That's because the confidence in Disney updating the attraction to come anywhere close to what Jim did is slim to zero. The show is almost perfect. Outside of updating a few things like Waldo or improving the animatronics, there's not much to improve. Just put it in a smaller theater and restore the fountain to its original form. Now you have a nice Muppets mini-land. And you spent very little in the grand scheme of things.
One of my favorite details is that Statler and Waldorf actually lower their glasses to start the show and "adjust" them when getting back up after the "WE SURRENDER!!" gag
Here's a video of Statler and Waldorf only (with main show in lower right) that was shared already. Makes you appreciate that they programmed them to react to everything in the entire show. Also, a detail that most probably don't notice: arrows appear out of the wall and their balcony to imitate arrows shot out from the glorious minute and half finale.
Yeah, it's a third arm that pops up when the figures duck down. There's a video of Statler's flag arm being stuck up after he's popped back up. I'll have to track it down.
Thanks for this photo; in all the times I had seen the show, I NEVER noticed this until I sat up front this past Thursday night. I simply loved the violinist penguin, so it made me smile to see this picture. It was fun and bittersweet to observe new details I had never seen before.
Agreed, I think it's an extremely high bar.
I just can't see Disney just moving this show and tech to another theater without updates and changes. I agree that confidence is low that Disney would get a refresh 'right' but that's the only option I see. Something 'plussed' and have a wider marketing penetration. Something that would fill the seats again as capacity see to be very low on most shows. I think it would need to have a better screen, updated animatronics, and most important - a gimmick such as 4D, seat effects, and/or new storyline. If the fans just want the same show, I'm afraid that may only be found virtually in the future.
This is such an interesting observation I've seen multiple times now. Not that it matters anymore, but I had seen the numbers for this show and the utilization rate was very healthy, far above what people seemingly stated seeing "empty" theaters.
