The Coaster Critic's Blog

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit - Model & Video
More details are starting to emerge on Universal Studios' Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit. We already new about the main distinction of the ride. Riders will be able to download a video of their ride and post it on the Web. Details on the layout were a bit sketchy, but the picture's becoming more clear. Now, ScreamScape has posted photos of models from a recent amusement industry convention. Click here for more photos.In lieu of an official video released by Universal, DjJavi5x has created a ride simulation video of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit using NoLimits. Hopefully, the park

Recent Theme Park News Stories - Transformers, Terminator, & More
Since I've been busy working on Coaster Portal, I've missed a few news stories. Here's a recap of the biggest stories from the past month or so:

Gravity Group Launches Blog & Podcast - Gravitycast
The Gravity Group, acclaimed wooden roller coaster designers, recently launched their blog and podcast known as Gravitycast. If you're not familiar with their coasters check out my reviews of The Voyage, Hades, and Ravine Flyer II. They're all amazing and all three are in my Top Ten. Gravitycast looks to be more than just a place for the designers to post updates (which would be enough for coaster geeks out there like myself), they've essentially opened up a conversation with the fans. Read more at: Coaster Portal

Magic Mountain to Announce Details of the Terminator Coaster
UPDATE 10/23 - Six Flags Announces Details of the Terminator Coaster.

The LA Times Funland Blog has information on the new GCI Terminator wooden coaster coming to Six Flags Magic Mountain in 2009. Six Flags is expected to make an official announcement later this week. I still think it's a little odd that a Terminator-themed coaster wouldn't be a steel coaster, but Six Flags is likely looking for that fun, family friendly ride that will have wider appeal. Plus, Magic Mountain could use another woodie as they only have the old racing coaster, Colossus. Read more at the LA Times Funland Blog.

Universal Announces Transformers Ride for 2011
Also on the LA Times Funland Blog, are a few details confirming the rumored Transformers ride. Universal will build a dark ride that sounds similar to the Spider-Man ride at Islands of Adventure and Curse of Darkastle at Busch Gardens Europe. Read more about those rides on my Top 3 Dark Rides post. One major difference with the Transformers ride will be that this ride will built many years lafter those rides and will benefit from enhancement in high definition 3D technology. Not only that, but it will feature two-story tall robots going at it all around you. Universal will build the ride at the Universal Hollywood park as well as the Universal Singapore park. Sorry East Coasters. Read more at The LA Times Funland Blog.

Dollywood Cancels 2009 Attraction - Adventure Mountain
We may have one of the first 2009 projects to fall victim to the struggling economy. Recently, Dollywood had to unannounce their 2009 attraction known as Adventure Mountain. They sight the economic downturn as the reason for putting the ride on hold. I give them credit for coming out with a statement rather than just sweeping the project under the rug. Read the full announcement.

What do you think of this news? Leave a comment below.

Theme Parks Gear Up for Halloween 2008 Transformations
This month, theme parks across the country will begin their transformation for Halloween-themed events like Six Flags' popular Fright Fests. Typically on weekends in the month of October, parks will take on a whole new look with spooky decorations, haunted houses, fog, and strange and disturbing performers roaming around the park.

Halloween events are NOT for small children and many brand their events as PG-13. Each park and/or chain has a name for their event. Below are links to some of the most popular Halloween theme park promotions:

Fright Fest at Six Flags Park

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios

Halloween Haunts at:
Kings Dominion
Kings Island
Knott's Berry Farms
Dorney Park
Worlds of Fun

HalloWeekends at Cedar Point
ValleyScare at Valleyfair
Scarowinds at Carowinds

Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Tampa & Williamsburg

Hersheypark in the Dark at Hersheypark

Hallowboo! at Idlewild

Phantom Fright Nights at Kennywood

Frightmares at Lagoon

Phobia at Wild Adventures

Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce

Check out my Scarowinds trip report from 2007. Also, here's a preview for Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights 18:

Large Fire at Universal Studios Hollywood
This morning, a large fire started blazing its way through Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. The fire began in a movie studio, but has also damaged the popular Cyclone ride in the theme park. Thankfully, no injuries have been reported yet. I'll have more details as the story develops.

