-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Rumor Muppets to Take Over The Hall of Presidents
- Thread starter The Visionary Soul
- Start date
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
The muppets announced that all seasons of the Muppet show are coming to Disney+.
WondersOfLife
Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
Yeup. Just about as hypocritical as you could possibly be.The Hall of Presidents is based on Walt's Lincoln attraction in Disneyland. It's 100% Disney and belongs in any Disney park.
The Muppets are an ill-considered acquisition that don't belong in ANY Disney park in my view. They've been kicked out of Disneyland with nary a tear shed, they have no presence in any other Disney parks around the world, and again, when Eisner at an earlier time suggested that the Muppets replace the Lincoln attraction in Disneyland, the public outcry forced him to drop the idea. Those folks got it.
To recap what we know just to make everyone crystal clear:
The Muppets are getting attention. They’re considered under the umbrella of Walt Disney Imagineering because WDI had a puppetry division and The Muppets got rolled into that. They’re actually a great fit because puppetry is a creative endeavor. The puppeteers share a lot of common principles with Imagineers, so now they are one and the same. It works. As a side note, The Muppets (well, puppets in general) are really the ONLY property that Disney has that can be true to form in the parks. Think about it. Everything else has to be translated into a three-dimensional environment. The Muppets are already in that form. The biggest issue here is to design animatronics that can mimic hand movements.
The Muppet Show is coming to Disney+. This is a HUGE deal because the rights for the original Muppet Show are a ridiculous jumble of chaos. Music rights were never acquired for use outside of network television, guest star appearances were contingent on separate contracts. Hell, just finding the episodes in good enough quality to put in a modern day streaming service was a miracle on its own. This shows there was considerable thought and investment put into this project at the corporate level. It bodes positively for the entire brand.
Joe Biden is the new president and he is getting an animatronic of himself. This shouldn’t be news to anyone. It also is nothing new to know that they re-skin the head of the existing talking president in the show to keep the costs down. Only the speaking animatronics have major motion functions in the show. The other units are placed in the background and have much less motion. We expect that to happen every time a president changes. We expect that Trump will end up somewhere in the back. As far as I say, good: his likeness is poor at best.
I heard that they want to incorporate The Muppets into the show from multiple sources I trust. This doesn’t mean changing the show so much that it’s not “The Hall of Presidents” anymore. It means slapping a narration from someone like Kermit the Frog or Sam the Eagle on the show. Mostly in the re-done video presentation. The Muppets are cheap to film: they’re puppets. A narration has to be done anyway. This can be done cheaply. I also suspect an animatronic Muppet to be possible (and probably the cheapest form of a new animatronic), but not necessarily something that has to happen. The point here would be to make the show more fun for audiences.
Nothing Disney has announced has changed anything about this rumor. I admit I got the timing wrong and made the wrong assumption about the Twitter posts. But I don’t believe my sources were wrong entirely. There is something solid to this.
Anyway, I don’t think I left anything out that needed to be said, but hopefully that clears up any confusion. Stay positive!
The Muppets are getting attention. They’re considered under the umbrella of Walt Disney Imagineering because WDI had a puppetry division and The Muppets got rolled into that. They’re actually a great fit because puppetry is a creative endeavor. The puppeteers share a lot of common principles with Imagineers, so now they are one and the same. It works. As a side note, The Muppets (well, puppets in general) are really the ONLY property that Disney has that can be true to form in the parks. Think about it. Everything else has to be translated into a three-dimensional environment. The Muppets are already in that form. The biggest issue here is to design animatronics that can mimic hand movements.
The Muppet Show is coming to Disney+. This is a HUGE deal because the rights for the original Muppet Show are a ridiculous jumble of chaos. Music rights were never acquired for use outside of network television, guest star appearances were contingent on separate contracts. Hell, just finding the episodes in good enough quality to put in a modern day streaming service was a miracle on its own. This shows there was considerable thought and investment put into this project at the corporate level. It bodes positively for the entire brand.
Joe Biden is the new president and he is getting an animatronic of himself. This shouldn’t be news to anyone. It also is nothing new to know that they re-skin the head of the existing talking president in the show to keep the costs down. Only the speaking animatronics have major motion functions in the show. The other units are placed in the background and have much less motion. We expect that to happen every time a president changes. We expect that Trump will end up somewhere in the back. As far as I say, good: his likeness is poor at best.
