Avatar Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 You guys know that rcfreak was talking about The Roller Coaster (Formerly: Manhattan Express) corect? I don't believe anyones called HRRR a fail. My fault, and in truth I agree with most descriptions of HRRR about it short comings. I just like seeing new technology being incorporated into coasters and love it when Universal and Disney spare not expense in pushing the limits. In the end we all benefit. A few weeks back Orland Attractions Mag. but up a night vide and I think this coaster above a music stage with those lights going adds unique atmosphere. at 1 minute 26 seconds in the video you can see what it would look like at night. I love Diamond back but man oh man I just wonder how great it would be to have 32 songs to select while riding. That is why I can forgive some short coming of new designs as I know greater ideas will build from that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maverick2007 Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 ^Or more songs with all those hidden songs that were found. Edit: Wow whoever filmed that POV should be fired. It's terrible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rcfreak339 Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 The effects put into HWRRR are incredible, but to be honest the ride doesn't impress me much....It seems really slow. But hey. I can't judge a book by its cover! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delirium_Guy Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 As far as it being a fail, yeah, I think it could possibly fall in that category. From guest satisfaction surveys to management at the Park, the ride is not being viewed favorably and by most accounts viewed as unsuccessful....least thats what is circulating. They missed the entire busy summer season with the attraction not being open and still can't get it to run as it should with the extremely busy holiday season fast approaching. Really, all you gotta do is watch the guests that exit the ride....no one is really all that excited or thrilled when then they get back to the station. Compare that to say Diamondback or even Manta for that matter where its clear that people have had an enjoyable experience. Like I said earlier, Rockit is not an attraction that Universal is likely going to have a reputation for as once Potter opens ALL attention will focus on that. The ride definitely sticks out like a sore thumb, if you compare it to Hollywood Dream at USJ and how they integrated that into the exisiting park you'll see what several here are talking about. Oh, for what its worth Jesse, I definitely do agree about the new music amphitheater. Its a nice area and is a vast improvement over the old setup for Mardi Gras and other events. - Todd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avatar Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Thanks Todd for you opinion I have always liked your reviews and think you are fair and honest. Most of the time you say exactly how I feel about the coasters you review that I have been fortunate enough to ride myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 I have not ridden it, of course, but I hardly think it 'failed.' And how it could be an eyesore, I'm not sure. The theme of Universal Studios is big soundstages, some of which have facades of famous cities. It's not as if there's a "skyline" proper to interfere with. I believe they got into a classic situation where they simply added a unique, but admittedly average roller coaster, and when it wasn't quite ready on time, they were forced to hype it up with "No, trust me, it's GREAT. Once you ride it, you'll see that this delay with worth it." Factor in about five months of that, then consider that it's STILL not fully functioning, but at this point, what are they supposed to say? They can't keep running it for half-days at half-capacity for the next year and then have its Grand Opening... In many ways, this ride is a victim of over-hyping and insufficient quality to meet the hype. If a ride of this caliber came to Cedar Point, it would be considered a tremendous success, I'm sure. But with Manta, Kumba, Montu, ShieKra, Hulk, and the Dragons all within an hour drive, marketing it as the newest, baddest coaster to hit Central Florida wasn't the way to go... And yet, it was sort of the only option after all the delays. And looking at the layout, I think they overdid it. To me, it's a bit over the top to have such a long ride, most of which ends up just slaloming along the ground at medium speed. The layout could be better, yes. And some of the elements could be better. I can't say anything to the ride's smoothness, but I'll known soon enough. Perhaps the Central Florida parks should've seen their first Intamin instead? Something tells me Intamin could've tackled this project and made a beast of a ride! When the USF coaster rumors first started, people were anticipating a clone of Hollywood Dream: The Ride at Universal Japan. Really, I think both companies could've done great (B&M & Intamin), but what we ended up with is certainly going to be a milestone ride that will be considered the origin of many great rides we'll see in the future! P.S. Look at this turnaround - I'm drooling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CincyMan98 Posted November 29, 2009 Author Share Posted November 29, 2009 Nothing can really fail. Coasters are coasters. Getting a new coaster is great, even if it's a crappy boomerang coaster like at Carowinds last year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahank Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 And how it could be an eyesore, I'm not sure. The theme of Universal Studios is big soundstages, some of which have facades of famous cities. It's not as if there's a "skyline" proper to interfere with. I completely agree with this statement. I have not been to USO, but from what I've seen and heard, I believe this coaster fits in perfectly with the surrounding environment. Universal Studios Orlando is what the name says it is, a movie lot in Hollywood, a place where they shoot movies, music videos, etc. