Hollywood Ripride Rocket

[edk35]

Is that open yet????

 

[MrBryan]

Is that open yet????

yup for about 7 months, but it still breaks down daily, lol.

 

[LoodlesNoodles]

There would be (a lot more) pee'd off US fans if that still wasn't open after an original opening suggestion of Spring 09.
I hope it's worth my year and a bit wait when I go back in September.

 

[PAL_1]

For such a simple ride, it sure is cranky. I don't believe Hershey Park has these sorts of issues with Fahrenheit, their vertical lift coaster. Its a regrettable situation. I hope Universal had some contingencies for rebates in their contract with the manufacturer. It certainly isn't helping guest satisfaction.

 

[Metro West]

For such a simple ride, it sure is cranky. I don't believe Hershey Park has these sorts of issues with Fahrenheit, their vertical lift coaster. Its a regrettable situation. I hope Universal had some contingencies for rebates in their contract with the manufacturer. It certainly isn't helping guest satisfaction.

Yeah...I was really disappointed when it was learned B & M wasn't doing this coaster. I hope Universal never does business with Maurer Sohne again.

 

[grumpjes24]

We just returned from Universal and I was extremely frustrated with this ride. The ride was closed more often than not! Finally on Wed (3/31) my DH and I were just about to leave the park and saw that it was finally running and jumped in the single riders line (definitely the way to go...we were on in about 15 minutes, the line was 90 minutes).

The problem was my DD had already left the park and was meeting us at dinner so she didn't get to ride it that day. So the next day we arrived to the park extra early to get in line for it again. We got in line at 8:30. The employees kept making annoucements that they didn't know when the ride would open but we could wait if we wanted. The line was long, it wrapped all around the courtyard in front of the stage but we were about the 20th or so person from the front of the line! Then around 10:15 they came out and said that the ride would probably open in the afternoon so we left.

We rode a few things we wanted to re-ride and was getting ready to the leave the park around 11:30 (we had express passes, stayed onsite) and we saw that it was open. The ride line was 2 hours long!!! So again, we jumped in the singles line. It took about 30 minutes for all 3 of us to get on. My husband was in the last train before it broke down again!!!

While waiting for my DH to get "released", I was talking to one of the employees. I asked her what time the ride opened and she said shortly after 10:15. WHAT???? Then I asked her what the problem with the ride was and she said it breaks down a lot because the ride has a lot of built in safety features...that the coaster is the most technologically advanced coaster in the world (her words, not mine) and that it stops itself over every little minor thing.

Whether that is it or not...it was very frustrating to try to ride the ride over and over and have it closed. You would hope they would have the bugs worked out after having been open several months and after having opened several months late!

 

[donaldduck352]

Sad to say but RRR gave Uni a great big black eye!!

 

[PAL_1]

While waiting for my DH to get "released", I was talking to one of the employees. I asked her what time the ride opened and she said shortly after 10:15. WHAT???? Then I asked her what the problem with the ride was and she said it breaks down a lot because the ride has a lot of built in safety features...that the coaster is the most technologically advanced coaster in the world (her words, not mine) and that it stops itself over every little minor thing.

You must have been just in front of us in line. I remember when the staff came back out and said it might not be until afternoon. Many of the people who'd been waiting for 90 minutes or so left. We stuck it out (it was the only attraction we hadn't experienced) and were quite surprised to see it open just a while later.

Every time we checked out the single rider line it was closed - too full. But really, we thoroughly enjoyed our time at Uni / IOA. It will be nice when they finally get Potter open. Getting to and from Dueling Dragons has been a hassle for more than 18 months!

 

[inkkognito]

Yeah...I was really disappointed when it was learned B & M wasn't doing this coaster. I hope Universal never does business with Maurer Sohne again.

Amen, amen, amen!

So much for all the problems being resolved by getting the moving platform to work.

 

[PAL_1]

^Screamscape reported that a train valleyed between the lift and the loop on Weds afternoon, and implied that its a recurring problem. That amusement park news site sometimes gets things wrong, so I'm curious what the experts over here think. What causes the bulk of the problems with this ride? The control systems? The dispatch system? Faulty engineering? The trains and their unusual restraints? What's so different about it other than the vertical lift and soundtrack system?

Orlando is home to some of the best crews of ride operators anywhere. Both Disney and Universal deploy plenty of manpower during peak times, hold their ops accountable for running at high capacity, and clearly take pride in their performance. The Hulk crew was cranking trains out one after another. Even Dueling Dragons was fast compared with operations at Busch Gardens Tampa. I can't imagine Universal management is happy about their coaster shaped lemon.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

I was pretty underwhelmed when I road this back in October. You can see a review of it on our blog.

http://www.disunplugged.com/2009/11/15/coaster-review-universals-new-hollywood-rip-ride-rockit/

 

[inkkognito]

I read something about the valleying that made a lot of sense to me...can't remember where, but was probably linked from here somewhere. Supposedly they did not allow for the wind tunnel effect of the buildings in that area and that contributes to the problem. I know the Rockit really has valleyed a few times in the past, although I can't speak for this time. You can also feel the wind there on certain days so I wouldn't be surprised if that's the truth. The coaster manufacturer did not take that into account, thus another ongoing problem for the poor Rockit. I'll bet B & M wouldn't have made that mistake.

 

[cachacopr]

Well, we got home today, were there last Thursday and yesterday (Saturday) and I can tell you that indeed it "broke down" quite a few times, sometimes came back on right away, sometimes took quite a while. Lines were 90+ minutes everytime I went back, so I caught a break and went on the single riders, after all, I only liked the first 1/3 of the ride, everything else form then on seemed average to me. So rode it, killed my curiosity, and went back to IOA to ride better coasters.. (BTW, quite a few rides on both parks experienced shutdowns or stoppages along the weekend). Today, I get to put Ben-Gay all over my body and sleep in my own bed, ready to go back to work...

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

I absolutely love the ride. Just wish it would work out its operational problems.