Walt Disney World has filed a Notice of Commencement permit for a complete repainting of the iconic guitar in front of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The contractor listed on the permit is Harrison Contracting Co. Inc., and the scope of the work is listed as “Rock n Roller Coaster Guitar Repaint – Contractor shall sand, apply one coat of primer, and two coats HP finish”. It’s unclear if the guitar will retain the same color or if it will have a new look when the work is done.
Repainting Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Guitar
Disney last repainted the massive 40′ tall electric guitar in Fall 2021. The work took a couple of months last time, and Walt Disney World has not made any announcements about the timing or reason for the work this time around. That said, any work for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster will be met with some speculation now that it has been announced that The Muppets will take over the attraction at some point in the future.
In January, Walt Disney World said that the Muppets would be coming to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster “soon“, but “soon” can mean a lot of things in Disney speak.
The Muppets will be taking over Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, teaming up with some of music’s biggest stars for a rockin’ music festival!
We know so many of you share our love for The Muppets and know their energy will be a perfect fit for this coaster. Plus, as the first Disney ride ever to feature The Muppets, there’s sure to be laughter, screams and new tunes for this attraction for fans to enjoy throughout the adventure and plenty of Muppets-themed merchandise on Sunset Boulevard!
In the meantime, there’s still enough time to catch a super-stretch limo to the Forum to enjoy Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith and catch Muppet*Vision 3D again before their final curtain calls.
Kermit, Miss Piggy and friends are soon headed just across the park to their new home on Sunset Boulevard
In terms of what to expect when The Muppets take over Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, we haven’t seen anything yet to suggest that it will be a substantial change. In terms of physical sets, there probably isn’t a huge need to demolish and create anything new of significance. We’d expect the same roller coaster layout, the same spacious gravity building – perhaps even the same black light flat scenes within the ride.
There probably isn’t a huge need to change the load area or launch area theming – the vehicles can stay the same too. In fact, it’s possible that the switchover will require relatively minimal downtime, with the pre-show video and perhaps some simple props in display cases throughout the queue being swapped out.
I’m sure Imagineers have a detailed list of anything that says or resembles Aerosmith, and they probably have replacements in the works or thought up already.
Again, we’re not sure when Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster will close, but it would probably be considered a failure if it’s still open in 2026 given that MuppetVision 3D is closing this June. Disney can and should move quickly to get The Muppets back into Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and their statement that the Muppets will take over Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster “soon” should be encouraging to fans.
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!
Why is a permit required to paint a building? This is stupid. Permitting is typically just a jurisdiction’s method for assessing tax requirements. I can’t imagine though, that painting a building is suddenly going to make it more valuable and hence for Disney to pay higher taxes on it. Again, this is stupid.