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Credit: DisneyFor many Guests heading out on their Walt Disney World vacation, planning all the experiences, attractions, dining locations, and retail therapy can take months and months.
Yet, even after all that meticulous planning, things completely out of a Guests’ control can happen, causing disruption to a theme park visit. This has been the case for the past five days as the popular thrill rollercoaster — Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith at Disney’s Hollywood Studios — is suffering an extended closure.
The Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Central Florida is one of the most popular Disney theme park destinations in the world. Drawing crowds from across the globe, in spite of the ongoing pandemic, the Disney Park is currently amid its 50th anniversary celebrations, or as it is colloquially known — The World’s Most Magical Celebration. Thus far, the momentous occasion has delivered a number of new experiences like Harmonious at EPCOT’s World Showcase and Disney KiteTails at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. While Magic Kingdom Park did also deliver a new nighttime spectacular — Disney Enchantment — it was not without controversy, after Disney World decided to prematurely retire the fan-favorite Happily Ever After at Cinderella Castle.
The heat about Happily Ever After’s demise was quickly overshadowed by October 19 when the Park debuted its FastPass+ replacement, Disney Genie+, and Individual Lightning Lane Selections, as part of the new Disney Genie interactive tool. On top of a Guest’s theme park ticket, they can also purchase speedier (although, not all that much faster it seems) for certain attractions like Space Mountain, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith.
However, while Guests may be getting used to the Genie+ tool, those visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios over the New Year were likely to be disappointed as the fan-favorite Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster has been down for five days with reasons unknown. From the Disney World app, Guests can see that the attraction is currently, as of today (2 January 2022), temporarily closed. Disney has not given a reason as to why this ride is facing an extended closure. The ride did apparently open for a brief period within these five days but today will mark the fifth day it has been closed in some capacity.
What is interesting, and in a rather coincidental turn of events, is that the attraction did face a New Year closure this time last year, again with reasons uncertain.
Earlier in 2021, the entire guitar facade of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith was completely covered up with much speculation over whether Disney World would retheme the famous attraction. This was further ignited by the fact that Aerosmith’s music became entangled with the Universal Group, which, as we know, has a competitor theme park close to the Orlando Disney Parks.
The popular Disney Resort attraction is known for its high-speed thrilling launch and featuring iconic Aerosmith tracks. The dark ride is not without its malfunctions though. Recently, Guests found themselves having to walk to the bottom of the attraction with the lights on while earlier this year, more Guests had to be evacuated from the highest hill of the ride after a breakdown mid-ride.
Hopefully, the Aerosmith attraction will gain its momentum back and reopen for a longer period of time very soon. Speaking of closures, the good news for Disney fans is that Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park is back open, but will close on 3 January 2021 due to inclement weather. Seems like it will be a Disney Springs day, after all…
Have you ever missed out on a favorite attraction due to it being temporarily closed? Let us know in the comments down below!