Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit

By James | Last updated December 29, 2023

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In 2008 Universal announced a new roller coaster to be built at Universal Studios with an opening date of Spring 2009. Universal then pushed back the planned opening of the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster to “late spring/early summer” and it opened for guests in mid August.

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit has a music and video theme. Taking the idea of Disney’s Hollywood Studios Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster a step further where you listen to Aerosmith through seat mounted speakers, on the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, each rider can listen to their own choice of music.

Playlists

When you ride the Rip Ride Rockit you will be able to select from five different genres of music; rap/hip hop, country, classic rock/metal, pop/disco and club/electronica and then if you want you can purchase a video at the end of the ride.

The playlists are as follows:

  • Classic Rock/Metal
    • “Born to Be Wild” by Hinder
    • “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence
    • “Gimme All Your Lovin’” by ZZ Top
    • “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley Crue
    • “Paralyzer” by Finger Eleven
    • “Rollin’” by Limp Bizkit
  • Club/Electronica
    • “Busy Child” by The Crystal Method
    • “Harder Better Faster Stronger” by Daft Punk
    • “Intergalactic” by Beastie Boys
    • “Keep Hope Alive” by The Crystal Method
    • “Le Disko” by Shiny Toy Guns
    • “Pumps Up the Volume” by MARRS
  • Country
    • “All Night Long” by Montgomery Gentry
    • “Guitars, Cadillas” by Dwight Yoakam
    • “I Can Sleep When I’m Dead” Jason Michael Carroll
    • “Living in Fast Forward” by Kenny Chesney
    • “Midnight Rider” by The Allman Brothers
    • “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by The Charlie Daniels Band
  • Rap/Hip-hop
    • “Don’t Phunk With My Heart” by Black Eyed Peas
    • “Insane in the Brain” by Cypress Hill
    • “Pump It” by Black Eyed Peas
    • “Rock Star” by N.E.R.D.
    • “Sabotage” by Beastie Boys
    • “Stronger” by Kanye West
  • Pop/Disco
    • “Bad Girls” by Donna Summer
    • “Glamorous” by Fergie
    • “Hella Good” by No Doubt
    • “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor
    • “That’s the Way (I Like It)” by KC and the Sunshine Band
    • “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer

Most popular artists are the Black Eyed Peas with two tracks “Don’t Phunk With My Heart” and “Pump It” plus a solo performance of “Glamorous” by Fergie.

Ride Highlights

The ride starts with a breathtaking 167 foot vertical 90 degree climb at 11 feet a second up to 17 stories high, making it the highest coaster in Orlando. It then drops you at 65 mph.

Rip Ride Rockit features seven manoeuvres, three of which are brand new and have never been built before.

The Vertical Lift gets you vertically to 167 feet in just 16.5 seconds. Towards the end of the ride you complete the Crowd Surfer where you fly over the load platform through a 95 degree bank, then at the Drop Tuning, you dive underground near the Blue Man Group theatre in Universal CityWalk before completing the Plot Twist, an inclined loop with a 150 degree banking turn and a final 360 degree turn.

The three unique manoeuvres are the Double Take where following the initial drop you enter a loop but as you reach the top, you twist from the inside of a loop to the outside making this the world’s largest non-inverted loop.

The Treble Clef is in the shape of the musical note and you burst through a building facade over the New York area of the park.

The other unique move is the Jump Cut which is a spiralling negative-gravity which gives you the effect of a corkscrew without actually going upside down.

Rip Ride Rockit is manufactured by Maurer Söhne from Germany using X-CAR design. The X-CAR coaster vehicles give you more freedom in terms of restraints (no shoulder harness) and allow more flexible motion than other coasters.

Each Rockit consists of 2 X-Car Tandems with 12 seats. The X-CAR technology also allows for more vehicles on the track at any one time with an expected capacity of 1,850 passengers per hour.

Total track length is 3,800 feet and ride duration is 1 minute, 39 seconds.

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