Significant changes for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster after reopening
Rock 'n' Roller Coaster reopened at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We were able to take a ride and noticed some pretty significant changes.
Refurbishment
Many people love to ride Rock 'n' Roller Coaster which launches guests in a "stretch limo" from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds.
Back in December, we shared that Rock 'n' Roller Coaster would begin a rather lengthy refurbishment. This was set to begin on February 20th, but this had a brief delay.
Disney did not give an exact reopening date. However, the closure is expected to last into the summer of 2023.
It quietly reopening yesterday, May 26. Read more about this reopening HERE. Be aware it may periodically close as it is not officially listed in My Disney Experience.
Changes
So, what changed with Rock 'n' Roller Coaster? For one, we noticed both the wheels and the restraints look and feel new. This made for a much smoother ride.
Second, the signs in the ride are much more vibrant. The dark ride is all indoors, so the brighter neon signs appear much more vibrant.
What about Aerosmith? There were some rumors swirling that suggested Disney may be looking to retheme the ride. Aerosmith is still very much a part of the attraction. We spotted them on the posters as seen above.
However, the autographed poster at the end of the exit is now gone. We do not know when/if the poster will appear again.
It appears Disney mainly focused on refurbishing the wheels and restraints, but a few minor details were noticed as well.
What do you think of these changes? Are you happy to hear the ride is a better experience? Let us know in the comments below and share this post with a friend who may find this information useful.
Did it get new speakers? I have had sound issues a couple of times
Agreed, also new wheels alone won’t make a ride smoother. I bet they replaced som beat up track to accomplish that.
Because something is old that means it needs to be upgraded? Hope you don't have relationships anytime soon
Love Aerosmith, but they're sooooooo old. Wish they would have re-themed it into a Powerline ride.
That ride was constantly closing lately due to malfunctions. Sounds like Disney decided to finally close it down and give it the proper maintenance to address these ongoing issues.
Wheels and restraints are things that get worked on as each train is swapped out for scheduled maintenance. While they may have taken advantage of the downtime to get more done at once, it would be extremely unlikely to have an extended closure on a rollercoaster to do that work unless there was a systemic problem that they discovered that affected the safety of all of the trains simultaneously.
Most likely there were behind the scenes things that needed to be worked on that don't directly affect the guest experience but were necessary to keep things running long term. Controls upgrades, structure fixes, maybe the show set needed work, etc.
Road it for the first time today and got a major headache. One thing I did notice that may or may not have been there before is when the coaster comes around the corner to be loaded you hear a car engine. I thought it was a nice touch.