Movin’ Right Along
When Disney finally acquired the Muppets in 2004, they found themselves with a portfolio of newly-accessible characters… who hadn’t felt relevant in more than a decade. And given that their biggest fan – Michael Eisner – left the company in 2005 and that the acquisition of the Muppets would be overshadowed by Disney’s purchase of the very relevant Pixar in 2006, it might’ve seemed that Disney would quietly bury the Muppets in their ever-expanding catalogue of characters.
But Disney has activated around the brand both in the parks and the big screen.
In 2001, Disney’s California Adventure opened to pitiful reviews. But among the hits of its opening day lineup was a West Coast installation of Muppet*Vision 3D in its otherwise barren Hollywood Pictures Backlot land (never mind that technically, the show was already a decade old when it made its debut in California). It was accompanied by an outdoor souvenir stand dressed as “Rizzo’s Prop Pawn Shop.”
In 2007, the Muppet Mobile Lab – part of Disney’s Living Character Initiative – began touring around Disney California Adventure. The self-contained, self-balancing animatronic encounter featured Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker traveling aboard a free-roving rocket ship, interacting with guests. After a season-long run in the park’s Hollywood Pictures Backlot, the Muppet Mobile Lab moved to Epcot, then Hong Kong Disneyland, then Tokyo Disney.
In 2010, Disney’s annual promotion – “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” placed the Muppets front and center as ambassadors for the program, which rewarded a day of volunteering for approved charitable organizations and non-profits with a one-day ticket to Disneyland or Walt Disney World.
Meanwhile, 2011’s reboot live action film The Muppets was a triumph among critics, fans, and the box office, earning $165 million – literally, as much as every prior Muppet movie combined. The surprising performance (and warm public welcome) of the film warranted something usually reserved only for Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars entries: a sequel.
2014’s Muppets Most Wanted received positive reviews (including from Brian Henson, who said “I think my dad would be thrilled the Muppets are continuing. That’s a big deal”) but performed only about half as well as its sleeper hit predecessor. Fans were certain that the film’s modest performance would spell the end of the Muppets… and yet…
In 2015, Disney-owned ABC picked up “The Muppets” TV show. It didn’t fare as well, and was cancelled after one season, but critics were quick to point out that the Muppets weren’t flawed; the show itself was, thanks to its adult-oriented, single-camera setup based on NBC’s The Office. 30 Rock, and Parks and Rec. Would another Muppet underperformance mark the end of the brand? Nope!
Most notably, in 2016, the cast began to star in a brand new show in Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Square called The Muppets Present… Great Moments in American History. While the inclusion of most characters in Liberty Square would’ve enraged the Disney Parks fan community, the affable and delightful Muppets got a deserved pass as people love their slightly-irreverent retellings of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and the signing of the Declaration of Independence, performed via live Muppeteering on the second story of Liberty Square’s Heritage House. Despite its popularity, the show disappointingly switched to seasonal status in winter 2019.
Yes, despite decades of products, progress, and the never-built Muppet Studios plans, it sure seemed that the 1991 Muppet*Vision 3D would be the only permanent attraction dedicated to Kermit and company inside Disney Parks… Until…
Land ho!
In 2011 – just as Disney’s The Muppets was released into theaters – Muppet*Vision 3D was celebrating its 20th anniversary. Fans couldn’t have known that things were about to change around the newly-renamed Disney’s Hollywood Studios and its landmark Muppets attraction in a big way…
After years of piecemeal solutions to disguise its underbuilt origins and its long-since failed filmmaking ideals, Disney World’s infamous “half day park” was in need of a revival. In 2015, then-CEO Bob Iger announced a substantial reimagining of Hollywood Studios centered around two extensive new lands: Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
The latter, in particular, would follow in the “living lands” tradition begun by Universal’s Wzarding World and practiced in Disney’s Cars Land, New Fantasyland, and Pandora.
On April 2, 2016, the Streets of America closed and went behind construction walls to make way for the new themed lands, due for a 2019 debut. In the meantime, Disney’s Hollywood Studios would be a park with very little to see or do. The closure of the Streets of America also left Muppet*Vision alone and isolated in the corner of the park with one way in and one way out…
Certainly fans expected the 3D film – now 25 years old – to simply be bulldozed to make way for a Star Wars land. Instead, beginning April 2, 2016, the area was designated with a new name on the park map.
