After months of speculation, Disneyland Paris has finally confirmed the name of its long-awaited Marvel retheme of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith.
Disneyland Paris is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary bringing Guests buckets of Disney magic across Disneyland Park, Walt Disney Studios Park, and Disney Village. Despite new shows like Disney D-light — the drone pre-show to the Disney Illuminations fireworks — and character cavalcade such as Dream… and Shine Brighter! in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, perhaps the most enticing aspect of the three-decade celebration is the opening of Disney Parks’ second Avengers Campus.
The only Avengers Campus at any Disney Park is the one found in Disney California Adventure at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Southern California. The arrival of the Marvel-themed area at the former Euro Disneyland Park is just one of the forthcoming enhancements coming to Disneyland Paris. Over the next two years, the Disney Park will welcome Avengers Campus, Arendelle: World of Frozen, and a rumored Star Wars Land akin to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts.
Similar to Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney Studios Park’s Avengers Campus will feature WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure, Doctor Strange: Journey Into the Mystic Arts, and an anxiously-awaited Iron Man retheme of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith. Even as concept art and ride details have been trickling in, the name of the future superhero attraction has remained unknown.
Until now.
In a new post, Disneyland Paris Communication Officer, Clément Gonier (@cgonier), has shared the new television commercial which quietly features the new name of the Marvel retheme.
Featuring Guests watching a battle between Black Widow, Taskmaster, and Black Panther, and meeting the enigmatic Tony Stark/Iron Man, the TV ad finds the Disney Park visitors standing outside the former Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith show building with a sign displaying its new name — Avengers Assemble: Flight Force.
The high-speed rollercoaster shuttered in September 2019, and finally, three years later, the attraction will reopen at Walt Disney Studios Park. As with any new Disney Parks attraction, it is sure to capture the attention of Guests visiting the Disney Resort when the land opens in “Early Summer 2022”. Disneyland Paris also recently relaunched its New York Disney hotel with Disney’s Hotel New York — The Art of Marvel.
Being the thrill ride it is, it can be expected that Avengers Assemble: Flight Force will be part of the Disney Premier Access system. Similar to Disney Genie and Lightning Lane in the United States, Disney Premier Access allows Guests to purchase a speedier entrance to their favorite rides at an additional cost to their theme park ticket.
The opening of Avengers Assemble: Flight Force marks the second major Marvel attraction arriving at the Walt Disney Company’s Disney Parks this year. May 27 finds the all-new Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind debut in EPCOT Park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
This past week was a great one as we watched Walt Disney World return many of their pre-COVID experiences. It’s looking like this week might be just as exciting! Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway pre-show is back, Haunted Mansion’s Stretching Room has returned, Living with the Land’s boat dividers have been removed as well as Kilimanjaro Safaris dividers. Another attraction is joining the list of returning to a pre-COVID experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios!
Are you ready to rock?! The pre-show on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith is now inviting guests to fill in all available space to watch as the Aerosmith band invites the crowd to their concert. The concert is across town however, so that means you’ll need to take a super-stretch limo to hurry around the streets of Los Angeles to make it in time!
Previously, the space used for the pre-show was being used as a walk through for social distancing queue space. Now, Disney guests will once again get the full scope of understanding the attraction story. We’ll keep you posted as Walt Disney World continues to reopen experiences!
For the third day in a row, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster has failed to open at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It has yet to open at all in 2021.
The attraction did not open on January 1, 2021, due to technical difficulties and remained closed yesterday. It is still listed as “temporarily closed” in My Disney Experience, as of 11:20 AM on January 3, 2021.
Are you ready to ROCK?! If you like thrills, look no further than the popular Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster located at Disney’s Hollywood Studios! The speed, the loops, the music… it’s an easy fan favorite! Since we aren’t able to ride in this stretch-limo of a coaster right now, we might as well have a little fun exploring the science behind it! Check out the details and special activity below from DisneyParksBlog:
Have you always wanted to learn how roller coasters work? For Disney Mechanical Engineers, Angel and Josh, it was their curiosity at a young age in STEM-based subjects where they found their passion for roller coasters. Angel and Josh work behind-the-scenes at Disney and had the opportunity to put their math, science and engineering skills into action on one of Disney’s fastest coasters – Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
You may have always wondered how the super stretch limo launches down the alleyway and into the gravity building where the coaster twists and turns. In just a matter of seconds, the car travels up to 60 mph, and Angel and Josh tell us about the science behind it all! Check out the video below for a lesson in magnets and how they are used to propel this extreme coaster to extreme speeds.
While so many families are virtually learning right now, we thought this was the perfect time to share an activity to use during your next at-home science class. Using theinstructionsbelow and a few materials, you can apply the lessons learned from Angel and Josh to create a model roller coaster launch system right at home.
Share your videos and photos with us on social media by tagging @DisneyParks.
