It's rare to find yourself at Walt Disney World or Disneyland and find every attraction up and running. Regular maintenance is always required and so it's always a good idea to check if any of your favorite attractions are going o be down when scheduling your next vacation. In addition to scheduled downtime, unscheduled downtime is always a possibility. Things break and need to be fixed, but Disney parks are used to this and so any unexpected issues are usually rectified quickly. Which is why what's currently happening at Disney's Hollywood Studios is a bit unusual. The Rock 'N' Roller Coaster, Starring Aerosmith is down due to "technical difficulties" but has been that way every day of 2021 so far.
The last posted wait times for the ride were on December 31st and since January 1 Cast Members have simply told guests the ride is down with technical difficulties. Here we are on January 5 and BlogMickey reports the attraction is still down with no new information. The implication is that they are actively working to get the roller coaster up and running, but no timeline has been provided and it's now been five days of the ride being down. The Rock 'N' Roller Coaster hasn't been added to any official list of rides being refurbished, which reinforces the idea the coaster should be ready soon, but soon usually isn't several days.
It's rare, but not unheard of for unscheduled downtime to stretch on for days. In March of last year, just before the park had to close for several months, Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion was closed for a few days with no explanation. This past summer the Tomorrowland Peoplemover was dealing with an unexpected closure right up until Walt Disney World was forced to shut down. When the park reopened, the attraction did not, and eventually it was transferred to the list of official refurbishments.
One certainly has to wonder if something like that could happen here. During a normal period, we'd see a decent number of attractions going down for scheduled refurbishments in January in February, as the period tends to see low attendance following the busy holiday season. Of course, this year is anything but normal, so who knows?
There's also the the unspoken fact that it's possible Rock 'N' Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith may not be long for this world. The attraction is over 20 years old and it has been rumored to be on the chopping block for years. The version of the attraction found at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris is currently being remodeled into a new coaster featuring Iron Man, and it's expected the Florida version will be replaced with something else before too long, though nothing has ever been confirmed by Disney in that regard. With so much other construction being done right now, and being slowed due to the pandemic, it seems unlikely Walt Disney World is about to embark on another major project, but it's certainly possible.
