We’re about a month away from the opening of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring The Muppets, and maybe less than a month away from riding, thanks to the announcement of Annual Passholder previews. As part of last week’s opening date announcement, Walt Disney World also revealed the set list for the new ride. In this article, we’re going to put together a pre-opening hype ranking for the song list and talk a little bit about the early reactions from fans.
Muppets Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Set List Hype Rankings
Music is a huge part of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster experience, ever since it opened with an Aerosmith theme back in 1999. With the announcement that The Muppets were taking over, fans wondered what kind of music Disney would choose for the experience.
As part of an initial announcement, Disney only teased that when The Muppets took over Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, they would be “teaming up with some of music’s biggest stars for a rockin’ music festival”. Despite what I thought was a pretty clear announcement that The Muppets would be singing non-original songs, there was some discussion within the fan community about what Muppets songs would be on the ride.
The discussion amongst fans would continue for some 17 months until Disney revealed the first song for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring The Muppets last week. Since then, Walt Disney World has revealed the full set list, and the initial reaction from the fan community has been less-than-enthusiastic.
While we’re going to wait until we get a chance to ride to make a final judgment on the set list, we did want to put out a pre-opening hype ranking to compare with after we get a chance to experience all of the tracks. Speaking of experiencing all of the tracks, BlogMickey.com learned more about the ride experience last week at a preview of two of the songs. We learned that the song that you get for the ride will be randomized and that guests will experience one song per ride. Both of those are changes from the previous ride experience when there was an Aerosmith theme.
One more thing that we want to cover before we get to the hype rankings is the backstory for the attraction. Here’s how Disney has described the ride:
Step inside G-Force Records for a VIP tour of the Muppets’ music studio, where The Electric Mayhem is jamming out… and running very late for their own concert across town. Scooter (their band manager), Kermit, Miss Piggy and the rest of the Muppets must hatch a plan to get everyone—including you—to the show!
Hop into a limousine and buckle up for a zany ride! You’ll zoom past the Muppets’ favorite Hollywood landmarks and swoop into 3 thrilling inversions—with 2 rollover loops and one corkscrew—on this roller-coaster-style attraction.
Speed along the freeway to some tunes from The Electric Mayhem—covering popular rock songs. Your limo’s audio system features the latest innovations from Muppet Labs, so you’ll catch every guitar-scorching note.
The Muppets’ legendary house band, The Electric Mayhem is beloved for their groovy tunes and rock ‘n’ roll attitude. Band members Dr. Teeth, Sgt. Floyd Pepper, Janice, Zoot, Lips and Animal all march to the beat of their own drum—and guitars, keyboard, saxophone and trumpet, too.
Ok, without further ado, it’s time to play rank the music.
5. ROCK! ROCK! (TILL YOU DROP) | The Electric Mayhem ft. Def Leppard
While this song is at the bottom of our hype rankings, I do want to acknowledge that it’s really cool that Disney got the original artist to feature on the song. That’s not the case for any other song, and it probably should have contributed to a higher ranking for Rock! Rock! (till you drop), but I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of this song. It was the only one I had to search for to listen to to try and see if there was any familiarity. Alas, nothing.
In fact, Rock! Rock! isn’t even a highly-ranked song within Def Leppard’s own discography in terms of total streams (#19), so it’s an interesting choice.
In fact, I would say that my own criteria of “familiarity” is weighing Rock! Rock! down, perhaps artificially, when considering pure merit for a rock and roll-themed roller coaster.
That said, I think familiarity with a song is a key part of the ride experience for this type of ride. If you’ve just waited 60-90 minutes in the hot Florida sun, you want to blast off on a high-speed thrill roller coaster to some familiar tunes. We feel the same way about Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT.
While I think that the vibes and vocals of Rock! Rock! are perfectly aligned with what Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster should probably be, I also think that there are a number of other songs that guests would immediately identify with that could fit the bill a bit better.
4. WALKING ON SUNSHINE | The Electric Mayhem ft. Kelly Clarkson
Well, here’s a song that is very familiar to most guests, but might be a bit of a head-scratcher when it comes to its inclusion in a rock and roll-themed roller coaster. It’ll be fun, I’m sure, and Kelly Clarkson will likely provide some excellent vocals to the track, but I’m yet to see the vision here.
I don’t think I have anything else to add except that this song would probably be the first to go in any fictional fan reimagining of the set list.
3. BORN TO BE WILD | The Electric Mayhem ft. Camilla the Chicken
Next up is a song that we’ve already heard! Born To Be Wild was one of the songs previewed at a media event a day before the full set list was announced. For fans of this particular song, you’ll be happy to know that The Electric Mayhem have recorded a faithful recreation of the music, with some additional new musical notes that are more of an accent on the music than a rewrite.
Dr. Teeth sounds great here, and while the song features Camilla the Chicken, we struggled to hear her during the 70-second track – probably for the best. I will say that I struggled on whether to place Born To Be Wild at the #2 spot or #3 spot, but I settled on #3 simply because this track may be a bit too familiar for Disney fans.
While I associate it with DinoLand USA, it’s also one of the songs that has been on the Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT! set list since 2017. It sounds good, it’s rock and roll, and I wouldn’t be disappointed if I got this song when riding next month. But there are two more songs that I’m more excited for.
2. LOVE ROLLERCOASTER | The Electric Mayhem ft. Jennifer Hudson & Questlove
Again, this is a hype ranking list, not necessarily a list of the best songs for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (as we haven’t been able to ride the revamped attraction yet). To that end, I’m expecting the list to change once we can compile a list of our favorite songs for the ride.
I think that Love Rollercoaster has the biggest potential of any song on the list for movement. Right now, it sits at #2 and could’ve easily been #3, but I could easily see it sliding depending on the execution of the actual song by The Electric Mayhem with guests Jennifer Hudson & Questlove.
I’ve been expecting to ride a Walt Disney World roller coaster to the tune of Love Rollercoaster since April 2022, when Disney used it for the opening date announcement commercial for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Next month, that will become a reality, and I’m looking forward to it!
1. SONG 2 | The Electric Mayhem
If Love Rollercoaster has the most potential for movement on this list, I’m pretty sure that Song 2 by Blur has the least potential for movement. I can’t imagine anything from the announced set list dethroning Song 2, but I’m going to try and keep an open mind.
In a real who’s on first moment, Song 2 was the first song to be released for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring The Muppets. Song 2 was also one of the songs we were able to listen to at the recent media preview, and it’s excellent.
Again, The Electric Mayhem have created a faithful cover of the song, with some extra musical notes. Launching to the iconic “woo-hoo” is going to hook guests from the start of the 70-second ride, and Animal coming in to sing the chorus is an amazing moment that had me laughing and smiling just thinking of experiencing it on the ride.
In addition to the official set list above, there will be at least two bonus songs. Disney hasn’t announced what the bonus songs will be, so we’ll have to wait and see what else The Electric Mayhem has in store. Movin’ right along!
What is your song list hype ranking? Let us know in the comments below or on social media!
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