More at Reuters.

UPDATE - Westcoaster.net has full photo coverage of the Universal fire. According to their report the King Kong ride was completely destroyed. Check out their video of local news enhanced with subtitles pointing out the attractions that were lost:

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit's Layout
ScreamScape has the scoop on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit's layout. HRRR will be a massive looping roller coaster that will wind its way around Universal Studios Florida in 2009. Aside from the twisted layout, suspected to be designed by Maure Sohne, HRRR's main distinction will be the on-board cameras that will allow riders to download a video of their ride and post it on the Web.

Recently, Universal released details on the ride's layout. As usual, the marketing department tried to give some memorable names to the elements. Elements include: the Doubletake (The non-inverting loop), Treble Clef (an ascending high G helix into a Hi Hat stall and vertical dive), Jump Cut (spiraling negative-G camelback), Crowd Surfer (overbanked curve crowd fly-by), Drop Tuning (sideways drop into chasm), Plot Twist (sideways loop) and Chorus (high speed ground maneuvers). More on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit...>>>

I wish the image was a little more detailed. I'd really like to know how they're going to pull of a 'non-inverting loop'. We'll just have to wait for Universal to create an HRRR Web site.

What do you think of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit? Leave a comment below.

Simpsons Ride Opens at Universal Studios Florida

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit Coming to Universal Studios Florida
Announced this week, Universal Studios Florida will be adding a new roller coaster in 2009. Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster (one of the dumbest names in recent memory) will be the park's new high-tech signature coaster.

Universal Embraces the "YouTube Culture"
Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit's main distinction will be the on-board cameras that will allow riders to download a video of their ride and post it on the Web. This is supposed to represent the 'Rip' part of the coaster's name. The Rockit part refers to the ability of users to choose what song they want to listen to while they ride and it appears you can also add that song to their personal music video of their ride. While the name's a mouthful, at least it has a meaning.

Coaster Geek Analysis
Now, coaster geeks including myself, are curious as to what type of coaster HRRR will be. Details are a bit sketchy, but the marketingese and illustration give us a few hints. An Orlando Sentinel article mentions:

"Universal officials said Rockit would have several signature moves and a record-breaking loop, though they would not elaborate. The artist's rendering that they released shows the track climbing a 167-foot-tall peak, then corkscrewing downward, twisting eight times."

Universal Studios Japan has a B&M coaster called Hollywood Dream that flies right over the park like HRRR will, but this attraction will feature a vertical lift, so it's most likely not a B&M. Fahrenheit at Hersheypark has the vertical lift, but in the illustration you can see that the trains do not look like Intamin's. To me, it looks like HRRR may be a Maure Sohne X-Car Coaster. Those trains are pretty distinctive and they look similar to the trains on the X Coaster at Magic Springs in Arkansas. But it will help when the official stats are released.

More at the Orlando Sentinel.

What do you think of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios? Leave a comment below.

Most Visited Theme Parks in North America
Have you ever wondered which parks have the highest attendance? Recently, the Themed Entertainment Association and Economics Research Associates released their Attraction Attendance Report for 2007. The majority of the most visited parks are in warmer climates and as such, they are open year round. The first seasonal park was Canada's Wonderland which came in at 14th.

