Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 12 years and 7 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.
This past weekend I rode the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster for the first time at Universal Studios Orlando and really enjoyed it. I didn’t know anything about it before riding, so that first experience was really cool. You get to pick your own music from a selection of about 30 tracks and then rock out while you ride (I chose The Crystal Method’s “Keep Hope Alive”). After getting off the coaster, instead of the traditional screens showing a captured photo for purchase, I found an interactive kiosk that played back video of me on the ride. Each car has a video camera that records you on the coaster along with the music you selected.
So my daughter and I had this great idea: we’d ride again, both pick the same song, and then “dance” and lip-sync during the ride to make a really cool, one-of-a-kind music video! And that’s just what we did, to Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” The preview on the interactive kiosk seemed great (and hilarious, us singing along while the coaster loops upside down) so I ordered the $40 DVD and requested delivery to our hotel room. That was Saturday morning so the rest of the day and most of Sunday while we waited for the DVD to arrive we kept talking about how cool it was going to be.
We found the disc waiting for us in our room when we got back from Islands of Adventure on Sunday afternoon. I booted up the laptop, and played the disc. I knew almost immediately that something was wrong as “I Will Survive” started playing over the familiar Universal logo. Somehow I suspected right then that our video had not turned out as we expected it would.
When the video finally ended, my daughter looked at me crestfallen. The majority of it was animated graphics and computer-generated views of the roller coaster. Cut into this was the occasional video clip of us in the car plus some video from fixed cameras on the track as we whizzed by. None of our lip-syncing or dance moves “worked” since the music track of the DVD wasn’t synchronized with the music we were hearing on the ride itself. Maybe our expectations were too high, but the final result was so far off it was depressing … I felt tricked, duped. “A fool and his money …” I suppose.
After we got home, I went through the video clip-by-clip and came up with this breakdown:
Time our names were on-screen (text only) : 25 seconds Time our in-car video was on-screen : 32 seconds Time of fixed track camera video : 26 seconds TOTAL personalized time in music video : 83 seconds
You’re reading that right … only 58 seconds of the over 8 minute video actually showed us. Even the “ending credits” were longer (2 minutes, 17 seconds) because they listed the music credits of every song available on the coaster! If you check out the web page about the coaster on Universal’s web site, you’ll see this:
…Gasping with excitement, you’ll rock out to the song YOU pick before strapping in. And, it’s all recorded on video. Edit your adventure into a music video, and buy a copy to take home or send to your friends.
It’s true high-tech, customizable, multi-sensory entertainment. This groundbreaking combination of audio and special effects engineering, sophisticated on- and off-board video and one-of-a-kind personalization takes you on a coaster experience unlike any other.
Re-read that phrase I highlighted above. Is the 83 seconds of “personalized” video I ended up purchasing for $40 what they consider “all recorded on video”? The ride itself is 1 minute, 45 seconds long so that can’t be all. I didn’t care for (or want) the extra graphics and video that padded out the run time to over 8 minutes, I just wanted the start-to-finish in-car video of my daughter and I riding the coaster.
If you want to see what one of these videos looks like, there are a lot on YouTube. Here’s one that even has the Gloria Gaynor song so it’s pretty much exactly the same as mine except for 83 seconds. Notice that the first “personalized” clip doesn’t even show up until 1 minute, 31 seconds in.
I’ve written to Customer Relations at Universal about this and am awaiting a reply (reference numbers EM-254285 and EM-254384 in case anyone from Universal happens to see this). I’m sure by now it’s impossible to get the start-to-finish video of my daughter and I (if it even ever was possible) so I simply requested a refund. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
Am I over-reacting? I’d be interested to hear from other people who have purchased their video if they were satisfied with it. In the meantime, if I do hear back from Universal I’ll be sure to update this post.
Update (09/13/2011): I was contacted by Amazing Pictures Customer Support and they are refunding me the money for the DVD. I’m satisfied now, thanks Universal.
It looks like Universal has forwarded my complaint to the third-party that runs the video portion of the ride? I received this e-mail reply:
Dear [windracer],
Thank you for contacting Universal Orlando® Guest Services.
