Could Universal Be The Dissolve Of Rock N Rollercoaster & Aerosmith Partnership?

‘Cause we’d miss it baby, and we don’t wanna miss a thing

Since 1999 Disney has had a longstanding contract with Aerosmith partnering with the use of their band’s name, images, video, and audio (including music) to bring their attraction, Rock ‘N Rollercoaster, to life. The coaster is a fan favorite and staple in the attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, so imagining it as something else seems like a dream we just can’t wrap our heads around…

But, that may very well become the future for this attraction. Rumors have recently been swirling that the contract between Disney and Aerosmith for the licensing on this ride may no longer be in effect and the recent lack of Aerosmith band merchandise at the end of the attraction only alludes to adding fuel to those whispers.

Additionally, Aerosmith’s music licensing ironically will become exclusive property of Universal Music Group as of 2022. This means that Universal would own past and future audio/visual, musical, and lyrical rights to Aerosmith band content. So where does that leave Disney? There may be options to renew another contract between Disney and the existence of the current ride as it is. The ride may also see changes to be re-themed with new music and preshow just as we’ve seen at Disneyland Paris where their version of the ride was re-themed to fall in line with their newest Avengers Campus attraction offerings. And it may not be outside of the possibility to see some of Aerosmith’s most popular tracks to be added to the offerings of Universal’s Rip Ride Rocket track selection with this new acquisition.

It seems only time will tell the fate of this attraction, and we will continue to watch how Universal allows Disney to continue on with the attraction as it currently stands.