Sneak Peek Behind Disney World’s Construction Walls at Muppets Roller Coaster, Lakeshore Lodge & Big Thunder

When it comes to social media, Disney is like Michael Scott and paper company names. If one channel goes under tomorrow, they’ll just start another account, then another and another. Disney has no shortage of name ideas. “As long as there is imagination left in the world, Disney’s social media presence will never be completed. -Walt Disney” -Wayne Gretzky/Michael Scott. (That’s going to read as utter nonsense to ~95% of you, but the handful of you will laugh are my target. And in the wise words of Mr. Scott, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.)

Disney’s newest series, “Pardon Our Pixie Dust” (an objectively good name), has debuted on the Walt Disney Imagineering YouTube channel. “Pardon Our Pixie Dust” offers a rare look inside the construction walls at upcoming projects around Walt Disney World (and presumably elsewhere in future installments).

In the first episode, Imagineering takes us behind the scenes for a walk around the guest wing inside the upcoming Disney Lakeshore Lodge, a first look at the work-in-progress queue theming for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, and overnight themed concrete work at the exit of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Let’s dig in!

“Pardon Our Pixie Dust” is hosted by another Michael–Michael Hundgen, Portfolio Executive Creative Producer for Walt Disney World. We’ve mentioned him a few times on the blog, but Hundgen is still a relative unknown to most fans despite his high profile position.

It’s our understanding that Hundgen has been instrumental in advancing the ‘singles & doubles’ agenda for Walt Disney World, developing a fruitful working relationship with park ops and local leadership. Beyond that, having a Florida-based head Imagineer who actually experiences the parks with his young family as a regular guest is a huge asset. Disneyland has benefited tremendously from this dynamic over the decades. He’s one to watch.

Hundgen begins this video outside the walls surrounding the old Animation Courtyard and future Walt Disney Studios Lot at Hollywood Studios. Sadly, this is not featured in the debut episode of “Pardon Our Pixie Dust.” Maybe next time! After a brief introduction, he turns things over to the crew at Disney Lakeshore Lodge.

Over on the bayou of Bay Lake, Imagineering Senior Construction Manager Colin Happ takes fans inside Disney Lakeshore Lodge. In case you missed it, we actually just got the first official update on this since November 2024: New Disney Lakeshore Lodge Concept Art, Opening Timeline & Details!

Happ starts outside the porte cochere with a ground-level look at the arrival area, showing the exterior and entrance, stucco, windows, sliders, and 800 tons of steel. He then takes us down a guest corridor and into one of the 967 rooms that the mixed-use DVC resort and hotel will house upon opening.

He also shows us some of the “rough in” progress on installing plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc. Plus painting, and of course, MEPF work. It’s all very riveting stuff.

From there, “Pardon Our Pixie Dust” heads over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for a first look at the work being done to transform Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster from “Starring Aerosmith” to “Starring the Muppets.”

Imagineering Associate Set Decorator Ben Conway discusses the process of picking props to decorate the queue, and shows the team working on installation. This is probably going to be the most exciting portion of the video for fans; the detail-dense queue is going to be home to a lot of props from the former MuppetVision 3D (I counted at least 3 in the background–and there might be more).

Conway explains that the team is working on the composition of the larger items, fitting those into the space before moving to the smaller stuff. He shares that a goal is Easter Eggs for Muppets, which we’d expect to be reminiscent of MV3D.

To contextualize what you see, this is the RnRC load area (pictured above), which was previously a parking garage in Los Angeles.

The old load station was actually subtly clever from a thematic perspective, with features evoking Joe’s or the Parking Spot. As someone who does a lot of parking, I can say with authority that this was all very true-to-life. But unlike Dino-Rama diehards, you never heard me gush about the thematic integrity of this because there’s not much to be said for a load area that transports you to a parking garage in LA.

Anyway, the load area for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets looks cool. I can’t wait to see how many Easter Eggs they manage to cram in there, and how they manage to weave in the Muppet Christmas Carol. I’ll also be interested in the ‘story’ justification for all this junk, but even with someone tenuous, it’ll beat a parking garage. (Unless it’s still just a parking garage, but also where the Muppets store stuff.)

The video concludes with a BTS segment spotlighting the work that Imagineers are doing to create realistic pavement at the exit of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom.

This segment was hosted by Imagineering Associate Artisan – Sculptor Jabe Jones. There’s been a lot of recent pavement work (and re-work) done outside BTMRR, and this takes guests to an overnight shift, at 3 am, when pavement goes from pouring to screeding to color hardening, before theme-work begins.

Jones walks fans through the process from start to finish. It’s more exciting than watching concrete dry! Seriously. This is my favorite segment in the video, and I say that as a diehard Muppets fan who is less excited for BTMRR than pretty much anything else this summer. It also contains the funniest moment in the entire video, when the donkey tracks are being made with a crudely-made device with “DO NOT THROW AWAY!!” scribbled on it with sharpie.

Here’s the full video, which I highly recommend watching (it’s only a few minutes long, with minimal fluff or filler):

The above-mentioned donkey track contraption really underscores what makes “Pardon Our Pixie Dust” work so well. This feels raw and real, showing actual construction as opposed to something curated for the sake of social media to garner likes or whatnot.

I appreciate the willingness to showcase the more mundane side of construction work, and the peak behind the curtain at how the sausage is made. I also love that these are just ordinary folks, speaking conversationally about their work. They use the jargon they’d use in the field, as opposed to polishing it up for mainstream audiences. That was refreshing, and it was nice to actually learn something from the video. Edutainment is back, baby!

There’s obviously a place for more produced pieces with leaders who use Disneyspeak and are careful with their words. But this is so much better than the last few ‘day in the job’ videos that have been released that show a bit of behind the scenes footage, but seem to highlight younger people with office jobs. Those roles are important, I get that. It’s just not as compelling content as active construction.

I much prefer hearing from the dudes or dudettes who are on the ground, doing the tough work–just getting stuff done, even if it’s not marketable (especially if it’s not!). Even as someone who is clearly not built for manual labor, I appreciate this and find it more relatable. Far better than the frenetic, bubbly and superficial stuff aimed at the TikTok Generation.

This is refreshing, and it makes fans appreciate the process more. Not just the creative process, but the construction process–because they’re two sides of the same coin.

I could’ve watched a 30 minute documentary-style video on the BTMRR concrete, and I’m not even kidding. But I recognize that I sound like an old man, shaking my fist at a cloud. (Or in this case, giving the cloud a big thumbs up.)

Ultimately, I hope Walt Disney Imagineering does a lot more “Pardon Our Pixie Dust” videos. And that these updates are either more frequent or longer. With as many projects, big and small, as Walt Disney World has in the pipeline, this could be a weekly series. It’s a great first effort, and an undeniably great name for a series–even if Disney has no shortage of ’em.

I’m sure a lot of time and effort went into this, but it has the feeling of something quicker and dirtier, without the meticulous scripting and staging that goes into a lot of content. Hopefully other fans similarly watch and appreciate this, as opposed to lamenting the illusion being ruined or whatever. To each their own, but seeing this makes me appreciate the work Imagineering is doing more, not less. So if you enjoy “Pardon Our Pixie Dust” please leave an enthusiastic comment (here or on their video–or both), and like/smash that subscribe button, etc.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think about Walt Disney Imagineering’s new “Pardon Our Pixie Dust” series? Would you like to see more videos like this in the future? Enjoy watching the BTS look at actual construction? Which segment was your favorite? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is interesting to us and can bring a fresh perspective to the table, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!