A Disney Theme Park Expansion May Kill The Final Project Jim Henson Ever Worked On

According to a new article in The Wrap, Walt Disney Imagineering, the engineering team behind the company's theme parks, is currently considering tearing down the Muppet*Vision 3D attraction at Walt Disney World. For those unfamiliar, Muppet*Vision 3D is a theatrical 3D experience that initially debuted at the Disney-MGM Studios (now known as Disney's Hollywood Studios) in Florida. The show falls in line with other "4-D" experiences commonly found at theme parks wherein a 3D short is presented alongside live-action animatronics, smoke effects, bubbles, shaking theater seats, and other in-room "ride" elements. In Muppet*Vision, Kermit the Frog introduces the show, and audiences witness the Muppets gearing up for a big performance. A rogue computer program called Waldo, however, sabotages the night, and wacky destruction ensues. The entire show runs 15 minutes. 

Muppet*Vision 3D first opened in May 1991, and was famously the final Muppets-related project worked on by Muppets co-creator Jim Henson before he died in 1990. According to the report, Walt Disney Imagineering has only a few weeks to decide whether or not to keep the attraction open. It seems that the attraction's closure was meant to be announced at this year's D23 Disney press event, but a last-minute decision kept the information obscured.

At the convention, Disney did announce plans to revamp a portion of Disney's Hollywood Studios into an area based on the animated film "Monsters, Inc.," and an early version of the proposed "Monsters, Inc." land evidently showed a shopping district, eateries, and a roller coaster ... in the exact place Muppet*Vision currently is. It seems that the artwork was swapped out at the last minute, presumably to obscure the fact that Muppet*Vision 3D is on the chopping block. As The Wrap explained, "There were fears, internally, that Josh D'Amaro, the unflappable and widely beloved chairman of Disney Experiences, would get booed as he delivered the news."

As of this writing, there hasn't been an official announcement about the closure of Muppet*Vision 3D, but based on the artwork shown at D23, it seems like it's only a matter of time.

Few people other than Disney theme park obsessives and regular attendees are likely intimately familiar with the inner workings of Disney's Hollywood Studios, formerly opened in conjunction with MGM. It has been used as a theme park, but also as a satellite animation studio for the company, so actual movie magic was once produced on the premises. That animation studio has since shuttered, and the area is currently occupied by a not-very-popular "Star Wars"-themed exhibit called Star Wars Launch Bay, which opened in 2015 to promote the release of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Meanwhile, the land surrounding Muppet*Vision 3D was converted into an entire Muppets courtyard area. 

According to a Disney insider quoted in The Wrap, the company would save the most time and energy repurposing the land's current Muppets area, as the infrastructure for restaurants and shopping are already built.

Fans of Disney theme parks have already intuited the potential shuttering of Muppet*Vision, and are naturally a little aghast. The consensus seems to be that the expansion and rebranding of the "animation studio" area wouldn't be a big loss, as it's mostly empty now anyway. But the removal of the Muppet attraction would be an insurmountable loss. Not only is the short film extremely well-liked, but it would be Disney deliberately ignoring the legacy of Jim Henson, who actually touched the project with his own hands.

In the late 1980s, Muppets creator Jim Henson wanted to sell the Muppet brand, and he struck a deal with Disney to distribute Muppet media. Henson would serve as a creative director for various theme park projects, and Disney would have permission to make their own Muppet media. Disney later served as the distributor of the 1990s films "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and "Muppet Treasure Island," but it wasn't until 2004 that Disney's ownership of the Muppets became official. Henson, famously a workaholic, made many designs and had many ideas for Disney, which some found odd, as he began work on these things before he actually signed a contract; the deal was apparently all handshake-based. 

One of the final projects Henson oversaw was Muppet*Vision 3D, feeling that it was a good transition from what he wanted to do and what he felt Disney was capable of backing. Disney's ownership of the Muppets still causes some controversy among Henson fans, as the contract was never finalized.  Muppet*Vision 3D was intended to be the first of Henson's theme park projects, but in reality, it proved to be the last. 

While Disney theme parks are in a constant state of mutation, some attractions are allowed to remain, seemingly indefinitely. If any Disney fans want Muppet*Vision 3D to remain open, now is the time to make their voices heard. It seems the attraction is, as of this writing, in limbo, and if Disney receives enough press and support, the attraction could maybe, possibly, be saved. The magic of the Muppets remains in Muppet*Vision 3D, and although it's in danger, right now it can still be rescued.