DHS Disney Confirms Muppets Take Over Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios

[jah4955]

True, but they honestly did a good job making him cute, truth be told. An appealing cute

It's kinda cute to think that I'm 19 away from getting want I want for Christmas

 

[HMF]

Yes, lol! Btw, apparently, from my understanding, Iger was ‘fuming’ mad backstage after Tony asked “so when are we bringing Dreamfinder back” after Iger’s ludicrous/full of crap speech about how “he” was asked about the ride after it was changed and that he was so happy about the 02 “return”,, and of course the picture with Darth Vader to the side of him and Dreamfinder & Figment on Tony’s side of course didn’t help matters. But yeah. Lol! Bob’s narcissist self deserved it in all honesty. He’s the only one that made a complete & total buffoon of himself on that stage, not Tony, truth be told.

Never mind that Iger had nothing to do with Figments return seeing as how Eisner was still in charge at the time.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Never mind that Iger had nothing to do with Figments return seeing as how Eisner was still in charge at the time.

Anyway, forgive me for the off-topic convo which, admittedly, went on for much too long. The point I was making was that, Yes, Disney has a history of sabotaging things from succeeding and the situation with Muppet•Vision 3D is far from the only time.

I feel a big reason why Muppet•Vision started losing attendance besides the lack of proper marketing on social media & merchandise, the new signage didn’t do itself any favors either. It became much less noticeable & permanent looking and started to look a lot smaller & more temporary IMO.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

A much better solution IMO, would’ve been to simply have alternate Muppet 3D shows at different times. The original and possibly a new one or some holiday themed ones with reprogrammed AAs, etc. Much better solution compared to what ultimately was decided on.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Also removing things like the water features and the other character statues on the fountain didn’t help things either, besides the lack of merchandise in the gift shop, which definitely would’ve helped it had they been selling a bunch of Muppets themed merch.

PizzaRizzo absolutely could’ve used a theming enhancement instead that utilized more elements initially planned for a themed restaurant rather than the bare bones one we ended up getting.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Electric Mayhem Rock ‘n Roller Coaster. While a fun idea on paper, I’m curious to see how well it’s executed and whether or not they utilize the current Villains show theater for Muppet Vision 3D in time. I suppose only time will tell.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Gotta say though, it really is a shame The Great Muppet Movie Ride wasn’t able to be built as initially intended for a Muppet Courtyard Expansion. With the loss of The Great Movie Ride and how well loved the characters are, that would’ve been fantastic to see/experience & would’ve been a guaranteed win for both Muppets & Parks fans I believe .

 

[jah4955]

Agreed. The last I was there was 50th Anniversary. Like my last several times at Country Bears, the theater seemed full-ish but that was because everyone spread out (most comfortably) and were full of genuine fans of the attraction and its nostalgia such as myself. Everyone laughing and clapping as if they were real.

I remember around that time there was a rumor of a Woody's Roundup Redo....but Disney announced to the affect of "Don't worry folks. It will remain thru the 50th Anniversary."

Which told me they were planning to close right after.

It may not be the same as the abbreviated original, but I'm very happy Disney changed their minds at least here.

I can't quite remember the timeline, but I'm wondering if a/the reason Country Bears both survived & got the love was b/c Disney axed the mountain nearby so they had all of these great parts for the bears? I tried to find that detail but no luck.

 

[mattpeto]

@FigmentsBrightIdeas, I don’t think anything in your recent posts shows that Disney wanted those experiences to actively fail. Reaching back 27–30 years and treating those situations as directly relevant today doesn’t really strengthen the argument.

If I’m being honest, the sabotage theory kind of falls apart under basic common sense. If Disney truly wanted an attraction to fail so it could be replaced, there are far more obvious—and effective—ways they could push that narrative.

For example, real sabotage would look like:

• Letting props and effects break and stay broken, even when easy fixes exist
• Intentionally running attractions with reduced capacity or poor operations to inflate wait times.
• Making the physical experience worse—uncomfortable seats, poor lighting, bad audio.
• Cutting basic show quality so the experience becomes genuinely unpleasant for guests.
• Allowing visible messes: spilled drinks, stained carpets, dirty show scenes. (I mean why ever clean them up?)

In short, they could make the attraction miserable to experience. If sabotage were the goal, guests would walk out saying, “That was awful—why does this even still exist?”

That’s not what we’re seeing.

Neglect does happen, especially with aging attractions and shifting priorities. But neglect is not the same thing as intentional neglect. There’s a big difference between an attraction slowly losing investment due to budget, staffing, or long-term planning—and one being deliberately run into the ground.

Seeing wear and tear doesn’t automatically mean Disney is trying to kill something off. It just means it isn’t at the top of the list anymore. And that distinction matters.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

I can't quite remember the timeline, but I'm wondering if a/the reason Country Bears both survived & got the love was b/c Disney axed the mountain nearby so they had all of these great parts for the bears? I tried to find that detail but no luck.

I don’t think so. I think it was a mix of multiple factors, not just the whole Woody’s Roundup show plan that got (deservedly) panned to oblivion upon being leaked but needing to apply Disney’s IP mandate aswell as possibly making it easier to maintain, which an upgrade to the parts would’ve covered a maintenance mandate of that type, not to mention, a more worthwhile show with the more sophisticated movements. But we’re getting a bit too off-topic again. Best we stay focused on The Muppets projects here.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Rizzo is Bradley Freeman Jr, not sure who's performing Bean, but it sounds like Linz to me

Bean kind of sounded like Dave Goelz to me...is that possible?

