Rock 'n' Roller Coaster is an indoor launched roller coaster located at Disney's Hollywood Studios within Walt Disney World. Manufactured by Vekoma, the roller coaster opened to the public on July 29, 1999. It uses linear motor electromagnetic technology for acceleration, which propels riders from 0 to in 2.8 seconds. Riders experience up to 5 Gs and travel through three inversions, which include a sea serpent and a corkscrew.
The first iteration, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, featured recorded music and appearances from American rock band Aerosmith. A second installation with an identical track layout opened within Disneyland Paris as Rock 'n' Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith in time for the opening of Walt Disney Studios Park on March 16, 2002. The attraction was later re-themed to as part of the new Avengers Campus at the park. The original iteration at Disney's Hollywood Studios closed on March 2, 2026.
The second iteration, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, featuring music from Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem from The Muppets, is set to open in Summer 2026.
In April 1998, Disney-MGM Studios (later named Disney's Hollywood Studios) announced that they would be adding Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. The ride was set to open in 1999 for the park's tenth anniversary. The park hired Vekoma to build the launched indoor roller coaster, and construction began two months prior to the announcement in February 1998. The track layout was completed by June 1998.
Soft opening cast member previews began in June 1999. The following month, the attraction held its grand opening on July 29 with a special, invitation-only party featuring Aerosmith as the guests of honor. Winners were taken to the park, in stretch limousines and received complimentary meals. After a special performance by painter Denny Dent, winners received the chance to ride the roller coaster with one of the Aerosmith band members. A picture from the special event is on display near the exit of the ride. In each train, there are a total of 120 speakers. There are five surrounding each rider, consisting of two mid-range speakers, two tweeters, and a subwoofer placed under the seat.
On December 17, 2015, the location at Disney's Hollywood Studios hosted a special event to promote the release of '. The queue line featured Star Wars movie posters, the Aerosmith pre-show was disabled and the speakers played music from the film. The same Star Wars overlay also occurred on April 14, 2017.
In 2016, the pre-show at Disney Hollywood Studios was edited to digitally remove a "crude hand gesture" known as "The Shocker" made by Steven Tyler.
In 2017, the Disney's Hollywood Studios location received new television screens mounted in spaces prior to the boarding area. They show loading and safety tips in an effort to reduce boarding time. In addition, the exterior of the main ride building was given a new coat of paint.
The Walt Disney Studios Park version of the ride officially made its debut in time for the park's grand opening on March 16, 2002. It featured the same track layout as the Walt Disney World installation, but the theme and queue line were different. The attraction was located in the Backlot area near , becoming one of the park's only three opening day rides, with and Flying Carpets Over Agrabah being the others. In 2007, the queue was modified to accommodate single riders in addition to FASTPASS.
It was announced at the 2018 D23 Expo in Japan that the Walt Disney Studios Park location would be receiving a complete remodel that would feature a new theme based on the Iron Man and Avengers franchises of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The attraction officially closed on September 2, 2019 for its transformation, reopening as the newly revamped on July 20, 2022, as part of the new Avengers Campus Paris themed land.
On November 22, 2024 in conjunction with the announcement of the closure of Muppet*Vision 3D, Disney announced that Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Disney's Hollywood Studios will be re-themed to feature The Muppets, but would retain the same name, in a similar manner to Soarin'. The re-theme is scheduled to open in summer 2026.
On December 1, 2025, it was announced that the pre-show with Aerosmith was removed from the attraction. On December 12, 2025, it was announced the Aerosmith iteration would close on March 2, 2026.
The pre-show of the attraction was modified over time. The most recent version featured band member Joe Perry asking Chris, the Disney cast member in the pre-show, to grab his black Les Paul guitar. The cast member in the pre-show area then proceeded to pick up and remove a black guitar signed by Joe Perry from the set. The pre-show film also included a roadie saying "Hey, Joe, I'll get it for ya." in the background as a backup, in the event that a cast member was not available to participate.
As guests entered the queue line, they walked into a high-ceilinged circular room themed to a fictional record label called G-Force Records. Walls were decorated with ceiling-high guitars and digital posters of Hollywood Records artists, and the floor depicts a giant record. These digital posters sometimes displayed guests' names as recording artists, accomplished by short-range RFID scanners that read their MagicBands and Magicband+'s Also on display to guests was a small exhibit of recording instruments in the stand-by queue.
As part of the pre-show experience, guests were asked to wait outside the doors of Studio C. Different musical instruments can be heard being played in Studio B during a rehearsal. As guests enter Studio C, Aerosmith is working on an instrumental recording of "Walk This Way" with a sound engineer (Ken Marino). The band greeted the guests as their manager (Illeana Douglas) walked in interrupting, telling the band they're running late to a scheduled show. As the band got ready to depart, Steven Tyler stopped and said they can't leave the guests behind. Joe Perry and the rest of the band agree, as the manager sarcastically replies, "Well, guys, what do you expect me to do? Send them all with you?" At this time, a cast member in the back of the preshow room would say "How about some backstage passes?" Steven would pause and say, "Wait a minute. I love that idea. How about some backstage passes?" The manager reluctantly agreed and made a phone call ordering a "super stretch" limo, calling it a "really fast car" that will take everyone across town to the show. The limo that Aerosmith boards in the background peels out, leaving their manager behind to her disappointment. As the scene ended, "Walk This Way" resumed playing but this time with vocals. Guests were then permitted to exit the pre-show area and board the ride.
The former Paris version was similar, except guests entered a building themed to the fictional Tour de Force Records. The queue line's background music consisted of individual songs from a variety of different bands, including 3 Doors Down, Limp Bizkit, Texas, Blink-182, Creed, Korn, Coldplay, P.O.D., Linkin Park, Oasis and The Chemical Brothers. Upon entering the studio, guests were first greeted by the reception area, a circular room with the Tour de Force Records logo, guitar-shaped columns and guitars on the right wall. In the next area, guests passed by numerous concert posters and an exhibit filled with several musical items like guitars, gold records, drum heads and jackets. The ride's story focused on Aerosmith, working with engineers, creating a revolutionary new music experience at the Tour De Force Records studios. After watching the pre-show which features Aerosmith's Steven Tyler hyping up the ride, guests were lured into the testing area where they boarded one of five Soundtrackers, the prototype vehicles for the new experience.
As the limo leaves the parking garage, Bill St. James, the radio DJ of LA's Classic Rock Station, begins a short commentary, usually followed by a traffic report in the surrounding area where Aerosmith's concert is taking place. The limo stops in front of a highway tunnel where a highway sign flashes humorous messages like: "Traffic bug you? Then STEP on it!". (In the Paris version, instead of guests being taken on the Los Angeles freeways, the Paris version is based around an Aerosmith music video.) Building up anticipation, seconds before the limo is launched, Steven Tyler counts down from five, launching the limo from 0 to in less than 2.8 seconds at "one!". As the limo enters the tunnel, the on-ride photo is taken and a selection of Aerosmith songs play.
After a long straightway, the limo rises up into the sea serpent element, which is a two inversion element, and then some less intense over-banked turns. During the ride, there are neon signs on the side of the track, designed to mimic road signs; in the Paris version, lighting rigs, projectors, strobes, and smoke effects are used in place of the road signs that exist in the U.S. version. The limo continues along the track, until it reaches the third and final inversion, a corkscrew, and ending the ride with more banked turns as well as a camelback hill. The limo proceeds to the VIP backstage area, where guests exit through the red carpet towards the on-ride photo screens at the gift shop.
Walt Disney Imagineering worked with Aerosmith to produce a special soundtrack for the roller coaster. Each coaster train features different Aerosmith songs, some containing some new lyrics written specifically for the attraction; for example, "Love in an Elevator" is sung as "Love in a Rollercoaster".
There is a 6th limo in the fleet that has no license plate and is always "in refurbishment." The vehicles are rotated in and out of use after a period of many thousands of laps around the track. However, the maintenance teams will switch out the plate and add the proper song to the new vehicle every time a rotation is made.
In addition, prior to the 2007 refurbishment:
The vehicles in Paris were called "Soundtrackers" instead of limousines. A unique aspect of the Walt Disney Studios version is that each Soundtracker had its own theme. There were five different light shows and five different soundtracks, one for each Soundtracker. The themes were as follows: