The muppets were the most easy IP to slot in without having to spend a ton of money to do it.
Well, I personally have seen Monsters Inc at least three times in the last 5 years. I can ask around tomorrow if you want for my friends. For merch, again, someone got on the bus today wearing a Sulley t-shirt. The general consensus I gathered was that among us high schoolers, it's just a movie that exists in the back of your mind. It's not necessarily everyone's favorite movie, but everyone loves it and everyone can name characters and quotes and stuff. The "put that thing back where it came from" scene was mentioned by two separate friends.
Hard disagree.
But they didn't, because there was no requirement to do so. I would suspect that this retheme coincides with some type of contractual obligation to renew use rights for Aerosmith.
What IP would work with the existing building, ride vehicles, and rock and roll theme and not require substantial and expensive work to be done? To think that this was solely done to preserve a muppets presence in the parks is naive.
More with regards to its theme. It didn't mater so much near the watered down Muppets area but it might in proximity to a more fully-realized Monstropolis land. Do they simply ignore it, tone it down so as not to call attention to itself, create some transitional theme/aesthetic or go all-in on a Monsters Inc. retheme? It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, they do to it.
But again, you are one person posting about the people you know as a person posting on a Disney forum. I have no idea the reach of Monsters, but we can't draw conclusions based on antidotal evidence. I mean, antidotally, my 6 year old and his older sister have both said they don't really care about it (now, if it looks super cool, that will change them). That doesn't mean it's not a popular franchise with a lot of others, but I'd need to see streaming numbers and actual merch sales to reach that conclusion. Hockey was the biggest sport at my high school, and still is the only sport I consistently talk to people about. It doesn't mean it's some super popular sport.
I don't see it as an issue. Everything is covered in brick. As you walk into "Monsters Courtyard", for lack of a better term, sure Monsters will be everyone but so are brick buildings. Disney isn't regretting anything.
Sixteen year olds are also not putting out the money for Disney vacations - at least not in my middle-upper class world.
Let's hope there's plenty of shade, I can't imagine being in the Sully costume during the Florida summer (or the Florida winter at this point)
Anecdotally, everyone I know thinks great rides are great. So, if they build a great ride, it'll be great. If they build a crappy ride, it'll be crap. I love Stitch but hated his show. I hate Song of the South but loved its ride. Anecdotally.
To put this back into your context of making money... Do you think they'll be more like to sell them tied to an IP or left as-is?
Anecdotally, I liked the PATF movie. I hate the Tiana ride. I'll ride it during the summer because it's a boat ride to keep cool so why not? But the theme sucks.
That's fair. It wasn't a great retheme to many of us. Ride system still rocks. If you close your eyes, it's an awesome flume ride!
It terrified people by reminding them that insects are disgusting and dangerous. Hornets and black widows won no allies.
That went on for about 3 years didn't it (if not longer) and how awful it was going to be.
I swear it gets you more soaked than Splash. Rode it for the first time on Sunday and got drenched (although I was in the front of the log). Though it was so hot outside that by the time we got off the ride and walked to Peter Pan, we were almost completely dry. Flordia summers are insane, no wonder my family only went in the spring or winter growing up.
An old CM told me they could wear ice vests offered to them however the heat would melt the ice quickly and they'd end up with warm water swishing around them so many decided to just tolerate the heat instead. They'd lose quite a bit of weight also in the first week or so.
Oh jeez, that sounds unbearable. I could barely handle the heat and humidity in shorts and a button up, I couldn't imagine wearing a huge suit. No wonder the walking characters are only out for like, 5-10 minutes at a time.
Having worn a few myself in other venues, the dank smell is also unbearable. And don't you dare rip one while inside, else you'll be friends with the fumes, for a quite a while.