Walt Disney World's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster closing for lengthy refurbishment in early 2024

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Posted: Wednesday December 20, 2023 6:43am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World will close for refurbishment in early 2024.

The hugely popular roller coaster ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios will close Janaury 8 2024 to begin refurbishment

The fan-favorite rollercoaster will close on January 8, 2024, and a Disney spokesperson has told WDWMAGIC that it will reopen in summer 2024. Disney has also confirmed that the closure is a routine refurbishment.

The ride has been experiencing extended downtimes in recent years, and a lengthy refurbishment in 2023 was expected to address those issues. However, since the 2023 refurbishment, reliability issues have persisted, and this refurbishment may be another attempt at a resolution.

The possibility of a retheme of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster lingers, although there are no plans that we are aware of. Speculation has surrounded Aerosmith's involvement with Rock 'n' Roller Coaster for years, and recent accusations against frontman Steve Tyler have intensified rumors of a replacement for the band.

The Muppets Mayhem creator Jeff Yorkes, co-creator, added weight to speculation that a Muppets Mayhem makeover may be coming to Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. Posting on Twitter in response to a June 2023 article discussing the rumor, Yorkes said, "Not gonna lie-- this was absolutely part of our original pitch and is another piece of this dream. Fingers-crossed that it happens." However, it was recently reported that The Muppets Mayhem has been canceled after only one season on the Disney+ streaming platform, making a Muppet retheme now seem unlikely.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster will be closed for at least a couple of months in 2024

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JoeCamel16 days ago

Steven passed on that fine piece of pork? I'm surprised, I thought he would do any.......

mysto16 days ago

Miss Piggy was snubbed by Tyler, he'll hath no fury....

TheMaxRebo16 days ago

Likely a combination - bet they have been at least open to rethemeing it/removing Aerosmith for a while and so this became a good spot to move Muppets when they wanted to appease Muppet fans by not fully removing them from the parks

Disstevefan116 days ago

Then I will stick with: Since they are destroying Muppets 3D they wanted to do something for the fans and make this Muppets. ;)

ToTBellHop16 days ago

3. Aerosmith is retired and their music is no longer culturally relevant. I think we can ignore its problematic lead singer as he was always problematic. Yet they waited.

Disstevefan117 days ago

I think they are doing it for two reasons: 1, They don't want to pay Aerosmith anymore. 2. Since they are destroying Muppets 3D they wanted to do something for the fans and make this Muppets.

Cmdr_Crimson17 days ago

It's interesting that all of the tie in with them was due to the success of Bruckheimer's Armageddon film and their song "Don't Want To Miss a Thing" since it loudly played in the exit hall when you left the store..

Cmdr_Crimson17 days ago

Also this is now a version of them where Steven Tyler's Larynx isn't damaged and they didn't retire last year..... Seems like a good time to drop what doesn't exist anymore...

Prince-117 days ago

The theme and music will be changing but not the coaster itself. All will be good.

dmc49317 days ago

What do you mean? I was on a tour of the music studio and they dragged us to their show... backstage passes too!

Mr. Sullivan17 days ago

I don't think that making it a Muppets overlay is really going to change anything about the ride experience. It's the same ride everyone loved this whole time, just with Muppets rather than Aerosmith. Was anyone really getting on RnRC just for Aerosmith?