ImagineerJack
Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom-Morrow
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2017
Unless you have been living under a rock, everyone should know that Disney's Hollywood Studios is undergoing a MAJOR re-theme (for somewhat lack of a better word). As our good friend Pete Werner has said, and I'm paraphrasing here, DHS is currently half a theme park.
With that being said, I think that Disney has already screwed up, and that's with the Muppet's Courtyard.
Whats my problem? They've really only updated half of the Muppet's Courtyard, and kudos to Disney for turning the horribly placed Pizza Planet and turning into PizzeRizzo. They've also have themed the bathrooms into Gonzo's Royal Flush bathrooms, a reference to the Muppet movie revamp from 2011. Other than that, the entire rest of that Muppets Courtyard is somewhat bare and awkwardly set up.
I have had an idea on how to re-theme that entire section of the park even before Disney announced Star Wars land and Toy Story land. This re-theme begins with the closing down and re-imagining of Muppets 3-D.
New Muppets 3-D Ride:
"How dare you touch Muppets 3-D" some of you may say, but to that I say I do dare. The show is quite funny and heartwarming for adults and some children alike, but it is terribly outdated and could easily be even refurbished for a better experience. My idea for re-imagining this ride is getting rid of the entire theater show and turning it into an actual attraction.
I think that the best way to update the show is to turn it into ride similar to Rataouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquee de Remy (excuse me for my lack of accents on words). Making the Muppets ride with trackless technology would be a great way to incorporate the Muppet's Labs bit. Instead of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker displaying their Muppet Vision machine, they could introduce some type of machine that explains the ride vehicles. I have come up with the name Muppet Mobile (I know it is cheesy but the Muppet's are supposed to be a bit cheesy). This leads me into a discussion into the ride vehicle.
Note: Muppet Vision 3-D could still be a factor in the ride as 3-D glasses are sometimes used for rides like these but there doesn't have to be. I just think that the ride could do without it, but maybe put a reference or two nudging towards the 'failed' Muppet Vision machine.
What would it look like? I have had some ideas on designing them after the Muppet characters themselves, a Kermit themed car, a Fozzie Bear themed car etc. This idea could also help with the explanation of how the machine works, where they have to be designed after the Muppets themselves, but how could everything go wrong?
Even though I hate to do this myself, I think progression is the best way to go here and to make some type of a rogue Constantine themed ride car that manages to get loose. I don't think this is the best direction to go with this idea, but the rogue car wouldn't have much of an impact on the show. Disagree with me? Waldo didn't have THAT much of an impact on the first half of the show, he mainly shows up near the end as he screws up the finale and the Swedish Chef blows everything up (I'm pretty sure he was put in the show just as a way to showcase 3-D effects and a way to tie up the show at some points). I would appreciate it if you gave me some ideas in the comments.
Of course the main floor itself might not provide enough room for the whole attraction so I thought of an idea that I somewhat ripped of from Universal's Transformers ride. At one part of the Transformers ride you get on a lift that takes you up to a second floor. This idea could be implemented into the new Muppets ride and I think that would fit in perfectly as a way to close of the ending scene.
The ending scene could again be a firetruck backing up with a screen being used to project the outside of the park and guests staring in. The firetruck would include a Kermit the frog animatronic where you would then slowly drift away from to the unloading zone.
This is mainly an idea and I don't have all of the scenes worked out, but I think an update is needed for the show to be turned into an attraction. This brings me to my next addition to Muppets Courtyard...
Adding Muppets Mobile Labs
Ever since Muppets Mobile Labs came back to WDW from it's circuit around the world, I was wondering why it is being displayed at Epcot rather than DHS. I don't see how the Mobile lab fits in with the theme of Epcot and in my mind it makes way more sense for it to be moved to DHS, but have random appearances every day so people don't pile up to wait and see it, rather it be a I'm walking and ooh, whats this? sort of deal.
Re-Themeing the Studio One Gift shop and surroundings
The inside of the Studio One gift shop is alright, but what is up with the outside?... I can see the idea of a messy outside because the Muppets can be a tad bit careless, but it looks horrendous and sticks out like a sore thumb. The outside and surrounding areas tried to have a theme of sort of the outside of industrial buildings but the Imagineers did not do the best job with that. My main issue is right next to the exit of Muppet Vision 3-D is that weird gazebo cast member only area looking wall. So many people I have encountered have stopped me from going back there saying it was a cast member only area. What is the point of that? I would remove it and turn that into an interactive area themed to an alleyway in a bustling industrial city with some small interactive areas so there is some exploring to do.
For now this is all I can think of and I will add on when more ideas come to me later. Feel free to comment your ideas as I see this as a community idea.
Thanks
With that being said, I think that Disney has already screwed up, and that's with the Muppet's Courtyard.
Whats my problem? They've really only updated half of the Muppet's Courtyard, and kudos to Disney for turning the horribly placed Pizza Planet and turning into PizzeRizzo. They've also have themed the bathrooms into Gonzo's Royal Flush bathrooms, a reference to the Muppet movie revamp from 2011. Other than that, the entire rest of that Muppets Courtyard is somewhat bare and awkwardly set up.
I have had an idea on how to re-theme that entire section of the park even before Disney announced Star Wars land and Toy Story land. This re-theme begins with the closing down and re-imagining of Muppets 3-D.
New Muppets 3-D Ride:
"How dare you touch Muppets 3-D" some of you may say, but to that I say I do dare. The show is quite funny and heartwarming for adults and some children alike, but it is terribly outdated and could easily be even refurbished for a better experience. My idea for re-imagining this ride is getting rid of the entire theater show and turning it into an actual attraction.
I think that the best way to update the show is to turn it into ride similar to Rataouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquee de Remy (excuse me for my lack of accents on words). Making the Muppets ride with trackless technology would be a great way to incorporate the Muppet's Labs bit. Instead of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker displaying their Muppet Vision machine, they could introduce some type of machine that explains the ride vehicles. I have come up with the name Muppet Mobile (I know it is cheesy but the Muppet's are supposed to be a bit cheesy). This leads me into a discussion into the ride vehicle.
Note: Muppet Vision 3-D could still be a factor in the ride as 3-D glasses are sometimes used for rides like these but there doesn't have to be. I just think that the ride could do without it, but maybe put a reference or two nudging towards the 'failed' Muppet Vision machine.
What would it look like? I have had some ideas on designing them after the Muppet characters themselves, a Kermit themed car, a Fozzie Bear themed car etc. This idea could also help with the explanation of how the machine works, where they have to be designed after the Muppets themselves, but how could everything go wrong?
Even though I hate to do this myself, I think progression is the best way to go here and to make some type of a rogue Constantine themed ride car that manages to get loose. I don't think this is the best direction to go with this idea, but the rogue car wouldn't have much of an impact on the show. Disagree with me? Waldo didn't have THAT much of an impact on the first half of the show, he mainly shows up near the end as he screws up the finale and the Swedish Chef blows everything up (I'm pretty sure he was put in the show just as a way to showcase 3-D effects and a way to tie up the show at some points). I would appreciate it if you gave me some ideas in the comments.
Of course the main floor itself might not provide enough room for the whole attraction so I thought of an idea that I somewhat ripped of from Universal's Transformers ride. At one part of the Transformers ride you get on a lift that takes you up to a second floor. This idea could be implemented into the new Muppets ride and I think that would fit in perfectly as a way to close of the ending scene.
The ending scene could again be a firetruck backing up with a screen being used to project the outside of the park and guests staring in. The firetruck would include a Kermit the frog animatronic where you would then slowly drift away from to the unloading zone.
This is mainly an idea and I don't have all of the scenes worked out, but I think an update is needed for the show to be turned into an attraction. This brings me to my next addition to Muppets Courtyard...
Adding Muppets Mobile Labs
Ever since Muppets Mobile Labs came back to WDW from it's circuit around the world, I was wondering why it is being displayed at Epcot rather than DHS. I don't see how the Mobile lab fits in with the theme of Epcot and in my mind it makes way more sense for it to be moved to DHS, but have random appearances every day so people don't pile up to wait and see it, rather it be a I'm walking and ooh, whats this? sort of deal.
Re-Themeing the Studio One Gift shop and surroundings
The inside of the Studio One gift shop is alright, but what is up with the outside?... I can see the idea of a messy outside because the Muppets can be a tad bit careless, but it looks horrendous and sticks out like a sore thumb. The outside and surrounding areas tried to have a theme of sort of the outside of industrial buildings but the Imagineers did not do the best job with that. My main issue is right next to the exit of Muppet Vision 3-D is that weird gazebo cast member only area looking wall. So many people I have encountered have stopped me from going back there saying it was a cast member only area. What is the point of that? I would remove it and turn that into an interactive area themed to an alleyway in a bustling industrial city with some small interactive areas so there is some exploring to do.
For now this is all I can think of and I will add on when more ideas come to me later. Feel free to comment your ideas as I see this as a community idea.
Thanks
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