News Monster Inc Land Coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios

[Clyde Birdbrain]

Other resorts are getting an Avengers campus and Hollywood Studios would be the best place for this at WDW. Could part of the $16b that is supposed to be spent at WDW in the next 10 years be to get the Marvel rights back from Universal?

$16b is such a large amount. Even all the things that were announced this week are only a quarter to third of that amount (someone else on here had done a rough estimate of it being around $4b if I remember correctly).

I have no idea how much getting the rights back would cost, but animation courtyard and the back of the park would be a nice large area for an Avengers Campus.

 

[Earlie the Pearlie]

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 Monsters over Muppets anytime. That's just the way it is.

Dude. I love him just as much as anyone, but the notion that Roger Rabbit is less dated and more Disney than the Muppets is ridiculous. If anything I would argue he is more dated, because he hasn’t been in anything new in years. You can hate the Muppets, and I’ll leave you alone, but I feel like your rationale for not liking the Muppets (they are dated and don’t make Disney money) should also apply to Roger Rabbit, who was, by the way, not originally a Disney character, but a character in a crime novel.

 

[UNCgolf]

Dude. I love him just as much as anyone, but the notion that Roger Rabbit is less dated and more Disney than the Muppets is ridiculous. If anything I would argue he is more dated, because he hasn’t been in anything new in years. You can hate the Muppets, and I’ll leave you alone, but I feel like your rationale for not liking the Muppets (they are dated and don’t make Disney money) should also apply to Roger Rabbit, who was, by the way, not originally a Disney character, but a character in a crime novel.

Yeah, I would guess the vast majority of people under the age of 30, or maybe even 40, have absolutely no idea who Roger Rabbit is.

 

[Sectorkeeper71]

Other resorts are getting an Avengers campus and Hollywood Studios would be the best place for this at WDW. Could part of the $16b that is supposed to be spent at WDW in the next 10 years be to get the Marvel rights back from Universal?

$16b is such a large amount. Even all the things that were announced this week are only a quarter to third of that amount (someone else on here had done a rough estimate of it being around $4b if I remember correctly).

I have no idea how much getting the rights back would cost, but animation courtyard and the back of the park would be a nice large area for an Avengers Campus.

They can’t do much more with marvel due to the universal theme park rights in Orlando. Certainly nothing like avengers campus

 

[lazyboy97o]

I don't know, didn't Universal's pivot with Epic Universe kind of disprove this? They intentionally went away from heavily relying on screens, and I assume that means they had data showing that guests were getting sick of them and/or didn't like them as much as other options.

I also wonder if that was part of killing the Coco flight simulator in favor of a boat ride.

Two of the land headliners, Mario Kart and Battle for the Ministry, will be screen based attractions. There’s a chance we see a few versions of Stuntacular: The Ride.

 

[James Alucobond]

Other resorts are getting an Avengers campus and Hollywood Studios would be the best place for this at WDW. Could part of the $16b that is supposed to be spent at WDW in the next 10 years be to get the Marvel rights back from Universal?

If they want that, they should just use what they can. Create a Hollywood Sanctum for Doctor Strange, a Great Television Ride hosted by Agatha, etc. They can always rotate or add if they get other rights back later, and the merchandise rights (which are the main thing) don't seem to be a problem based on all the stores along Hollywood Boulevard.

 

[UNCgolf]

Two of the land headliners, Mario Kart and Battle for the Ministry, will be screen based attractions. There’s a chance we see a few versions of Stuntacular: The Ride.

I wouldn't call Mario Kart screen based -- it's full of physical sets. It just has the weird AR aspect layered on top of it (which makes the ride significantly worse than if it was just a Mario dark ride, at least to me).

I didn't know Ministry was going to be screen based, though. I assumed it would use screens to an extent in places, but if it's mainly screens then it's probably going to be a swing and a miss attraction for me.

 

[Earlie the Pearlie]

Yeah, I would guess the vast majority of people under the age of 30, or maybe even 40, have absolutely no idea who Roger Rabbit is.

I think that most people around my age would definitely recognize Kermit the Frog over Roger Rabbit. He’s had a bit of a Renaissance because of meme culture. And a good chunk of us grew up with the 2010s movies.

 

[the_rich]

I wouldn't call Mario Kart screen based -- it's full of physical sets. It just has the weird AR aspect layered on top of it (which makes the ride significantly worse than if it was just a Mario dark ride, at least to me).

I didn't know Ministry was going to be screen based, though. Like, I assumed it would use screens to an extent, but if it's mainly screens then it's probably not going to be a great attraction for me.

It's slow which is the worst part.

 

[jason976]

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.

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.

I would ride this multiple times a trip. It’s sounds perfect.

 

[UNCgolf]

It's slow which is the worst part.

Yeah, I think it's terrible as a Mario Kart ride, but I think it would work pretty well as a Mario dark ride. Get rid of the AR shooting gallery stuff and just take people through the different Mario settings.

