Who Wins in a Battle of the Rocking-est Roller Coasters?
Roller coasters have been incorporating music and on-board speakers for some time now. But two roller coasters that opened this year have taken the riding and rocking theme to new heights.
The Time Machine (formerly Led Zeppelin – The Ride) was revamped by the new owners of Freestyle Music Park. The B&M looping roller coaster features six loops, a top speed of 65 mph, and it’s partially built over water. The new owners took a ride with one track; Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”, and tricked out the theme with snippets of over 50 tracks from five decades. Riders will board a train with music from either the 60′s, 70′s, 80′s, 90′s, or 00′s every time they ride. The decade is chosen randomly and the snippets kind of narrarate your 3,700 foot journey.
Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit is Universal Studios Orlandos much-hyped Maurer Sohne coaster aimed at being “the world’s most exciting non-inverting roller coaster”. The layout features several first of their kind elements including the highlight: a huge non-inverting loop. On Rip Ride Rockit, guests can choose their track from five genres. There are 30 tracks from Classic Rock/Metal, Rap/Hip Hop, Club/Electronica, Pop/Disco, and Country. Note: There are also a ton of hidden tracks, but for this showdown I’d like to exclude them as the average park-goer wouldn’t know they existed.
Have a look at the song lists from each of the rides:
Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios Orlando
Standard Track List:
Classic Rock/Metal 
“Born to Be Wild,” Hinder
“Bring Me to Life,” Evanescence
“Gimme All Your Lovin’,” ZZ Top
“Kickstart My Heart,” Mötley Crüe
“Paralyzer,” Finger Eleven
“Rollin’,” Limp Bizkit
Rap/Hip-Hop
“Don’t Phunk With My Heart,” Black Eyed Peas
“Insane In the Brain,” Cypress Hill
“Pump It,” Black Eyed Peas
“Rock Star,” N.E.R.D.
“Sabotage,” Beastie Boys
“Stronger,” Kanye West
Club/Electronica
“Busy Child,” The Crystal Method
“Harder Better Faster Stronger,” Daft Punk
“Intergalactic,” Beastie Boys
“Keep Hope Alive,” The Crystal Method
“Le Disko,” Shiny Toy Guns
“Pump Up the Volume,” MARRS
Pop/Disco
“Bad Girls,” Donna Summer
“Glamorous,” Fergie
“Hella Good,” No Doubt
“I Will Survive,” Gloria Gaynor
“That’s the Way (I Like It),” KC and the Sunshine Band
“U Can’t Touch This,” MC Hammer
Country
“All Night Long,” Montgomery Gentry
“Guitars, Cadillacs,” Dwight Yoakam
“I Can Sleep When I’m Dead,” Jason Michael Carroll
“Living in Fast Forward,” Kenny Chesney
“Midnight Rider,” The Allman Brothers
“The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” The Charlie Daniels Band
Listen to the song list on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit’s web site.
Time Machine at Freestyle Music Park
Track list from each decade in proper running order:
60′s
Mrs. Robinson – Simon & Garfunkel
House of the Rising Sun – The Animals
Turn! Turn! Turn! – The Byrds
Aquarius – The Fifth Dimension
Light My Fire – The Doors
Foxy Lady – Jimi Hendrix
The Lion Sleeps Tonight – The Tokens
Help! – The Beatles
Wild Thing – The Troggs
Respect – Aretha Franklin
Satisfaction – The Rolling Stones
I’m A Believer – The Monkees
70′s
Carry On Wayard Son- Kansas
Le Freak – Chic
Brick House – The Commodores
Call Me - Blondie
Already Gone – The Eagles
Life In The Fast Lane – The Eagles
Boogie Wonderland – Earth, Wind & Fire
Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees
Rock and Roll All Nite – Kiss
Funkytown – Lipps, Inc.
80′s
Girls Just Want To Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
Thriller – Michael Jackson
Mickey – Toni Basil
We Built This City – Starship
Danger Zone – Kenny Loggins
Here I Go Again – Whitesnake
Material Girl – Madonna
Whip It – Devo
It’s The End Of The World As We Know It – R.E.M
90′s
Gonna Make You Sweat – C+C Music Factory
Vogue – Madonna
Basket Case – Green Day
Livin’ la Vida Loca – Ricky Martin
Bullet With Butterfly Wings – Smashing Pumpkins
Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice
Larger Than Life – Backstreet Boys
Dammit – blink-182
Everlong – Foo Fighters
Wannabe – Spice Girls
Semi-Charmed Life – Third Eye Blind
2000′s
Fergalicious – Fergie
Ride Wit Me – Nelly
Just Dance – Lady GaGa
SexyBack – Justin Timberlake
Elevation – U2
Pump It – Black Eyed Peas
Low – Flo Rida
Ain’t No Other Man – Christina Aguilera
Get The Party Started – Pink
Since U Been Gone – Kelli Clarkson
I have to give credit to Freestyle. After losing the Hard Rock licensing and Led Zeppelin theming, they really turned lemons to lemonade and made the best of the situation. The decade-time machine theme works. I only wish riders could chose the decade that they were going to listen to while riding. You could ride several times and never get your favorite decade.
I do like Rip Ride Rockit’s ability for riders to be able to pick their tracks and as I mentioned, but initial reactions to Rip Ride Rockit’s song list were pretty mixed. See my “Song List”post. But, I’m curious to see how it fairs when it’s compared to another ride’s list. Music is always a pretty objective and polarizing topic. I’ll chime in with my official ‘take’ or opinion after I’ve heard from some commenters.
What’s Your Take?
Which roller coaster does the best job of incorporating music? Which track list do you prefer? Leave a comment below.
September 16, 2009 at 11:07
I think that universal should include the hidden songs on the regular list because when I go I know i'm defanitly going to choose free bird and immigrant song. Most people don't know about the hidden songs and they will be forced to choose the 30 songs on the regular list. Go to this website that tells you some of the hidden songs. http://www.attractionsmagazine.com/blog/2009/08/2…
September 16, 2009 at 13:45
tomorrow at about 12:47, it will be a month since I rode rockit. The sound was SO CLEAR IT WAS BETTER THAN BEING AT A CONCERT! It doesn't need the music to be my favorite ride ever. I haven't ridden time machine, but it sounds good too.
also, check out park sleuth for an official harry potter land video.
September 16, 2009 at 15:01
I agree Schwarz. They should include the hidden tracks in the standard list. I don't know what the purpose of getting permission to use all of those songs if most guests won't even know they're available.
September 16, 2009 at 15:37
Those Black eyed peas songs are hardly Hip hop but ah well thats a minor moan. If there are hidden songs how do you activate them, sounds like a stupid idea to me, it would make more sense if they just released more songs for the ride as this would generate abit more publicity.
September 16, 2009 at 15:56
I think they will add more OFFICIAL songs from the "hidden" songs, but not necissarily new songs, like we will rock u ( im sad it wasnt included:-( )
September 17, 2009 at 03:55
HOW TO ACTIVATE HIDDEN SONGS: hold rockit logo for 5 seconds, release, and type in a three digit number from 31-999.
Pingback: Rip Ride Rocket vs Time Machine | FSMP Blog.com
September 18, 2009 at 07:57
Whoever thought of the hidden songs must be a gamer, sounds way to complicated for most people to bother with. Hidden content works well in games as once people have paid for the game they can play as many times as they want, how many people are going to really go to this park loads of times in a year and remember to do this? Id say a very small percentage of people compared to those who find hidden things on games.
Whats the list of hidden songs? If they have paid a decent amount for the rights then they really are being abit stupid, one or two lesser known hidden songs would be a clever idea and add to the novelty but anymore than that and its a waste.
September 18, 2009 at 12:31
well, if you choose a hidden song, it does not make a video. i think thats stupid. if you discover the HIDDEN stuff, you should get extra stuff downstairs 4 your vid.
September 18, 2009 at 16:00
Why did you leave out Rockin roller coaster out?
September 18, 2009 at 21:28
I just wanted to compare these two because they're both new for this year. Plus, my roller coaster showdowns are usually one versus another.
ScreamScape has Rip Ride Rockit's hidden tracks. There are a ton and I agree that it doesn't make much sense to have the rights to all of these if most people won't access them. Maybe they want to update the ride over the years and move tracks from hidden to standard over time.
September 19, 2009 at 10:27
and rockin roller coaster is only one song in a train
September 1, 2010 at 17:05
I've heard 'Rip, Ride, and Rockit' has much better sound quality than 'Time Machine' had, so I suppose I'd choose RR&R, seeing as I never went to Freestyle Music Park, and the last time I went to Universal Studios was about 6-7 years ago…
July 18, 2011 at 19:45
Hollywood rip ride rockit
June 24, 2012 at 15:48
rip ride rokit
March 28, 2013 at 23:05
rip ride rokit