, particularly 1 or 2, and you lean into the ride, it can be quite enjoyable. But it's such a roll of the dice, and the last 3 rows, particularly 5 and 6, are straight up unbearable. I'm not willing to roll the dice anymore.

 

[bobwadd]

Would love to have seen what B&M would have done

Something like this maybe . . . Hollywood Dream – The Ride

 

[Octobers Fade]

Rode a couple of times this weekend. First wasn't bad the second was an absolute head banger.

 

[Cheezbat]

I've continued to hear mixed reports on the ride since some of the new trains went into service. I haven't ridden it in awhile because my last ride was extremely painful. I just don't know how many more chances I'm willing to give this ride. There better be major improvement in the next year....or else scrap the piece of crap.

 

[Brervixen]

Rode it once whilst I was over there, and it was amazing... front row! Must have been a new car cause it was so smooth and I got lots of airtime!

 

[sierrak5]

The front row gives lots of airtime going into every block section :thumbs:

 

[Brervixen]

Yeah, I phrased that wrong! We'd never rode the front before! Didn't mean we got airtime because it was smooth!

 

[Jakemeister]

This story just came in from News 6.

OFD said the call came in shortly after 7 p.m. on Wednesday that the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit was stuck with 8 to 12 people on board.

Universal Orlando official Tom Shroeder said 10 people were on board when the ride stopped. They estimate it could take 2-3 hours to get riders off the coaster.

Shroeder said Universal is doing "everything they can to make the guests comfortable."

Local 6 news helicopter Sky 6 flew over the scene as crews investigated, taking elevators up to the top of the rollercoaster. The ride appears to be stuck with the cars in the vertical position at the top of the track.

No other information was immediately available.

 

[Cupcakes]

All the more reason for me to keep hating this ride.

Well okay, jokes aside, I hope everyone there will be alright.

 

[BrianC]

Wow crazy stuff happening at studios. 3 or 4 helicopters. And they won't let people on that side of the park. I can see people on the top with flash lights

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

Can guarantee right now this ride won't see past 2015. Way too many problems to keep it up.

 

[bobwadd]

Pictures ???