Rumor: New trains for HRRR?
A new rumor has surfaced on Screamscape, and it sounds great for all Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit!'s fans!
It includes adding brand-new trains, that would be much more comfortable and that may actually make the ride reliable (no, I'm not even kidding. This coaster can become reliable. It's not a dream. Maybe.).
Here you are part of the article from Screamscape, that we really thank a lot. See what you think about it:
_________________________________________________
Over the past few months the Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit did reopen and quietly went back into regular daily operations, all the while hoping everyone forgot about that long bout of unexpected downtime last year. Before the downtime, there were a few rumors about impending changes on the way to the ride which never took place, due to the last year’s problems. Now, almost everyone is silent on the matter. Almost...
According to a Screamscape source, Universal and Maurer got together and performed a little upgrade to one of the ride’s trains in an effort to improve the ride experience. This new car has been running the rails for awhile now, mixed in at random with the other cars, in order to judge the guest reaction. Hearing comments from you readers all the time about this coaster, I’d have to say that the new car seems to have gone unnoticed, as the comments are generally the same as before, with the ride having a hot & cold reputation both before and after. As such, the cost to upgrade the entire fleet of cars may not be justified.
This is where the other interesting rumor comes in, as I’m told that Universal is also rumored to have shopped around the idea of buying entirely new trains from other coaster companies. The list of those asked is pretty much the usual suspects… B&M, Vekoma, Premier and Intamin. Before you get too excited, I’m told B&M has already turned down the project, which isn’t surprising as they turned down the chance to build Rockit in the first place. The other three are said to have submitted basic bids on the project, and ideas on how they would do it, and any other items of note for Universal Creative to base their judgment on.
Premier could be an interesting choice, and they do have a successful lap-bar only system that could handle the Rockit’s layout. The park maintenance team is also familiar with Premier trains from the nearby Revenge of the Mummy coaster as well, which is a plus.
Vekoma would also be an interesting choice, if they were to opt to use Vekoma’s new and very comfortable restraint system, which is great for riders of virtually all sizes, but also has the safety of an OTS system, without the need for a redundant seat-belt for quick loading.
Finally there is Intamin who have apparently submitted the idea of switching over to use their Maverick style train design, complete with standard Intamin OTS restraints. I would imagine they are thinking of using three of their 4-passenger cars per train to keep the train capacity up to at least 12 riders.
So which way will the Rockit go? Nothing has been decided upon yet it seems, but it seems a safe bet that Universal doesn’t want to keep things going the way they are any more either. So stay tuned and maybe you can get a lucky ride on the new car.
According to a Screamscape source, Universal and Maurer got together and performed a little upgrade to one of the ride’s trains in an effort to improve the ride experience. This new car has been running the rails for awhile now, mixed in at random with the other cars, in order to judge the guest reaction. Hearing comments from you readers all the time about this coaster, I’d have to say that the new car seems to have gone unnoticed, as the comments are generally the same as before, with the ride having a hot & cold reputation both before and after. As such, the cost to upgrade the entire fleet of cars may not be justified.
This is where the other interesting rumor comes in, as I’m told that Universal is also rumored to have shopped around the idea of buying entirely new trains from other coaster companies. The list of those asked is pretty much the usual suspects… B&M, Vekoma, Premier and Intamin. Before you get too excited, I’m told B&M has already turned down the project, which isn’t surprising as they turned down the chance to build Rockit in the first place. The other three are said to have submitted basic bids on the project, and ideas on how they would do it, and any other items of note for Universal Creative to base their judgment on.
Premier could be an interesting choice, and they do have a successful lap-bar only system that could handle the Rockit’s layout. The park maintenance team is also familiar with Premier trains from the nearby Revenge of the Mummy coaster as well, which is a plus.
Vekoma would also be an interesting choice, if they were to opt to use Vekoma’s new and very comfortable restraint system, which is great for riders of virtually all sizes, but also has the safety of an OTS system, without the need for a redundant seat-belt for quick loading.
Finally there is Intamin who have apparently submitted the idea of switching over to use their Maverick style train design, complete with standard Intamin OTS restraints. I would imagine they are thinking of using three of their 4-passenger cars per train to keep the train capacity up to at least 12 riders.
So which way will the Rockit go? Nothing has been decided upon yet it seems, but it seems a safe bet that Universal doesn’t want to keep things going the way they are any more either. So stay tuned and maybe you can get a lucky ride on the new car.
_________________________________________________
Yep, it looks like B&M is already out of the scene (but, as Screamscape said, it's not a surprise, as they didn't want to build HRRR from the beginning). Anyway, the other options don't sound bad! What do you think? Have you ever been on a coaster that uses Premier cars (no pun intended)?
Premier makes pretty good trains. Vekoma used to use Arrow Dynamic trains on some of their coasters causing many to complain about roughness but Vekoma now uses their own and have gotten alot smoother. Intamin is a company you absolutely do not want making the trains for HRRR.
ReplyDeleteAlmost every project they touch ends up in a serious accident or has a critical failure in the design.
Out of the three, Premier and Vekoma would be my choices. Premier's are smooth but they aren't designed for long legs, but that wouldn't be an issue on HRRR. Vekoma's would be interesting to say the least.
Vekoma has lots of accidents, too, and if you've ridden a Vekoma anywhere but Florida or California, you'd change your tone about them.
ReplyDeleteScreamscape has some bad info about the "new train" already on the track. This is 100% wrong... there is a new design in the works, but it's being held up by a couple of lawsuits from the OEM on their end (not opening on time, downtime commitments, part stress failures, lift tower issues leftover from construction, problems with the height limit they originally wanted, etc). Plus, the ride never pulls in the crowds like it was intended to, so you won't be seeing a new train for quite some time. Instead, the only changes you might be seeing are some queue video/onboard audio changes in the next year or so (these still have to get approved), along with the removal of the "secret" tracks and updated off-ride video.
Thanks for the comment, Austin.
ReplyDeleteAnd, lots of thanks also to you, Solidat, for your info! That's really interesting! Not to be curios, but do you work for Universal Orlando?
You know, I can't answer that.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry a bit, Solidat. I completely understand. Thank you so much for your great and interesting comment, though!!
ReplyDelete