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Hollywood/L.A. known for a vibrant, modern city? I think this coaster fulfills the purpose of a music video set in a movie shooting lot. Just my opinion, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTCO Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 I might visit USO next year for HHN. Honestly I can not wait to ride this ride. Usually when I hear someone critiquing a coaster, I don't listen to them. Every rider is different. I tend not to listen to other critiques on any coaster for that matter. Looking forward to riding this one, especially at night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 I might visit USO next year for HHN. Honestly I can not wait to ride this ride. Usually when I hear someone critiquing a coaster, I don't listen to them. Every rider is different. I tend not to listen to other critiques on any coaster for that matter. Looking forward to riding this one, especially at night! If this were Facebook, I'd "like" your comment! It's so very true. I'm visiting the Disney parks, Universal Orlando parks, and SeaWorld (for the first time in five years), and Busch Gardens for the first time ever, and I'm definitely looking forward to Rip Ride Rockit as one of the highlights of my trip - I'm really anticipating it, regardless of others comments. I mean, I think BLSC is one of the best coasters at Kings Island. Truly. Hahha. This isn't the thread to talk about it, but it's a perfect example of how others opinions (even the overwhelming majority opinion) isn't always the best for an individual person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rcfreak339 Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Nothing can really fail. Coasters are coasters. Getting a new coaster is great, even if it's a crappy boomerang coaster like at Carowinds last year I HIGHLY disagree with that. If a ride is just plain bad and not much fun with bad reviews its safe to say the ride is the fail. No one here said HWRRR was a fail, although it was a disappointing. Carolina Cobra has gotten good reviews with the new trains I heard it wasn't bad at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Nothing can really fail. Coasters are coasters. I HIGHLY disagree with that. If a ride is just plain bad and not much fun with bad reviews its safe to say the ride is the fail. If one visitor who might not otherwise visit comes to the park for a new coaster, it hasn't failed from a marketing standpoint. If one visitor enjoys the ride more than he or she anticipated, it's not a failure from every visitors standpoint (even if it is in the eyes of 99% of people - it is still a success). Firehawk123 was correct, in my opinion: To fail is to not try. And remember, people who enjoy rides that are admittedly viewed as busts by some guests (see, Son of Beast, Adventure Express, Vortex - myself included in that group) ought not throw stones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CincyMan98 Posted November 29, 2009 Author Share Posted November 29, 2009 I really want to go to USO, but I realized it's the same price as Disney World, amazingly, which my family really can't afford. But oh well...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 I really want to go to USO, but I realized it's the same price as Disney World, amazingly, which my family really can't afford. But oh well...... Absolutely wrong. Universal Orlando has a 7-Day Parkhopper ticket for $99.00. That's less than a 1-day Parkhopper at Disney World. A 7-Day Parkhopper ticket at Disney is $286.00. Universal is a third the price, besides having better food (in my opinion) & more thrilling attractions, and it's sort of all-inclusive. Two parks connected by a really fun downtown area, which includes theaters, Blue Man Group, restaurants, clubs... It requires a lot less travel than Disney, and you don't have to stay in an overpriced on-site hotel to get free transportation. Obviously doing both would be ideal, but just know that Universal runs some great deals that Disney just doesn't, because they don't have to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avatar Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 I hope every one/family gets the opportunity to experience Disney, Universal Resort and Busch Sea World Parks in Orlando. The subject of they are too expensive and which is cheaper seems to come up a lot. The TRUTH is they are usually more affordable than most think especially when one looks for the deals. Another TRUTH is they all cost about the same year after year. One has two parks while it tries to compare its prices with a place that has four. One offers free fast passes to all guests while the other charges for it. They all offer a different but a good variety of experiences. The best savings is if you are doing Disney do Disney all of them in the same visit if you're doing Universal or Sea World do those in the same visit. In our last trip we did Disney and Universal both were great but when we added it all up days to dollars with resort stays we paid slightly more for the Universal part of our trip. I repeat this often and will continue to as I don't want guest to stay away from any park do to misconceptions. All the parks are well worth the money I have spent at them and I can not repeat it enough, in the end they all cost about the same by the time you leave and add it all up. BTW the best deal if you know you are going to Universal for two years in a roll is to buy a annual pass on the pay flex. After 12 months the payments do not stop until you stop it so if you go one year and then cancel on the 13 month you will have only paid about $162.00 for two years worth of vacation visits, plus you get lots of discounts with a annual pass. Edit to add; we stayed at Universal Royal Pacific Resort for only $129.00. It was well worth it I do mean every penny of it. We got a discount by using the annual pass discount and by doing this we got into Universal early and front of line passes too. It was nice to take a boat back to the resort midday to escape the heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoddaH1994 Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Nothing can really fail. Coasters are coasters. I HIGHLY disagree with that. If a ride is just plain bad and not much fun with bad reviews its safe to say the ride is the fail. If one visitor who might not otherwise visit comes to the park for a new coaster, it hasn't failed from a marketing standpoint. If one visitor enjoys the ride more than he or she anticipated, it's not a failure from every visitors standpoint (even if it is in the eyes of 99% of people - it is still a success). Firehawk123 was correct, in my opinion: To fail is to not try. And remember, people who enjoy rides that are admittedly viewed as busts by some guests (see, Son of Beast, Adventure Express, Vortex - myself included in that group) ought not throw stones. How could attracting one extra visitor with this installment a marketing success? The coaster cost every bit of $20 million or more In order for it to be a marketing success it has to attract thousands of extra visitors for years to come. I stand by what I said about it destroying the skyline there. Uni is beautifully