News Monster Inc Land Coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios

[SJN1279]

Muppet vision was one of my favorites in the early 90's, but I'm fine if it leaves.
The preshow was always better than the actual attraction, Sam Eagle steals the show though!

I never understood why no Animal or Rowlf though.

 

[WoundedDreamer]

This boiling controversy and panic over the placement of the Monster's Inc. land could have been mitigated with a better D23 presentation. Disney Parks fans like concrete details. If you're going to eliminate a fan-favorite attraction, let people know in the presentation. Alternatively, if this is going into an area that will leave Muppets undisturbed, let people know in the presentation. How could you let people know? In D'Amaro's two hour grueling monstrosity (no offense to the Monsters of Monstropolis) he could have put a map up with the rough project boundary area. That way everyone would know where this project is supposed to be placed. Then we could respond accordingly.

Theme parks are holistic experiences. An attraction cannot exist divorced from the greater whole. Knowing where the attraction is going to be placed is just as important as knowing what the attraction is going to be. Looking at this forum, it seems like the evidence is pretty clear that the Muppets are on the chopping block. Why wasn't this communicated?

Then we come to the other problem with this attraction. I was watching the live thread when this new ride was announced, and within minutes of this attraction's announcement I was gratified to see @Casper Gutman point out something that the executives and creatives at Disney should have thought of months ago. This type of attraction is not what Disney's Hollywood Studios needs. Not at all.

Why?

DHS has an abundance of attractions with height restrictions. Let's go through them:

1) Tower of Terror (40 Inches)
2) RnR (48 Inches)
3) SDD (38 Inches)
4) Alien Swirling (32 Inches)
5) Smuggler's Fun (38 Inches)
6) Rise (40 Inches)
7) Star Tours (40 Inches)

Even the 38 Inch height requirements are keeping out a large portion of 3 year olds. And once a child can safely ride a thrill ride with a given height requirement, they still may not want to. Height requirements tend to be a proxy for intensity, so temperamentally a child might not want to ride a more intense attraction. Intense attractions limit their addressable audience.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against more intense attractions in a theme park. I believe that having a well-rounded slate of attractions is important. That includes rides like Tower of Terror and RnR. But the Hollywood Studios ride roster skews more intense. The only rides that don't have a height requirement are Midway Mania and Runaway Railway. This is made less problematic with the many shows in the park, but the obvious bias towards intensity remains.

To correct for this imbalance, Hollywood Studios needs rides that have no height restriction. Moreover, Hollywood Studios has an acute problem with wait times. More capacity is desperately needed. An example of a suitable ride to fill this niche is the Little Mermaid attraction at Magic Kingdom. It's a strong mix of high capacity and welcoming to all ages. Alternatively, multiple smaller attractions like the Fantasyland dark rides would accomplish something similar. That would give families more things to do and get people off of paths.

To add insult to injury, this Monster's Inc. ride is going to be taking an attraction that is open to all ages (Muppets) and replacing it with a ride that will probably have a 40 Inch height restriction. This is actually making the park less welcoming to families with small children. And because it's replacing a high capacity theater show, it won't make a significant difference to park crowd levels.

Time and again we have seen Disney and WDI build attractions that seek to push technological boundaries and showcase their design prowess. This isn't a bad thing at all. But it has to be bounded by an understanding of what the park needs. Disney's Hollywood Studios does not need another bespoke E Ticket. It has a robust D and E Ticket lineup (Tower of Terror, RnR, Rise, Smuggler's Fun, Mickey, Slinky, Midway Mania, Star Tours). These technologically complex rides have been added while the high-capacity dark rides and Fantasyland dark rides that built Disney into a juggernaut are missed.

This is not to say that Monster's Inc. won't be fun, engaging, and popular. But I am not at all convinced this attraction is what Hollywood Studios needs. Especially if it comes at the cost of a family friendly attraction.

 

[Stripes]

The site that must not be named has randomly brought up the Door Coaster again. I don't buy it.

TC was the first and only insider to share the Monsters Inc. coaster before D23. I think he probably has a source close to the project. And that source is apparently saying it’s going in Animation Courtyard.

 

[Streetway]

TC was the first and only insider to share the Monsters Inc. coaster before D23. I think he probably has a source close to the project. And that source is apparently saying it’s going in Animation Courtyard.

people here were wrong about d23. Moana boat comes to mind. And nobody believed the existing door coaster rumor too here, when it was mentioned.

 

[Streetway]

people here were wrong about d23. Moana boat comes to mind. And nobody believed the existing door coaster rumor too here, when it was mentioned.

Like if Tom is right, and everyone else is wrong, what do you think happened source wise?

 

[easyrowrdw]

The show they may move them to will need to be redone anyway, so the calculus is different.

That theater by RnRC is so sparsely attended that I can’t see them paying to put anything else there. It’s remarkable we got that amazing Lightning McQueen AA.

It's a bit more than just a theater with some simple overlays. There's built in tech all over the theater. To relocate this show to a new building would cost millions. My guess would be 30-50 million all said and done.

TLDR: If they take the show out, it's gone forever.

Have they considered just putting the Muppets theater on a flatbed and just driving it somewhere else? I’m pretty sure I’ve that kinda thing on the History Channel.

 

[Sectorkeeper71]

This is how I envision Bob (for those who have seen the old country bears movie)

View attachment 809429

COUNTRY BEAR HALL HAS BEEN CRUSHED!

 

[darkridenjoyer]

Is there going to be a second ride in this land? Maybe Ride and Go Seek from Tokyo?

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Is there going to be a second ride in this land?

You'd think. If not, Disney's definition of a "land" is concerning. Take that Universal!

 

[erasure fan1]

If you're going to eliminate a fan-favorite attraction, let people know in the presentation

Even the misfits that are running things at Disney aren't that dumb. I agree that being up front with your plans is the right way. But if they said, muppets, rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island were being deep sixed. I can almost guarantee there would be a very bad reaction during the presentation and they knew it. They wanted the, look at all the amazing stuff Disney is doing! headlines.

 

[GenChi]

Muppetvision is going to die eventually. If it doesn't die for Monsters now it's going to die for Incredibles, Zootopia, Star Wars expansion, whatever down the road. We all know it deep down.

If this is it I'll be sad but at least this Monsters concept is so cool it can be a worthy replacement. The one thing, however, is they need find Muppets a new place for a new show as soon as possible if MV is going. If not they deserve as much anger as they will get.

 

[Winter]

Honestly if they can come up with some half-baked reason the Monsters are in Tomorrowland, surely they could come up with a way to explain why the Muppets would be in Monstropolis. There's tons of crossover - Sweetums is a Monster, Frank Oz is in Monsters Inc, Steve Buscemi is basically a Muppet..

It'd likely be at the edge of the land. Just put a door facade at the front and say it's a door that leads to the Muppets

Though I'd rather them just put a new show there at that point.

 

[doctornick]

Is there going to be a second ride in this land? Maybe Ride and Go Seek from Tokyo?

There should be, but all signs point to no. Maybe there will be a playground.

One person on twitter said there would be a show too but I haven’t seen any corroboration so probably not

 

[J4546]

Picture the Muppets logo but with a Monsters "M" .A land where they coexist

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨ ᗩζᗩᗰ]

It'd likely be at the edge of the land. Just put a door facade at the front and say it's a door that leads to the Muppets

Though I'd rather them just put a new show there at that point.

That's an interesting take. I kinda like it in its scary simplicity.

 

[doctornick]

Muppetvision is going to die eventually. If it doesn't die for Monsters now it's going to die for Incredibles, Zootopia, Star Wars expansion, whatever down the road. We all know it deep down.

If this is it I'll be sad but at least this Monsters concept is so cool it can be a worthy replacement. The one thing, however, is they need find Muppets a new place for a new show as soon as possible if MV is going. If not they deserve as much anger as they will get.

See I totally disagree. If the idea is that they “need” to have Muppets somewhere then it’s pretty idiotic IMHO to remove MV. Because then you are just spending money shuffling deck chairs. If you are determined to keep Muppets, then keep what you have and put Monsters somewhere else and save that money and hassle (downtime, etc). No reason to be more disruptive than you have to be.

 

[CoasterCowboy67]

Any indication they would repurpose the Muppets theater and make a Monsters show of it? A relocated Laugh Floor — which has nothing to do with Tomorrowland anyway? In the concept art, it does still look like a brick building is to the right of the HQ building. Harryhausen could go where PizzeRizzo is. Would love for the land to be more than just one attraction if it’s to be a proper land

 

[DavidDL]

I know it will never, ever happen but I wish they would just move Muppet*Vision 3D next to Rock n' Roller Coaster and re-theme the coaster to Electric Mayhem, turning that whole area into a new Muppets Courtyard type of area. I say this has a huge fan of Rock n' Roller Coaster, too. Electric Mayhem doing covers of popular rock songs (including Aerosmith) is the perfect way to expand the musical selection while also insulating the attraction from any potential "real world" unpleasantness band members may get themselves into, just enough.

Assuming the fountain gets moved, too, the only thing really lost in the process would be, what? PizzeRizzo? There was a Muppet shop but I don't believe they open it for anything other than special events anymore and stuff like the props inside could certainly be moved, as well.

A man can dream.

 

[erasure fan1]

See I totally disagree. If the idea is that they “need” to have Muppets somewhere then it’s pretty idiotic IMHO to remove MV. Because then you are just spending money shuffling deck chairs.

And don't forget the giant elephant in the room. Does anyone think that Disney, and their extremely lackluster handling of the Muppets, could come ANYWHERE close to what Henson did? For most muppet fans I know and talk to, muppet vision is absolutely as classic as anything that's come before it. I have less than zero faith in Disney, to not to jack it up.

 

[Streetway]

If we got all worked up for nothing, it will be very funny.