Muppets Courtyard
So what was the Muppets Courtyard really made of? To be sure, the miniscule little “land” was still anchored by Muppet*Vision 3D. The only real change was that a bathroom was given a grand marquee announcing it as Gonzo’s Royal Flush and the Toy Story Pizza Planet restaurant (which had always been odd – a quick service pizza place with nothing in common whatsoever with its movie counterpart… a sort of Pizza-Planet-in-name-only) closed. In its place would rise PizzeRizzo, a clever pizzeria seemingly owned by the Muppets’ Rizzo the Rat.
The new family restaurant’s fare isn’t much better than Pizza Planet’s, and there’s not too much Muppet fanfare within (and certainly no Animatronic rats or kitchen explosions), but the restaurant is now plausibly “real” and fits into the New York motif of the area while also incorporating the standard Muppet Mess™ adorning walls and ceiling that are packed full of references, puns, and fun.
And even if the one-two punch of Muppet*Vision and PizzeRizzo is no where near the mayhem and wonder that a Muppet Studios would’ve wrought, we can’t help but be giddy when the neon sign reigning over Rizzo’s flickers out to light a secret message before our very eyes…
Muppets Courtyard was at least a symbol that Disney has not given up on the unique brand that is the Muppets. Even if they’re not ready to invest E-Ticket money into a Great Muppet Movie Ride, they seem to acknowledge that the Muppets are a brand that can be constantly reinvented for a new generation, so long as they don’t lose the whimsy, the bad puns, and the feel-good music that they’re known for…
Of course, after less than a year, Muppets Courtyard, too, disappeared off the map. While the little mini-area still exists, it’s been wrapped into a larger new land for the park called Grand Ave., representing modern Los Angeles (nevermind that the Muppet area, now called Grand Park, is a recreation of New York?).
Rainbow Connection
Disney’s next revival of the brand is via 2020’s Disney+ unscripted show, “Muppets Now,” but honestly, the brand’s future may be riding on an unexpected anchor…
2018’s Disney Junior series, “Muppet Babies” (a reboot of the ’80s original) has been a hit, theoretically introducing a new generation to Kermit, Fozzie, Piggy, Gonzo, and the gang from before their first steps. And boy, if we can raise the next generation to love the Muppets and to want them in Disney Parks? That will have been a success…
In 2021, the Disney / Muppet story came full circle. Disney brokered a deal once thought to be somewhere between unwieldy and impossible, securing the scattered music licensing rights required to bring all five seasons of Henson’s classic 1977 masterpiece The Muppet Show to Disney+ beginning February 19, 2021. Online reception was glowing and spectacular, hopefully hinting to Disney that the Muppets are a brand worth investing in!
Here’s the takeaway: even today, the Muppets are wonderful. The indisputable, undeniable fact remains that Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, Rizzo, Rowlf, Beaker, Bunson Honeydew, Statler and Waldorf, Swedish Chef, Sam Eagle, Pepe, and Bobo are as timeless as Disney’s best.
Maybe that’s why the idea of Muppet Studios still resonates. Even 30 years after the initial concept was dreamed up, it still feels like the kind of theme park land we’d like to visit and spend time in. We’d still want to ride the Great Muppet Movie Ride, and we’d still check into Gonzo’s Pizza Pandemonium. Sure, kids today may not know Fozzie like they know Olaf, but wouldn’t a theme park land be the perfect place to meet him via a comedy show / meet-and-greet with a real Muppet?
In an alternate reality, carving a “Muppet Studios” into Disney California Adventure’s tired Hollywood Land studio section would’ve (and still could!) continued the park’s thoughtful Californian story-centered trajectory while also giving new life and purpose to a neglected section of the park.
Despite their earlier misgivings, even the Henson children seem to agree that The Muppets are right at home among Disney’s canon, and Jim Henson’s legacy lives on there. And even as Disney tests and adjusts the use of these comic characters and how they fit into Disney’s movies, television interests, and theme parks, one thing is certain: this property is evergreen. And if Muppet Studios opened today at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, millions of guests would be delighted to visit. Now that’s star power.
As for what do you get when you put chocolate pudding in your mother’s shoes?
…A spanking! Wocka wocka!
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