The things that interests me are these quotes from the document:
A personalized audio system for an amusement ride includes an audio selection system, a guest identification system and a ride vehicle enabled to reproduce audio selections made using the selection system in a specific seat of the ride vehicle corresponding to the seat occupied by the guest who selected the audio during that guest's ride on the amusement ride.
A personalized audio system for a dark ride, high-speed ride, roller coaster or other ride system allows guests to individually select an audio track or song for playback during the ride. The guests enter an audio selection into a selection system associated with an amusement ride they intend to ride prior to being seated in a ride vehicle of the ride. An audio reproduction system reproduces the guests' audio selections for the particular guest occupying a ride vehicle seat. A guest identification system is used to coordinate delivery of the guest's audio selection from the selection system to the correct seat in the ride vehicle. A guest's audio selection is thus delivered to the audio reproduction system for the ride vehicle seat occupied by the guest and then the audio selection is played during the amusement ride operation. The audio reproduction systems are designed so that guest's selections do not interfere with each other.
Sounds a lot like what Rockit is today (well, almost). So Rockit might have been in the planning since 2005?? Hmmm... I really like interesting things like that...
We are excited to let you know Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit has re-opened after being closed for maintenance. Enjoy the ride!
And some modified trains have been reported:
Park News - (10/28/10) Big surprise today for guests at Universal Studios Florida, as the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit coaster had reopened to the public as unexpectedly as it closed down six weeks ago. The reports sent in so far are a bit vague, but claim that the ride may have received all new trains (or possibly refurbished perhaps?) and that the ride experience was very much improved. When I asked Universal Orlando about the reopening of the coaster they had this to say, “We are excited that Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit has re-opened after its maintenance period.” Sorry, you were expecting more? At this point I think I’d be happy if it at least was giving off the butter smooth rides it was expected to in the first place.
That's nice to hear! =D I'm so excited for Thanksgiving!
And also for fun, here were some other crazy reports from Screamscape about this situation:
(10/13/10) I’m not quite sure what to make of this exactly, but a reader reports in that the survey crew was spotted taking measurements at the Hollywood Rockit coaster site near the lift hill tower and non-inverting loop. Could they be planning to rebuild some sections of the coaster? Certainly something could be done to improve this section of the ride to eliminate all the valleys that take place coming out of the non-inverting loop. Of course there are those ever-persistent rumors about some kind of structural problem that may have been found with the ride as well… (10/12/10) I’m told that the staircase spotted by the Hollywood Rockit coaster is actually on wheels and not something new. Apparently they bring it out as needed. (10/11/10) I’m not entirely sure what this means, but a new staircase was spotted in this picture (sent out over Twitter) set up at the Hollywood Rockit coaster in the general location where the ride has been known to valley the most. Anyone know if this is a temporary staircase or something they’re putting in for good? (10/1/10) There is a big rumor flying around many of the Orlando centric fan sites claiming that the problems with the Hollywood Rockit are so severe, the park may end up removing the ride entirely. While anything is possible, the chances of this being true at this point so low that they are hardly worth mentioning. If true, we would more than likely be hearing stories about a huge lawsuit brewing between Universal and Maurer in Sentinel, but since that hasn’t happened yet, I think everyone should cool their jets a bit about the Rockit until we know more about what’s going on. At this point all we really know is that there are problems and issues keeping the ride shut… and it’s no secret that this ride has hardly lived up to anyone expectations as far as providing an enjoyable ride experience to the guests. Anything beyond that is really wild speculation at this point. I’ll keep digging to see what more I can find out, but lets keep the sledgehammers in the tool shed for now. (9/25/10) While nothing has been states about when the Rockit may reopen, sources tell us that Universal was seen cycling empty trains on it again late Thursday night after the park was closed. (9/21/10) Universal has confirmed that the Hollywood Rockit will be closed a bit longer than expected (though they never gave a date for it to reopen) because they will now go ahead and perform the ride’s annual maintenance work while it’s already closed. (9/20/10) Universal Orlando has made some some comments regarding the closure of the Hollywood Rockit coaster to the local news. They say that any issues from the September 2nd advisory from Maurer would have been dealt with weeks ago and not the cause of the current shutdown and that the ride is closed for “unrelated maintenance”. So what is the issue then? Universal isn’t saying, though the local news station sources claim that it is “structural” issues behind the current closure. (9/17/10) I’ve got a public confirmation about one of the issues that has caused the temporary shutdown of the Hollywood Rockit. A technical service alert from Maurer Sohne was released this month that reports that the ‘coupling bar’ between the cars on all of the X-Car / Sky-Loop train systems are “not fatigue endurable”. In other words, they are showing signs of stress that could lead to a possible failure. As such, Maruer will be redesigning the parts and offering up the fix in approximately 2-3 months. “Any operation of the Sky Loop or X-Car Coaster with tandem train must be immediately and strictly stopped until the examination has been evaluated!” So… the ride’s shut down for the short term at least because of this alone. “If you find any cracks (no matter what size or type) on the checked locations or any other irregularities, the system must be shut down immediately in order to prevent serious accidents prosing a danger to health and life of persons.” (9/16/10) I’ve heard rumors indicating some bad news for Universal’s Hollywood Rockit coaster which has kept it shut not only the past couple of days, but may keep it shut for quite a bit longer. I’m not going to go into the nasty details about what’s being said without a little more proof, but if even half is true, it could be weeks before it opens again. More as we find out.
I just came up with two scenarios as to what will happen with Rockit:
BEST CASE SCENARIO:
It just gets shut down for two months, while they get smoother trains without any flaws. And once the ride reopens (just before my Thanksgiving trip), Express will open with the ride.
WORST CASE SCENARIO (thought this is extremely doubtful you never know... but I hope this isn't the scenario):
Rockit ends up becoming the next Windjammer Surf Racers.
In case you don't know, Windjammer Surf Racers was a coaster at Knott's Berry Farm which had tons of problems (more than Rockit). It was known to many Knott's fanboys as a "mechanical nightmare." After years of operating, it closed and the park filed a lawsuit against the designer, TOGO, which led to the death of TOGO, as a company.
