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Potential Fast and Furious replacement for Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit?
- Thread starter JSM
- Start date
Jarrett
Giga Poster
Just gonna leave this here, mods delete if it isn’t kosher.
This thing wrecked me and tried to suffocate me on Florida 2020, and that stupid touch screen didn’t work and gave me the sounds of two Transformers doing the deed instead of the Muse I wanted. Icing on the cake is that my buddy was working this ride (not his usual ride) when he got the call his mother died.
Heard it’s gonna be Fast and Furious, seen people want Ghostbusters which I think is more original and fits better but Universal’s in the driver’s seat so we’re getting more family I guess.
Matt N
CF Legend
I’m definitely going to miss it, perhaps controversially!
Yes, it definitely wasn’t an amazing ride towards the end. But even still, I don’t think it was as bad as many made it out to be. In my last trip report, it didn’t quite live up to my amazed preteen memories of it and I was maybe overly harsh on it for that reason. But in retrospect, it did have some good aspects.
It wasn’t the smoothest for sure and it had its dead spots in places, maybe prioritising visuals over ride experience at times. But even still, I didn’t think it was that rough compared to some stuff out there, it had airtime, it had speed, it had a lap bar restraint, and it had some unique elements! This might sound like an odd sentiment, but I’d argue that things like the non-inverted loop, some of the overbanked stuff it tried and the general fluid nature of the ride almost seem to be an early attempt at the RMC-style quirky layout and element style that was popularised during the 2010s. Granted, not the most successful attempt, but it was an attempt all the same, and I’d argue that it did have a legitimate stab at “breaking the mould” of conservative coaster layout design, even if many other rides did it better in succeeding years.
From a personal standpoint, I’ll also miss it for the memories of how it once made me feel and the impression it once made on me. While it fell a bit in my estimations on my most recent visit to Universal in 2023 (out of 137 coasters, it currently sits at a 6/10 and somewhere just outside the top 50), the ride made a really strong impression on me when I first rode it in 2014.
As an 11 year old British enthusiast who’d only grown tall enough to ride the very biggest coasters the previous year, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit was among the earliest “big” coasters I rode, and was one of the very first “big” coasters I rode in a foreign theme park along with Hulk. At that time, it was one of the tallest and fastest coasters I’d ever been on (I think only Stealth would have been taller of what I’d ridden at that point?), and it was the first tall, fast coaster I’d been on with a properly long, sprawling layout (Stealth and Oblivion are many things, but long and sprawling they are not!). At the time, I remember being really wowed by the speed and the airtime, and the length of the thing and the way the speed and airtime seemingly continued was also something that really stuck out to me at the time. To be honest, it’s probably the first coaster I ever remember riding and audibly clocking a notable quantity of airtime; that non-inverted loop in particular definitely provided a memorable “Wow!” moment of airtime for 11 year old me, and the other airtime bits also stick in my mind! It was also a borderline night ride, I was sat next to my dad and shared it with him… and it was one of those experiences that was really quite special and really stuck in my head from that 2014 Florida trip. When I was only 11 years old, it also felt like such a huge ride to conquer (a coaster like that with a huge vertical lift hill and a big sprawling layout is definitely a big thing when you’re that small!), and to come off it and love it definitely gratified me and really stuck in my head. In those early enthusiast days, it definitely shot towards the very top of my list, and it was probably in close contention with The Swarm for the title of my favourite coaster at the time!
Yes, my high rating of it waned a little in 2016, and waned further in 2023 after I’d come back to Universal Orlando having since experienced a number of other modern airtime coasters with lap bars, and many more brilliant “big” coasters. But while trying not to sound too soppy, I’ll always have a soft spot for Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, purely for the impression it made on me when I was 11. I’ll always remember how that ride made 11 year old me feel, and how, I dare say, it shaped the enthusiast years to come for me.
Yes, it definitely wasn’t an amazing ride towards the end. But even still, I don’t think it was as bad as many made it out to be. In my last trip report, it didn’t quite live up to my amazed preteen memories of it and I was maybe overly harsh on it for that reason. But in retrospect, it did have some good aspects.
