Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit coaster blends thrills with music (w/ POV video)

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios Orlando is the first roller coaster for the iPod generation.

The awkwardly named Rockit blends a deceptively inversion-free family coaster with a personalized jukebox to deliver a 65-mph thrill ride suitable for the tame-hearted.

Delays have pushed the debut back to “late spring/early summer” 2009, which sounds a whole lot like “late June to early July” and way after Memorial Day weekend, the traditional launch for new rides.

The coaster boasts two unique features, both at the beginning of the ride. First, the world’s highest vertical lift carries riders straight up at a 90-degree angle to 167 feet. Second, the world’s first non-inverting loop — which looks like a traditional vertical loop — actually twists twice at the top keeping the car upright at all times.

That’s right: a loop where you don’t go upside down. The 12-seat cars employ no over-the-shoulder harnesses, using only a lap-bar restraint system.

According to Screamscape, the elongated Rockit track features several music video-themed elements:

* Double Take: the non-inverting loop
* Treble Clef: an ascending helix into a stall and vertical dive
* Jump Cut: a spiraling negative-G camelback
* Crowd Surfer: an over-banked curve fly-by
* Drop Tuning: a sideways drop into a chasm
* Plot Twist: a sideways loop
* Chorus: high-speed ground maneuvers

During the ride, the coaster even “crashes” through an existing Firehouse façade in the theme park. (See schematic drawings of the Rockit track at Roller Coaster Database.)

Rockit’s musical twist offers each individual rider the ability to choose a personalized soundtrack for the 3-minute journey. In the queue, riders select a song from one of five genres — classic rock, rap, country, pop and disco. Naturally, you can buy the song and an on-board video of your ride — suitable for mashing up and sharing on YouTube or any other online video website.

While the soundtrack selections have not been made public yet, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Universal Studios Orlando has begun surveying visitors on their song preferences for Rockit. Attractions Magazine collected more than 150 songs suggested in the survey.

My Top 5 choices from the list:
* “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne
* “Rock And Roll” by Led Zeppelin
* “Rock And Roll All Nite” by Kiss
* “Welcome To The Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses
* “Thriller” by Michael Jackson

The four most unusual picks:
* “The Time Warp” from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”
* “Main Theme from Indiana Jones”
* “Back to the Future” theme”
* “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield

And three ill-advised soundtracks for a roller coaster:
* “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees
* “Never Gonna Come Back Down” by BT
* “If I Fall You’re Going Down With Me” by the Dixie Chicks

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland. Follow Funland on Twitter.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Video: Point-of-view video simulation of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit by NoLimits Coaster

Images: Universal Studios Orlando

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 24, 2009 at 10:34 am by Brady MacDonald and is filed under Family & Kids, Florida, Southern States, Theme Parks, Universal Studios Florida. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.