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

@FigmentsBrightIdeas, I don’t think anything in your recent posts shows that Disney wanted those experiences to actively fail. Reaching back 27–30 years and treating those situations as directly relevant today doesn’t really strengthen the argument.

If I’m being honest, the sabotage theory kind of falls apart under basic common sense. If Disney truly wanted an attraction to fail so it could be replaced, there are far more obvious—and effective—ways they could push that narrative.

For example, real sabotage would look like:

• Letting props and effects break and stay broken, even when easy fixes exist
• Intentionally running attractions with reduced capacity or poor operations to inflate wait times.
• Making the physical experience worse—uncomfortable seats, poor lighting, bad audio.
• Cutting basic show quality so the experience becomes genuinely unpleasant for guests.
• Allowing visible messes: spilled drinks, stained carpets, dirty show scenes. (I mean why ever clean them up?)

In short, they could make the attraction miserable to experience. If sabotage were the goal, guests would walk out saying, “That was awful—why does this even still exist?”

That’s not what we’re seeing.

Neglect does happen, especially with aging attractions and shifting priorities. But neglect is not the same thing as intentional neglect. There’s a big difference between an attraction slowly losing investment due to budget, staffing, or long-term planning—and one being deliberately run into the ground.

Seeing wear and tear doesn’t automatically mean Disney is trying to kill something off. It just means it isn’t at the top of the list anymore. And that distinction matters.

That has happened multiple times… and even in that Country Bear Playhouse video from Disneyland, you can see things like Big Al’s latex mask deteriorating/getting melty in that 2001 video footage. One of the first things you’ll see in regards to these situations is a lack of proper maintenance which other than the other factors I brought up, like changed signage & queue ropes, gift shop changes, lack of marketing & merchandising etc. def play a factor into things like this. If the attraction is of poor show quality, they can then easily say “see, folks think it looks old/dated now, so we can easily scrap it now”.

Bean kind of sounded like Dave Goelz to me...is that possible?

You never know. Would have to get the factual info from an easily verifiable/reputable source to truly be sure/confirm.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

Though granted, in regards to Muppet•Vision 3D, they were Infact doing maintenance on things like the replacement seat cushions, etc. Could’ve been folks within the company trying to help save it by implementing things of that nature, but ultimately, sadly, it didn’t seem to stop the Monstropolis plans.

 

[mattpeto]

That has happened multiple times… and even in that Country Bear Playhouse video from Disneyland, you can see things like Big Al’s latex mask deteriorating/getting melty in that 2001 video footage. One of the first things you’ll see in regards to these situations is a lack of proper maintenance which other than the other factors I brought up, like changed signage & queue ropes, gift shop changes, lack of marketing & merchandising etc. def play a factor into things like this. If the attraction is of poor show quality, they can then easily say “see, folks think it looks old/dated now, so we can easily scrap it now”.

You never know. Would have to get the factual info from an easily verifiable/reputable source to truly be sure/confirm.

That's still not an example of intentional neglect. Why didn't they just rip off Big Al's head then and leave him there? Why didn't just push Big Al over?

 

[mattpeto]

Though granted, in regards to Muppet•Vision 3D, they were Infact doing maintenance on things like the replacement seat cushions, etc. Could’ve been folks within the company trying to help save it by implementing things of that nature, but ultimately, sadly, it didn’t seem to stop the Monstropolis plans.

There wasn't much "neglect" with MV3D, so it's even harder for anyone to make an argument that anything was intentional there at all.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

That's still not an example of intentional neglect. Why didn't they just rip off Big Al's head then and leave him there? Why didn't just push Big Al over?

Maybe not intentional but neglect otherwise that speaks of a lack of care & priority and fuels the thought that “it looks old or dated”, which usually (not always) speaks of things to come soon after, sadly.

Granted, the Pressler era was doing lousy on maintenance in general around that time regarding the DL Country Bears, but again, it just didn’t help matters.

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

There wasn't much "neglect" with MV3D, so it's even harder for anyone to make an argument that anything was intentional there at all.

The lack of proper merchandising & marketing, aswell as making the sign less obvious certainly can make you think something was a bit “odd”. But yeah.. then again, we also have to take into account that a lot of the recent Muppet projects haven’t been received well. Though, unfortunately, as opposed to management admitting that they were Infact *wrong* regarding the (usually unneccesary) changes & implementations they insist on making despite the (again, usually rightful) pushback/resistance, they’d rather give up on the property entirely and replace it with something else. Which is ridiculous, when you consider the property at hand and love for them otherwise. But yeah, that’s the current Disney company for ya. (Aswell as too many other companies, sadly)

 

[FigmentsBrightIdeas]

And I don’t think anyone could honestly tell me, with a straight face, that if made fully available, Muppets merch wouldn’t sell. Cause truth be told, it would.

 

[lazyboy97o]

If Disney truly wanted

Disney is not the Borg. There is no singular course of action. There are an array of assorted, competing and even often contradictory views, desires and goals.

 

[jah4955]

I don’t think so. I think it was a mix of multiple factors, not just the whole Woody’s Roundup show plan that got (deservedly) panned to oblivion upon being leaked but needing to apply Disney’s IP mandate aswell as possibly making it easier to maintain, which an upgrade to the parts would’ve covered a maintenance mandate of that type, not to mention, a more worthwhile show with the more sophisticated movements. But we’re getting a bit too off-topic again. Best we stay focused on The Muppets projects here.

I know I've been pushing my luck...but you just reminded me of the brief Woody show in the Diamond Horseshoe....now waaaay back

Boooorrrrinngggg

Imagine if they did the scene where Fozzie & Kermit meet (from The Muppet Movie--El Sleazo) in the Diamond Horseshoe!