I heard that they want to incorporate The Muppets into the show from multiple sources I trust. This doesn’t mean changing the show so much that it’s not “The Hall of Presidents” anymore. It means slapping a narration from someone like Kermit the Frog or Sam the Eagle on the show. Mostly in the re-done video presentation. The Muppets are cheap to film: they’re puppets. A narration has to be done anyway. This can be done cheaply. I also suspect an animatronic Muppet to be possible (and probably the cheapest form of a new animatronic), but not necessarily something that has to happen. The point here would be to make the show more fun for audiences.
Nothing Disney has announced has changed anything about this rumor. I admit I got the timing wrong and made the wrong assumption about the Twitter posts. But I don’t believe my sources were wrong entirely. There is something solid to this.
Anyway, I don’t think I left anything out that needed to be said, but hopefully that clears up any confusion. Stay positive!
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Everything you say makes sense.
It’s pretty straightforward, and I think that is why Steve supports this rumor:
1) they must redo HoP and have said they will
2) management prefers IP integration if anything is going to be built
3) the company bought The Muppets, wants to use them, and already found success with them ”teaching” American history.
Very simple. Does that mean it’s a done deal or that they can’t change their mind? Of course not. But it is very plausible.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Still hoping it doesn't happen, or at least we get a retro reprieve in the form of an older show for the 50th.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
This reminds me - has there been any discussion of WDW getting a 50th Anniversary Retrospective like Disneyland got in their Opera House? There was a great exhibit out in the lobby, and the film hosted by Donald Duck and Steve Martin was a charming recap that I felt struck the right chords for the event.
I can't recall properly if the "Walt Disney Story" Theater was removed when the Meet and Greets went into Exposition Hall, but if it was then The Hall of Presidents Theater wouldn't necessarily be the worst fit for that sort of temporary exhibit (and would give us some time away from the show to let people cool their jets a little).
But that's if they wanted something like that at the Magic Kingdom. "One Man's Dream" at the Studios would probably be the most likely venue for such a thing. I'd love to see something comparable to the DL show at WDW for the 50th.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Take out something Walt wanted to show a video about what Walt wanted. Sounds about right for Disney Management in 2021.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
I did say temporary - and presuming they wanted a venue at MK.
Mr. Lincoln returned at the Opera House after the run of this exhibit, and truthfully the show has never looked better. Though I fully recognize the DL management in that era is FAR different from the WDW management in THIS one.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
And highlight all of the non-Disney stuff built by a guy named Disney?
CastAStone
5th gate? Just build a new resort Bob.
Neat.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Didn’t that video play in the gallery?
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
It moved to the Gallery for a time once Lincoln had returned. Originally it played in his Theater.
Brer Panther
Well-Known Member
Hey, instead of shoehorning the Muppets into the Hall of Presidents, how about Disney add a Muppets dark ride to Disney's Hollywood Studios? Maybe something like this?
Why not? They're already doing that with Splash Mountain.
DugLovesU
Member
I like this idea because I loved the "Great Moments In American History" show that was in Liberty Square for a little while. My only concern is that it will make HOP too popular. If that happens where are the nursing moms and old folks who need a nap supposed to go?
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Ok that makes sense. I remember it being in the gallery so I must have visited after they moved it.
BasiltheBatLord
Well-Known Member
Can someone clarify what this means, does it mean that the speaking president is a single AA which is re-dressed with every new President and therefore the "new" President doesn't actually get a dedicated figure until they're out of office and put in the background?
Movielover
Well-Known Member
If I recall correctly only The Current President, Honest Abe, and OG George are more advanced AA's. The rest are more basic since all they do is react and fidget around on stage. The current president AA is simply re-dressed and skinned during the update, with the prior president's skin and clothes being put on a new "basic" AA.
Don't let one person's bee in their bonnet about an insider rumor get you all defensive. We know how credible you are. And if this didn't come to pass, I'd chalk it up to Disney doing a 180 (cf. Main Street Theater) rather than you being wrong.