You know you’ve found a good roller coaster when you can take someone who is terrified of them on it and they come out wanting to go on it again and again.
Situated in Disney’s Hollywood Studios the ‘Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster’ is possibly my favourite coaster in all of Disney. The entrance immediately appealed to me as a huge (if up-side-down) red guitar is placed over the entrance enticing me to go and have a look. As I moved towards the entrance the sound of Aerosmith’s ‘Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’ met my ears, and I couldn’t wait to get inside. Although he hated roller coasters my boyfriend, James had agreed to come with me and we got into the queue.
The whole time we were in the queue Aerosmith’s songs were playing out through the speakers outside. And once inside we were led to a pre-show where we got a glimpse into the fictional G-Force Records. Here there were hologram type projections of the band finishing recording for the day. It is like the band are actually talking to you and before they leave you get invited to the gig with them. You’re then ushered out into the ‘alley’ to wait for the super stretch limo to pick you up.
By now James was getting pretty nervous, but the wait wasn’t long and we were soon sitting comfortably in our super stretch limo with 22 other passengers. We were near the back and could only just glimpse the limo ahead of us shoot into oblivion. We rounded the corner and stopped at a black hole above which a sign counted down to our take off.
The build up of tension was agonizing, you could hear the distant sound of rock presumably coming from within the darkness, and nothing could have warned James of how fast the acceleration was (as was shown in the photo afterwards). It was actually 0 to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. We sped into the unknown and were blasted with one of Aerosmith’s big hits “Dude (Looks Like A Lady)” and an array of neon lights and lit up signs straight from Hollywood.
Because it’s dark you just don’t know what’s coming up next, but it doesn’t worry you because you’re having so much fun, James was even enjoying it, singing along to the music, and I love the different signs, giving you something fun to look at while your enjoying the twists, turns and three inverts on the ride. Soon we arrived at our destination and disembarked into the gift shop, which in my opinion is almost as good as the ride itself, but that’s probably influenced by my love of shopping. The shop sells Rock 'n' Roller Coaster® and Aerosmith memorabilia including, t-shirts, bags, toys, drum and guitar accessories, and of course you can purchase your ride photo here too, which after much deliberation we didn’t get. After purchasing some very cool drum sticks that light up when they are hit on things and some badges we left feeling thoroughly giddy and wishing we could do it all again.
Other useful information you may want to know about the ride:
- Rock 'n' Roller Coaster® Starring Aerosmith is a FastPass ride
- Child Swap is available on this ride, which enables adults with small children to ride the coaster while one looks after the child and then swapping.
- If you just want to see the pre-show, or if you change your mind about riding Rock 'n' Roller Coaster® you can use the aptly named ‘chicken exit’. - but I highly recommend not doing this as it is such a great ride!
- The height requirement for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster is 48 inches (122 cm).
People using an ECV must transfer to a wheelchair to go through the queue at this attraction.
I hope you have found this information useful and will be riding The Rock 'n' Roller Coaster when staying in Orlando.