The ride was removed in 2001, and now the Xcelerator occupies that spot.
Personally, I take the BEST CASE SCENARIO if I were Universal. If they were to tear down Rockit, that will be just lazy of Universal, and the ride (despite all this) became a signature attraction and a favorite ride at USF to many (including myself). And the last thing the coaster world needs is the death of another coaster manufacturing company (Maurer).
Looks like it is finally confirmed... after nearly a year of speculation... I give you... Chang's new home and new look!
JACKSON — Six Flags Great Adventure plans to add a new, 15-story roller coaster to its stable of thrill rides.
The new ride will be named Green Lantern, after the DC Comics superhero, and will be the 12th roller coaster featured at the park, park officials said Wednesday.
The theme park plans on a public unveiling of Green Lantern in the spring, according to spokeswoman Angel Aristone. The opening of the coaster also will coincide with the release of a motion picture based on the Green Lantern comic book character.
Designing the structure will be the Swiss-based company Bolliger & Mabillard, an engineering consulting firm that specializes in coaster construction.
Bolliger & Mabillard also is responsible for designing roller coasters such as Nitro, Bizarro, Superman-Ultimate Flight and Batman the Ride--all featured attractions at Great Adventure, park president John Fitzgerald said.
"Six Flags is home to many of the biggest roller coasters in the world, and Green Lantern brings an all new dimension of thrills,'' Fitzgerald said in a statement.
Officials said Green Lantern will stand 154 feet tall and reach speeds of up to 63 mph.
The newest coaster will offer a 2 minute ride and will begin with a 45-degree vertical drop before rocketing riders through five inversions … including a 121-foot-tall loop, a 103-foot dive loop and a 72-foot inclined loop.
Six Flags Great Adventure is home to Kingda Ka, considered the tallest and one of the fastest coasters in the world.
Green Lantern will be located in the boardwalk section of the theme park, Aristone said.
Anyways, the colors look great! And the ride looks amazing with TWO TUNNELS!! =D
Cheetaka:
BGT continues to tease us with teaser videos... but this time, this one looks more exciting:
Someone made a Youtube video of a video they posted on the teaser site. From the looks of things... this looks like some of the POV of the coaster (from the second trench to the area before the former wet portion of Rhino Rally).
And if those colors are the official colors... that means "Yay!" for two green coasters! Seriously though, those colors look AWESOME! =D I also like how it gets close to the Skyride with those twisty-looking airtime hills! =D And the track... it looks like INTAMIN track (I am aware that Intamin was confirmed with the track piece, but I'm still in shock that I'm finally seeing an Intamin coaster in Florida). =D
Ratmead continues to excite us with cool BGT coaster pics:
These look to be from the second trench (at least I THINK that). These also seem to look like from the old wet portion of Rhino Rally.
In construction news, they've finally begun to dig the third trench (that goes under the path from Nairobi to Edge of Africa). See pics here:
And let me say, the Big Bad Wolf's removal last year was involved. It seems there will be an expansion involving both that area and the old Drachen Fire area. The expansion is rumored to include a drop tower (2011) and a new coaster (2012). And it seems like it will be announced TOMORROW.
Here's some reports from Screamscape for more info:
2011/2012 - Tower Ride / New Land / Flying Coaster - Rumor - (9/16/10) BGWFans has some new details about the upcoming announcement for the Williamsburg parks. In short, the drop tower is still coming, but will likely have a structure around the lower part of it like Dr. Doom in Florida. Catapult looks like it will be moved to New France, buildings revised, and coaster still on track for 2012. (9/8/10) I’ve been told that Busch Gardens Williamsburg will make an announcement about their big plans for the next two years at both BGW and Water Country USA on September 18th. (7/29/10) BGWFans has found the first group of numbered survey markings placed around the Katapult ride. As I’ve come to understand, numbered survey markings like this are actually the various control points that will surround the area to be surveyed… kind of a numbered sequence of markers that if you could connect the dots, you’d be able to draw an outline around the area where the construction will be taking place. Since some of the markings are inside the actual Katapult ride area, I’d guess that it is likely safe. (7/22/10) Busch Gardens Williamsburg has put in a building permit to the local county planning office for an expansion to Germany that will include new food buildings, walkways and “a major ride and ride locations”. You can read it yourself here. (7/11/10) Time to shake up the rumor mill… as we’ve been sent a new rumor about BGW’s next coaster project tentatively planned for 2012. According to our source the new coaster could actually come from a German company. I’m going to assume Schwartzkopf is still out of the picture, and they would likely avoid Maurer at this point given the troubles Universal has had with the Rockit coaster. This pretty much narrows things down to Mack and Gerstlauer. While Mack is mostly known for the Mouse coasters, they did make a big splash into the launched coaster market last year with Blue Fire, and their spinning coasters are very cool as well. Plus they have a long standing relationship with the Busch parks. While Gerstlauer hasn’t been used by the former Busch parks yet, their impressive Eurofighter line of coasters (launched and vertical lift hill varieties) have already proven to be very adaptable to highly themed environments as seen with Dollywood’s Mystery Mine and Hansa Park’s Curse of Novgorod. A highly themed indoor/outdoor ride like this would be a great fit into BGW’s already impressive coaster collection. (6/10/10) According to a report about the meeting BGW had with the local council about getting a waver to build their new drop tower ride, the park was granted their request. The few details given about the ride seemed to indicate that it may be placed on the old Big Bad Wolf site. Comments also mentioned at the meeting regarding noise issues and such seemed to indicate that the ride would not be fully enclosed either. (4/29/10) According to the local news Busch Gardens Williamsburg has applied for a height waver to build a new “tower” style attraction, “not to exceed 260 feet above ground level”. The plans suggest that the tower will be built in the Germany section of the park next to Der Wirbelwind swing ride. The funny thing is that I had first posted a rumor that an application for a height waver around 250 feet way back in January. And if you go back to a little over a year ago, we announced that one of Busch’s next two big thrill rides would indeed be a freestyle style drop tower ride. If the plans from one year ago remain the same, this new drop tower ride will actually be enclosed inside a dark castle themed structure, inspired by the Mystery Castle ride from Germany’s Phantasialand theme park. I’ve embedded a video below giving a unique, looking up from the ground, view of the Mystery Castle ride. This seems to offer a ride experience more like Disney’s Tower of Terror ride with speedy Up and Down movements along with special effects along the way. For comparison’s sake, the German ride is listed as being 65 meters tall, or 213 feet. The idea of adding drop tower ride at BGW isn’t new however, as various plans have been drawn up at different times over the past decade. The first plan I had heard of was way back in 1999 when the park was coming up with plans to retheme the Hastings area into Ireland for 2001. While the only ride that made the final cut for Ireland was Corkscrew Hill, the land was actually envisioned to have a massive new signature attraction at one point, a pair of S&S Space Shot towers with the lower halves enclosed within a Castle themed structure, with the tops half of the towers poking out from a pair of tall castle spires. If this sounds familiar to anyone who has visited Florida’s big theme parks, it should, because the concept was an admitted copy of the brand new (at the time) Dr. Doom FearFall towers at Islands of Adventure. As for this new version… I guess it’s finally time to see if the new owners are ready to build something as impressive as this could be, or if it will be stripped down in concept to be a more simply, plain and ordinary outdoor drop tower ride. More when we find out. (1/31/10) A Screamscape reader tells us that Busch Gardens Williamsburg may have applied for a 250 ft height waver for a future attraction at the park, likely for the 2011 season. Can anyone else confirm this? (1/25/10) One of our readers put together a little documentary video for everyone to enjoy entitled, “Say Goodbye to the Big Bad Wolf”. It was shot during a last second trip to the park to visit the Wolf one last time just days before it was to close down for good. (12/29/09) It seems BGW’s Christmas Town event was popular enough that not only will it return in 2010, but they’ve put out a sign to say that it will expand into Italy next year. Take a look over at Behind The Thrills. Now for the bad news as I’ve been told that there is no longer any trace of the Big Bad Wolf coaster as you can see in the pictures posted here. (12/4/09) A pic a friend gave me shows that the drop over the Rhine River is the only thing standing left from Big Bad Wolf. (12/1/09) Christmas Town starts. Now for some bad news, almost all of the Big Bad Wolf is gone. They have the second and first lifts, and the drop over Rhine River still intact, but no sign of anything else. Shame… (11/9/09) The Big Bad Wolf will get an exhibit. (9/9/09) A tribute video for the Big Bad Wolf has been posted to Coaster-Net. (9/8/09) From what I’ve been told Big Bad Wolf was pronounced dead at Busch Gardens Williamsburg last night at about 8:42pm. The lines were said to be fairly large on the last day until a spot of bad weather hit which ended up causing a good percentage of park guests to pack it in for the day early. Sunday seemed to also be a very good day for the Wolf with the average line length reported to be 60-90 minutes all day and the park extended hours to keep the Wolf running later into the night so everyone in line could get their final rides in the front row. According to one reader, the park was supposed to close at 9pm and the Wolf was running until 10:45pm on Sunday night. So sad… but I’m going to end this with a reader review of the Wolf’s final day. “I have been riding the Wolf faithfully since she opened in 1984, and like many thousands of fans, have been saddened at her retirement. I did, however, make the most of her final season, and have enjoyed a few dozen rides on her in the past 4 weeks. I was at Busch Gardens when the gates opened this morning with my 6 year old son, and we were among the first riders of the final day to go out of the station in her first run of the day. It was awesome, and though sad, it was also a great way to pay respects to a coaster legend. It was also neat to be amongst the hundreds of other riders who were there to say so long, many of whom were in vintage t-shirts and hats that dated back to the Wolf's heyday! We will all miss her and only hope that her replacement will be half as grand as she was. Goodbye Big Bad Wolf, and retire knowing that you have thrilled millions in your 25 years! We will all miss you!” (9/7/09) Today is supposed to be the last day for the Big Bad Wolf! Give her proper send off and for those of you who have bought the Save The Big Bad Wolf T-Shirts, lets see some pictures of you wearing them at the park! Sadly, it was already reported to me that the park has already removed the Wolf from their online park map. So sad… (9/3/09) BGW wants to remind everyone that you only have until this Friday at 3pm to put in your bids to be one of the final 24 riders on Big Bad Wolf. The money does go to a good charity, the Busch Wildlife Conservation Fund at least. Looks like the top bidder is a huge one, having bid $27,300 for just one seat. Umm… that’s more than all the rest of the bids put together…wow… for that you could have bought every seat on the train and had a private last ride. (9/1/09) According to the Bruce Wilson, the park’s Communication Supervisor, “anyone in line for The Big Bad Wolf prior to park closing will be able to ride. The last ride, however, will be reserved for the top 24 bidders in the auction.” So there you have it… and while I’d love to be there for the last ride myself, I’ve got to pity those who bought tickets to do so, as it could be a very very long wait for that privilege. (8/30/09) The countdown to Save the Big Bad Wolf is on… as the last day is set for Sept. 7th. If that wasn’t bad enough, the park is trying to take advantage of enthusiasts now and is going to auction off the last seats on the last ride ever. How sad and tacky… I was hoping we could see some kind of massive crowd of people on the last night, howling all the way, filling the queue to the point that they would have to keep the Wolf open for several hours after the park closes just to give everyone a last ride. Now they’re going to try and organize it into one final ride? I just don’t see how they can do that without knowing how long the line of legit riders is going to be unless they’re going to do something extra insulting and close off the line several hours before the park even closes, thus denying the regular park guests the chance to get a last night ride in. (8/13/09) Before it’s too late, I’ve summoned the aid of well-respected artist and coaster enthusiast JM Toussaint, to create a special T-Shirt design for our Save The Big Bad Wolf effort. JM Toussaint is a concept designer who, among other things, worked on the Dania Beach Hurricane at Boomers, the TransDemonium dark ride at Parc Asterix in France, The Cobra coaster at Admiral Vrungel's in Russia... He also created the RCDB logo and is currently working with the Dreamland Trust on plans to revive the legendary amusement park in Margate, UK. If I’m not mistaken, he is also the man responsible for nearly every cover of First Drop Magazine, the publication of the European Coaster Club. Now please do head over to PrintFection to check out our new official Screamscape Gear store where you can view our cute Wolfie T-Shirt design. I chose PrintFection to create the shirts after hearing some good reviews for them, and also the fact that they seemed to have reasonable prices, and allowed me to put these shirts up for sale with zero mark-up from myself. So just in case anyone is wondering, I’m not making a dime off these items, they are all being sold at PrintFection’s lowest cost. Pick up a shirt and wear it to the park to show your support and love for The Big Bad Wolf! (7/28/09) The About.com Theme Park page has posted a poll to get your opinion about the closing of the Big Bad Wolf. Meanwhile I’ve been told one of our readers make it on the air at a radio station in New York City to bring some attention to the closing of the Big Bad Wolf and our efforts to keep the coaster around for future generations. An online petition has just been started to Save The Big Bad Wolf so please do go and sign up. (7/25/09 - Updated) I’m afraid it is official