We have taken the liberty of forwarding your email to the Amazing Pictures Customer Service for appropriate assistance. Please be assured that a representative from this department will reply to you shortly. For your convenience, Amazing Pictures can be reached directly via telephone at 1-800-368-6386, or via email at cs@amazingpictures.com.
I hope this information is helpful. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to call us at (407) 224-4233, option two (2).
Again, thank you for contacting us.
Kudos to Amazing Pictures Customer Support. I was contacted by a representative and they are refunding me my money for the DVD.
Just returned from a trip to Universal and had exactly the same disappointment. Glad I found this post. Thanks!
Sorry you didn’t find it beforehand! 😉 I’m also sad to hear this hasn’t changed … I think a complete video of your entire ride (without all the editing) would be cool.
I found our video at the kiosk so funny I decided to buy it, not one of the employees ever said its only 8 seconds of you the rest is graphics! We are soo mad after paying almost 40 bucks for their animations!
I guess not enough people are complaining since the end product hasn’t changed. 🙁
Just bought the DVD today and was really surprised to find the exact same thing as you did. Not only that but the clerk there was complaining that we were the first couple in more than 2 hours to get a DVD. After watching it, no surprise there! The animated graphics are OK for the first 10 seconds… after 8 minutes it’s ridiculous. Wish I had found this post earlier but of course I didn’t bother to look!
Yeah, who would think to research that before going to the park and riding the coaster? I think Universal is counting on that impulse buy to sucker us in. I was able to get my money back from Amazing Pictures, so you can try that.
What they (Universal) really need to do is have a sample completed video there at the kiosk for people to watch so they know exactly what they are going to get.
After the ride, I watched my video at the kiosk and bought the video because my wife and kids thought it was so funny.
When we played it at our condo that night…the video did not even work. Only the CG video looking out worked. I did not even see myself once.
Needless to say…I was pissed.
My kids were so disappointed because they were to same to ride.
I will be getting a refund after I call.
I thought this was pretty pathetic considering this is Universal Studios.
I was totally surprised and very disappointed.
Same for me. Rode the coaster on 17th July 2013 as I have done many times before. Bought the video this time as the preview looked really amusing, paid $40 but when I got home found as others have that the majority is simply computer graphics with the occasional footage of us cut in. Very disappointing indeed. Have emailed both Amazing Pictures and Universal Studios and I am now awaiting a reply. There was certainly no indication when buying the DVD that it is not a full start to finish footage of the ride. Very misleading and disappointing.
UPDATE – Just had a phone call from someone at Amazing Pictures. She was very apologetic about my issues with the DVD saying that it isn’t the first complaint they have had and it won’t be the last as many people think they are going to get the full ride on DVD. Anyway she has agreed to refund me my money so thumbs up to them for that.
I know this is a dead thread, but I so wish I had read this before I purchased this DVD. I was so excited to watch the video that, as exhausted as I am, found a video converter online to put it in a playable format and queue it up. I am sorely disappointed. The video that I watched on their monitors was soooo much better. We are annual pass holders and have been for years, I plan on truly complaining about this. This is a rip-off from the word go. They should at least warn you and not preview such an amazing video to turn around and sell you this crap.
It’s not dead as long as people keep contributing. 😉 It saddens me, though, that this continues to be a problem 3 years later. Why they can’t just dump the raw ride footage onto the DVD for people who want it is beyond me.
The same has just happened to me today – bought the DVD for $42 thinking I was getting the ride footage as shown on the photo screens at the end of the ride – all we have is our arms flying around in the air (at least I think they are our arms!!). Complete rip off, won’t be purchasing any more ride photos from Universal, they’ve had enough money out of me!! I have emailed amazing pictures, hopefully I’ll be able to get a refund. Very disappointed, this product is a con!!
Rip-off Rip Ride Rockit! How very true. Just returned home very keen to watch the DVD. Expecting the video of my 7 year old daughter that had made us cry with laughter, to say I was disappointed is an understatement. Absolutely furious – it’s just one big advert from start to finish. The original, unedited video would have been a better advert for the ride – certainly not this load of junk which will be only going in the bin!
I continue to be surprised that Universal/Amazing Pictures hasn’t fixed this. I guess the complainers aren’t enough of a vocal majority. I’m sorry for everyone that has gone through this same disappointing experience as me (and find this post after the fact).