Disney’s Hollywood studios has received a major facelift over the last year with the opening of Toy Story Land and continuing into this year with the August 29th opening of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. As it celebrates it 30th birthday on May 1st, we look back on the history of this park and its very bright future.
The Kids at Hollywood Studios
May 1st, 1989
18 years after the opening of the Magic Kingdom and just 7 seven years after the opening of the Epcot Center, Disney debuted a brand new and different theme park called Disney’s-MGM Studios. The third theme park at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida began with an idea for a movie-themed pavilion, resembling a film soundstage. It was originally meant to be an expansion of Epcot. It has now morphed into a 135 acre tribute to movie making.
In its original conception, Disney-MGM Studios was to operate not only as a theme park, but also as a fully functioning television and movie production studio. Disney and Metro-Goldwyn Meyer joined together to create a licensing agreement that would allow Disney to use the name and extensive movie library in their new park. The Disney-MGM Studios had the ability to have working production studios for movies and TV shows.
The Great Movie Ride, along with Studio Backlot Tour, were the only two rides to open with the park.
Great Movie Ride
On opening day in May 1989, Disney’s then-president, Michael Eisner, dedicated Disney-MGM Studios to Hollywood, which he called “not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine.”
The Change – MGM No More
A lawsuit by MGM and a countersuit by Disney soured the relationship that brought this park into being. After a settlement by both parties, it was determined that Disney had the right to continue using the Disney-MGM Studios name on film product produced at the Florida facility.
On August 9, 2007, it was announced by Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton, that Disney-MGM Studios would officially be renamed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios on January 7, 2008. This led the park into a new direction as in that same year, the former Stage 1 soundstage became home to Toy Story Mania! and the surrounding area was re-themed as Pixar Place.
Attractions
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular opened just a few months after the opening of the park, joining The Great Movie Ride and Studio Backlot Tour.
Earffel Tower
The Earffel Tower was the original icon of this theme park. This fake water tower with Mickey ears joined the Chinese Theater as the face of the park. 2001 changed that with the construction of the Sorcerer’s Hat, inspired from a segment of the 1940 Walt Disney film, Fantasia. This icon lasted until 2015 when it was removed from Hollywood Studios.
MuppetVision 3D and the Voyage of the Little Mermaid were added heightening the parks popularity. The first big expansion took place in 1994 with the creation of Sunset Boulevard and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
Front Row – Several of our Clan
With Sunset Boulevard, came reconstruction of the original Theater of the Stars which first held 3 short-lived shows, before finding its permanent resident: Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage.
Fantasmic! is held in the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater that sits in between Tower of Terror and Theater of the Stars. The Hollywood Hills Amphitheater was built specifically for Fantasmic!, opening in October of 1998. It was built to accommodate a much larger capacity than that of Disneyland’s, with 6,900 seats and room for 3,000 more people to stand. Sunset Boulevard was “completed” in 1999 with the opening of Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith.
Our Crazy Clan
In the fall of 2001, Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream opened. It featured memorabilia of from Disney archives, as well as giving guests a glimpse into Walt Disney’s life and the history of the company. Also in 2001, Playhouse Disney – Live on Stage! was introduced at Animation Courtyard.
In the 2010s, Disney began phasing out the park’s “studio-like” attractions that headlined the park during its early years of operation. This included the closure of the park’s Studio Backlot Tour, American Idol Experience, and the Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow attractions in 2014.
The park continued to close more studio-themed attractions; in April 2016, the majority of Streets of America—including the backlot street facades, the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show, the Earffel Tower, and the remaining backstage areas—was closed and demolished in preparation for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Toy Story Land.
In 2017, the Great Movie Ride, the last remaining original attraction, and is slated to be replaced by Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in the Spring of 2020.
What’s To Come
Hollywood Studios has went through a lot of changes in recent years when Disney bought the Star Wars franchise. Adding Star Tours, the Launch Bay, and the stage show Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away.
However 2018 brought a massive addition in Toy Story Land and 2019 aims to be even bigger with Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. The 2 park expansions will bring a high crowd size but also give the park more much needed attractions.
Slinky Dog Dash gives Hollywood Studios its first roller coaster. Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run and Rise of the Resistance, 2 state of the art attractions also give the park a new flare that it lacked. Galaxy’s Edge will also be Disney’s first and hopefully not last all-interactive land.
Disney also just recently opened Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy and will unveil Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway next year.
These additions should help the least visited park at WDW surpass Epcot and Animal Kingdom in attendance numbers.
Placing the Star Wars Franchise in Hollywood Studios along with expanding Pixar’s footprint gives this park much more potential going forward to be a top notch theme park.
Celebrate!
Hollywood has went through more changes than maybe the other 3 parks combined over its 30 year existence. It has made and remade itself and continues to evolve.
Jessica at Hollywood & Vine
Help us here at A Walk With The Mouse as we celebrate its evolution and its 30 year birthday. There are exciting things yet to come of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Stay tuned as we chronicle those changes.
