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Credit: Inside the MagicThe weekend will be the last chance to ride one of Disney World’s most thrilling and popular attractions before it officially goes dark indefinitely.
On January 8, 2024, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith will close indefinitely at Walt Disney World Resort’s Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The park will lose the thrilling attraction for an unknown period of time as maintenance gets underway. The extent of the work is not known, but some have theorized a retheme is on the cards considering the current legal mess of Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. Although, no confirmation or consideration of a retheme has been hinted at by the House of Mouse.
With the closure taking place on Monday, January 8, 2024, this weekend will be the last chance guests get to experience the ride for quite some time. Hollywood Studios is sure to be a busy one over the next few days. The Disney World website states that the “attraction is planned to reopen in summer 2024.”
While Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is down, guests will be able to enjoy other parts of Hollywood Studios, including the iconic Tower of Terror and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The Black Shire Outpost of Batuu features the popular Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance attractions, but please note that with one key ride down, the other offerings are likely to be busier.
Like Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, other attractions are also going dark this January. In fact, there are rides across every Disney World theme park shutting down in the first month of the year. Over at Magic Kingdom, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will not be operational for a short period of time, as will Frozen Ever After in the Norway pavilion of EPCOT’s World Showcase. At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Kali River Rapids will also be closed for an extended period of time.
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Per the official Walt Disney World website, the water-based rapids ride has no available times through March 4, 2024. However, this is the point the theme park calendar goes up to for all attractions, so chances are the Animal Kingdom attraction could be closed longer.
In terms of other closures across the Walt Disney World Resort, Splash Mountain’s successor, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, is slated to open this year after the historic ride went dark in 2023, ready for the retheme. On a larger scale, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park remains closed for annual maintenance; guests can visit its sister park, Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park, in the meantime.
If it feels like Walt Disney World Resort, and by extension, the Disney Parks brand, is in a constant state of evolution, that’s because it is. Late last year, The Walt Disney Company shared that it would be investing $60 billion into its theme parks and cruises across the next decade, confirming that big plans are on the horizon.
So far, Disney fans know that Animal Kingdom will soon receive a partial makeover, with DinoLand, U.S.A. becoming extinct to pave the way for a new Tropical Americas land featuring the Encanto and Indiana Jones franchises. Also, at the park, Disney will evict the bugs from the Tree of Life Theater with a Zootopia show set to replace It’s Tough to be a Bug! At EPCOT, Test Track will face changes as Imagineers revisit the fast thrill ride.
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As for other discussed expansions, like the Villains location at Magic Kingdom, no more information has been shared since Josh D’Amaro revealed the company’s “blue sky” plans at D23 Expo 2022. Chances are they are being reworked, considering the company was under the leadership of a different Chief Executive Officer at the time.
Will you be riding Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith one last time at Disney World? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!