MuppetVision Shop Demolished at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as Coaster Construction Starts
Walt Disney World continues demolition in the former Muppets Courtyard, which will be reimagined into a Monstropolis area at Hollywood Studios. Along with this, construction site prep has begun backstage on the Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster that had been rumored for decades. Here are updates on the work, along with aerial photos documenting the progress.
Not a ton is visible from within the park. Construction walls are now up along the edge of Grand Avenue on the Muppets Courtyard side, with the main thorough leading to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge still open. If you stand back by BaseLine Tap House and the other facades, you can still get a glimpse of MuppetVision 3D, PizzeRizzo, and so forth.
I did this just last week, and at the time, I could also see Stage 1 Company Store. This long-shuttered MuppetVision 3D gift shop was originally going to be walled-off before MuppetVision closed, but the plan was revised to begin demolition once the walls went up around the entirety of Muppets Courtyard. Prior to that building coming down, Disney had been removing elements from Muppets Courtyard.
As it turns out, demolition of Stage 1 Company Store finally began this week…and ended this week. Demolition was first spotted two days ago, and the building is gone as of August 1, 2025. The whole demo took 3 days from start to finish.
Rather than this “explaining” why MuppetVision 3D had to close so early (so demolition could begin!), it only rekindles this question for us, as we’ll discuss in the commentary. After all, if this whole demo was only going to take 3 days…couldn’t those 3 days have been a full year or more in the future?
If you’re wondering what else will be demolished, that’s probably about it. All of the other buildings in Muppets Courtyard are being repurposed. The exterior of what was Mama Melrose is changing considerably to become Harryhausen’s, but we’re not sure “demolished” is the right word to describe what’ll happen there.
To illustrate the work, let’s take a look at eye in the sky photos from friend-of-the-site bioreconstruct, the go-to source for aerial theme park photography (a highly recommended follow who graciously provided the helicopter shots here)…
Our Commentary
My main thought when looking at these aerial photos is…okay, what now?!
What is going to happen to the former Muppets Courtyard over the next few years? All of the remaining buildings here will be preserved. The MuppetVision theater, PizzeRizzo, and Mama Melrose are all very clearly in the Monstropolis concept art. These will be reimagined, but the venues will all still serve the same purposes, just Monsters, Inc. restaurants and a show.
The only structure that was going to be demolished was the Stage 1 Company Store, and that’s now down. So, what else here is possibly going to take ~3 years to accomplish?!
Prior to the closing date being announced, we had hoped that MuppetVision 3D would remain open until sometime in 2026, if not even later than that. Perhaps even sometime into early 2027.
It seemed possible that Walt Disney World would pull from a similar playbook as is being used with Dinoland USA, where Dino-Rama just closed to be replaced by the Encanto Madrigal Casita dark ride–a new build–but where DINOSAUR and everything else that’s just being reimagined or repurposed won’t close until early 2026.
Except in the case of Monstropolis, the new build is occurring on the parking lot, so it doesn’t need to disrupt anything inside the park for a while. There’s a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done backstage. The construction of the roller coaster and gravity building around that, along with the queue and facade for the Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster, all of which will take much longer than preparing the MuppetVision theater for a new show and refreshing restaurants.
There are a few plausible explanations as to why Muppets Courtyard closed this summer, as opposed to mid-2026 or early 2027.
The first is that Walt Disney World management feels that Disney’s Hollywood Studios doesn’t need the capacity offered by the restaurants and MuppetVision over the course of the next couple of years and is opting for the longer closure to save operating expenses. Whereas DINOSAUR and the remnants of Dinoland are integral to the already light lineup at Animal Kingdom, DHS has plenty of stage show.
This wouldn’t surprise me in the least. It’s probably no coincidence that Villains Unfairly Ever After and The Little Mermaid ~ A Musical Adventure both debuted shortly before MuppetVision closed. As evidenced by ADR demand, or the lack thereof, DHS also has excess dining capacity. Walt Disney World could’ve concluded that Disney’s Hollywood Studios didn’t need this many shows and restaurants, or wanted to offset the new operating expenses. (Never mind that all three of the stage show venues were in use simultaneously until mid-March 2020.)
It’s common practice for Walt Disney World to find ways to save on operating expenses at times when capital expenditures are increasing. On top of that, it’s unlikely that there will be any organic growth this year at Walt Disney World, so the company will resort to cost-cutting to achieve whatever targets it might have. As much as I love Disney Starlight Night Parade, it’s not too difficult to look at that and see this same mentality.
It’s a bit of an aside, but it’s always baffling to me that Disney is willing to spend like a drunken sailor when it comes to CapEx, but goes into full Scrooge Mode when it comes to OpEx. Yes, budget cuts do occur to projects in development, but Walt Disney World is generally spending a lot of money on those, and going over budget is more common than coming in under budget.
Yet, they absolutely pinch pennies on operations, and are downright allergic to spending on live entertainment. Circling back to Starlight, the cost of a dozen or so equity performers is chump change relative to the parade’s overall development costs. I can only assume the bonuses of local leadership depend upon these savings, and those bonuses are too important to pass up.
The second possibility is that the Monstropolis project is more involved than previously thought. That it’s not a simple repurposing of the existing restaurant, retail, and attraction spaces. This could be the case, but we highly doubt it.
There’s nothing in the newest Monstropolis concept art to suggest any major layout changes to Muppet Courtyard/Grand Avenue. The concept art strongly suggests we’re getting one-for-one replacements of these restaurants and a new show in the MuppetVision theater. It does not seem like they are not being fundamentally transformed.
I fully expect the table service Mama Melrose to become the table service Harryhausen’s. It’s likely that PizzeRizzo is going to reimagined into a counter service restaurant with an identical footprint in a manner similar to the conversion of Pizza Planet into PizzeRizzo. The name PizzeRoz’s has been thrown out, and although that’s in jest, it’s probably not far off. This will probably be the third generation of Almost Pizza served in this space.
We already know that the MuppetVision Theater will be home to a new show. This is probably the most significant overhaul, but even so, it’s not going to be more involved than transforming Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure or building the Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster from the ground up.
A final possibility is that Disney has opted to fast-track Monstropolis, or at least the front portion of it, and it has leapfrogged Tropical Americas. Or that both will debut in 2027, but with Monstropolis in the first half of the year and Tropical Americas in the second half.
Disney fast-tracking projects would defy recent trends, but it certainly is possible, especially if the company anticipates construction costs rising. So there might be motivation to frontload some of this work, as opposed to backloading everything. This coupled with the operational cost-savings of shuttering Grand Avenue venues during a timeframe they won’t be “needed” is one plausible explanation.
Nevertheless, the entirety of Monstropolis opening in 2026 is virtually impossible. The roller coaster is the anchor of this land, and its construction will be far and away the most time consuming component. And yet, the closure of Muppets Courtyard happened before ground broke on the Door Coaster. The new courtyard opening then is plausible, but I’m still not sure why Walt Disney World would do that.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is poised to have a pretty big slate for 2026. The park has the Walt Disney Studios Lot in 2026, along with Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run Starring Baby Yoda. Having the ‘minor’ half of Monstropolis also coming in 2026 seems unnecessary, if not actively counterproductive.
Walt Disney World has likely learned its lesson about doing phased openings after this area’s next door neighbor, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, fell flat upon its partial opening in mid-2019. My best guess is that Monstropolis is still coming after 2026, with the only question being whether it’s now a 2027 project or still 2028. I could see both Tropical Americas and this debuting in 2027, especially given how quickly work on Monstropolis has been moving.
No matter how you slice it, though, Muppets Courtyard probably did not need to close as early as it did. As we now know, demolition of the MuppetVision gift shop took a grand total of 3 days. That could’ve happened 3 days this week or 3 days a year or more from now. What’s going to happen in the interim? Progress on the Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster will undoubtedly move fast, while the rest of the conversion crawls along.
To end on a positive note, demolishing Stage 1 and further opening the courtyard leading up to the Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster looks good! I mean, not necessarily right now with a bunch of rubble from overhead, but this is probably a net positive. As much as I loved the quirks of this gift shop, its placement was not ideal.
Stage 1 made the whole area feel cramped, which was probably the point at one time to make it feel like an alley in New York, but foot traffic back here likely suffered as a result. Opening up this courtyard and having a longer approach to the Monsters, Inc. factory is probably a net positive.
Setting aside the whole MuppetVision closure component, Monstropolis as a whole should be a net positive for Disney’s Hollywood Studios. While this is not a ‘pure’ expansion, that roller coaster will be a huge capacity-adding new build that should be an asset to the park. Although DHS could really use a few lower-profile family-friendly rides (not shows), this should still be a big win. I just wish it weren’t at the expense of Muppets.
The Door Coaster building is bigger than expected, which might also explain why this spot was chosen over Animation Courtyard. There is a lot of space back there, but not the ability to add as much buffer. There was already a lot of fan backlash about the gigantic Cosmic Rewind gravity building being built in the EPCOT parking lot.
Imagine that instead plopped into the middle of the park, which would’ve been the case at Disney’s Hollywood Studios if Monstropolis were placed in Animation Courtyard. That could’ve messed up sightlines from Sunset Boulevard all the way to Toy Story Land. Speaking of which, let’s take a look at progress on the building for the Door Coaster…
The pavement has been torn up indicating the footprint of the Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster gravity building, which is consistent with previous GIS mapping from the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
There’s also what appears to be a new road going behind the gravity building, which should finally provide clarity about what will happen to Cypress Drive, the backstage road that circles the park and currently cuts behind the former Muppets Courtyard and the future Door Coaster. The road being re-routed was always the most plausible and cost-effective outcome, but this should come close to confirming that’s what’ll happen.
This also confirms that the gravity building for the Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster is truly monstrous! For comparison, that’s Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance immediately above and to the left. The gravity building is a bit bigger than that–or any other show building at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s among the largest show buildings at Walt Disney World, almost on par with the big blue box for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT.
It’s also likely to be a tall and efficient show building, as it’s a suspended coaster with a lifting ride mechanism at the load and unload area of the attraction. This means that, at least in theory, there could be a lot of queue and pre-show that is literally under the roller coaster track. This is not the case with Cosmic Rewind, which is a combination retrofit in the old Universe of Energy building and a detached gravity building.
Between the massive size of the building and this potential efficiency, we’re now optimistic this will be a meatier attraction than first suspected. Hopefully this coaster will clock in at over 2 minutes longer–one of the (many) big advantages Cosmic Rewind has over TRON Lightcycle Run is a much more satisfying duration. It’d be nice if that’s also true of the Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster. While I don’t love some of the decisions that have led to Monstropolis, my perspective is: what’s done is done. I’m looking forward to the new land and its marquee attraction, and really hope Imagineering knocks it out of the park. (Figuratively, since the coaster is already located outside the park!)
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Theories as to why work started in Muppets Courtyard this summer as opposed to mid-2026 or early 2027? Think it’s a simple cost-savings measure, a more elaborate project, or phased opening? What do you think of the massive Monsters, Inc Door Coaster building? Hopeful that this plus its efficient load mechanism means this coaster is longer than 90 seconds? Are you looking forward to Monstropolis? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? 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!
My humble opinion is that Disney has lost its MIND ! No magic there anymore
Closing muppets 3d is sad. I’m still angry about the Steamboat, but Disney doesn’t seem to care anymore. There lost a lot of their magic over $$$
Without understanding the economics of ride construction/labor in the Central Florida area, I do wonder if the relative speed on this project (and some others seeming to be moving at faster speeds than something like Tron) has anything to do with Epic Universe being completed, freeing up more labor and avoiding bidding wars with Universal for personnel, materials, etc. Then the rush would be getting everything done before Epic starts looking at the expansion pads.
Or, with Iger definitely-he-really-means-it-this-time retiring at the end of ’26, he wants to have a bunch of openings as a farewell tour
Your first point is definitely spot in. Locking in the subcontractors to get work done now is the cost-effective approach, and this is something I’ve repeatedly heard from people in the know at Disney. They haven’t mentioned the “before Epic starts looking at expansion pads” angle, but I would be shocked if that isn’t part of the internal calculus.
As for the last line, that could be it. Equally likely is that D’Amaro wants a bunch coming online he can point to as part of the “turbocharged” plan and why he should be CEO. I wouldn’t be surprised if Iger doesn’t even know about this. (He obviously knows about Monstropolis and the Door Coaster–I mean the specifics of the timeline.)
Also possible is that the decision was made at an even lower level. Jeff Vahle would also have authority over the closing timeline for Muppets Courtyard.
Other than the loading area, the coaster “tech” is unlikely to be ground breaking or difficult. Inverted coasters are common. They are likely to mirror the screen type of devices and sets used in GotG. I think it could go up pretty quick. I like your point around rising construction costs. Fastracking makes sense here. Having said that it took them 6yrs(?) to open Tron (from announcement to opening day) so who knows! Even if you took 2 years out for Co-Vid. 4 is totally unacceptable. One wonders if their multiple fiscal year policy has changed. 2027 sounds right with DAK being 1 half and DHS in another. If people are going to UOR and not Disney the only way to go them through the door is new and modern attractions. A woke version of Splash Mountain won’t cut it nor will Test Track 7.0. Same rides different scenery.