themed and you'd actually believe you're at a Hollywood backlot until BAM - a big coaster off in the distance. You can find a million ways to justify its existence and how it fits in but realistically it took the "theme park" out of that entire side of the park and made it an "amusement park" (although I'll never believe that there really is that much of a difference). If you haven't been ridden it and especially if you haven't been to Uni, it's really hard to understand. The ride really offers very little. I can see guest satisfaction being very low for it. I didn't think it was really that violent, but it was 4 months old when I rode it and I felt like I was riding a 20 year old Arrow. To be honest, I don't even think it would fit in at IOA. I don't think it's up to IOA's standards either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delirium_Guy Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 How could attracting one extra visitor with this installment a marketing success? The coaster cost every bit of $20 million or more In order for it to be a marketing success it has to attract thousands of extra visitors for years to come. To be honest, I don't even think it would fit in at IOA. I don't think it's up to IOA's standards either. Agree totally, Ryan. By no means was HRRR a cheap investment, so to have it no do anything to help the business and at the very least plateau flaggling attendance that Universal has been seeing....no it isn't something I would call a success. Just do a little research on attendance and compare Uni's attendance from the year that IoA opened compared to now. To me, its honestly quite scary how much they've lost. By comparison, Manta has absolutely been a huge success for SeaWorld this season and certainly helped offset any big declines in attendance. While I certainly find the ride hideous, especially all the flippin' massive brake runs that dot the layout, thats irrelevant :-) You can agree that its a fail or not, whatever, I'm just saying from what paying guests are saying and the headaches that have plague the operations team at USF....HRRR is far, far from a favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoddaH1994 Posted November 30, 2009 Share Posted November 30, 2009 How could attracting one extra visitor with this installment a marketing success? The coaster cost every bit of $20 million or more In order for it to be a marketing success it has to attract thousands of extra visitors for years to come. To be honest, I don't even think it would fit in at IOA. I don't think it's up to IOA's standards either. Agree totally, Ryan. By no means was HRRR a cheap investment, so to have it no do anything to help the business and at the very least plateau flaggling attendance that Universal has been seeing....no it isn't something I would call a success. Just do a little research on attendance and compare Uni's attendance from the year that IoA opened compared to now. To me, its honestly quite scary how much they've lost. By comparison, Manta has absolutely been a huge success for SeaWorld this season and certainly helped offset any big declines in attendance. While I certainly find the ride hideous, especially all the flippin' massive brake runs that dot the layout, thats irrelevant :-) You can agree that its a fail or not, whatever, I'm just saying from what paying guests are saying and the headaches that have plague the operations team at USF....HRRR is far, far from a favorite. I agree entirely. I think that Manta is a great ride added to a park with a great reputation. Sea World puts a lot of thought into their additions, and I think that they'll consistently be winners until they start cutting large sections of the budgets out. HRRR, however, struck me as a kind of desperate attempt to rejuvenate attendance. According to its Wikipedia page, it cost $45 million to construct - although I doubt that number is anywhere near accurate. Maybe it got bumped up into the $30 million range due to the delays and reconstruction. The sad part is, it's so tempting to rip on Universal Studios saying that it's a stupid park that added a stupid attractions, but nothing could be further than the truth. The truth is, Universal is one of the most beautiful and elaborate parks in existence and it is very evident that they had a rushed project that looked good on paper and are paying dearly for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delirium_Guy Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 It would seem that they now have the conveyor floor functioning.... http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_orlando/2010/01/eye-on-hollywood-rip-ride-rocket-floor-moves-concerts-groove.html I was at the Park about a week ago and they still weren't using it. Its obvious how far back they beginning the load process now, as before they would stop the train and load you right about where the car in this video dispatched quickly to the lift hill. Definitely going to have to go have a look at it. I will say, the ride is starting to finally break in....its getting a tad better. I had a pretty enjoyable ride on it last week, it may have helped that the ride was a walk on but still! ;-) - Todd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzarley Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 I rode it for the first time a week ago today...it was the only thing with any real line (60 min) or so, because they aren't accepting Universal Express on it yet. (We were staying at the Royal Pacific--the Universal Express perk has spoiled me so much at these parks, I don't think I could go there otherwise now.) Overall, it was a LOT better than I had anticipated. After all the bad reviews I had read, I was really expecting a ride experience like the coaster at NY/NY in Vegas. However, it was significantly better than that. I found it to be a pretty fun ride...probably no way near my top ten coasters, but pretty enjoyable none-the-less. I'll definitely ride it again on return trips to Universal (especially when they start accepting Universal Express). On another Universal note...I was glad to see that Dueling Dragons was running last weekend, albeit with the temporary queue. They let resort guests into IOA at 8:30a, and by 9:10a last Sunday morning we had ridden DD four times in the front seat! (Three on Fire; one on Ice). We rode Hulk first thing and were the ONLY PEOPLE on the entire train! I think we ended up with a total of 6 rides on DD, 4 on Hulk, and 4 (5?) on Spiderman. We circled the park multiple times and was done with IOA by 1:00p--it was a very efficient theme park day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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