MuppetVision Removed from Extra Hours Lineup
The latest plot twist with the saga of the Monsters, Inc. land coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the removal of MuppetVision 3D from the Walt Disney World operating schedule for Extended Evening Hours. This post discusses the possibilities for that potentially ominous omission, and the latest on the landing spot for Monstropolis at DHS.
By way of recap, Walt Disney World announced during the 2024 D23 Expo that a brand-new land themed around Monsters, Inc. will come to life at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Picking up after the events of Pixar’s beloved film, humans have now been invited to visit the world of Monsters, Inc.
The monsters need laughter to power the city and keep it running smoothly, so you’ll be able to visit the Laugh Factory, hear the laughs and zoom through the building just like Sulley and Mike Wazowski, via a door. The Monsters, Inc. Doors Coaster will put you right in the middle of the monster action. Construction on the Monstropolis land project is slated to begin in 2025. This is literally all that’s been officially announced.
Within 48 hours of this news, the mood turned from excited to apprehensive. What Walt Disney World did not announce was where Monstropolis would go. This has led to a lot of speculation and fear, especially after Disney revealed that the Cars area in Magic Kingdom will replace the Rivers of America, resulting in permanent closures of Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Square Riverboat.
Like the Cars area in Magic Kingdom, the new Monsters, Inc. Doors Coaster will almost certainly need to replace an existing area of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Further reinforcing this notion is that Disney released two pieces of concept art for Monstropolis, showing seemingly conflicting locations for the land. A couple of competing candidates have emerged: Animation Courtyard and Grand Avenue or Muppet Courtyard.
There are reasons to believe each option is the frontrunner, and we explain the reasons for and against each location in What Will Walt Disney World Sacrifice for Monstropolis? That’s a lengthy rundown, and I’m not going to rehash all of that here.
Against that backdrop, Extended Evening Hours is about to return to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for Fall 2024. The perk will shift from Magic Kingdom to Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Wednesdays, starting with September 25, 2024.
This was to be expected because of Party Season, which kicks into high gear with a full schedule in late September. Last year, the exact same thing happened–Disney’s Hollywood Studios began hosting ExEH in late September. Following that, Animal Kingdom hosted ExEH throughout the Christmas season as the alternative because both Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios had holiday parties.
Same story in 2024. This is not even remotely surprising. See our Strategy Guide Guide for Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World for more ins and outs of the nighttime Deluxe benefit.
What is at least somewhat surprising is that Walt Disney World released the attraction lineup last week for Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and it included MuppetVision 3D. Six days later, they’ve revised the roster and removed the fan-favorite film.
Even so, this is only slightly surprising. Attractions get added to and removed from the Extended Evening Hours lineup all the time, and it rarely means anything. This is like the half-dozenth time since the announcement of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party that we’re covering a modification of the after hours ride roster. (Obviously, those hard ticket events are different than ExEH–but it’s the exact same idea.)
In every past case except one, it was an example of one hand not knowing what the other was doing. We’ve seen this with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (multiple times), Jungle Cruise, and (potentially) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The most recent misadventure with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure was especially notable, and it still hasn’t actually joined the ExEH lineup.
Nevertheless, some Walt Disney World fans are viewing the removal of MuppetVision 3D from the Extended Evening Hours lineup as a “sign” that the Monsters, Inc. land is replacing Muppet Courtyard. Honestly, I get the fear. However, I do not share it.
Personally, I’m disinclined to believe that the team behind the Extended Evening Hours website is privy to any inside information. The fact that they’ve been repeatedly wrong just in the last few months makes me question just about any updates to that page, even of the most mundane nature.
Sadly, it just is not a credible source for information. Even right now, there’s conflicting info about the status of MuppetVision 3D on the official website (the attraction page lists it as an ExEH attraction; the ExEH page does not). For reasons explained below, I do suspect MuppetVision has actually been pulled from ExEH. I don’t believe that has any implications beyond the event itself.
I’m skeptical that the closure of MuppetVision 3D would be shared with the web team behind that page first, and leak out that way. Frankly, I’d be skeptical of this even if the last several months’ worth of issues with website updates had not happened. It just doesn’t pass the smell test for me as being a sign of anything in the grander scheme of things.
As noted above, the first Extended Evening Hours at DHS is September 25–that’s less than one month away. Even assuming, for the sake of argument, that Walt Disney World has settled on Muppet Courtyard as the home of Monstropolis, they still aren’t closing MuppetVision one month from now. They’re going to make a proper announcement and give people time to say goodbye. The timeline for that happening, if it does happen in the first place, is a lot longer than a month.
Not only that, but MuppetVision 3D has operating hours for as far out as the official calendar goes. That’s currently through late October. No matter what decision is made with regard to Monstropolis, I’d bet on being able to experience MuppetVision 3D through mid-January 2025.
So what is happening? Well, it’s a fool’s errand to try to make sense of website updates. But I am a fool, so here goes nothing…
As you might know, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is no longer offered during Extended Evening Hours. This is not a new development, but it is a major one. My guess is that someone within Walt Disney World looked at the attraction lineup and wanted a 1:1 replacement for that, so they slotted in MuppetVision 3D last year. (Notably, MuppetVision was not part of prior ExEH or evening EMH at DHS–but Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance was.)
When updating the Extended Evening Hours website this year to reflect the Party Season schedule shift, they simply copied and pasted last year’s attraction lineup into place for Extended Evening Hours at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, assuming it’d be the same. Then someone else came along and pulled up the guest metrics for last year’s Extended Evening Hours, which showed abysmal numbers for MuppetVision 3D during the event–to the point that it didn’t make sense to staff and operate the show. So they removed it and will just have one fewer attraction.
Another far less likely possibility is that the team behind the official website is reading social media speculation and rumors, and drew the erroneous conclusion that MuppetVision 3D is definitely closing. Maybe they made the update on that basis. Who knows, stranger things have happened!
On a related note, my position on the matter of where Monstropolis will go remains unchanged: Walt Disney World doesn’t even know yet.
This would explain so many of the conflicting reports that have trickled out. That even though the roller coaster has been greenlit, the company had yet to settle on which location to move forward with at the time of the D23 Expo. That there are competing pitches and compelling rationale for each location, but a firm decision has yet to be made.
There are some insiders who are very confident that Monstropolis is going to Animation Courtyard and others who had zero doubts that it’d replace MuppetVision. My conclusion from all of this is that there is no conclusion yet. You don’t get these high degrees of conflicting and credible confidence any other way. The only explanation is that insiders are siloed off and are drawing conclusions based on what they’re seeing, but they aren’t seeing the full picture. They don’t know what they don’t know.
That might seem trite, but I think it’s true. Or at least, was true as of a week or two ago. This is undoubtedly an evolving situation with a decision coming somewhat soon (likely late this year). One thing I am confident about is that Disney has not yet decided Monstropolis will replace Animation Courtyard. If that were the concrete decision, it would’ve already been announced.
There’d be no reason to delay if it was 100% going to be Animation Courtyard. That would be a popular announcement that would bring fans relief. This isn’t to say it won’t end up being Animation Courtyard–I’d give that location a slight edge–just that the decision has not been made, definitively, yet. By contrast, it is possible that they’ve already firmly landed on Muppet Courtyard by now and are trying to determine the best means of (delicately) breaking the news.
Another thing I find interesting is just how many readers (see comments here) have reported that their letters to Walt Disney World have received personalized responses. In some cases, Imagineers have been CC’d on the replies or Disney has reached out for a phone call. This is not the norm from the company in response to fan feedback or complaints about attraction closures or potential changes. Usually, it’s an internal feedback notation and a form response.
