Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is a steel roller coaster, located at Universal Studios Florida,
in Florida USA.
The ride opened to guests as one of the most technologically advanced roller coasters of
it’s time, featuring customizable on-ride music, LED lighting, and onride video capture
of guests as they hurtle around the track.
Rockit opened to visitors on the 19th of August 2009, several months behind schedule and at
the cost of roughly 45 Million USD.
Construction of the attraction, originally codenamed “Project Rumble”, began in May
of 2008, with hopes to open the ride for April of the following year.
However, difficulties within the rides’ design led to delays surrounding the vertical lift hill.
Eventually once it did open, the ride experienced further downtime throughout its inaugural season.
In spite of all this, the attraction we have today wasn’t what Universal Studios Florida
originally had in mind all those years ago.
In 2007, ‘Hollywood Dream: The Ride’ opened at another of Universal’s theme parks, Universal Studios Japan.
This hyper coaster allowed guests to experience weightlessness as they soared through the layout.
And, similar to Rockit, it features customizable onride music.
After its success, Universal planned to construct a similar attraction over in Florida.
However, the coasters’ designer, Bolliger and Mabillard, were too busy with other orders
to fabricate Universal’s ride.
As a result, a different company was chosen to construct the new attraction, Maurer Rides.
Except, naturally, they couldn’t offer the same roller coaster.
Instead, Universal Studios Florida constructed the world’s largest version of Maurer’s
flagship thrill model, the X-Car Coaster.
This ride see’s guests seated in small trains as they navigate a multitude of steep drops
and tight turns - very different to Japan’s Hollywood Dream.
Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit offers a unique experience,
which begins with the rides’ loose theme, music.
After guests navigate the queue line, they enter the station building.
To improve capacity, the trains continuously move through the station platform, reducing dispatch time.
Visitors step onto a moving platform, allowing them to board one of the 7 trains that navigate the circuit.
Each one consists of two cars, which seat riders in 3 rows of 2.
This leads to a total of 12 guests per train.
It’s here that the rides theme comes into play.
Once visitors are seated, they lower their lap bars, and are each presented with a touchscreen.
This screen allows them to choose 1 of 30 different songs, split across 5 various genres,
to play throughout the ride.
Each seat houses its own speakers within the headrest, allowing each individual rider to
listen to a different piece of music.
Additionally, the track of the ride has been filled with sand, reducing the roar of the
train and making it easier to hear your desired song.
If none of the 30 songs appeal to you, by pressing and holding on the rides logo for
10 seconds, guests enable a 10-digit keypad which can be used to access a selection of
hidden tracks beyond the original 30.
To learn more about this ‘cheat’, head to the link in the description.
Once ready, riders dispatch from the station building, triggering their song to begin.
On top of this, guests start to be recorded via a small camera implemented into the row in front of them.
This video can then be purchased after their ride.
The trains begin to ascend the rides vertical lift hill, placing guests directly on their backs.
Not only does this make for a more thrilling start to the ride, but means visitors climb
51m (167ft) high faster than normal.
The trains then quickly crest the hill and plummet down the first drop.
It’s here that riders reach their top speed of 105kmh (65mph).
Immediately after, the trains enter a world’s first element, a non-inverting loop.
Guests traverse what initially appears to be a traditional vertical loop, before twisting
to the right through the top of the element.
Interesting, Maurer Rides patented this exact shape of element.
As a result, other companies must pay Maurer to use that exact element, or create a mis-shapen
version of the loop, circumventing the patent altogether.
Once navigated, the trains climb into one of Rockit’s many mid-course brake runs.
A short pause later, riders dive through a hole in a nearby building, and enter another
signature element, “The Treble Clef”.
During this maneuver, visitors complete a left-hand helix, followed by a fast stall turn.
Another mid-course brake run later, the trains drop to the left, fly through an s-hill, remain
low to the ground, and snap into an overbanked turn.
At this point they ascend into another brake run.
Riders then navigate a series of quick s-bends, before entering an inclined loop.
The ride experience comes to an end after the last mid-course brake run, with a small
speed hill leading visitors into the final brake run.
Throughout the entire ride, the trains navigate 1158m (3800ft) of track, within approximately
70 seconds of actual ride time, that includes all of the mid-course brake runs.
Speaking of those, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit features 4 of them, breaking up the ride experience drastically.
As hated as they are, these provide a necessary function
by allowing more trains to run on the entire circuit at once.
This means that Rockit has a large throughput of 1850 riders per hour,
which is required at a busy Universal theme park.
As stated earlier, Universal, and more so Maurer Rides, ran into difficulties when constructing their new ride.
At the time it was alleged that Maurer were attempting to implement new anti-rollback
devices onto the attraction’s vertical lift hill.
This would have most likely allowed the train to be safely reversed down the lift hill incase
guests must be evacuated from the ride.
Unfortunately, the company’s new designs weren’t compatible with the heavier weight of the train.
As a result, traditional devices were then placed onto the lift prior to opening.
However, because of this, Universal has always struggled with routine evacuations of guests
when the train stops in a vertical position on the lift hill.
Originally the park would winch the train to the apex of the hill, before allowing guests
to disembark and ride an elevator back towards the ground.
Though, in 2017, friction brakes were added to the entirety of the first drop.
If a train becomes stuck on the lift hill, operators will winch it over the top, before
using the brakes to cause it to stop at the bottom of the first drop.
Here guests can be evacuated, this time much closer to the ground.
Overall, opinions on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit are often mixed.
Some riders, particularly enthusiasts, dislike the amount of mid-course brake runs, stating
that they hinder the actual ride experience.
While many others applaud the ride for the ability to choose a soundtrack, further adding to its uniqueness.
Would you like to see more rides be built with this innovative feature?
Let us know in the comments below.
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