News Monster Inc Land Coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios

The Leader of the Club

Well-Known Member
I know they were very specifically trying to avoid anymore blue sky vague announcements this year. But I think MuppetVision closing for a Monsters Inc mini-land would've gone over a lot better if there was a confirmation that Anination Courtyard was next and a blue sky tease of finally connecting it to Sunset with a new Land or a few mini-lands or whatever. Have Beyond Sunset as this D23's Beyond Big Thunder announcement at the end. That plus a new temporary Muppets show in the Mickey Shorts theater (could even just be an old Muppets clips compilation).

MuppetVision is a 30+ year old 3D movie. One of, if not the, longest running 3D films in a major theme park. One of the longest running shows at WDW to not get any major changes. It's had a good life. I doubt you'd see this kind of outrage over it if there was confirmation that it wasn't being demolished for no good reason and that there was more plans for Muppets in the future
I’d need several things to happen before I’m ready to say goodbye to MuppetVision

1. Animation Courtyard needs to be fully fleshed out.
2. Muppets need another attraction somewhere.
3.MuppetVision needs to be preserved on Disney+.
 

GoofGoof

Premium Member
This site has made the word “mandate” lose its meaning for me. This has always been a thing, replacing older stuff with newer stuff. I shudder to imagine what the star tours replacing inner space news would be like if this forum was around at the time. It does suck for muppets to close though, and they shouldn’t do it
Imagine if Universal fans decided to rise up and get replacements of part of lost continent and later Jaws blocked.

Replacing older stuff with newer stuff is always going to be part of the plan with any park. In a park like MK they will be adding substantial used capacity since the stuff they are replacing was not highly used. Makes perfect sense if you focus only on issue of ride capacity plus opens easy access to villians. My issue with Cars is different but for a different thread. I think AK is a similar story. While the project is a retheme of 1 ride that new ride will likely be much more popular so will eat more people (including time spent in line) which helps the rest of the park. Encanto will be a huge upgrade over the carnival rides. Win for the park even if they are replacing vs expanding.

Monsters could be more of the same or not. It’s either replacing Muppets or replacing Launch Bay. I think the obvious choice is Launch Bay, especially if they go deeper into backstage areas. Star Wars meet and greets could be moved. If they replace Muppets you lose a people eater with low wait times and no height restrictions and if the rumors are true no room for a MI show for that location. If you keep muppets and they have have room for a MI show too at AC you get 2 shows with low waits and no height restrictions.
 

Gusey

Well-Known Member
If it is Muppets to close, it's removing an attraction without a height requirement for a rollercoaster with a height requirement, meaning there'll be even less for everyone in the family to enjoy. Remember, the whole reason that the door coaster was first cancelled was because Hollywood studios needed more for families rather than more thrill rides, and it's still in the same state
 

Surferboy567

Well-Known Member
That'd actually be incredible. Make it an omnimover that takes you on an entire tour of building, including into the factory where you get to see the doors being setup in real time.
That would be incredible. Maybe they could do something like this on a smaller scale if they bring laugh floor over. The queue could somehow intercept with the door coaster as both take you though the factory.
 

Streetway

Well-Known Member
i dunno what a modern muppets dark ride would look like. Yknow I always though a fun way to “save” the great movie ride was to somewhat turn it into the concept for the Great muppet movie ride that was planned. Maybe like, the muppets took over GMR and are attempting to do movies scenes but they are all wrong. Maybe have animatronic starter and Waldorf in the front doing commentary on it? I dunno if doing that in the actual gmr would’ve been too on the nose or a bit “disrespectful” yknow
 

SamEagle80

Active Member


This article touches on something that I think Disney should be doing with the Muppets. Try revitalizing the original series with the Muppets doing skits that are parodies of Disney properties with the guest stars.

Let them host the Oscars. Create alternate-universe short stories like “what if Kermit the Frog was Iron Man?” Put Swedish Chef in an episode of The Bear. Let Miss Piggy guest star on Drag Race (not a Disney property, but can you imagine?).
 

