It’s almost time to ROCK once again!
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios has been closed for refurbishment since early January, with Disney only saying that the Aerosmith-themed attraction was “planned to reopen in summer 2024.” However, after some poking around on Disney’s website, we think we’ve found a NEW clue about its reopening date!
We previously saw a clue about the roller coaster’s opening date on the My Disney Experience app, and now an update on the website seems to confirm our suspicions.
According to Disney’s website, Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith will be open on Saturday, July 27th. Its hours are listed as the standard 8:30AM to 9AM for those with early theme park entry, and Hollywood Studios’ normal operating hours of 9AM to 9PM.
Disney
Despite being down for almost all of 2024 so far, Disney has confirmed that there have been no major story changes to the ride, and this was a “routine refurbishment” meant to address typical wear & tear and maintenance issues.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster’s reopening marks the return of one of the most important rides in the evolution of Hollywood Studios and Disney World overall. When the coaster first opened in 1999, it was the first major thrill coaster at Walt Disney World, and the first to have an inversion at any of Disney’s then-five American theme parks.
The ride’s use of Aerosmith was also the first time Disney embraced a “current” pop culture property on this large a scale: At the time, Aerosmith was one of the most popular bands in the world, and coming off a #1 single “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.” According to urban legend, Disney also approached or at least considered using The Rolling Stones or U2 for the ride. This watershed moment arguably reverberates today through the company’s approach to “current” intellectual property in parks.
Aerosmith’s presence on the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was a major change for Disney at the time.
Recent years haven’t been kind to the attraction. For starters, it’s seen lengthy down time thanks to the aforementioned wear & tear issues that necessitated its refurbishment,. Then, there’s Aerosmith. There has always been a contingent of fans who felt that the band and their image were… inappropriate for a Disney park — they are the “Bad Boys of Boston” after all — and those feelings have only intensified thanks to the legal issues Steven Tyler has encountered in recent years.
This has led to rumors that the attraction is going to be rethemed, though remember that Disney has not confirmed any sort of retheming. Fans have speculated that the coaster could be rethemed to everything from Queen to Mickey Mouse to The Muppets. So far, said rumors are unfounded, and Aerosmith and their logos will remain in the G-Force Records building when the coaster reopens.
Are you ready to rock?
After a long, and much-needed refurbishment, you’ll be able to ride the Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster and rock out with Aerosmith again starting on July 27th. Stay tuned to DFB for more news on Disney World’s rides.
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I’m looking forward to the ride when we go back in December. However, I wish the cast members wouldn’t stand in the back during the Aerosmith pre-show and yell out the dialogue along with Aerosmith. It’s so
unprofessional and tacky.
One of my absolute favorite rides of WDW! I wasn’t even a big fan of Aerosmith growing up, but this ride , with iconic music and thrills just makes you feel such excitement that is ageless!
For a while, I was hoping they would have re-themed it to an Ironman ride like they did in Paris. Which would have lead to a new Avengers campus in Hollywood Studios. But it seems like it’s just going to be the same old ride.
The Disney app is showing wait times for Rockin Rollercoaster. Is it already open?
Hi Christa! Disney had a soft open for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, but it seems like they’re still trying to work out the glitches as the ride was going down quite a bit when they re-opened for the soft launch.