now, Busch Gardens Williamsburg has come clean with their plans to rip apart the Big Bad Wolf. Even worse, according to their press release you only have until Labor Day (Sept. 7th) to ride it, so it won’t be open through Howl-O-Scream which is a shame as a night time ride through the woods in the dark is as big a part of Howl-O-Scream to me as the haunts themselves. It’s almost funny as they say they are making the announcement now so fans can get a last ride in, but they’re only giving you a little over a month’s notice and without Howl-O-Scream rides, I know there sure is no way I’m going to be able to make it back one last time to pay my respects. In the press release and new FAQ on the park’s website they keep saying that Big Bad Wolf has “reached the end of its service life” which is a bunch of crap. All rides need care, repair, and maintenance as they get older. The truth is that the Wolf is simply run out of “budget money.” It’s all bad timing as they want to build something nearby, want to create a better access pathway to former Drachen Fire site and with the economy the way it is, it’s just easier for them to deny the budget to make any needed preventative maintenance work. Knowing Busch Entertainment as I do, I’ve always said that Busch has been more than willing to pay top dollar to buy the best rides and coasters they can get their hands on. As the capital for these projects comes from the corporate office, they get approval nice and easy... but for some reason Busch never has a good budget to maintain things after the fact... and the older something gets, the harder it is to push a maintenance budget for anything through the red tape, department meetings, and so on. After all the budget needed to maintain and keep Big Bad Wolf running has to go up against other things... like kitchen upgrades, new gift shops, restaurants... you know... things that make money and give a quicker Return on Investment. So when the VPs all sit around and haggle over which projects will make the budget on any given year, you can pretty much count on the ‘operations’ and ‘entertainment’ side of things getting the shaft every time since they don’t directly bring in income like Food and Merchandise departments and don’t have the ears of the corporate masters like the HR and Marketing departments do. What almost makes this more insulting is that while they claim they have other ideas they are looking at for the Big Bad Wolf site in the future, they claim that those projects are far enough away that they haven’t been finalized yet. And yet... Big Bad Wolf has an “established timeline to dismantle this major attraction.” Sounds like they’ve had this in the works for some time to me! So why are they removing the Big Bad Wolf so early then? From what I’ve been told (off the record) it is because that when they do get around to announcing the unimpressive lackluster plan that is in place, they would rather have the Wolf be only a memory and a non-issue, rather than face the negative feedback from park guests. So I’ve got to ask everyone... are you willing to fight for the Big Bad Wolf? Then you’ve got to write in, call in, or visit guest relations and let them know just how upset you are about this. I’ve seen coasters come and go... but something about the Big Bad Wolf has always been special to me, and I don’t think that I’m alone. Frankly, I’d rather see the Loch Ness Monster sent to the scrap-pile long before Big Bad Wolf was ever touched. While Nessie is a bit unique itself... it is not nearly as unique or as amazing as the Big Bad Wolf is. Once the Wolf is gone there will only be 3 suspended coasters left in the USA (Ninja, Flight Deck and Iron Dragon). Internationally there is also the Vortex in Canada, Vampire in the UK(which was upgraded a few years ago with new floorless trains) and Eagle’s Fortress in South Korea. On a global level, only Eagle’s Fortress has been able to give the Wolf some competition as to which one is the best in the world. There are also a small handul of Vekoma made version of the same ride system such as Grampus Jet in Japan, Sky Coaster in Thailand and Dream Catcher in Europe, the later two were both upgraded to Floorless trains as well. I really think Busch Gardens is just “missing the boat” here and not trying to upgrade and save the Big Bad Wolf for the next 25 years. It’s just ironic that a park that is supposed to care about “preservation” and protecting “endangered species” has been so quick to sentence one of the most rare coaster designs in the world to an early death after only 25 years. The marketing folks just can’t see the value is reinventing this classic ride for another 25 years and the bean-counters are all too quick to deny the budget for it so they can pay off InBev’s debt from the purcahse of Anheuser-Busch. To be honest... had InBev never come knocking at Busch’s door with their take-over, I don’t think that this would be happening right now. Here is the official press release from the park... read it and weep. I did... WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (July 24, 2009) – After 25 years traveling at the speed of fright, The Big Bad Wolf will take its last trip through Busch Gardens’ Bavarian village Sept. 7. “We hate to see The Big Bad Wolf go,” said John Reilly, Busch Gardens’ general manager. “We realize The Big Bad Wolf is a guest favorite. We’re making the announcement now so coaster fans can ride one last time before it closes after Labor Day.” The world’s first suspended roller coaster took coaster design to a new level when it opened in 1984. And while it cannot claim to be the fastest or the tallest, more than 29 million guests have ridden what has become one of the park’s most beloved thrill attractions. Legions of fans—young and old alike—often cite it as their introduction to the coaster experience. “The Big Bad Wolf offers a thrilling ride experience coupled with aggressive ride dynamics. While it remains a safe attraction, it has simply reached the end of its service life,” said Larry Giles, Busch Gardens’ vice president of engineering and design. Park officials are reviewing several design concepts for a new park attraction to replace The Big Bad Wolf, but no announcement is planned at this time. (7/14/09) A few of you have already send off comments to the park in support of saving the Big Bad Wolf however it seems that the park has already drawn up a general reply letter where they give off the same line that we’ve heard before, “While the park's management appreciates your comment, the company has a long-held policy against commenting on rumors or speculation concerning future park attractions.” Keep it up for now though... the battle isn’t going to be won in a day. I came up with a new idea today, one that was also suggested by a reader as well, that we come up with some kind of T-shirt design for the enthusiast crowd to wear into the park that clearly says something about saving The Big Bad Wolf as a way to let the general public know about the park’s plans to remove this world class coaster. The park can see fit to blow off enthusiast claims to keep the ride as a “minority opinion” but if we can bring this news to the attention of the rest of the park guests who will also complain, there may be a chance we can Save The Wolf! Meanwhile one source claims that the public outcry that started earlier this summer over the leaked plans to remove the Wolf may have been enough to ensure it returns for the 2010 season, but the plans to remove it are still alive and well. I think they failed to understand how much people loved this coaster, on top of the higher upkeep costs involved with a coaster of this age. After 25 years of operation, the ride’s systems could use some upgrades and the trains are