Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith just celebrated its 25th Anniversary, and the band even posted on social media to commemorate the occasion. In a world of attraction rethemes, it’s actually quite impressive that the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster theme hasn’t changed in more than two decades. While we don’t necessarily expect an announcement of a retheme imminently, the recent announcement from Aerosmith that they will retire from touring due to a vocal injury to frontman Steven Tyler, I’d imagine that Walt Disney Imagineering might give the high-speed roller coaster a second glance.
Here’s the announcement from Aerosmith about their retirement from touring after Tyler was unable to recover from a vocal injury:
It was 1970 when a spark of inspiration became Aerosmith. Thanks to you, our Blue Army, that spark caught flame and has been burning for over five decades. Some of you have been with us since the beginning and all of you are the reason we made rock ‘n’ roll history.
It has been the honor of our lives to have our music become part of yours. In every club, on every massive tour and at moments grand and private you have given us a place in the soundtrack of your lives.
We’ve always wanted to blow your mind when performing. As you know, Steven’s voice is an instrument like no other. He has spent months tirelessly working on getting his voice to where it was before his injury. We’ve seen him struggling despite having the best medical team by his side. Sadly, it is clear, that a full recovery from his vocal injury is not possible. We have made a heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision – as a band of brothers – to retire from the touring stage.
We are grateful beyond words for everyone who was pumped to get on the road with us one last time. Grateful to our expert crew, our incredible team and the thousands of talented people who’ve made our historic runs possible. A final thank you to you – the best fans on planet Earth. Play our music loud, now and always. Dream On. You’ve made our dreams come true.
Of course, rumors of a retheme have felt evergreen for years, resurfacing anytime that Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster closed for a refurbishment. Those rumors have typically been little more than armchair Imagineering, but some rumors have had a little bit of weight behind them.
Back in June 2023, Jeff Yorkes, the co-creator of the Disney+ series “The Muppets Mayhem”, confirmed that the original pitch for the show included a retheme of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Yorkes deleted the social media post shortly thereafter, likely at Disney’s request. There really hasn’t been a lot of talk about a retheme since then. Even the recent 6-month refurbishment was met with a nearly complete lack of whispers, let alone any substantial rumors.
Even less credible rumors have indicated that Queen might be the new band that guests rock out to while zipping through a nearly pitch-black building. When Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is rethemed (yes, when…not if), we think it’s nearly impossible that a new theme would be anything less than Disney IP. It’s possible that Disney has seen the writing on the walls for some time now, with the most recent refurbishment rumored to address improving and updating ride control systems.
We’ve actually already seen Disney retheme Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster to a new Disney IP over in the Walt Disney Studios Park Disney Adventure World. Avengers Assemble: Flight Force opened in Paris’ Avengers Campus back in 2022 and it features Iron Man and Captain Marvel. It would be all too easy to take what Disney has already done in Paris and bring it to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, perhaps reworking it a bit in the process.
Again, it seems entirely too early to say that Disney will be retheming Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster imminently, but with the announcement that the band will retire from touring, it’s hard to imagine anything but an acceleration into (relative) obscurity and a retheme of the ride.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
Just a note, they can’t re-theme with the Avengers because Universal has the U.S. theme park rights east of the Mississippi.
Wasn’t Rocket Racoon part of the Avengers at some point? And now he’s in EPCOT
I do note that if a Marvel ride comes to Hollywood Studios, it may have to be reworked.
From what I know Universal has the rights to the Avengers, Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four east of the Mississippi. Those rights are for whoever was a main member of those teams at the time of the contract. The Guardians and Rocket wern’t part of the Avengers until well after Universal had the rights, so are fair game. I also think Disney is restricted from using the name marvel, so they can use the name “The Guardians of the Galaxy” but cant use the name “Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy”.