Important WARNING About One Hollywood Studios Ride

Update: Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster now appears to list operating hours for all upcoming days on the Disney World calendar. The refurbishment notice has also been removed from the website. We’ll continue to look for updates.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith has reopened in Disney’s Hollywood Studios…or has it?

The ride closed in February for a lengthy refurbishment. Then, surprisingly, on Friday, May 26th (without any warning or announcement) the ride suddenly reopened! We saw the ride close temporarily at certain points over the weekend and noted that its hours may not be all that reliable. Now, we’re breaking down what you need to know.

Will you be able to rely on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster being open during your upcoming trip to Disney World? Not necessarily, and here’s why.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster closed on February 21st, 2023 for its refurbishment. Thus far, Disney has only announced that the ride will reopen in “summer 2023.” But wait, the ride already reopened right? Not quite.

This is what it looks like when you rope drop Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster! 🎸 pic.twitter.com/zlfTHmqDZ7

— AllEars.Net (@AllEarsNet) May 30, 2023

What we’re experiencing right now is what’s called a soft reopening. It means the ride has NOT officially reopened. In fact, Disney’s website for the ride still notes that it is “temporarily closed” and will resume in the summer of 2023. Since the ride is in its soft reopening phase, that means it may be open from time to time during your visit, but you can’t count on it to be open the whole time.

On May 29th, we looked ahead and the Disney calendar did NOT show any available operating hours for the ride in the coming days. But on May 30th, the calendar was updated to show hours for that day.

As of May 30th, no hours are displayed for May 31st or the dates that follow. But that could be updated on a day-by-day basis (like what we saw with the 30th).

We spoke with a Cast Member at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster on May 30th who confirmed that the ride is still in its soft reopening phase, and there is no set date for its official reopening.

For now, the Cast Member indicated that whether the ride will be open will be handled on more of a day-to-day basis. In other words, you might find the ride to be open for all/most of the day during one day of your trip, and it may be mostly closed on another — it’ll really all depend.

If you do see that Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is open at a certain point in the day, be sure to head over there and ride it while you can since there’s no guarantee it’ll be open later in the day.