also nearing the end of their life span and need replacing. Instead of embracing the opportunity to buy new “open body” style trains that would increase the thrill of the ride as well as increase the rider’s visibility, they are instead opting to drag the old girl off into the woods on a date with a shotgun which is just sad beyond words. (7/13/09) Bad news for the Big Bad Wolf this week. Ever since we brought the story to light to the greater public that Busch Gardens Williamsburg was possibly seeking to remove their most popular family coaster, The Big Bad Wolf, the park and all rumors about it went dead silent. All attempt to find out more information about this over the past month have been met with a brick wall… as no one associated with the park is willing to talk about it either way. In fact… no one wants to talk about the Wolf at all, which is concerning as this summer is the Big Bad Wolf’s 25th Anniversary… (1984 – 2009) and yet the park jumped at the opportunity to hail the Loch Ness Monster’s 30th Anniversary last summer. If your luck enough at all to get a question about the future of the Big Bad Wolf off to someone who might be “in the know”, about all anyone has gotten so far is the standard “I can’t comment about future blah blah blah…” Of course as I’ve said for years, when it comes to situations like this, it’s not always what they say that matters, but sometimes what they are not saying matters just as much. If you were to ask one of the members of management if a rumor that they were going to remove Griffon next year were true, they would surely short and tell you that was complete hogwash. And yet no one is reacting that way to the rumors of The Big Bad Wolf’s demise. I know sometime that a particular ride’s time has come… and it’s removal while sad was just a matter of time, but I don’t believe that this is the Big Bad Wolf’s time at all. If you visit the park, be sure to stop by guest relations (or e-mail them) and tell them how much you enjoy riding it. How having the Big Bad Wolf has really made every trip to Busch Gardens special for you and your family. Tell them how much your kids loving being able to ride it, as it was the only major family friendly coaster in the entire park. Let them know you care and how upset you would be if they removed it… because once the Wolf is gone… it’s gone forever. It was custom built to take advantage of the park’s terrain and there is no way it will ever be moved to a new location. Surely there has got to be a way to keep the coaster and build whatever expansion plans they have for the former Drachen Fire location. To hell with the three little pigs… save The Big Bad Wolf! (6/1/09) For the past week or so I’ve been trying to track down any solid leads to a very disturbing rumor about a popular ride that could be leaving the Williamsburg Park... and so far I’ve only met with silence. I’m not convinced this rumor is true so I’m going to keep digging until I find out more, but on the off chance that it is true, I feel everyone deserves a fair warning so you can start planning a trip to get your possible last ride in. That said, the nasty rumor buzzing around the park is that this could be the last season for the Big Bad Wolf. While the coaster certainly isn’t as popular as it’s bigger and newer B&M cousins, Big Bad Wolf is still a very popular ride. On top of having a most interesting pedigree as a ride that started out under Schwarzkopf and ended as an Arrow Suspended Big Bad Wolf is generally considered to be the very best Suspended coaster ever created anywhere. For those reasons alone, I find it shocking that Busch Gardens would even consider removing this coaster, on top of the simply fact that Big Bad Wolf is the only true full scale Family Coaster they have in the park with a height limit of only 42 inches, compared with 48” for Nessie and 54” for Apollo, Alpengeist or Griffon. Personally, I know I was able to use Big Bad Wolf as a great transition coaster for my oldest son as he moved up away from the kiddie coasters and was ready to try something bigger but wasn’t 48” yet. Big Bad Wolf was the perfect kid, as a full scale awesome ride and I just can’t believe they would be so dumb as to remove it only to make room for a new access pathway to provide better access into the former Drachen Fire area for the rumored new land. There has got to be a way to keep the Wolf and add the new land, so I can only hope that this rumor is wrong wrong wrong... please let it be wrong. They wouldn’t dare... would they? (4/16/09) Our spies tell us that the park still has big expansion plans on deck to add a new land to the park, taking over the former site of Drachen Fire. The unfortunate side of things is that many of Busch’s big plans were put on hold when InBev took over the company, so there is no telling if this plan is still moving forward or just on hold for the moment. Either way, it seems that the multi-year plan to build an entirely new country (Spain is the most likley) in still very solid. It’s all a matter of “when” and not “if” at this point from what I’m told. In addition to adding a new train station to service this area on the line, we’ve heard about two major new attractions that will also be fighting for your attention. One would be the chain’s second B&M Flying coaster, where the design will be based on what they’re learning from Manta right now. Like many of the rides in Williamsburg, I’d expect this one to be an even bigger and longer coaster than what we’ve seen from Manta already, and given the location, I can help but wonder just how close some of it may some to Big Bad Wolf, or perhaps even diving down close to the river. The second big attraction being talked about would be actually something unique for the Busch parks, their first true “freefall” style tower ride. However don’t expect to see another Drop Zone style tower or something as basic as that. From the sound of things, they want to keep the entire experience INDOORS... offering an experience more like Mystery Castle from Phantasialand in Germany. Since this is a multi-year project, let’s assume the plan is to build up the land in complete phases, so expect one new ride with each phase if everything gets approved. (10/30/07) The latest whisper on the wind in Williamsburg indicates that there may be a possible multi-year plans to add a new country at Busch Gardens Europe. A multi-year build plan is very likely as we’ve seen Busch do with SeaWorld Florida’s Waterfront area. Over the years different counties have been mentions as possible future projects, but some say that they’ve heard Spain mentioned specifically as a primary choice in the past. As I recall, the park currently has an old England area, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy… so there are still other options as well such as Greece. (10/24/07) We’ve heard an interesting rumor for Busch Gardens Europe today that gives us a good location to watch for the park’s next big expansion in 2009 and possibly beyond. In short, we’ve been told to keep our eyes open for a possible fourth train station to be added to the line, this time in the German area of the park. Things get interesting when you realize that the best place to put down a new train depot in Germany would be back along the existing tracks near the old Drachen Fire spot, which is a fairly large and undeveloped area currently being used for the three back-to-back Never After haunt experiences. Given the massive size of this area alone, it could be used for anything from a massive new coaster to a large new themed land. Of course the bigger the size of the development, the bigger the chance that this could become a project that will take more than one year to build out, so 2009 may just be the beginning.
