Three months after Aerosmith retired from touring, Disney World has announced that it will hand over the band’s Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster ride to The Muppets. The shift at the Hollywood Studios attraction in Orlando, FL comes in support of the new Disney+ series The Muppets Mayhem.
This announcement arrives amid restructuring at the theme park to make room for the incoming Monsters Inc. Land. As a result, the longstanding MuppetVision 3D will close, The Muppets will take over the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and Aerosmith will bid Peace Out to Disney World.
Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem will assume the role of the ride’s house band, though an announcement from Disney teased that they will be “teaming up with some of music’s biggest stars for a rockin’ music festival!” Disney did not give a closure date for the Aerosmith ride or MuppetVision 3D and invited fans to catch the shows before their final curtain calls. Opened on July 29th, 1999, the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith takes fans through inversions, rollover loops, and a corkscrew, careening through the indoor attraction at a top speed of 60 mph to Aerosmith classics “Walk This Way”, “Sweet Emotion”, “Back in the Saddle”, and more.
Related: ‘The Muppets Mayhem’ Is A Delightful Rock & Roll Fable For All Ages [Videos/Review]
This news comes after the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame act abruptly canceled its ongoing Peace Out farewell tour. Aerosmith cited irreparable damage to frontman Steven Tyler‘s vocal cords as reasoning for the group’s immediate retirement from the road. The past several years have seen the veteran classic rock band dogged by numerous issues including Tyler’s vocal injury, a relapse that led him into a drug treatment program, and a legal dispute with drummer Joey Kramer.
Speculation that Disney might distance itself from Aerosmith picked up in 2022 after Tyler was sued for sexual battery and assault of a minor for an alleged relationship he had with a girl in the mid-1970s. A product of California’s 2019 Child Victims Act which temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse survivors, the lawsuit was dismissed earlier this year by a judge who deemed that the alleged abuse did not meet the standard of “serious risk of physical injury.”