It’s possible this is entirely coincidental or simply an overarching strategy shift, but if further suggests to me that Walt Disney World has not yet made a concrete decision on MuppetVision’s fate and Monsters, Inc’s location and is gauging fan feedback. I guess we shall see. Maybe I’m completely wrong. That the decision has been made, MuppetVision will close for good starting in late September, and that this news “broke” via an Extended Evening Hours website update. Again, stranger things have happened.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Why do you think MuppetVision 3D was removed from the extra hours lineup at Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Do you view this as a sign or confirmation that Monsters is replacing Muppets? If not, what do you think the actual explanation is? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Pixar Plaza is a ghost town. I don’t even know how it gets considered to be its own land separate from Animation Courtyard
Isn’t PhilharMagic at Magic Kingdom closed during the holiday parties? Maybe it is just closed for the same reason and doesn’t mean anything about the future of the attraction.y
Isn’t PhilharMagic at Magic Kingdom closed during the holiday parties? Maybe it is just closed for the same reason and doesn’t mean anything about the future of the attraction.
exactly
They just need to add a Pixar land area to Hollywood Studios. Is there any land back behind Toy Story Land? The Monsters ride can go there, and then how about we take Cars from Magic Kingdom and move it to Hollywood Studios. Or another thought is to have a Wreck It Ralph ride in a Pixar area. You could have it be the race track with all the candy from Sugar Rush. It could be so cool. Then add other Pixar themed items. Add something theme with Up! Maybe a mini like Soaring ride, but you are in the house from Up! flying to South America. Or a Wall-E ride where you go into space. There is so much that can be done with Pixar movies that it needs it’s own land, and doesn’t need to replace anything.
Another thing that worries me about losing Muppetvision is that the building isn’t big enough for a serious rollercoaster.
The building is about 1/3 the size of Slinky Dog Dash and Dinosaur, and about 1/2 the size of RnR, Tron, and Guardians of the Galaxy (not including the queue areas)
If they manage to fit something into that building, the ride will be short and unsatisfying, like Navi River Journey.
Yes, I also surprisingly received a personalized reply when I sent a short email after your initial article expressing pleasure over the Monstopolis area but opposing closure of the Muppets area.
You can’t fully trust WDW website updates to be accurate and correctly updated to match offline realities. For example, the Dapper Dans page (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/entertainment/magic-kingdom/dapper-dans/) still specifically lists “Zip-a-Dee Doo Dah” as one of their “Disney classics”. I suppose most of Tom’s readers can see the bizarre dissonance of that wildly outdated statement. Plus I doubt the actual Dans would still sing that song, even if it was specifically requested by a guest. It would amusing to hear their in-the-moment joke about why they are refusing. Barbershop is not everyone’s taste, musically, but they are particularly good at witty zingers and comebacks. Anyway, for someone who often likes legacy franchises, I think it’s a shame the way the Muppets have almost fully faded from public view. Here’s hoping the Dapper Dans don’t soon suffer a similar fate.
I’m sure there are reasons, and I am admittedly a bit biased. But I can’t imagine why you would take away an existing attraction in the Muppets for basically a dead space in Animation courtyard. Just for the backlot offices? HS needs more attractions, not less so getting rid of something that can take on people seems like an error.
Yes! This is exactly what I was thinking!
I love that Muppets fountain!! They can’t take that away!! But thanks for the lovely photos of it. Monsters came out over 20 years ago, it seems odd to make an expansion now for it. Same could be said for Muppets I guess. Your thoughts and analysis are always interesting!!
I would much rather they find a way to build the Monstropolis ride area without getting rid of any current attractions and animation courtyard would be a better location than Muppets Courtyard. I understand space at HS is limited but I belive they desperately need to add more attractions, not replace attractions, to accommodate and entertain the large crowds. I had a thought that since they’ve announced a new Indiana Jones ride coming to AK that they might decide to get rid of the Indian Jones show at HS and place the new Monstropolis there. I hope not, as I still enjoy the Indiana Jones show. As much as I look forward to the new Monstropolis ride I’m definitely hoping they don’t have to replace any old attractions to make Monstropolis happen.
Disney Dish reported that an announcement about the location would be made on August 23rd and then… it wasn’t. Makes me wonder if they’re reconsidering a decision based on feedback. Add to that the cast member tweeting that their offices (in the old animation studios) were going to be relocated. The tweet has since been removed. Curiouser and curiouser.
Thank you Tom, as always, for being the voice of reason on the Disney interpipes. I fear it will fall on deaf ears though, as usual.
I would not have thought the space available by removing the muppet area unless they took star tours out – which is even more alarming. I suspect it is Animation Courtyard but they cannot announce this yet because of the administration buildings that will likely have to go because of the size. This means relocating services and people. My guess is that this has all manner of HR, planning and other implications that have yet to be sorted. If the MI land is to be 1 ride, 1 restaurant and 1 shop then I think that whole Muppet area would have to go. It’s possible but I think an inverted coaster would need more space than that.
It’s kind of hard to say when Google Maps, which used to show the completed Star Cruiser now shows it back under construction, do the possibility of error is real. You can read whatever you want into the Muppets getting shuffled out of Extra Hours but whether it gets the axe or not is pure speculation based on that decision,
But when we look at WDW parks, it’s easy to see that the Magic Kingdom has a lot of area around it for expansion, as does Animal Kingdom. Epcot is more limited for exterior expansion, but that there are definite areas that it could still expand outwards. Of course, there are srill areas that can be developed inside Epcot, reducing the demand to expand outside the current perimeter.
And then there’s Hollywood Studios. WDW’s smallest park is cramped and poorly laid out, with little room for expansion. Animation Courtyard is just a sore thumb on the park right now and replacing with monsters Inc makes a lot of sense. But since we have no idea the size ride building for this Doors Coaster will be, we have no idea if the Launch Bay alone would suffice. If not, then you’re talking about taking down buildings beyond it. Tom points out his belief that eventually most of that is eventually going to go away in the future, bit let’s face it, the path of least resistance for any future Hollywood expansion lies directly through Muppet’s Courtyard.
Sure, they just redid the parking lots, but the south, southeastern side of the park into the parking lots is the easy expansion path., along the crescent from and including Galaxy’s Edge all the way through the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. All this area could be opened up for expansion without disturbing existing rides. Or existing rides and shows could be leveled to expand into this area with new rides. Or, of course, both.
Muppets fans, myself included, are on edge to a large extent because we really have no idea where this is going to land. For that matter, is it a Land with a capital “L” or not even a mini land? Artwork for the Cars “mini land” at the Magic Kingdom shows an area that is substantial, and far bigger than the Monsters artwork indicates its area might be.
I have to wonder, again, if this ia impacted by Epic, because the speculation that they haven’t decided where it’s going might also mean they’ve yet to decide how big this area is going to be.
Which means that Muppets fans are in for a rough time until definitive plans are finally released… or permits get discovered.
I agree with your reasoning that it hasn’t been decided yet. If it was definitely Animation Courtyard, the smart thing to do would be to just announce that and put a stop to all the fan fretting. If it was definitely Muppet Courtyard, why would they have taken the time to reach out to myself and other fans?
I have wondered if that is a calculated move to make it seem like they are listening before dropping the hammer, but if it is I suspect it will backfire spectacularly. People will feel betrayed if the company makes a big show of “listening” to fan feedback and then makes the decision everyone is asking them not to make. It could well cause even more of an uproar than if they had just stonewalled until breaking the bad news later this year.
I’m still very concerned about potentially losing MuppetVision but based on the company outreach I really feel like we have a fighting chance to influence this decision. Please keep writing Disney!
Why why why, do they continue to close attractions instead of adding with the absolute, no question issue of not enough capacity for guests at every single park?!?
Exactly…. Disney, listen: EXPAND!
It might seem cynical, but I think they prefer reducing capacity… it allows them to sell more lightening lane/genie plus/ultimate fast pass… or whatever the heck they’re calling the latest version!
I love the muppets whole area, but it doesn’t bring in any extra revenue… and lets be honest: the current management LOVES churning out more shekels for the same or lesser experience.
RIP.