While many Disney Adults are mourning PizzeRizzo and its “rat pizza”, I’m still thinking about Disney World’s other ABANDONED Muppet restautant!
While the recent closures of Muppet*Vision 3D and PizzeRizzo have caused a great deal of consternation amongst Muppet fans, what many not be aware of is that the area formerly known as Muppet Courtyard was once planned to be much larger, with plans for a massive Muppet Movie Ride (a pastiche on the park’s Great Movie Ride) and a much different Muppet-themed restaurant that I think about WAY TOO OFTEN.
During the early 1990s, Disney Imagineering and Jim Henson Studios came up with the concept of The Great Gonzo’s Pandemonium Pizza Parlor.
The restaurant, which was to be adjacent to Muppet*Vision 3D, was planned to include countless Muppet touches including video screens depicting classic Muppet clips as well as pandemonium in the kitchen featuring Gonzo, Rizzo and the Swedish Chef, the occasional practical effect “explosions” leading to the kitchen doors blowing open and sending clouds of smoke and chicken feathers into the dining room, recreations of props from various Muppet films and shows, as well as random sight gags adorning the walls, and of course, the rats.
Yes, rats. The restaurant was to feature animatronic Muppet rats that would deliver pizzas and other foods to the restaurants tables by way of a “track” system in the ceiling.
Work on the restaurant’s structure had already begun when Jim Henson passed away in 1990. As with every other Muppet project outside of Muppet*Vision 3D, the project was halted, never to be finished.
Disney pivoted and used the already constructed space initially as a space known as the Studio Pizzeria, before opening as the Hollywood-themed Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano on September 26th, 1991. The changeover was so last-minute that, according to theme park urban legend, the restaurant’s rafters still housed the infrastructure that was to be used for the aforementioned animatronic rats.
Mama Melrose remained a staple at Hollywood Studios for over 30 years before it met the same fate as Muppet*Vision and PizzeRizzo, closing on May 10th, 2025. Currently, the site sits abandoned behind construction walls. However, that looks like it won’t be the case for long.
When looking at the concept art for the upcoming Monstropolis land, it seems that the structure will continue serving as a restaurant, specifically a take on Harryhausen’s (named after legendary special effects artist Ray Harryhausen) from the film.
This could prove to be a full-circle moment for the structure, as it seems possible that the restaurant will feature one or more monster animatronics, finally fulfilling the promise of the original Muppet incarnation.
Currently, the once-potential home of The Great Gonzo’s Pandemonium Pizza Parlor, turned Mama Melrose, sits abandoned in Hollywood Studios, but if concept art is accurate, it won’t be for long. Stay tuned to AllEars for more on Hollywood Studios’ changing landscape.
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Do you wish The Great Gonzo’s Pandemonium Pizza Parlor had been built 35 years ago? Let us know in the comments below.
That sounds like it would have been awesome!