Some sad news coming out of Muppetland today. MuppetVision 3D—Disney World's stalwart Kermit-themed theater show—is getting the boot. The park just announced that the attraction will be closing its doors to make way for a new type of monster—the ones who work at Monsters Incorporated. (There are some monsters working at Disney HQ as well, if angry MuppetVision loyalists have anything to say about it.)
Orlando's forthcoming Monsters, Inc. land was originally announced at D23 as part of a major planned upheaval to the parks. The new Hollywood Studios extension will feature Monstropolis-themed shopping and dining, along with a suspended door coaster (a first-of-its-kind for the company). But as exciting as that all is, Muppet fans immediately began to worry for the health of their beloved attraction. They had their fears somewhat quelled by a rumor that the new land would be taking over a largely extraneous Star Wars meet-and-greet area instead of the current MuppetVision 3D footprint, but sadly, it now sounds like those fears are coming true.
At least Disney is promising that Kermit, Miss Piggy, Beaker et. al. won't be departing the park completely. Instead, they'll be zooming over to the current Aerosmith-themed Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, which will now be a Muppet-themed Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. In a statement, the park announced that "music’s biggest stars” (Miss Piggy, apparently) would be hijacking the coaster for a “rockin’ music festival" sometime in the coming months. Listening to "The Rainbow Connection" as the coaster zooms from 0 to 60 won't be nearly as thrilling as having "Walk This Way" blaring in your ears, but at least everyone's favorite critters have a new home somewhere.
Per theme park blog WDW News Today, the company also promised in a statement that they are "having creative conversations and exploring ways to preserve the film (MuppetVision) and other parts of the experience for fans to enjoy in the future." It would be a real shame if that didn't happen—for the sake of preserving cultural history, but especially because MuppetVision 3D was the last project Jim Henson worked on before his death in 1990. (The attraction opened in May of the following year.) In the meantime, you can watch a video of the soon-to-be late, great attraction below:
