This Hollywood Studios Ride Gives Me Anxiety and I Know I’m Not the Only One

Across its four parks, Walt Disney World has a wide variety of attractions, from highly advanced E-Tickets and thrilling coasters to traditional-style dark rides and small-scale attractions that wouldn’t be all that out of place at a local amusement park.

While this means that there are rides suitable for all types of guests, it also means that  — for certain guests — there are certain rides that can induce anxiety. Case in point, myself and the Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster.

So, a bit about me: Despite being a major theme and amusement park fan for the majority of my life, and having ridden hundreds of rides and attractions, I’m not the biggest fan of roller coasters. I have ridden many over the years, including all at Disney World, but the larger steel behemoths with inversions and loops make me physically ill, which brings me to the “Bad Boys of Boston.”

The Rock ’n’ Roller Coast Starring Aerosmith first opened at the then Disney-MGM Studios in 1999. The coaster, with its inversions (a first for a U.S. Disney park) and 60 MPH launch, instantly became the biggest “thrill” ride on Disney’s Florida property… and became the first Disney ride I was ever truly apprehensive about riding.

It took until 2005, when I was in my teens, to fully work up the courage to hop into the super-stretch limo ride vehicles and give the ride a go. I rode the coaster for the first time that summer, I did so in 2006 and 2008 as well. I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it on some level  — I am a big rock music fan if nothing else — but each time left me feeling physically ill, to the point that by my final ride it had a negative effect on the rest of my day at the park.

Due to these factors, I haven’t ridden the Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster in about two decades. For the most part, that hasn’t caused me too much anxiety, though I did have a bit of FOMO as it were every time I visited Hollywood Studios.

That changed last year, when Disney announced that the Muppets would be taking over the ride after being evicted from Muppet*Vision 3D’s longtime home thanks to Monsters, Inc. construction. Being a big Muppets fan  – – and one who already thinks Disney is making a mistake in removing Muppet*Vision 3D – – as soon as the announcement was made, it filled me with anxiety to know that in the future seemingly the only way I’ll be able to experience a Muppets attraction at Hollywood Studios will be to ride a ride that detrimentally affects my physically. Judging by some of the reactions from our readers, I’m not the only one either.

As a reader put it to us at the time, “…smaller kids can’t see the Muppets on that ride. And unfortunately, there will come a day when my husband and I can’t ride that roller coaster anymore. I’m afraid that’s going to come sooner than we want it to. It’s a pretty rough coaster.”

The Muppets’ takeover of the Rock ’n’ Roller fills me with anxiety about the prospect of not being able to experience the first-ever Muppet attraction. Stay tuned to AllEars for more on the transformation of Hollywood Studios.

The Muppets Planned to Have a Ride DECADES Before Taking Over Rock’n’ Roller Coaster

Do any Disney rides make you anxious? Let us know in the comments below.