It wasn’t the smoothest for sure and it had its dead spots in places, maybe prioritising visuals over ride experience at times. But even still, I didn’t think it was that rough compared to some stuff out there, it had airtime, it had speed, it had a lap bar restraint, and it had some unique elements! This might sound like an odd sentiment, but I’d argue that things like the non-inverted loop, some of the overbanked stuff it tried and the general fluid nature of the ride almost seem to be an early attempt at the RMC-style quirky layout and element style that was popularised during the 2010s. Granted, not the most successful attempt, but it was an attempt all the same, and I’d argue that it did have a legitimate stab at “breaking the mould” of conservative coaster layout design, even if many other rides did it better in succeeding years.
From a personal standpoint, I’ll also miss it for the memories of how it once made me feel and the impression it once made on me. While it fell a bit in my estimations on my most recent visit to Universal in 2023 (out of 137 coasters, it currently sits at a 6/10 and somewhere just outside the top 50), the ride made a really strong impression on me when I first rode it in 2014.
As an 11 year old British enthusiast who’d only grown tall enough to ride the very biggest coasters the previous year, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit was among the earliest “big” coasters I rode, and was one of the very first “big” coasters I rode in a foreign theme park along with Hulk. At that time, it was one of the tallest and fastest coasters I’d ever been on (I think only Stealth would have been taller of what I’d ridden at that point?), and it was the first tall, fast coaster I’d been on with a properly long, sprawling layout (Stealth and Oblivion are many things, but long and sprawling they are not!). At the time, I remember being really wowed by the speed and the airtime, and the length of the thing and the way the speed and airtime seemingly continued was also something that really stuck out to me at the time. To be honest, it’s probably the first coaster I ever remember riding and audibly clocking a notable quantity of airtime; that non-inverted loop in particular definitely provided a memorable “Wow!” moment of airtime for 11 year old me, and the other airtime bits also stick in my mind! It was also a borderline night ride, I was sat next to my dad and shared it with him… and it was one of those experiences that was really quite special and really stuck in my head from that 2014 Florida trip. When I was only 11 years old, it also felt like such a huge ride to conquer (a coaster like that with a huge vertical lift hill and a big sprawling layout is definitely a big thing when you’re that small!), and to come off it and love it definitely gratified me and really stuck in my head. In those early enthusiast days, it definitely shot towards the very top of my list, and it was probably in close contention with The Swarm for the title of my favourite coaster at the time!
Yes, my high rating of it waned a little in 2016, and waned further in 2023 after I’d come back to Universal Orlando having since experienced a number of other modern airtime coasters with lap bars, and many more brilliant “big” coasters. But while trying not to sound too soppy, I’ll always have a soft spot for Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, purely for the impression it made on me when I was 11. I’ll always remember how that ride made 11 year old me feel, and how, I dare say, it shaped the enthusiast years to come for me.
Chris Coasters
Strata Poster
2011 Chris who rode this as his 16th coaster ever and listened to Kickstart My Heart and thought a coaster couldn’t get any crazier than this will miss it. I rode it once in 2019 and don’t really remember having any strong feelings about it. Was back at Universal in May, gave it a look and was like eh I’m good even knowing it was closing. My time was better spent on Mummy and ET. I will definitely reminisce about those 2011 rides fondly as it definitely helped launch me into enthusiasm for coasters.
Burniel
Mega Poster
Definitely a tough pill to swallow. I think the ride being so iconic, offering great views, and having a great soundtrack, combined with it being a common childhood landmark coaster, all contribute to having much more positive memories of the ride than it deserves. Cresting that vertical lift on a perfectly clear day with tunes blaring is easily one of the happiest moments I can remember having in this hobby, even if I - quite literally - came crashing down to earth again straight after. It's exceptionally mediocre as a coaster, but every time I looked at it I couldn't help thinking man, I love that ride for reasons I can't rationally explain.
All that said, I absolutely trust Universal to top it, every major project they've touched over the past few years has turned to gold.
All that said, I absolutely trust Universal to top it, every major project they've touched over the past few years has turned to gold.