Rumor Muppets to Take Over The Hall of Presidents

[Tony the Tigger]

As an American, I am sad that society has practically necessitated this kind of change.

Agreed. I love the Muppets and I’m not an IP snob. I look at this as a temporary (read: years long) plus, wherein they narrate the thing and recent presidents don’t talk, or don’t say much.

I haven’t been to this attraction in the last 4 years. I’ll go see this new iteration for sure. (I wonder if attendance has been up/down/unchanged.)

 

[deeevo]

I'm not keen on everything having to have an IP connection these days and a lack of original attractions... but this one also wouldn't bother me too much. If they were going to find a way to have an entertaining, educational, and perhaps genuinely witty show about US history, the Muppets are a pretty ideal way of doing that.

I also think HoP as a concept maybe just doesn't work as well now as it did in the past. It has been running now for almost 50 years, so it wouldn't be too outrageous for that to be the case...

Agree 110%

 

[Buck Wheelie]

If they could make it entertaining it would be ok it. Maybe have Waldorf and Statler do the narration. With the state of politics these days they should have plenty of material to work with.

 

[The Great Gonzo]

It does seem more likely if the U.S. Prez's change too much for Disney's wallet.

But I'd rather them just shut off half of the animatronics then do a Muppets attraction.

 

[The Mom]

No politics, please.

 

[ppete1975]

No, we talk of the failure of Edutainment in Epcot.

we can disagree

 

[danlb_2000]

Have a hard time believing this.

Hoping it doesn't happen as it would spoil what has often been a rather noble and patriotic effort over its many years of operation.

Slapping the Muppet characters all over this is just a very poor choice...and a bad idea.

-

Which is exactly why I would not be surprised to see this happen.

 

[sublimesting]

No politics, please.

Yeah just, wh, wel bu uhhh mmmmmmm OK fine.

 

[HarperRose]

Have a hard time believing this.

Hoping it doesn't happen as it would spoil what has often been a rather noble and patriotic effort over its many years of operation.

Slapping the Muppet characters all over this is just a very poor choice...and a bad idea.

-

I agree. Terrible idea, if true.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I liked it the best with Maya Angelou.
Such an iconic voice.

 

[sublimesting]

We definitely need more Muppets in Disney. They are woefully underused and in danger of falling into total obscurity with current generations. On one hand it really takes away the gravitas of the attraction and is a change that I really think Walt wouldn't like. However, on the other hand, it is not an attraction that holds the interest of kids (my daughter enjoyed it and yeah some kids do, but in general, it isn't a child-friendly attraction). With the current political climate things are red hot right now and this softens it and makes it more digestible for younglings and both sides of the political spectrum. Disney is supposed to be a fun retreat from the world. Personally we skipped it for 4 years because we couldn't stomach watching Trump speak...and I'm sure those on the right will hate watching Biden for 4 years. And on it will go for the foreseeable future.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Now, to be fair... they can't keep doing that "forever" - eventually they're going to run out of space!

On the plus side, all of human kind presently on earth will be dead by then so I choose not to get to alarmed at this point.

 

[dmw]

Maybe the change would be a Muppet pre-show in the waiting area, and not an actual change in the show itself? All that would require would be some TV screens, similar to the Muppet 3D preshow at HS. Pretty simple and inexpensive to implement, easy to produce, etc.

 

[Ellen Ripley]

Now, to be fair... they can't keep doing that "forever" - eventually they're going to run out of space!

Well I guess I'd like them to make at least one more

 

[Skywise]

Well I guess I'd like them to make at least one more

Oh I agree - they should keep adding them for as long as they can - was just joking that eventually they'll have to do something about that. But by then maybe they'll have the animatronic presidents walking out and interacting with people and signing autograph books!

 

[dmw]

Well I guess I'd like them to make at least one more

Personally, I would prefer the show be more historical in dialogue and instead of adding new animatronics and speech for each president, add a portrait of the newer presidents, say from Nixon to current. The dialogue at the end could include a generic reference to "modern" presidents and lighting could highlight the portraits at that point in the show.

 

[wdwfan22]

I would love to see the Muppets added i just feel right now Disney wouldn’t spend enough to make the show great. I think it would also be nice if they could add 4D effects to the show to keep the kids interested.

 

[FoozieBear]

Why are the Muppets suddenly the go-to IP for US history? Because of one character lampooning gung-ho patriotism?


I'd just as well they'd turn the HoP into a Tiana & Pocahontas singalong.

Because the Muppets exist in our world and so they are an easy property to utilize without having to be concerned about setting or breaking story. You can place them into any land and it makes as much sense as ourselves being in that land. Having Sam the Eagle as a basis for this, it's an overlay that seems pretty easy to implement from a story perspective.

I guess we will find out soon enough. I’ll admit that the Twitter messages are a guess on my part. Just seemed logical with the timing of everything my minions are telling me. But then it could be something to do with Disney+... so who knows. Regardless, the HoP redo seems to be real. Time will tell.

It's possible that this Hall of Presidents overlay is happening - I truly have no insight on that, but I just know that this is not what the social media accounts are teasing. It is a pretty big announcement though.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

I wonder if Disney feels the general public are getting sick of how the perception of the office of Presidency has become so much they need to throw a change up and introduce the Muppets into the attraction which it shouldn't realistically need.

I'm all for more Muppets but I'm more concerned/interested with Disney's thought process behind this decision if it is actually true.

 

[Pooped Pirate]

"Hall of Presidents- Under New Management!"