Muppet & Monster Mayhem at Hollywood Studios

 

Art courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

Disney dropped an announcement today that's really two announcements in one, and for many people, this is a "good news/bad news" situation.  The bad news section is the long rumored replacement of MuppetVision 3D at Hollywood Studios with the new Monsters Inc. mini-land that was announced back at D23.  The other half of that is that the Muppets will be "taking over" the Rock N Roller Coaster in the same park.  We'll talk about all of this here.

First, as far as MuppetVision 3D is concerned, the writing was on the wall for a while.  The Monsters Inc. land was announced at D23 but noticeably absent was a location as to where it would go in the park, and the concept art did nothing to clarify that.  Rumors began soon afterwards that it was going to replace the Muppet show that was there.  The other option seemed to be the (mostly vacant) Animation Courtyard, and the word at the time was that Disney hadn't made up their mind yet as to the location.

Whether that was true, or whether they were just waiting for some of the early backlash to subside (most of which was taken for replacing Rivers of America with the new Cars area in Magic Kingdom) we may never know, though I suspect it was the latter.  From a ruthless, non-emotional standpoint, the Grand Avenue section of Hollywood Studios was underutilized, and putting in a new Monsters Inc. coaster to replace a lightly attended Muppets show made some sense.  As I recently said, I'll be more upset about the elimination of one of the most serene areas on Disney property.  

Honestly, though, I'm not sure why this was the direction Disney went here.  MuppetVision might not be the biggest ticket attraction at that park, but it is a wholly unique show, and a perfect showcase for the quirky Muppets.  Before Jim Henson's death, there had been an agreement to bring the Muppets into the Disney parks, which got delayed upon his passing and brought back later.  This was truly the only bit of Jim Henson left in the parks and I'm kind of surprised it's being eliminated.

Besides, Animation Courtyard, as mentioned above, is largely a ghost town now, with the Little Mermaid show eventually returning but not much of else to note there.  I would think it would be easier to put the Monsters Inc. land in that section, thereby revitalizing a dead section of the park while leaving the Muppets in tact.  But that's not the direction Disney went here, obviously.

As far as the Monsters Inc. land that is coming to this spot, the already announced suspended roller coaster was reiterated in this announcement, but it also noted that there will be "dining and shopping and a whole new theater show."  I'm not sure what kind of footprint that entails, but it does provide some details on fleshing out a land besides just the one attraction.  Looking at the concept art at the top of this post, it sure looks like the land extends beyond the current bounds of Grand Avenue, and that likely means the end of PizzeRizzo (not a big loss) and Mama Melrose (that one hurts a bit) but presumably replaced with other eateries that fit the new theme.

That brings us to the "good news" section of this piece (unless you're a big Aerosmith fan) which is that the Muppets are going to be part of a re-themed Rock N Roller Coaster.  There have also been plenty of rumors floating around regarding the future of this ride.  For one thing, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler has had some legal troubles in recent years, something that Disney might have wanted to distance themselves from.  Plus as the average Disney guest ages, Aerosmith probably doesn't have the same cache as they used to.  Rumors for this one included a Black Panther re-theme as well as a Taylor Swift version (not as crazy as you think - her live show was on Disney+ and she obviously has a massive gravitational pull).  But in the end, the Muppets take Hollywood (Studios).

The skeptic in me wonders if indeed this was a last minute re-theme, and that it was going to be one of the above options until Disney realized how important the Muppets were to many guests.  Either way, I think this is generally a very good idea - there should be a way to cram in the zany Muppets fun into this existing coaster.  

However, I suspect nothing structural will change with this new theme, which makes me scratch my head a bit.  Rock N Roller Coaster is the only coaster with an inversion at Disney World, and because of that is largely considered the most intense coaster on property.  For a more adult, Aerosmith-centric audience, this worked.  I wonder if the younger demographic who finds the Muppets to be cute and funny will be put off by the intimidating coaster.  Then again, the Incredicoaster at Disneyland is themed to The Incredibles and also has an inversion, so maybe I'm off base here.

The announcement also makes a mention that they are "having creative conversations and exploring ways to preserve the film (MuppetVision 3D) and other parts of the experience for fans to enjoy in the future."  I'll be honest that I don't know what this means exactly.  On the one hand, there are ways to just move the show to Animation Courtyard, but again, if they were going to do this, they might as well have just left it where it was.  So this might just be a bone thrown to fans that will get forgotten as time passes.  We shall see.

Ultimately, I think most savvy Disney fans have prepared themselves for this day for a while, but I expect there will be quite a bit of new backlash as this news spreads.  I'm sort of ambivalent about the Muppets (in general) to be honest, but I recognize the loyal following they have and certainly question the logistics of this decision given the space available in that park.  Hopefully both the new Monsters Inc land and the Muppets version of the Rock N Roller Coaster deliver, thereby improving both areas.