What's new

Coasters with on-board audio

cp23

Mega Poster
What do people think of on-board audio on roller coasters, and what roller coasters are there with this feature?

I've experienced it twice (Vogel Rok, Efteling and Terminator Salvation, SFMM) and found it really added a great deal to the ride, made Vogel Rok more magical and helped make Terminator feel more wild/out of control. X:\ NWO may have had on-board speakers at one point, not sure, it may have just been speakers placed round the track.

So, what other coasters use this feature?
 
X2 at SFMM has a variety of different sound samples and snippets of song during the layout and it adds so much to the ride. It starts off with an old 1950's swing love song, which kinda fades out like a radio going out of tune and turns into Metallica's "Enter Sandman" on the lifthill.

Builds the tension like absolutely nothing else.
 
I think X:\ NWO does or did have on-board audio - wasn't it some guy saying he'd spotted an alien or something? I can't remember, it's been awhile.

The only other coaster I can think of with audio is Rock 'n' Rollercoaster which plays Aerosmith!
 
X:/No Way Out never, as far as I know, had on-board audio. It had loud speakers inside but not actually on board the trains.

There doesn't seem to be many coasters with it but I agree that the ones that do are so much better because of it. Others I can think of are:

Rock 'n' Rollercoaster @ Walt Disney Studios Paris
Space Mountain: Mission 2 @ Disneyland Paris
Blue Fire @ Europa Park
Vogel Rok @ Efteling
Rip Ride Rokit @ Universal Studios, Florida

I think there are a few more but I can't think of them.
 
The on-board audio systems on the Bizzaro rides were kinda pointless I thought.

At SFGAdv the speakers barely worked and when they were working they were just chanting some stupid 'BIZZARO' voice. It might have been a bit different if they had been working properly, but I didn't rate them.

As for SFNE they were actually an inconvenience. The audio track just felt a bit pointless but the big speaker units prevented me putting my arms up fully and enjoying the airtime. Gavin also said this and he's taller than me, so if it was a pain for me I'm sure it would be annoying for others.

So my two experiences of it were pretty average to be honest.
 
peep said:
X:/No Way Out never, as far as I know, had on-board audio. It had loud speakers inside but not actually on board the trains.

Really? Hmmm, maybe I'm thinking of a different ride then....
 
Terminator, California Screamin' and X2, and honestly, it does nothing for me. Terminator the entire thing, was a joke to me. California Screamin' is entertaining, but honestly not even that remember able, and X2 is by far the bes that utilizes it. What happens with me though, is I tune it out during the ride, so when the break run hits, I think, oh hey, there is on board audio.
 
I've done Rock 'n' Rollercoaster (FL) with their audio track. It's quite a good build up having Steve Tyler yelling a countdown and then you have rock music throughout the ride. Awesome.
 
jayjay said:
It's quite a good build up having Steve Tyler yelling a countdown

I didn't think so, I thought my ear drums were going to burst :p

Oh yeah and The Incredible Hulk Coaster has a bit of audio - when you're going through the tunnel, not throughout the entire ride though.
 
X:no way out does have on-board speakers. They are still there, too.

http://www.rcdb.com/846.htm?p=8741

They are within those bulging bits to either side of the front cone, where a steel mesh is screwed on top.

You may notice the trackwork also has an electrical contact rail along its entire length to power them. The bright red strip underneath

http://www.rcdb.com/846.htm?p=12577

Which I think makes it the only coaster to use such a system, as most just charge batteries onboard the train when it is stationary in the loading blocks?

How long the system lasted I have no idea. I do remember it, but not in recent years.



Space Mountain at Disneyland Paris was the first implementation of onboard audio back in 1995.

Since then it has been used quite a few times, but with vastly varying degrees of effective and longevity.


Other coasters I know of that use on board audio include:

California Screamin', Rock n Rollercoaster (x2), Space Mountain (x3), The Mummy (x2), Hollywood dream, Time Machine, Life in the Fast Lane, Roundabout, Terminator Salvation (removed), Rip Ride Rocket, X2, the Bizarro rethemed rides
 
Hixee said:
The on-board audio systems on the Bizzaro rides were kinda pointless I thought.

At SFGAdv the speakers barely worked and when they were working they were just chanting some stupid 'BIZZARO' voice. It might have been a bit different if they had been working properly, but I didn't rate them.

I agree.
 
By far and away, the best onride audio has got to be X2!:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNLKgkI9CkQ[/youtube]

Is everybody in?
X..x..x..2..2..2!
:D

I rememeber Terminator's music being far too loud, although it did add a little bit to the ride (Take the tunnel!!!). I haven't heard the reasons why the audio was removed, although I'm sure the excuses will be ridiculous.

Both Rock n Roller Coaster's also has awesome music playing.

So, yeah, I'm all for onride audio. :)
 
Wow, I've never noticed that on X:/NWO, I must have only ridden it since they got rid of it.
 
I've actually ridden X2, but don't recall the audio. Is it always working? There weren't any flame/fog effects either when I rode X2 (summer '09).

Ah the Mummy, one of my favourite coasters, must have forgotten that that had on-board audio (was 6 years ago that I went on it).

Are the on-board speakers on X:\ NWO still in working order, and it's just that the park no longer uses them? Was it the on-board speakers that produced the helicopter sound effects etc.? Or did other stuff come out of them? To be honest this just makes me even more sad about the sorry state of the ride :-(

I genuinely thought that Terminator Salvation's audio improved the ride considerably! I really thought the soundtrack was great. I heard that the removal of the audio is only temporary, and that it will be/has been put back.

I vaguely recall reading that Europa Park's Blue Fire has on-board sound, anyone know whether that's true or not?
 
^Blue Fire does have audio (as I mentioned in my first post in this topic :roll: :p) and I think it adds to the ride, needs to be turned up a bit more though.
 
peep said:
^Blue Fire does have audio (as I mentioned in my first post in this topic :roll: :p) and I think it adds to the ride, needs to be turned up a bit more though.

Sorry, when I typed that I remembered someone had put a list of them but forgot to go back and check whether Blue Fire was on there. :oops:

What exactly is the audio? Music/dialogue/sound effects?
 
Hehe, that's ok. It's a piece of music which I think sounds great. Sounds similar to Space Mountain: Mission 2's soundtrack at DLP.
 
Top