Avengers Assemble: Flight Force

Lore & Background

The ride originally opened as Rock 'n' Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith at the then-named Walt Disney Studios Park on March 16, 2002, as a second installation of the original ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It featured the same track layout but a completely different theme, with guests entering Tour de Force Records and boarding Soundtracker trains. It was one of the park's three opening day rides, located next to Moteurs... Action!: Stunt Show Spectacular in the Backlot area.

Reader's Guide

Avengers Assemble: Flight Force represents a significant re-theming of a major attraction at Disneyland Paris, aligning with the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe integration at the park. Announced at the 2018 D23 Expo in Japan, the transformation closed the original ride on September 2, 2019, with the entrance sign removed by mid-month. The rethemed ride opened as part of the new Avengers Campus land on July 20, 2022. In 2023, new effects such as laser projections displaying a starfield were added. The ride experience features a queue where guests assist Iron Man and Captain Marvel in warding off Kree warheads, with Iron Man voiced by his French dubber Bernard Gabay and Captain Marvel appearing through new footage of Brie Larson. The ride's launch and inversions, combined with synchronized audio and lighting, create an immersive space battle simulation.

Did You Know?

• The ride accelerates from 0 to 57 mph in 2.8 seconds using linear motor electromagnetic technology.
• Riders experience up to 4.5 Gs and travel through three inversions, including a sea serpent, a corkscrew, and a loop.
• The original ride, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith, opened with Walt Disney Studios Park on March 16, 2002.

From Rock 'n' Roll to the Avengers: A Two-Decade Rebirth

The track that would eventually become one of Disneyland Paris's most thrilling attractions first welcomed guests on March 16, 2002, when Walt Disney Studios Park opened its doors. At the time, the ride carried the name Rock 'n' Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith and served as the European counterpart to the identical coaster at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. While the physical track layout mirrored its American sibling, the Parisian version wrapped itself in a distinctly different story: visitors stepped into Tour de Force Records to test a futuristic music experience aboard Soundtracker trains. Situated in the park's Backlot area beside the Moteurs... Action! stunt show, it was one of only three rides available on opening day. Two decades later, the story shifted dramatically. At the 2018 D23 Expo held in Japan, Disney revealed plans to completely retheme the attraction around the Iron Man and Avengers universes. The original ride shut down on September 2, 2019, its entrance signage disappearing within days. After a lengthy overhaul, the coaster was christened Avengers Assemble: Flight Force in April 2022 before finally launching to the public on July 20 of that year, nestled within the brand-new Avengers Campus land.

Engineering the Launch: Vekoma's Electromagnetic Power

At the heart of Avengers Assemble: Flight Force sits a Vekoma-manufactured indoor roller coaster whose defining feature is its linear motor electromagnetic launch system. Rather than a traditional chain lift, riders are catapulted from a complete standstill to approximately 57 miles per hour (92 km/h) in just 2.8 seconds, a burst of acceleration that immediately sets the tone for the rest of the experience. Once airborne, the track subjects guests to forces reaching up to 5 Gs as it carves through rapid turns and three distinct inversions, among them a sea serpent and a corkscrew element. The ride is far from a purely mechanical experience, however. Synchronized onboard audio and lighting effects pulse in time with the track's movements, while screens and projections flanking the path paint a simulated space battle alongside Captain Marvel. These visual layers amplify the sensation of speed and pull riders deeper into the narrative. The combination of raw electromagnetic thrust, sustained high-G maneuvering, and immersive digital storytelling makes the coaster one of the most physically demanding and visually rich indoor launches in the European Disney portfolio.

The Story: Kree Warheads and the Hypersonique

Before the launch even begins, the narrative sets the stakes. Guests step into the QG Avengers, a command center where Iron Man—rendered exclusively in his armor through life-sized animatronics—is tracking a barrage of warheads hurtling toward Earth from the alien Kree empire. His AI assistant, F.R.I.D.A.Y., scans for superhero allies but finds none available, forcing Stark to recruit the very visitors strolling through Avengers Campus. These guests are then tasked with boarding Stark-designed spaceships called the Hypersonique to join Captain Marvel in intercepting the incoming threats. The storytelling is delivered bilingually: Iron Man speaks French, voiced by Bernard Gabay, the actor who has dubbed the character throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe in French-language releases. Captain Marvel, by contrast, appears through newly filmed footage of Brie Larson, delivering all of her dialogue in English. This dual-language approach ensures the narrative resonates with both the park's French-speaking core audience and international visitors, while the animatronics and projected footage create a layered, cinematic pre-ride sequence.

Evolution and Legacy: From Opening Day Icon to Campus Anchor

The journey of this particular track through two distinct eras of Disneyland Paris underscores how the park has evolved its approach to attraction design. In 2002, the ride was one of just three experiences available when Walt Disney Studios Park first opened, and its Aerosmith-themed music storyline was a novelty that drew crowds for years. By the time the 2018 D23 Japan Expo announcement signaled a full Marvel retheme, the park had long since rebranded and expanded, making the old theme feel increasingly dated. The September 2019 closure marked the end of an era, with the entrance sign stripped away within a fortnight. The July 2022 reopening as Avengers Assemble: Flight Force was inseparable from the launch of the Avengers Campus themed land, positioning the coaster as the centerpiece of a broader Marvel narrative environment. Even after that milestone, the ride continued to evolve: in 2023, Disney added new effects including laser projections that render a starfield, further deepening the space-battle illusion. Meanwhile, an identical Vekoma installation, Xpress: Platform 13, operates at Walibi Holland, linking the Parisian coaster to a wider family of electromagnetic launches across Europe.