Disney Finally Makes a Call on the Muppets

“You can’t please everybody all the time.”

At some point, Disney officials must face this harsh truth, as the company just announced yet another half-measure.

Unwilling to infuriate fans simply by confirming the closure of Muppet*Vision 3D, park officials provided a distraction on Friday.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith will officially re-theme to become a Muppets roller coaster. But the truth still stands.

Muppet*Vision 3D is about to go away forever unless somebody at Disney pulls off a magic trick.

Yes, Disney finally makes a call on the Muppets. But is it the right one? Let’s discuss.

What Just Happened?

This story features two facets, both of which my MickeyBlog cohorts covered on Friday.

The first, as discussed by Kristin Sabol, is that Disney will re-theme Muppets Courtyard into Monstropolis.

Then, as Justin Hermes details, Disney will convert Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith into a ride starring the Muppets.

We’ve got plenty to unpack here, but let’s start with the positives.

First, covering Disney Rumors for the past several years has proven fascinating, especially at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

You would not believe how long some of these rumors have floated around Imagineering circles!

Here’s an update I made in November 2018. Folks, that was six full years ago. And the source was none other than The New York Times.

The rumor read like this at the time: “A similar idea is on the table with Monsters, Inc.

“In this scenario, Disney would replace Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster with a Monsters-themed attraction.

“An educated guess is that it would be the long-rumored roller coaster mimicking the door chase in the first movie.”

So, you can tell how some of this is familiar while other parts have evolved over the years.

We ARE getting that Monsters, Inc. door coaster, only it will go into Muppets Courtyard instead.

Meanwhile, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster will finally ditch the Aerosmith license. However, it’s getting Muppets instead.

Over the years, I’ve covered many variants of this premise, such as an Avengers ride or, more recently, a Black Panther re-theme.

The Avengers version actually came to pass at Disneyland Paris, but that’s not the plan at Hollywood Studios.

Basically, all these rumors had a kernel of truth, yet we’re somehow getting something slightly different at both locales.

What Is Disney Thinking?

Longtime readers of MickeyBlog are intimately familiar with Disney’s thinking here.

Let’s quickly cover the basics for those who aren’t. In 2017-2019, Disney completely reinvigorated Hollywood Studios.

The introductions of Toy Story Land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway fundamentally changed the park.

Historically, guests headed straight to The Great Movie Ride or turned right to visit Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Once the new attractions opened, traffic patterns changed virtually overnight. The back-left of the park became the hot spot.

Suddenly, other parts of Hollywood Studios dwindled in popularity, creating an imbalance with traffic flow.

Disney has long sought solutions for this problem, and it’s been indecisive along the way.

We can tell this by the fact that A) those rumors have existed for many years now and B) Muppets Courtyard just got a refresh.

Why is Disney plussing an area that’s about to undergo a re-theme? The answer is that this wasn’t well-planned.

Still, the positives here justify the decisions. Most importantly, Monstropolis is a top-notch idea for a themed land.

Monsters, Inc. is more than 20 years old now, yet I still hear people quoting the film regularly. And fans love those characters.

Meanwhile, the Aerosmith problem needs a solution. Lead singer Steven Tyler officially retired in August.

Aerosmith’s other band members have a love/hate relationship with Tyler, but they’ve admitted the group isn’t the same without him.

Effectively, Aerosmith is a retired band to whom Disney pays a hefty license to use the brand and music. That’s bad business.

That’s before we factor in various negative stories regarding Tyler that are very un-Disney.

What Disney Has Decided

MickeyBlog has warned you about this change for a while now. Here’s an article I wrote after D23.

In that piece, I made my plea that re-theming Muppets Courtyard into Monstropolis wouldn’t solve the traffic flow problem.

However, in doing so, I presented a solution for a plot of land beyond Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

At the time, I conceded that this tactic “would probably take the longest and cost the most.” So, yeah, I knew it was a long shot.

Sure enough, Disney has picked the cheapest solution, which is to repurpose the existing space at Muppets Courtyard into Monstropolis.

Financially and logistically, I get it. If I’m in the conference meeting, I’m probably nodding my head while they make that pitch. It just makes sense.

Spiritually, this is the wrong move, though. Muppet*Vision 3D is an iconic attraction with an even deeper meaning to Muppets fans.

Visionary artist Jim Henson sacrificed so much of himself in creating this attraction that some family members swear it killed him.

Disney’s current plan calls for that show to end, even though the Disney Parks Blog suggests that park officials are trying to save it.

I call bunk on that. If they really wanted to save it, it’d already be saved. There’s a movie theater at Walt Disney Presents.

Disney could easily upgrade the tech there to host Muppet*Vision 3D.

If not there, the current Pixar/Disney short films showcase at the Imagination! pavilion works just as well, maybe even better due to its size.

Without even thinking about it, I found two spots the show could go if Disney really wanted to save it.

Disney Finally Makes a Call on the Muppets

Instead, what we’re witnessing here is Disney trying to solve three problems in one fell swoop.

Adding Monstropolis draws traffic away from Galaxy’s Edge, solves the Aerosmith problem, and gives Hollywood Studios a future expansion to market.

What this move doesn’t do is protect the legacy of Jim Henson and Muppet*Vision 3D.

I don’t want to be doom and gloom about it, though. What I’d rather do is celebrate the positives.

Here’s an applicable quote: “Electric Mayhem on a roller coaster is freakin’ everything for me.”

The poster later adds, “I never ride Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster in its current iteration.”

And the source of that quote is…my wife, whose social media I was reading after the news broke.

So, we shouldn’t lose sight of the obvious here. Overall, this move is a win for Muppets fans in that a roller coaster is better.

Muppet*Vision 3D, for all its splendor, isn’t a heavily visited attraction. Generally, you can enter the lobby and watch the next show.

While many fans revere the show – and I’m one of them – it’s not the people’s choice. A Muppets roller coaster could be.

The issue here isn’t what we’re gaining as much as the opportunity cost of the sacrifice, though.

Disney could build Monstropolis elsewhere, as I’ve discussed. Or park officials could commit to moving the show attraction elsewhere.

Why isn’t Disney doing that? The answer is that Muppet*Vision 3D was dead before the 2024 D23 Expo.

Josh D’Amaro and his team knew it. They just didn’t want to say it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, what we’re witnessing is another half-measure wherein Disney tries to sugarcoat a bad thing by offering a concession.

Park officials decided to kill Muppets Courtyard. Once a few plugged-in Cast Members realized the danger, they alerted their superiors.

At this point, Disney cycled through several Plan B scenarios, trying to find the one executives could pitch as a net positive.

And that’s how we’ve wound up with a Muppets roller coaster.

Unless somebody at Disney stands up and does the right thing, we’re still losing Muppet*Vision 3D, which is indefensible.

However, we are getting a new attraction that should be much more family-friendly than Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith.

Once again, this brings us back to the ongoing debate about whether Disney should re-theme unpopular attractions.

This conversation is particularly messy because Muppet*Vision 3D isn’t popular…but it is historically significant.

Ultimately, I suspect I’m like a lot of you who are Muppets fans. I’m processing a lot of conflicting emotions right now.

So, where do you stand on the big announcements? Let us know.

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