This same rip-off is still going on. Shame on Universal and shame on Amazing Pictures. The cute video of my kids that I paid for was destroyed and what they sold me instead was some cheesy ad for their roller coaster with few quick cut-aways to my children. I was lied to and defrauded.
We have just returned from Universal and the kids are disappointed with the CD. We feel like we were ripped off too. I was assured I could download it but haven’t found a way to share the disappointing footage with family after editing all the boring graphics!!
You should be able to put the DVD in your computer and copy the files off of there. Then with some basic video editing software you can trim out the unwanted parts.
We just returned from our great vacation at Universal Studios Orlando. We get home excited to see our THREE videos from the Rip Ride Rockit and and to our surprise my daughter’s video is blank… all it is is the template without any video of my dauthers enjoying themselves on the ride. Our other 3 videos of the rest of the family are fine although a bit disappointing that it’s more birds eye view that us actually. In any case, is there a way of retrieving the video? We were all in the same car in the first 3 rows. VERY DISAPPOINTING. BLANK VIDEO!!!
Sorry to hear that! My advice would be to contact Amazing Pictures for Universal Studios (cs@amazingpictures.com or 1-800-368-6386) and see what they can do. You paid for that disc so if the video is blank they should give you a refund.
Just to add that it’s all still true as of September 2016. I had no idea that it wasn’t “WYSIWYG” – the small preview presentation on the screen was just fine.
Because I make my own holiday films, I wanted the pure video file (.AVI, MP4, .MOV or whatever) and asked for this. The saleswoman explained that it is a .VOB file, but not that they would only be presenting 10-20 seconds of what we saw – even that is reduced to fit in a box within the presentation.
Just to add that the company did issue a refund after I sent the disc back… but no apology.
I’m sure they’re still making money and it’s probably too much work to change the setup. But still there are people who would pay for the raw footage, I don’t understand why they won’t make than an option. Probably licensing or something but still …
Still an issue on 10/1 – except we didn’t even get OUR video – popped it in to see two other riders enjoying the coaster (what little they showed of them)! Agree with previous commenter that there should be a sample video for viewing. I guess they make enough on those that don’t complain to not address the format.
The scam is still in effect in December 2016. Do not buy the DVD at the ride. I filed a complaint with Universal that they need to terminate their contract with the fraudulent video processing company “Amazing Pictures” (800-368-6386), who said they would offer a refund if I returned into the park (like I have another pass), or if I mailed the DVD back to them (no longer having evidence of the problem). Basically they leave the vast majority of people with no reasonable solution to their scam, and most people give up.
At the sales counter, they clearly showed the raw video from the ride, not shrunk into windows/frames. They may have been clipped some, but the impression is that the preview is just showing you some key sections of the video that are more interesting (drops, etc). No where is it implied that of the over 1:45 ride, that you will only get 32 seconds of video of you, and most of that is shrunk or has over lays on it.
Same thing just happened to me yesterday! I wanted the raw video footage, from start to finish. The preview at the Kiosk was hiliarious, to my surprise I get outdated computer graphics and my video shown for a fraction of their edit. At times, shrinking to a small window in the corner of the screen.
On the DVD they should have their music video version, and as another option, your full unedited ride.
Will try and ask for a refund.
June 2017 and I feel like we were totally scammed too! The kiosk video of my son was hilarious and assumed we would get the entire raw footage like the preview we saw. Even some of their cheesy graphics for an intronor at the end would be ok. But that DVD was crap and a waste of money. Will try like others to get a refund.
Everyone else said it… I will say it too… SCAM. I want my refund.
I bought it in 2019. Still trash. I didn’t know about the issues until now. When you watch the preview on the kiosks it shows the full ride unedited. So obviously I thought I was paying for that. When I showed the cd to my family I was so disappointed I cried. Customer support even tried to tell me “graphics were only added, nothing from the original ride was edited out” yeah sure. Such a scam, I wish more people knew about this.
I still can’t believe that 8 years since I posted this nothing has changed. They clearly have the entire recording of the in-car ride footage, why not just include it as a separate video file on the DVD? The fact that they continue to show prospective buyers at the kiosks a video that is completely different than the final product saddens me to no end.
Ha! I wonder if the “secret menu” still works.
Universal reduces Rip Ride Rockit coaster playlist