BTW, some reports I added/edited the quote, because of its involvement with the expansion (I forgot what was quoted, and that's why I edited).
As for the coaster, I have this strange feeling that it could be one of these possibilities:
CHEETAKA CLONE:
Usually when BGT adds a new coaster, BGW adds something similar (Montu to Alpengeist, SheiKra to Griffon). I have this feeling that they may clone Cheetaka if it is successful.
But say that tradition is broken (Blackstone ownership), then there's always...
B&M Flying Coaster:
If you look at an early report, it seems like one of the possibilities of a new coaster is a B&M Flying Coaster that swoops down the Rhine River (with the design based on Manta). That's why I think it's possible.
MACK Launch:
Now this one is one I hope comes true (or the B&M Flyer/Cheetaka clone rumor). I rode Blue Fire at Europa Park last summer, and it was EPIC!
Gerstlauer Eurofighter:
I haven't been on an Eurofighter yet, but they DO look cool.
So who knows what coaster? But I do know that it will most likely take over the old Big Bad Wolf spot (from an article).
ORLANDO, Fla. -- One of Universal Orlando's most popular rides has been closed for days. WFTV spent Friday working to find out if Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit's closure is because the manufacturer issued a service bulletin (read it) about one of the ride's parts.
A Universal spokesman told WFTV the roller coaster's closed due to maintenance.
The ride is a wildly-popular roller coaster at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, but for three days it has gone nowhere.
"What happened when you got up there and you couldn't go on it?" WFTV reporter Ryan Hughes asked a park guest Friday.
"We were leaving, it was closed, that sort of thing. Go on to a new ride," the guest said.
Universal officials cited maintenance as the reason for the closure, but it comes in the midst of a recall involving one of the ride's parts.
The ride's manufacturer says the coupling bars on the coaster's vehicles can become loose over time; they're used to keep the rider inside the car.
Universal spokesman Tom Schroder insisted that is not the reason why the roller coaster is closed. In a statement to WFTV, he wrote, "We are obsessive about safety. We have aggressive inspection and safety programs in place for all our rides and attractions. Those programs meet or exceed all manufacturer guidelines. Anything in a September 2nd manufacturer’s advisory would have been dealt with weeks ago. Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is temporarily closed for unrelated maintenance."
Schroder would not confirm if the ride had the defect in the past, but chatter on Internet blogs indicates it could have something to do with the shut down.
The service bulletin, issued by Maurer Söhne on September 2, 2010, identifies issues with "the coupling bar of our X-Car vehicle." According to the bulletin, the company will have to revise the design of the coupling bar and the "repair solution or new design will be available in approx. 2-3 months."
The bulletin was very specific that operation of rides using Maurer Söhne's X-Car Coaster must immediately stop.
"Any operation of the Sky Loop or X-Car Coaster with tandem train must be immediately and strictly stopped until the examination has been evaluated!" the company wrote in the service bulletin.
Rip Ride Rockit opened in August 2009. It's considered an "X-Car Coaster" that was designed by Maurer Söhne, who at the time it opened called it the largest roller coaster of its kind in the world.
Visitors were turned away at the entrance to the roller coaster Friday. A spokesman told WFTV rides are inspected every day at Universal and closures are common. He added that the theme park is obsessive about safety.
A ride attendant told WFTV reporter Ryan Hughes the roller coaster will be closed until further notice.
AHHH!!! Okay... these problems are giving me an awful headache! I had a nightmare at one time (took place in the future): I was visiting Universal and I noticed they were tearing the ride down. I really don't want that to happen because of this!!!!
This is my first episode of "What If...?," a new series of blog posts stating the possibilities of what parks could add.
Here it goes:
What if... Universal Studios Hollywood were to build a clone of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit? It seems like a suitable outdoor coaster addition to USH. HRRR is a pretty quiet coaster, so I doubt the noise will affect the film and TV production.
Where would it go up? I'm not sure where it would go up. I did come up with this possibility... reusing the old Castle Theater (being used for a temporary special effects show) for the station/queue line, and the vertical lift can be behind the Animal Actors show (which will become indoors not to disturb the animals), and the drop should go up over a service road followed by the Double Take. They can also take out Coke Soak for the first two block brakes. They can put up the treble clef out behind the Terminator building. They can put up the jump cut by the double take, and the crowd surfer can punch through the old Castle Theater building. The final half (third block brake, drop tuning, plot twist, and final brake run) can go up in between another service road and the Simpsons Ride building.