One thing to keep in mind is that there’s a financial incentive to open new blockbuster attractions thanks to their direct monetization via Lightning Lane Single Pass.
No reason to drag their feet when the ride will literally pay for itself faster the sooner it opens.
Good point. Multi-Pass too will have lift. SP will be what? $8-$10m per year. Assuming 10% allocation, a 7 hour day and 1680 rider per hour capacity (Tron). Add standard Multipass (uplift) to that and it’s got to get to $10m in incremental income from passes alone. Having said that ride construction costs in the US must be insane. The latest coaster here in the UK is Hyperia. A Mack Rides Hypercoaster. It was £18m. Admittedly, here they just whack ’em up and stick ’em in a field in the open air. No theme or “Land” to accompany it but you probably won’t get much change from $200m for Monstropolis will you?
Is it possible that Disney DIDN’T learn a negative lesson from opening Galaxy’s Edge without Rise of the Resistance? Perhaps they’re planning on working to complete all of the placemaking, and *especially* get dining, merch, and (distant third place) the new theater show open ASAP, and then have a second big push when the door coaster is ready? I could easily see everything except the door coaster being ready in 2026, which would give them *something* new to promote in the near(er) term.
Maybe? I strongly suspect that Tropical Americas will open in phases out of necessity–because DAK loses guests without X number of attractions open (which is also why the closure has been phased).
Everything else is a different story, though. If Monstropolis debuts in phases, it’ll be because the calculus is that it draws locals and diehard fans multiple times and acts as a release valve as opposed to opening everything at once. There’s some wisdom in that approach, especially if they expectations have been adjusted since SWGE.
Hollywood Studios seems to restrict its capacity in odd ways that make it an unpleasant place to spend time. The most notable way is that I’ve never seen Starbucks have both sides open after lunch time; this is in line with the stores in Epcot and Animal Kingdom, except that Hollywood Studios is still exceptionally crowded due to the lack of other options. The combination of these partial or early closures, and an overemphasis on outdoor stalls, makes Hollywood Studios far less pleasant than it could otherwise be.
Closing Muppets Vision I think will allow the animatronics to be repurposed to Rock N Rollercoaster. That makes the most sense, as I can see the two old men as part of a pre-show.
Just my humble opinion.
Mike
This is another good point! If we see assets from MV3D reused in RnRC, that would help explain the otherwise premature closure.
I’m skeptical that’ll be the case, but would love to be wrong. Hopefully we find out at D23!
Maybe they did Muppets Courtyard now, because they expect the demolition crew will be busy over at Magic Kingdom for awhile?
Or maybe they just want to get the part of the site that’s visible to guests looking more like Monstropolis ASAP.
Or else someone read “Stage 1 Company Store” and thought it said “Stage 1: Company Store.”
Engineer here. Tearing down Stage 1 fast gives them a laydown yard for other projects. Construction workers need places for tools, lifts, scaffold, material, etc. while work goes on. The closer and larger a laydown yard is, the more effective your workers are. Imagine making a dinner if your fridge was in the basement. this is the basic reason why the center of EPCOT stayed closed so long.
I understand why Stage 1 would come down first within the courtyard. Even setting aside the notion of a laydown yard, it’s really cramped back there and they can’t really work on some of those facades until it’s gone.
What doesn’t make sense is needing the courtyard work to start before the roller coaster. The reimaginings will obviously take less time–much less–than the coaster, and they’re essentially two separate projects in terms of locations, so it’s not as if the courtyard needed to close for the coaster.
This may be a Pollyanna-ish view, but my first guess is that they’re fast tracking something cool that will be a potential revenue generator, and for whatever reason that involved this demolition. The theater was a people eater and the associated costs had to be pretty minimal overall. Demolishing it when they didn’t have to doesn’t make a lot of sense. (My second guess is that this involves some kind of bureaucratic minutiae that would never occur to me. But hoping it’s to fast track something new that they think will be a quick revenue bump.)
Edit – closing, not demolishing, regarding the theater.
this makes me sad 🙁
I’d be sad about it if I had been in this building more than twice in the last ~6 years. Or if they didn’t do so much during the construction of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to tone down the personality of the building and its surrounding area.
Unless you’re sad that they closed MuppetVision this year for a demo project that took three whole days. In which case, I am also very sad about that. Especially as our daughter starts to ‘age into’ more Disney attractions and surely would’ve appreciated MV3D by this time next year. 🙁
definitely the second part. but the minute the hot air balloon was taken down it’s been all downhill.