My ongoing dream is a Great Muppet Ride, where you start on something like a Muppet Treasure Island version of Pirates, and Crazy Harry fires a cannon and blows up the wrong part, sending your boat through Muppet versions of other Disney rides. The Fozzy Bear Jamboree, The Enchanted Chicken Coop, American Sings with Sam Eagle, etc.etc. All ending with a great it’s a small world finale room with the Muppets singing Rainbow Connection. You cannot tell me that would not be an endlessly popular ride, with tremendous repeatability for people to catch all the jokes.Like, a muppet dark ride inspired by muppet vision and the original muppet studios concepts could be SO GOOD. hell, make it interactive like ride and go seek to bring people in. The muppets have so much more potential than just shows that have an eventual shelf life. But no way Disney green lights it.
To me, I think it would very much depend on the effort put into it and how they sell it. If they are able to make a high quality dark ride that feels like a passing of the torch to a new era of Muppets, it could be a very bittersweet but understandable passing of time. If the ride is a cheap copy lacking in the charm that has endeared me and millions to the franchise, it would be a cold comfort.I have a question for y’all. If they built a new,
Modern, muppets dark ride, would you be fine with muppetvision leaving?
My personal thought for a good muppet ride for years to come is this: A Muppet themed version of ride and go seek. An interactive “tour” through muppet studios filled with the famous Henson wit, Marc Davis esque gags, and hundreds of smaller gags activated with the flashlights. With the studios theme, you can have different interactive rooms with all the favorite muppet characters. All with a queue reminiscent of MMRR At Disneyland. Adaptable to the modern audience, but still plenty of room for gags. Feel free to share thoughts.My ongoing dream is a Great Muppet Ride, where you start on something like a Muppet Treasure Island version of Pirates, and Crazy Harry fires a cannon and blows up the wrong part, sending your boat through Muppet versions of other Disney rides. The Fozzy Bear Jamboree, The Enchanted Chicken Coop, American Sings with Sam Eagle, etc.etc. All ending with a great it’s a small world finale room with the Muppets singing Rainbow Connection. You cannot tell me that would not be an endlessly popular ride, with tremendous repeatability for people to catch all the jokes.
Also maybe a mystic manor esque ride through muppet labs.My personal thought for a good muppet ride for years to come is this: A Muppet themed version of ride and go seek. An interactive “tour” through muppet studios filled with the famous Henson wit, Marc Davis esque gags, and hundreds of smaller gags activated with the flashlights. With the studios theme, you can have different interactive rooms with all the favorite muppet characters. All with a queue reminiscent of MMRR At Disneyland. Adaptable to the modern audience, but still plenty of room for gags. Feel free to share thoughts.
Country bear musical jamboree is the very definition of “bittersweet passing of the torch”. If a muppet dark ride is approached with as much love as CBMJ, I think we’d be alright. God I could list off muppet dark ride concepts for days…To me, I think it would very much depend on the effort put into it and how they sell it. If they are able to make a high quality dark ride that feels like a passing of the torch to a new era of Muppets, it could be a very bittersweet but understandable passing of time. If the ride is a cheap copy lacking in the charm that has endeared me and millions to the franchise, it would be a cold comfort.
I love Figment.Figment isn't annoying....
I can appreciate and be nostalgic for MGM while still believing that the current version of DHS is the best version of DHS.
I would counter that it’s not one that has to run 50 years unaltered necessarily, but unaltered doesn’t need to mean replaced. Theater attractions should be the easiest to add alternate or seasonal program. Why has there never been a Muppet Christmas Carol 3D show added to the theater for the holiday season? With that being in some generations the highest rated Christmas movie, that theater would be swamped at that time. It doesn’t have to be the movie, but can reference it and use songs from it to present a condensed version. Then programming can return to MuppetVision 3D. It extends the life of this attraction, keeping valuable capacity for a fraction of the cost, while something like Monstropolis can go where it truly adds capacity and value to a park that desperately needs it.
Personally, if any 3D movie feels outdated and aged, it would be PhillarMagic. The 2003 CGI is very dated, and while the Coco addition adds nice variety, the decades in CGI progression only makes the age of the film feel more blatant (compare the nighttime city scenes of Coco and Aladdin or that a crowd shot in Coco probably has more character models than the rest of the show combined).
Note: I rather like PhillarMagic, like that it’s there, and wouldn’t advocate for it’s closing (which won’t happen anytime soon); it just feels aged to me in a way Muppet Vision doesn’t.
I wish they’d close PhillarMagic and somehow fit a classic fantasyland style dark ride in that space. Make up for them closing Snow White for a meet and greet.
Philharmagic is one of the most "Disney" attractions in the park. It's a delight, a remembrance of real Disney magic, and far more enjoyable than the show about dated felt and foam rubber.Personally, if any 3D movie feels outdated and aged, it would be PhillarMagic. The 2003 CGI is very dated, and while the Coco addition adds nice variety, the decades in CGI progression only makes the age of the film feel more blatant (compare the nighttime city scenes of Coco and Aladdin or that a crowd shot in Coco probably has more character models than the rest of the show combined).
Note: I rather like PhillarMagic, like that it’s there, and wouldn’t advocate for it’s closing (which won’t happen anytime soon); it just feels aged to me in a way Muppet Vision doesn’t.
I would love to see the philarmagic film updated because I agree that CGI is very dated. The concept for the ride is great, it just needs plussingPersonally, if any 3D movie feels outdated and aged, it would be PhillarMagic. The 2003 CGI is very dated, and while the Coco addition adds nice variety, the decades in CGI progression only makes the age of the film feel more blatant (compare the nighttime city scenes of Coco and Aladdin or that a crowd shot in Coco probably has more character models than the rest of the show combined).
Note: I rather like PhillarMagic, like that it’s there, and wouldn’t advocate for it’s closing (which won’t happen anytime soon); it just feels aged to me in a way Muppet Vision doesn’t.
I wondered if someone would argue this, but I firmly believe a screen based attraction, in a moving ride vehicle, or even a simulator, are still so fundamentally different than anything most people can experience on the regular, it goes without saying. I think they will have greater longevity.
But of course, ANY attraction can be timeless, regardless of the IP or the mechanism at play. I just think the nature of the Muppet attraction, the medium, does not help keep it around forever.
But I also believe most of these screen based attractions will need to be seriously upgraded or fully replaced after 30-50 years. There is a reason we really only count a few attractions as timeless.
To be clear, my post wasn’t remotely meant to hate on PhillarMagic (I really like it), or to pit one against each other. I just feel the use of 2003 CGI made the show’s animation feel really dated. That isn’t a bad thing, or something that makes me not like it, but it does make the show feel old in a way other shows don’t.Philharmagic is one of the most "Disney" attractions in the park. It's a delight, a remembrance of real Disney magic, and far more enjoyable than the show about dated felt and foam rubber.
The puppets aren't real Disney. They're just an underperforming, unnecessary acquisition. The puppet theater is way overdue for replacement. Personally, I'd love a 4D Roger Rabbit film to go in its place, or a 4D Zootopia film, but if it's Monsters, fine. Pixar and Disney have a shared history (Disney distributed Pixar and gave it its start), so Monsters is fine with me. And the vast majority of park guests would take Monster over Muppets anytime. That's just the way it is.
Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.