Disney's Hollywood Studios: Will Monsters, Inc. Land Replace Muppets Courtyard or Animation Courtyard?

28 days ago in "Monsters Inc. Land"

Forum Forums Tweet Share Tweet Share

Gallery / 3 Photos
Monsters Inc. Land Concept Art

Posted: Tuesday August 13, 2024 9:00am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

When Disney Parks Chairman Josh D'Amaro announced that Disney's Hollywood Studios would be home to the very first Monsters, Inc. land, one crucial detail was left unanswered: where exactly will it be built?

Disney Parks Chairman Announces Monsters, Inc. Land

While Walt Disney World is known for its vast expanses of available land, Disney's Hollywood Studios faces a unique challenge due to its limited size, constrained by surrounding roadways. As a result, the new Monsters, Inc. land will almost certainly need to replace an existing attraction, with two likely candidates emerging.

Disney even presented two different pieces of concept art that show the Monsters, Inc. Land in what appears to be the two courtyards in question - Animation Courtyard and Muppets Courtyard.

MuppetVision 3D and Grand Avenue

Monsters Inc. Land Concept Art

MuppetVision 3D and its surrounding area has emerged as the most likely location for Disney to build its new Monsters, Inc. land and the long-awaited indoor suspended door coaster.

In this scenario, the new land would occupy everything in the former Muppets Courtyard, including the MuppetVision 3D show, Mama Melrose's, Studio 1 Shop, Days of Christmas, and PizzeRizzo.

Building in Muppets Courtyard would be a significant loss for the park, given that MuppetVision 3D is home to the Muppets at Walt Disney World and one of the only attractions in Disney's Hollywood Studios that does not rely on Lighting Lane, a Virtual Queue, a height requirement, or a lengthy standby wait. It is arguably the best 3D movie experience that Disney has ever created for a theme park. It also occupies a place in Disney history as one of the last projects that Muppet creator Jim Henson was involved in before his passing in 1990.

MuppetVision 3D

Animation Courtyard

Monsters Inc. Land Concept Art

The Animation Courtyard has been a neglected space since the opening of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge, when all interest in Star Wars Launch Bay fell by the wayside, leading many to believe that this area is ripe for redevelopment and a likely candidate for the new Monsters, Inc land.

The area appears to have enough space for the land but faces some challenges in relocating the office space utilization behind Launch Bay in the former Animation building and integrating the adjacent Little Mermaid theater, which will soon host a new version of the show.

Animation Courtyard also appears to be earmarked for another upcoming and so far unannounced project.

While Animation Courtyard seemed to be the early front-runner, our latest information suggests that Disney has selected Muppet's Courtyard as the site for the new Monsters Inc. Land. Unless there are any last-minute changes, an official announcement from Disney is expected in the coming weeks.

Monsters Inc. Land Concept Art

Discuss on the Forums

Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox

Rhinocerous15 hours ago

I don't know, Mike is constantly on the verge of total emotional breakdown. Going limp seems pretty on brand for him.

gorillaball2 days ago

Were you also one of the ones troubled with Flight of Passage because you didn’t have wings or you could see another rider next to you?

Cmdr_Crimson2 days ago

Here's another elevated lift at a park in Germany called Sky Rider.

Tha Realest2 days ago

I also feel like a slower pace means they can squeeze a bit more runtime out of a confined environment. Tron takes up a ton of space for a relatively short experienced because of its speeds.

lazyboy97o2 days ago

The novelty would be an entire train lifting up overhead of the loading platform in a show space.

ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨︎ ᗩζᗩᗰ2 days ago

Josh made the lift aspect out to be added story integration but unless the cars are lifting individually or it's perceived that way, it won't feel accurate to how the scene is portrayed in the movie. Maybe the cars will face outward for boarding, lift up and then turn toward the track? I'm probably over thinking it but I just don't see the novelty here.

celluloid2 days ago

Not a train but the largest Elevator lift in height and car size would likely be Cannibal at Lagoon. I don't think being a train will cause too much trouble or difference to what is done with trains dropping and single car lifts.

mitchk2 days ago

So we still have no idea on where this coaster is going I can’t believe it’s taking this long to get any type of information but as others have said, I don’t think Disney knows exactly where they want to put it, but please leave them Muppets alone. the area is not big enough anyway.

Rob5622 days ago

Yeah, in all my digging through coasters on RCDB Cobra's Curse is the largest coaster train that uses an elevator lift I could find. Everything else is a single wild mouse style car, a single water coaster car, or even smaller like the previously mentioned Scooby Doo kiddie coaster. -Rob

AidenRodriguez7312 days ago

Based on the audience, I don’t think they would go too crazy with it. Maybe something like gringotts with coaster elements and a lot of slower story elements. It is possible they just go all out though on a more thrill coaster (minus inversions) but I kinda doubt it because of the IP

ᗩLᘿᑕ ✨︎ ᗩζᗩᗰ3 days ago

What's the expectation here? A high thrills coaster without inversions with a sprinkling of set pieces and an AA or two? Or a slower, meandering "story coaster" doubling as a dark ride? Somewhere in between? Just curious. Being Disney's first foray in "Suspended" all bets are off! I'll be shocked if this pulls speeds over 35mph.

Surferboy5673 days ago

I understand this, but I still believe we should be excited for it. I’m well aware of the value engineering that may take place here. Just hoping it doesn’t because it’s such a slam dunk idea in my opinion.

Mr. Sullivan3 days ago

Me personally, I don't think they're going to be using actual skylights and real light for this in any way. If that is important to the experience (I don't know that it will be, but it is design wise to the location they're depicting), that'd be a very uncontrollable and unpredictable way of doing it. If they're wanting it to look like it does in the film, I think they'd be better off using simulated lighting or something they could control and keep consistent.

Quietmouse3 days ago

This attraction is very hard to mess up. Literally go by the film as basis of the coaster and add some audio animatronics of sully and boo and Mike and it will be successful. I guess the only way they can screw this up if it’s a tron situation and is just too short of a ride.