 

[UNCgolf]

I think that most people around my age would definitely recognize Kermit the Frog over Roger Rabbit. He’s had a bit of a Renaissance because of meme culture. And a good chunk of us grew up with the 2010s movies.

There was also the Muppet Babies Saturday morning cartoon show in the 80s and early 90s (that was then played regularly in re-runs on Nickelodeon into the late 90s) for that generation of kids.

 

[James Alucobond]

There was also the Muppet Babies Saturday morning cartoon show in the 80s and early 90s (that was then played regularly in re-runs on Nickelodeon into the late 90s) for that generation of kids.

There was a 2018 Muppet Babies too.

 

[UNCgolf]

There was a 2018 Muppet Babies too.

Had no idea! I remember watching Muppet Babies on Nickelodeon in the early 90s, though. That's the only reason I knew who the Muppets were as a kid.

 

[Earlie the Pearlie]

There was also the Muppet Babies TV show in the 80s and early 90s (and that I think was still played regularly in syndication at least into the mid-90s) for that generation of kids.

As well as the pretty successful more recent reboot. Even Muppets Mayhem didn’t do that poorly, especially compared to some of these Star Wars shows they keep greenlighting. I firmly believe that if they were to make a real Muppet variety Show reboot, featuring modern celebrities, it would be a success and reassert them as a cultural presence. But Disney tries literally everything else first.

 

[Surferboy567]

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.

No I love phillarmagic. The questionable CG is a easy fix.

 

[Erdago]

No I love phillarmagic. The questionable CG is an easy fix.

To be clear, I really enjoy PhilarMagic, and don’t want it removed either. I was only commenting that I felt the age of current day PhillarMagic in a way I didn’t for other shows (such at Muppet Vision).

 

[YodaMan]

What does it mean to say “WDI has a few weeks to decide…”? They get to choose where this goes? That would be surprising, if true. I thought they drew up plans for the two locations and leadership then made the call.

This might have been mentioned, but unless I’m wrong WDI still owns the Muppets. I believe the IP was moved under the Imagineering umbrella a few years back and is still there. They still do new lines of Muppet Merch every year at D23 under their Mickeys of Glendale store. So this might be a special case where they get a bit more of a say, since going with the proposal that removes MuppetVision 3D would directly impact an IP that Imagineering owns.

 

[the_rich]

This might have been mentioned, but unless I’m wrong WDI still owns the Muppets. I believe the IP was moved under the Imagineering umbrella a few years back and is still there. They still do new lines of Muppet Merch every year at D23 under their Mickeys of Glendale store. So this might be a special case where they get a bit more of a say, since going with the proposal that removes MuppetVision 3D would directly impact an IP that Imagineering owns.

Is that why it's been said that even if mv3d goes the muppets will be somewhere in wdw?

 

[Brer Panther]

TC and other sources stating Disney sources says this is going to animation building and Star Wars Launch Bay will be entrance to Monsters Inc LAND

Here's hoping.

So, we’ve discussed in the past how Pete Docter apparently won’t let Inside Out replace Figment. Don’t we think that he, being a lifelong Muppet fan and close friend of Frank Oz, would oppose replacing Muppetvision too? After all he did direct Monsters Inc and is currently in charge of PIXAR?

That's a good point. Of course, apparently Iger and the executives still wanted to do Inside Out replacing Figment even after Pete Docter rejected the idea, so...

The Simpsons? Please tell me that’s a joke.

I feel like they’re gonna do Simpsons

I just know if they actually did do a Simpsons ride, it would be a ride version of those awful shorts they do for Disney Plus. An entire attraction with the Simpsons interacting with poorly-drawn, wrong-sounding versions of Disney characters, filled with unfunny jokes that feel like they were swiped from BuzzFeed articles. That would be Superstar Limo levels of horrific.

There's an elephant in the room.

Oh, are they adding a Dumbo attraction to Hollywood Studios too?

Waldo and Figment are the most annoying characters Disney has ever made.

I'll agree with you on Waldo, but there are far, far more annoying Disney characters than Figment.

Ever watch Star vs. the Forces of Evil?

He is on the current ride. I was never on the original version but I know the current version is considered way worse, so I assume he's fine there. But he's annoying on the current ride.

He's only being annoying because he hated Journey Into Your Imagination as much as everyone else did and has decided to torment Dr. Nigel Channing in revenge. And I'd argue he's still not nearly as annoying as Star Butterfly.

I have a question for y’all. If they built a new,
Modern, muppets dark ride, would you be fine with muppetvision leaving? ( I know I’m shouting into the wind rn but my point still stands.)

I still wouldn't want them to get rid of MuppetVision, but I'd love a Muppets dark ride. I even whipped up a pitch for one.

because he hasn’t been in anything new in years.

Well, he did make a cameo in the 2022 Chip and Dale movie.

Actually, let's not talk about that film.