Top Theme Parks for 2007 by Attendance (in millions)
1 Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World - Lake Buena Vista, FL - 17.0 M
2 Disneyland - Anaheim, CA - 14.8 M
3 Epcot at Walt Disney World - Lake Buena Vista, FL - 10.9 M
4 Disney's Hollywood Studios - Lake Buena Vista, FL - 9.5 M
5 Disney's Animal Kingdom - Lake Buena Vista, FL - 9.4 M
6 Universal Studios - Orlando, FL - 6.2 M
7 SeaWorld Florida - Orlando, FL - 5.8 M
8 Disney's California Adventure - Anaheim, CA - 5.6 M
9 Islands of Adventure - Orlando, FL - 5.4 M
10 Universal Studios - Hollywood, CA - 4.7 M
11 Busch Gardens Africa - Tampa, FL - 4.4 M
12 SeaWorld California - San Diego, CA - 4.2 M
13 Knott's Berry Farms - Buena Park, CA 3.6 M
----------Seasonal Parks----------
14 Canada's Wonderland - Toronto, Canada - 3.2 M
15 Busch Gardens Europe - Williamsburg, VA - 3.15 M (Review)
16 Cedar Point - Sandusky, OH - 3.12 M
17 Kings Island - Cincinnatti, OH - 3.0 M
18 Hershey Park - Hershey, PA - 2.9 M
19 Six Flags Great Adventure - Jackson, NJ - 2.7 M (Review)
20 Six Flags Great America - Chicago, IL - 2.6 M

No real surprises in the first 13 or so, but the listing of seasonal parks is interesting. I'd already heard about Busch Gardens Europe's record attendance thanks to Griffon and the 400th Anniversary of Jamestown bringing tourists to the area. But I didn't know that BGE outpaced Cedar Point. That's quite an accomplishment that my favorite park could outdraw the center of the coaster universe. Six Flags barely has a showing in the top parks, which is unfortunate considering they have so many parks. And Six Flags Magic Mountain, which is located in California and is open year round is suspiciously missing.

What do you think about the Top 20 Theme Parks by Attendance? Are you surprised by the attendance records above. Leave a comment below.

Harry Potter Attraction Planned for Universal's Islands of Adventure
Warner Brothers and Universal will be teaming up for a new Harry Potter attraction at Orlando's Universal Islands of Adventure. It has been described as the world’s first fully immersive Harry Potter themed environment. Also, as a theme park within a theme park.

Guests will be able to visit the village of Hogsmeade, the mysterious Forbidden Forest, and even Hogwarts castle. The 'Wizarding World of Harry Potter' is expected to open in 2009. An opening that puts it between the Half-Blood Prince (2008) and Deathly Hollow (2010) movies.

Check out the full story at ThrillNetwork

Top 3 International Coasters Debuting in 2007
America debuts amazing new roller coasters every year, but it's not really accurate to say the U.S. is on the cutting edge in coaster design anymore. This Thursday I'm going to countdown the three biggest roller coasters to debut oversees in 2007.

Troy at Toverland
Sevenum, Netherlands
Great Coasters International is designing a wooden coaster that's reminiscent of their hit, Thunderhead. From the illustration, it looks to be a very fun coaster. It's scheduled to open on June 23rd. Toverland is also home to a Vekoma motorbike coaster called Booster Bike!

Kirnu at Linnanmaki
Helsinki, Finland
Kirnu is a new Intamin 4th Dimension coaster design that just opened at Linnanmaki. On 4th dimension roller coasters, two riders are positioned on either side of the track. Their seats allow them to spin freely on their own axis. I'm sure it won't be long before Intamin brings one of these to our shores.

Furios Baco at PortAventura
Salou, Spain
Furios Baco is an Intamin Accelerator coaster that will be opening at PortAventura in Spain. It will feature 4D-style seating with riders positioned on either side of the track, but the seats will not spin. It will propel riders from 0 to 80 in 3.5 seconds. Portions of Furios Baco will be over water.. PortAventura is also home to the former inversion record holder, Dragon Khan.

Also, check out this coaster video of Hollywood Dream: The Ride at Universal Studios Japan. Located in Osaka, Japan this B&M Mega Coaster has the elements of a hypercoaster, but doesn't break the 200 foot barrier. It looks like a lot of fun and those lights on the train are insane. Only in Japan I tell you, only in Japan!

Got a question or comment about this week's Top 3 Thursdays? Leave 'em below.