Welcome to Extinct Attractions. My name is Cole, and today I’ll be your band manager as we take a rockin’ journey around the world.
This past weekend, we heard about a lot of great new announcements coming to the Disney Parks, particularly the multi-billionaire dollar reimagining of Epcot. I’m super excited for everything that is coming to the park because it’s my favorite park at Walt Disney World, but I was also thrilled to get more details about the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser coming near Hollywood Studios.
Described as a cruise ship through outer space, this experience sounds so freaking awesome. I already love cruises, so to go on a Star Wars-themed cruise where I’m completely encapsulated in the world of Star Wars, it just doesn’t get better than that. I’m going to have to save for a while to afford it, but maybe if I start now, I’ll be ready by the time it actually opens.
Via Imgur
As expected, that was really the only announcement for the Hollywood Studios area, meaning that the park will get to keep Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster as is for the foreseeable future. It seems like the attraction is constantly on the chopping block, with rumors of a retheme always quietly lurking in the background.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith officially opened at Disney-MGM Studios (as it was then known) on July 29, 1999 and became an instant hit. Even though Imagineers couldn’t get their original choice of The Rolling Stones because their price tag was too high, Aerosmith was in the middle of a resurgence in the 1990s, so their presence was enough to make this attraction a win from the beginning.
Via IMDb
Fresh off of their Academy Award nominated song, “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” from Armageddon, Aerosmith had some nice ties to the Disney Company, and inadvertently, to Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris.
When the park opened on March 16, 2002, the park had two connections to Aerosmith in Armageddon – Les Effets Spéciaux and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith, our true featured attraction of the day.
For those familiar with the attraction in Florida, the Paris version actually was a bit different. Rather than going on a tour through Hollywood, Aerosmith was out in Paris preparing a new musical roller coaster experience. As you can see in the preshow with its roller coaster track layout in the sound studio, the entire experience was designed to be a unique and exciting addition to the Disney pantheon.
Via DLP Today
The ride vehicles were all painted a different color, each of which correlated to a different song. A lot of Aerosmith’s hits like “Walk This Way” and “Dude (Look Like a Lady)” were included, but my favorite is definitely “Love in a Roller Coaster.” A play on their song “Love in an Elevator,” I get excited every time that I get to hear this version since you can’t find it anywhere else.
Via DLP Today
One detraction that I have with the Paris version is that the decorations aren’t very exciting. It’s basically just lighting and then the circles that you see in the picture above. Considering that they had a little more time to build the attraction since it opened on opening day, I wish they had put some more effort into the theming because it just felt a little lazy.
As far as the specs for the attraction, I couldn’t find anything disputing the fact that it had the same track layout as Walt Disney World’s, and it certainly felt pretty much the same to me. With two corkscrews and a giant loop, it’s one of the most thrilling attractions in the Disney arsenal. However, the highlight is definitely the launch as you are propelled from 0 to 57 miles per hour in just 2.8 seconds, experiencing up to a g-force of 5. For comparison, an astronaut generally experiences 3 G’s when being launched into outer space, so the attraction’s force is brief but powerful.
But Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith’s time is coming to a close this Sunday to be replaced by an Avengers-themed coaster. It seems like it is more of an overhaul to the track and attraction than a complete rebuild, so it’s exciting that it will be able to live on in some capacity. To be honest, the Paris version is definitely less exciting than the Florida version, so I’m not distraught that we’ll be losing it because it definitely needed some kind of upgrade.
Well, that brings today’s trip to a close. It was a bit of a quicker journey, but the ride is known for how short it is, so it’s pretty fitting in the end. Over the next month, I’ll be taking a break from extinct attractions articles to focus on some articles we are doing of Laughing Place to correspond with the 30 Days of Disney that Freeform is running. So be sure to check those out and when I come back to it in October, here’s the attraction you can look forward to.
- This attraction is closing at the end of September.
- This attraction is a nighttime spectacular.
- This attraction is at Walt Disney World.
Via Funny or Die