Many Disney Adults are riding a high from all the NEW stuff announced at the d23 fan convention held recently!
We learned that a new “Coco” ride is coming to Disneyland and TWO new rides are coming to the Avengers Campus! We learned that VILLAINS LAND is finally happening at Magic Kingdom, and we were suprised by a Cars Land in Magic Kingdom, too. And we heard about a Monsters, Inc. Land with a new roller coaster being built in Hollywood Studios!
I mean, we’re finally gonna get to RIDE ON A DOOR along with Sully and Mike!
“The first time I saw Monsters, Inc., all I wanted to do was ride on one of those doors like Mike and Sulley,” said Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro. “You’ll go into the factory and experience the first suspended coaster ever in a Disney park. Remember in the movie how those claws grab the doors and hoist them up into the air to take them away? We’re doing that, too. And you’re going along for the ride.”
We’re really excited to visit Monstropolis, but we wondered WHERE in the park it would be built? And then we looked at the concept art and got a little nervous…
Um. That kind of looks like…gulp…Muppets Courtyard. I mean, surely not? Aren’t there areas of Hollywood Studios more ready for re-development? But a new exclusive report by The Wrap could indicate our worst fears will be confirmed soon.
Writer Drew Taylor cites unnamed sources who confirmed that MuppetVision 3D will be shuttered to make way for Monstropolis and the new roller coaster — in the Muppets Courtyard area of Hollywood Studios.
Taylor writes that concept art that was slated to be presented at the d23 announcement was scrapped at the last minute because it made it obvious that The Muppets would be replaced…and there were fears that D’Amaro would be booed.
Um, yeah. We ride at dawn.
I mean, not really. We recognize that Disney needs to close older attractions (often featuring older intellectual property) to make way for the new — and despite our complaining, we still get excited about the NEW. (And the new drives repeat visitors, after all.) But KERMIT? FOZZIE? 😭
However, there’s still a bit of hope…Taylor also reports that he was told hours before the presentation that Monstropolis would be built in Animation Courtyard. It’s an open area with Star Wars Launch Bay, which seems odd since it’s all the way across the park from the three other Star Wars attractions.
But then, The Wrap was told that Muppets Courtyard was the location — and it does have the infrastructure already for restaurants and shopping that Animation Courtyard doesn’t have. And we hate to admit it, but Muppet Vision 3D is nearly always a walk-on attraction, and there are many empty areas (such as the Stage 1 Store that never re-opened following the pandemic-related closure in 2020).
And there is that tell-tale water tower over Sully’s shoulder in the concept art…
So when willmight Muppet Vision 3D close? Disney said work on this project will begin sometime in 2025.
Do you think that we’re fixing to say goodbye to The Muppets in Hollywood Studios? Let us know in the comments below, and keep following AllEars for all the Disney news!
You write “the new drives repeat visitors, after all.” I disagree! The sheer number of Annual Passholders puts that idea to rest; they go multiple times in their year to revisit favorites, even if there is nothing new.
And many of us return year after year to, as Walt himself put it, “relive fond memories of the past.”
Adding new things is essential, but needs to be done thoughtfully. We can, and should, be able to have both new and old.
I am beyond angry and upset….Muppets is a major fave…why do this? The land exists for a 5th park….with more rooms being built it is needed,,,put Minsters there…put Cars there….STOP taking away the things we know and love…not a Star Wars fan…not a Marvel or Avengers fan….will never go on Tron….whats being left for me? But guessing we older ones who have supported Disney for over 40 years….dont matte
The Muppets! Splash Mountain- Yes it was necessary. But the Muppets-Guys get a grip. And then put some Cars thingie in Frontier Land. Bad mushrooms in the boardroom?
How else will I celebrate all nations, but mostly America?
Between this and the MK changes gutting the park – turning MK into Universal – Universal is a very nice amusement park but its a nicer Great adventure without the gum tree (people in NJ will get the reference) – ie an amusement park not a theme park. I guess our demographic is now done and they want us out of the way. One of Disney’s great appeal is that several generations can enjoy – if there is nothing for an older generation to enjoy what is the point of going. It seems strange with competition coming from a third Universal park – which has a good possibility of really hurting Disney – that your response is to gut aspects of the parks that make them special.
Perhaps I am too old for Disney
PS I must admit that Guardians of the Galaxy is flipping awesome!
Muppets is a beloved attraction great for all ages. Disney is making a big mistake if they close this instead of finding another location for Monsters Inc.
On the bright side, maybe it will mean, “So long, PizzeRizzo puffy pizzas! Hello, Harryhausen’s!” How could that not be the dining option in Monstropolis? I would book there in a heartbeat!
I wish Disney would just create a separate park for the Pixar themed rides and attractions. Not sure how the flow of the park will go. I love guardians but it’s so out of place in Epcot. I feel this will be the same. The layout where the new stuff is going seems strange to me. Frontierland is the old west, not with radiator springs and “cars’, doesn’t fit with the time period theming at all.
I think it is inevitable that the attractions we have loved for decades are going to be put out to pasture. Looking at The Great Movie Ride and Splash Mountain, I think that Disney has the technology and ability to digitally preserve upcoming defunct attractions for us to relive online. Think about how awesome it would be to have a perfect, well lit, well recorded, non-head-obstructed ride through of the great movie ride.
It would soften the blow to losing them.
If they know what’s good for them…they won’t replace Muppets.
Heard this afternoon (8/13) it was going in Animation Courtyard which would make a lot more sense. That space is dead right now. We will see.
I understand that choices have to be made, and change can be a good thing, but Disney needs to ADD attractions to the parks, not necessarily replace. Lots of angst about loosing Tom Sawyer Island in MK for Cars as well as