GoofGoof

Premium Member
i dunno what a modern muppets dark ride would look like. Yknow I always though a fun way to “save” the great movie ride was to somewhat turn it into the concept for the Great muppet movie ride that was planned. Maybe like, the muppets took over GMR and are attempting to do movies scenes but they are all wrong. Maybe have animatronic starter and Waldorf in the front doing commentary on it? I dunno if doing that in the actual gmr would’ve been too on the nose or a bit “disrespectful” yknow
Any Muppet ride would likely start out as something mundane and then it goes off the tracks….basically the plot of Muppet Vision in a ride or similar to the Mickey Train but instead of goofy messing things up it’s the muppets. Add in some ”lame” jokes, slap stick comedy and the 2 old guys and you have a smash hit.
 

WDWFREAK53

Well-Known Member
Any Muppet ride would likely start out as something mundane and then it goes off the tracks….basically the plot of Muppet Vision in a ride or similar to the Mickey Train but instead of goofy messing things up it’s the muppets. Add in some ”lame” jokes, slap stick comedy and the 2 old guys and you have a smash hit.
I always liked the idea of an attraction similar to GMR but with the Muppets doing their parody scenes of iconic films.
 

danlb_2000

Premium Member


This article touches on something that I think Disney should be doing with the Muppets. Try revitalizing the original series with the Muppets doing skits that are parodies of Disney properties with the guest stars.

Let them host the Oscars. Create alternate-universe short stories like “what if Kermit the Frog was Iron Man?” Put Swedish Chef in an episode of The Bear. Let Miss Piggy guest star on Drag Race (not a Disney property, but can you imagine?).


I fully believe that there is no line Disney won't cross.
 

CoasterFan27

Active Member
You know what old school Disney would do - design a door coaster and a dark ride and the 2 would interact. How cool would that be!!!
"Old school Disney" never did anything like that so I don't know where you got that idea from other than to concoct an imaginary complaint about contemporary Disney who never do anything interesting. You're not alone in that on this board don't worry 😅

But yeah, the idea itself would be neat, the dark ride could be a chase in and out of the different doors and you'd have the coaster swoop overhead in the monster world side. Nightmare to sync for stoppages etc though so probably couldn't reliably choreograph anything.
 

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Disney has made many attempts with the Muppets over the years. Decent ones too.

  • The Muppets in 2011
  • Muppets Most Wanted in 2014
  • Muppet Moments in 2015
  • The Muppets (TV) in 2015
  • Muppets on D+ 2019 (canceled during development)
  • Muppets Now in 2020
  • Muppets Haunted Mansion in 2021
  • Muppets Mayhem in 2023
None of these shows received enough eyeballs to keep them going. The two Muppet movies in 2011 and 2014 made a combined $240M. Inc context it took Inside Out 2 one week to top both films.

Muppets aren't just popular with a broader audience.
There has been some decent content there, but in general the type of budget needed for a Muppets production is really a streaming level budget. The days of Disney putting out a major theatrical release involving the Muppets are behind us. They're a nice franchise, but there are plenty of other streaming options that outperform the Muppets.

I'll preface this by saying that our family enjoys Bluey. It's remarkably popular on Disney+ (top 5 streamed shows). If Monstropolis wasn't happening and they simply said they were replacing Muppet*Vision with a 15 minute Bluey 3-d show, I'd guess it would draw more crowds than Muppet*Vision.

The biggest thing the Muppets have for them is nostalgia, and Disney doesn't typically like dealing in nostalgia for new builds (non-Indiana Jones division).
 

Chip Chipperson

Well-Known Member
Disney has made many attempts with the Muppets over the years. Decent ones too.

  • The Muppets in 2011
  • Muppets Most Wanted in 2014
  • Muppet Moments in 2015
  • The Muppets (TV) in 2015
  • Muppets on D+ 2019 (canceled during development)
  • Muppets Now in 2020
  • Muppets Haunted Mansion in 2021
  • Muppets Mayhem in 2023
None of these shows received enough eyeballs to keep them going. The two Muppet movies in 2011 and 2014 made a combined $240M. Inc context it took Inside Out 2 one week to top both films.

Muppets aren't just popular with a broader audience.
I loved the series on ABC. It was worth making for the Animal/Dave Grohl drum-off scene alone. I also liked Muppets Now and Muppets Haunted Mansion. Muppets Mayhem was okay but underwhelming to me - it still would have been worth giving it a 2nd season to see if it got better, though.
 

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