The Hulk launches riders upward 150 feet (46 meters) and
reaches top speeds of 67 mph (108 km/h). The ride has a
total of seven inversions and two subterranean trenches.
© Orlando CVB
#1: Incredible Hulk Coaster
Where: Universal's Islands Of Adventure
Launched: May 28, 1999
Design: Launched
Top speed: 67 mph
Inversions: 7
Duration: 2:15
Height restriction: 54 inches
Source: Roller Coaster DataBase
Keep cool, this coaster's got a temper.
The Incredible Hulk Coaster, located in Marvel Super Hero Island at Universal's Islands of Adventure, is hard to miss as you wander through the theme park right across from Universal Studios. With its glowing green track piercing the skyline and the growls of the track loud enough you can hear it from afar during your visit in the park, this roller coaster is one mean green flying machine.
Passengers line up through Dr. Bruce Banner's laboratory, as a queue video explains how Banner turned into the Hulk and how each one of his experiments to reverse the effects backfired. The ride begins as Banner seems to repeat history with his gamma ray experiment. His voice is heard saying "Everything looks good", only for it to immediately go wrong when the coolant level drops. The coaster ascends through a 150-foot tunnel and in a matter of moments passengers roar through a zero gravity roll up and down the 3,700-foot track, at some points reaching as low as the waters of the lake that borders the attraction.
The coaster takes passengers upward 110 feet with a drop of 105 feet, goes from 0 to 40 miles per hour in just two seconds and while uphill, reaches a peak speed of 67 miles per hour and has a total of seven inversions and two subterranean trenches. The weightless rumble through the track requires the force of an F-16 fighter jet. Clearly this ride is nothing short of a treat for adrenaline junkies.
So much that it's consistently one of, if not the highest ranked attraction on theme park enthusiasts' best-of lists and Orlando tourists' to-do lists. Orlando Sentinel named it Florida's best roller coaster in its 101 Best of Orlando feature for 2008. TravelMuse named it one of the top amusement park rides for teens, calling it "the ultimate fast-and-furious ride". The Coaster Critic rated the coaster a 9.5, praising its opening sequence and zero gravity inversions as among his all-time best experiences. In 1999 - its first year of operation - Discovery Channel viewers named it the #1 best roller coaster.
Because the Hulk coaster is one of the flagship attractions at Universal's Islands of Adventure, wait times tend to be long. For information on how you can avoid these lines, check out my article on how to enjoy a visit to Orlando during the peak tourist season.
Just five months after its opening, the Hulk coaster was featured in the movie "House on Haunted Hill", an item of trivia I pointed out in my "movie tour of Orlando".
Comments
Hulk is definitely an example of B & M coaster greatness, but so is Manta. Manta actually stole Hulk's #1 spot in my book because of the uniqueness of the riding position. Now if they could just shoot you out of the life like they do with Hulk, it would be perfect! (Well, maybe not because that would make that first Manta loop even more of a back breaker).
I getting grenn thinking about it
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