I'm just bringing this up because of the possibility of Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott's Berry Farm adding coasters and how long USH has gone without building a coaster (and not to mention SeaWorld San Diego is rumored to build a new coaster soon). This is just speculation and will probably not happen... or probably will. Who knows? I'm just bringing some speculation.
I'm interested in the history of Rockit and Manta when they were just rumors. Well, here are the rumors I have found for Rockit (unless I miss something, these are all the rumors of Rockit before the announcement):
2009 - Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit (Project Rumble) - Confirmed - (3/20/08) Today I can add the official artwork and logo for Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit. Thanks to having access to the high-rez artwork, I can zoom in on that giant loop and as you can see, this is exactly the non-inverting loop that I mentioned yesterday. I’ve also included a photo I took at IAPPA 2003 which is a close up of the unique lap-bar only restraint system they use on the X-Cars as well as a new aerial image of the site. Please note that the red area does not indicate the exact area where the coaster will go, only the general open areas where we think it could go. So far the description only says it will go between Jimmy Neutron and the Blue Man Group theater, and nothing at all has been said about the old empty Boneyard site. I’ve also posted the official descriptions of the ride from Universal Orlando below: Adrenaline pumping and music thumping, you find yourself heading straight toward the sky. Suddenly, you are doing 65 mph, 17 stories over Universal Studios. Gasping with excitement, you rock out to a song you picked before strapping in. And, it’s all on video. Once the adventure is over, you edit the video to send to your friends. This is true high-tech, customizable, multi-sensory entertainment. Scheduled to open in spring 2009, Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit will stake its claim as the most technologically advanced roller coaster in the world. The Universal Creative team is combining audio and special effects engineering, sophisticated on- and off-board video and one-of-a-kind guest personalization to create a roller coaster experience unlike any other. “This is the perfect intersection of the digital age and theme park entertainment,” said Mark Woodbury, President of Creative for Universal Parks & Resorts. “Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit blends roller coaster intensity and guest interaction in a way where no two experiences will be the same.” Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit touts six near-miss moments and first-ever thrills including a record-breaking loop. Ride vehicles feature the brightest and most innovative color changing LEDs in the world. High-energy visual displays fill the queue line. With up to four ride vehicles on the tracks at any given time, and with concert lighting and special effects mixed in, Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit will be a true high-intensity, multi-sensory experience that is unmatched. Guests can customize their ride experience by choosing what song will play while they’re on the roller coaster. LED boards in the queue lines will display song options from five genres (classic rock, rap, country, pop and disco). Once on-board, guests can choose their song or let the coaster’s digital sound system choose for them. When the ride is over, guests will be able to customize footage from their experience and compile it into a take-home music video. Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit will be located near the Jimmy Neutron attraction traveling the southern perimeter of the Universal Studios theme park, over to the CityWalk lagoon and back. (3/19/08) The Orlando Sentinel has posted a first look at Project Rumble, now officially called “The Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit”. The high speed coaster ride will feature a massive 167 foot tall tower and feature several inversions, twists and turns as well as run out over a section of Citywalk when it opens in Spring 2009. Universal explains that the ride will feature video displays in the queue, color changing LED lighting, digital audio and video effects during the ride. The rest of the ride was described as squeezing in between Jimmy Neutron and the Blue Man Group theater building on it’s way to Citywalk. On the tech side, Mark Woodbury (Pres. of Universal Creative) claimed that the coaster would enter the digital age by allowing riders to customize the personalize the ride experience by choosing your own music track and the ability to download your music video run on the coaster for use on the internet. As you can see in the artwork, this is clearly a Maurer Sohne creation and appears to use a two unit X-Car train along with the vertical lift hill. I’ve got one more important item to note however about this coaster. A Screamscape source tells us that the article is wrong on a few important facts. They tell us that the coaster will have no inversions at all. It will instead have a ton of heavily banked and over-banked turns and one major unique feature… the world’s first non-inverting loop. It will look like a vertical loop at first, but the track will twist around as you go up allowing the train to go over the top of the loop upright, then twist and dive on the way down to keep you upright again. (2/15/08) A number of new permits have been filed for Project Rumble lately: “Project Rumble Media” to David Kuida, “Offboard Surveillance System” to Technomedia, “Onboard Lighting, Audio and Power” to Show Systems Integrators, “Project Rumble Trusses” to Universal Manufacturing Corporation as well as another contract to Magic Carpet for “Project Rumble Conveyor Belt System”. (1/16/08) A Screamscape sources dug a little deeper into the Project Rumble permits and noticed that they mention the site as “potion of Lots 6 and 12.” From what they were able to find out, Lot 6 is the soundstage area and Lot 12 is the main Universal Studios Florida theme park, which indicates that the narrow strip between the two I highlighted a few weeks back may very well likely be the site. Of course, ignore that big lot in front of the Blue Man Group theater… most people agree that the coaster will not venture out there. (1/14/08) For all the Nay-Sayers out there who always think I’m full of crap, today we have the proof that Project Rumble is indeed a Maurer-Sohne coaster with a permit filed by Universal Orlando on 1/11/08 for the “Project Rumble Ride System” to contractor “Mauer Rides GmbH”. (Okay, technically they did misspell Maurer… ) (12/24/07) The latest buzz on Project Rumble backs up the rumors that the coaster will be from Maurer Sohne. It was also mentioned that the coaster will likely feature a “Vertical Lift” though previously we had heard that it wont have the Skyloop element, so perhaps this may be something closer to the vertical lifts we’ve seen on Gerstlauer Eurofighter coasters. (12/17/07) Orlando Rocks has posted a few photos of the general area behind the boneyard site where I believe the coaster may run. (12/11/07) Given some of the various clues and hints I’ve been uncovering about Project Rumble, I’ve come up with the following graphic showing off the “open” areas where I think the coaster could go without closing anything, running mostly up the long narrow empty strip that runs from the front of the Blue Man Group theater field, behind Neutron, a station in the Boneyard and room to put a turnaround or other elements back by Twister’s outdoor queue and the end of the New York street area. I have no idea how much of this site will be used, this is just a rough idea of the possible open areas where they “could” build it. (12/10/07) In the latest updates about Project Rumble, Screamscape is now hearing some conflicting stories about the fate of Jimmy Neutron. Despite previous rumors indicating that Neutron could be closed to make way for the new ride, new information claims that neither Neutron nor Twister will be closed for the new coaster project. In other news, the name of yet another European coaster company, Maurer-Sohne, has come up as the possible builder of the new ride. Maurer has never been known for their big coaster projects, nor much of anything involving long coaster trains. They’ve mostly focused on short single car style coaster experiences (Wild Mice, Spinning Coasters) and their new X-Car creations, staying away from larger long layouts. If this development is true, then I have to wonder if this ride will be a Junior or Family Hyper style coaster ride at all. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. (12/7/07) Screamscape sources tell us that the Jimmy Neutron attraction was signed to a 5 year contract when it opened in 2003 which will obviously come to an end sometime this year, making it the most likely victim at this point for being closed down. While a cute attraction and a cheap makeover of the old Funtastic World of Hanna Barberra ride, the low capacity for this ride system has always been a concern. (12/6/07) Screamscape has heard a few new updates about the Hollywood Dream project. First off we’ve been informed that it was decided that this coaster will not be called Hollywood Dream. I didn’t think that the name would stay myself… but apparently they have yet to come up with a new suitable name at this point in time. Meanwhile some new construction permits have been seen filed from Universal for a “Project Rumble”, which I’m assuming is likely for this new coaster. The “Notice of Commencement” is for “Project Rumble Architectural Services” being contracted out to BRPH Architects. Their website doesn’t show much in the way of theme park related construction, but I’ve seen them credited before in the overall construction of Islands of Adventure, some Citywalk improvements, work at the Brevard Zoo and the new Shuttle Launch Experience attraction at Kennedy Space Center. I’m guessing that this early design work could perhaps be for a new large structure to take up the current Boneyard. Now for a little bad news… B&M will apparently not be involved in this new coaster as they were unable to fit the project into their busy schedule for a 2009 completion date, leaving the bidding war between Premier Rides and Vekoma. The early buzz is that Vekoma may have made the winning bid, and I’m not sure I like the sound of that. Of course, the new style track Vekoma used on Expedition Everest did give a great smooth ride, so if they use a similar system on this ride things may turn out well. On a related note, we’ve also heard that Twister may not be the attraction to be removed after all… so now I’ve got to wonder if it’s really Jimmy Neutron getting the ax. Anyone know more? (12/5/07) A Screamscape source tells us that if you look carefully around the old boneyard area between the Jimmy Neutron and Twister soundstages you can see survey markers. This was one of the possible locations we had heard mentioned for the rumored Hollywood Dream coaster. From what we’ve been told the survey work was done as part of the planning for a new attraction that could start construction sometime in 2008, which would most likely mean a 2009 opening. Again, this matches the rumored Hollywood Dream timeline. Even stranger however, is that our source tells us that not only will the new attraction take up this space, but also take over one of the nearby attractions as well who’s contract is apparently just about over. Since Jimmy Neutron is only a few years old, I’m going to guess that the clock is ticking on Twister, though the film itself was co-financed by both WB and Universal. Twister opened in 1998…so the timing is certainly right for what could have been a 10 year contract. Time to get your last rides on Twister in I suppose, just in case they do shut it down later this year. (11/2/07) I’m not sure if these mean anything or not, but I’ve been told that orange survey markings were spotted on the asphalt “in front of the Theatre and Television Production building just behind and off to the right of the Boneyard (about 40 feet outside the portable queue barrier.)” I kind of forgot about it, but the large empty Boneyard location would perhaps be an ideal location to locate the station for the Hollywood Dream coaster. (10/30/07) Screamscape has heard that Hollywood Dream project has been bid out to several major coaster manufactures right now: B&M, Premier Rides and Vekoma. All three of which have provided coaster hardware for Universal Orlando before… B&M with Hulk and the Dragons, Premier did Mummy and Vekoma did Flying Unicorn and Woody’s Nuthouse. The only problem is that of the three… only B&M have experience with Hypercoasters, though Premier Rides has done it’s share of large outdoor coasters, but I believe they have all been LIM launched creations. Vekoma… ummm… no. I don’t even want to think about what a Vekoma hyper would be like. (10/26/07) For the last several weeks I’ve been hearing a new rumor that honestly I just wasn’t ready to believe. Not that it wasn’t believable… but the way things are shaping up in 2009 for the Central Florida theme parks, it was just the icing on the cake for an park enthusiast’s dream come true. If the rumor holds out, we’ve heard that Universal Studios Florida may be planning on adding their very own version of the Hollywood Dream coaster added to Universal Studios Japan earlier this year. In that case, it was a family sized junior hyper-coaster style design made to swoop, turn and dive over the entrance and Hollywood themed area of Universal Studios Japan, all with an on-board soundtrack system allowing riders to choose one of five different soundtrack options. Now I’m hearing that a similar concept is in the works for Universal Studios Florida in 2009 since in all likelihood we wont see the Harry Potter area completed until late that year or in 2010. Universal’s previous track record says that they would buy a B&M most likely for this project, but right now if all the rumors hold true (SeaWorld & Busch Gardens), that means we could be seeing three new B&M coasters added to central Florida in 2009 along with a rumored spinning Ratatouille coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios followed by the rebirth of an all new version of Space Mountain as well. Like I said… a coaster enthusiasts dream come true. Do we dare to dream?
My name is Kyle and I am a University of Central Florida alumnus in Digital Media. I have been a long-time roller coaster/park enthusiast; however I used to be afraid of coasters. That all changed after I rode Dragon Challenge for the first time in 2006 (RIP) on the Ice/Hungarian Horntail side. Since then, it's been upward from here; fast forward to today, and I've ridden some of the tallest and fastest coasters in the world. I've also visited parks throughout North America and Europe. And I'm not done yet; in fact, I intend to design a theme park myself!
