Disney Confirms Muppets Take Over Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios

Nov 22, 2024 in "Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith"

Gallery / 1 Photo
Muppets will be taking over Rock 'n' Roller Coaster

Posted: Friday November 22, 2024 10:11am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney has officially announced that the Muppets will be taking over Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Disney's Hollywood Studios, replacing Aerosmith. The news comes after years of speculation about the future of Aerosmith's involvement with the popular thrill ride at Walt Disney World.

Muppets will be taking over Rock 'n' Roller Coaster

The first hint of a Muppets-themed makeover came from Jeff Yorkes, co-creator of "The Muppets Mayhem" on Disney+. Back in June 2023, Yorkes hinted at the idea on Twitter, responding to a rumor article with, "Not gonna lie-- this was absolutely part of our original pitch and is another piece of this dream. Fingers-crossed that it happens."

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, known for its high-speed thrills and iconic rock soundtrack, recently reopened after an extensive refurbishment. The ride improvements focused on the ride system and lighting, but kept the Aerosmith storyline intact—at least for now. With Disney's announcement, the coaster will soon feature a new Muppets-themed experience, adding fresh energy and humor to one of Walt Disney World's fan-favorite thrill rides.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster overview

This announcement coincides with another major shift for the Muppets at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Disney has also confirmed that MuppetVision 3D will close to make way for the upcoming Monsters Inc. Land.

Details on the new Muppets storyline for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster are still under wraps, but Disney says "The Muppets will be taking over Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, teaming up with some of music's biggest stars for a rockin' music festival!"

Disney has yet to give a closing date for the current version of Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, but for now, fans of Aerosmith's iconic coaster have a limited time to catch their favorite band in action before the Muppets bring their unique twist to this high-speed adventure.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster overview

Discuss on the Forums

Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox

bmr15918 days ago

I'm a few pages late, but a lot of people are discussing how you can't really understand the story. I just wanted to say that that was also the case to most fans for Splash Mountain, but that didn't make it any less iconic.

etc988 days ago

But to be fair, it’s a queue in a space where a queue sort of makes sense. We’ve been taken in for processing before interrogation, so it makes sense we’re waiting for them to get through the backlog of all the people they captured. They made sure that in the places where there’s a sense of urgency (after the first Rey preshow as we rush to the ship, and after the interrogation preshow when we’re escaping), that there is no line. In the places where there is a line, they put a break in the story. They made sure that the story beats match the operational realities of running the attraction

denyuntilcaught8 days ago

Agreed. Guardians is an incredible roller coaster with top-tier technology behind it, just limited by a overburdened story by Imagineering that, as others have noted, is the result of corporate mandates.

ToTBellHop8 days ago

Fun fact: when I ride RnRC, they always leave the preshow exit doors open for me since I’m already a VIP. I pass through like

larryz8 days ago

Phineas, Ezra and Gus -- on a coffee break.

larryz8 days ago

Based on the re-do they did of Mission:Space several (several) years ago, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even bother to re-write the script, and just have all the dialogue repeated word-for-word by the Muppets in the new film.

larryz8 days ago

Ah, remember -- people who go to DLP are "sophisticated Europeans." Those who go to WDW are just dumb tourists from Colorado.

Ayla9 days ago

Kids, *this* is what critical thinking looks like. Bravo, sir. 👍🏻👍🏻

Mr. Sullivan9 days ago

I rode it for the first two times today and yes the storytelling on it is messy. But it's such a damn perfect roller coaster that I am more inclined to forgive it than if it was messy storytelling attached to a coaster like 7DMT. It's the best roller coaster on property and one of the top 5 in Orlando in my opinion, and if the only thing I can say about it is that it's story is a little incomprehensible at times well...it's not alone in that position in the roller coaster community.

JackCH9 days ago

Claire Huxtable’s and Seeker

WondersOfLife9 days ago

It's a roller coaster.... And that is all the park guests are thinking about. (Sadly)

osian9 days ago

Yes, you're right. It's so tiny compared to everything else, it's not the focus of attention at all in those first few moments. It took at least a couple of rides before I even realised it was there. And unless you happen to be looking at it when it disappears, you probably wouldn't have known that it had happened. The subsequent dialog then doesn't make sense. Also, because most people now head directly over to the right hand side to the doors, and first timers just follow along because they think that's what you're supposed to do, they probably miss the point as well. It's only when they realise the doors aren't opening, they turn round and see the pre-show continuing, but they've missed the beginning. Also, now they're all squashed over on one side of the room, they're pretty far away from where the action is taking place. And you can feel the frustration...oh, we've got to watch something else now before getting on the ride. All in all, this attraction is not Disney's best storytelling moment, there are so many flaws, yet they like to keep telling us how great they are at it.

Jayspency9 days ago

I think its easy to understand what's happening based on the pre show, but on ride I cant blame someone for being lost. The on ride storytelling is really fast and hard to follow. Also am I the only person that thinks that the cosmic generator disappears way too fast in the 2nd pre show room? By the time I had finished processing the reveal of the room the generator was gone before I could even see it.