Disney Closing Legendary Roller Coaster for a Long Time

The Paris version of the ride made a major theme change. Could the U.S. version follow?

Whenever a Disney ride closes, it creates speculation on what will happen to the ride. Will Disney just perform routine maintenance, or will it add to the theme or completely retheme the ride? Walt Disney himself knew before opening any theme park it would take constant updating.

Walt Disney World  (DIS) - Get Free Report in Orlando, Fla., is closing one of its rides for a lengthy time at its Hollywood Studios theme park. Disney World takes advantage of the least appealing weather during the winter and uses it as its ‘off season’ in January and February, meaning lots of rides will be scheduled to be down for periods of time. Hollywood Studios will permanently end these rides, Jedi Training Academy: Trials of the Temple, Star Wars: Galactic Spectacular, and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Disney will temporarily close Frozen Sing-Along Celebration in January, it should reopen by the end of January.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will close Kali River Rapids starting on Jan 9 with the end date undetermined and ,it will permanently close and demolish Primeval Whirl. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will be down for only a few days in January. Over in the Magic Kingdom, it is closing its iconic Splash Mountain on Jan. 2, 2023, and it will get a completely new theme.

Curtain Call on Disney Ride

Hollywood Studios is closing the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster that features legendary band Aerosmith that has been around for roughly half a century. 

Disney has said that the ride is just closed for routine maintenance and should reopen summer of 2023, according to BlogMickey.com. The ride originally opened to the public in 1999. There was a sister coaster in Disneyland Paris, which opened in 2002, closed in 2019 and was rethemed with the Avengers.

Since the Paris ride was rethemed, the speculation is high on whether or not the Hollywood Studios Florida ride meets the same fate. The retheme could be Star Wars or any number of Pixar films. Any retheme of the ride probably wouldn’t be Marvel since there is a deal between Universal Studios Florida and the MCU. So even if the Hollywood Studios Rock ‘n’ Roller coaster does get a makeover, it likely will not be the same as the one in Paris. 

When One Door Closes Another Opens

Disney will always be in the midst of changing its theme parks. Walt Disney knew in the very beginning that to stay relevant and new, the parks would always be refurbishing, retheming and reimagining the rides and attractions all over the park. 

When the news broke about the refurbishment of the Rock 'N' Roller ride via Twitter, fans began to pitch new themes and also said the ride definitely needs some work done. 

"It needs it, badly... great ride that is showing some aging scuffs..." - tweeted @GlenCarballo. 

"This lengthy refurbishment probably has more to do with the launch system than anything else. The Aerosmith contract ends in a few days, but Disney can still pay UMG to use the songs." -tweeted Frank @kingdomadvntrs. 

While other tweets went on to suggest other new themes. It is clear, there are a mixed bag of feelings about the ride and its theme. With such a huge fanbase Disney always faces some sort of backlash for any change to its existing attractions, even after the attraction has truly outlived its purpose and audience. 

Splash Mountain being the perfect case, as Disney fans love the ride, but the outdated theme needs to be redone. The retheme will bring the "Princess and the Frog" to the outdated attraction. Whereas instead of having a profound negative connotation of "Song of the South," it will showcase a "Princess and the Frog" character Tiana chasing her dreams and empower young women. This is the direction that audiences want to see Disney move towards. 

While many Disney fans will miss rides and attractions that bring that nostalgia back from their childhood, sometimes it is best to retheme.  Disney said it best in "Frozen," "Let it Go."