Video: Ride the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster at night

Now that our clocks have been pushed back an hour, guests at Universal Studios finally have a chance to ride the new Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster after dark.

The ride was certainly designed to be ridden this way, featuring a number of lighting effects along the track and on the sides of the unique coaster cars. Given the choice between riding the coaster during the day or at night, I would easily choose the nighttime ride as it not only adds additional lighting along the ride’s track, but also throughout the Universal Studios theme park and nearby CityWalk. These particular views are certainly unique to this ride, as no other Universal Studios attraction takes guests high into the air (you’ll have to head to Islands of Adventure for more tall thrills).

To allow you to experience it for yourself at home, here’s a new nighttime POV (point-of-view) video recorded in the front row of the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster along with a few shots of the brightly-lit coaster speeding along the track:

My preference has always been for riding outdoor roller coasters at night, so I’m not surprised that I enjoyed the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit more during this time of day. The vibrant colored lighting combined with a general sense of not knowing where you’re going next due to the darkness surrounding you creates a much more exciting ride for me.

For the moment, Universal Studios is only open until 6 p.m. and with sunset currently at roughly the same time, only a handful of guests get to experience this after-dark ride. However, the park will be open until 8 p.m. on Nov. 27 and 28, allowing more time to enjoy this attraction at night. Then from Dec. 19 – 25, Universal Studios is open until 7 p.m. followed by 10 p.m. closing times from Dec. 26 – 31.

Here are a few more images of the roller coaster at night: