OK, fine, I know Disney World is actually in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. And I know that Disneyland is in Anaheim and NOT Los Angeles.
But WHATEVER! Because I joined a bunch of other people who had their minds blown by a graphic from NBC Palm Springs that showed the DisneyLAnd has L.A. in it and Disney wORLd has Orlando hidden in it.
Did that blow your mind too? I’m sure. Is it a coincidence? Probably. But there are a lot of people who are similarly wowed by this and others who scoffed:
This is so hilariously stupid on so many levels, but the best part is that Disneyland is in Anaheim. AN is literally the next two letters https://t.co/kp4E5JtQIy
(This post has been updated with new information.)
I get it. You don’t like waiting on lines, especially at the Disney parks like Disney World and Disneyland. No one likes to wait, right?
But would you be willing to pay a lot of money per day at those parks to skip massive lines at the rides and not have to book in advance? What if I told you it was A LOT of money?
Here are the details, via USA TODAY: you can buy the passes seven days in advance of your trip, and you have certain pricing for it:
Lightning Lane Premier Passes per person, per day:
Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $129-$199 plus tax
EPCOT: $169-$249 plus tax
Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $269-$349 plus tax
Magic Kingdom: $329-$449 plus tax
Yep. That’s a lot of money, like I said. But you’ll get to Lightning Lane rides with ease!
Disney simply cannot close Muppet*Vision 3D for good.
On a sweltering Orlando Sunday in August 2022, my dutiful wife accompanied me to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for my 30th birthday to stroll about Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and celebrate a turning of the decade like most, ahem, adults do.
Although, the sticky Florida summer hits you like a baseball bat to the jaw the second you walk into any Disney park in the summertime. After wandering around for a bit, she asked if we could get some air conditioning. Obviously, I obliged with the best Trojan Horse idea I could possibly have.
I knew of the perfect place with ample A/C and plenty of seats to beat the heat. A place where you could play the music, light the lights, raise the curtain and get things started for a theme park attraction that’s, well, one of the most most sensational inspirational, celebrational and … Muppetational … things to do in all of Walt Disney World.
The exacerbated look on my wife’s face once she realized that I was leading her into Muppet*Vision 3D to get out of the sun is one I’ll never forget, yet another memory from one of the great Disney World attractions I’ll tuck in my back pocket to give me a smile when I think about that trip, and countless others to Orlando. She’s not the world’s biggest Muppets fan, but I sure am.
Although, the beloved Muppets attraction now needs our help more than ever.
With Disney announcing a host of new park experiences at its D23 convention over the weekend, news of a Monsters Inc. land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (including the long-awaited thrill ride based on that film’s iconic door chase) quickly gave way to concern about where exactly Disney was planning to build its Monstropolis replica.
The Wrap’s Drew Taylor, an authoritative voice on anything Disney, confirmed on Tuesday what many feared about this new Monsters-themed expansion. The area where Muppet*Vision 3D sits in Disney’s Hollywood Studios was a possible zone for construction for the Monsters Inc. land, which would mean shuttering the Muppets attraction for good. According to Taylor, the fate of Muppet*Vision 3D would be decided in mere weeks.
“Walt Disney Imagineering, the secretive arm of the Walt Disney Company responsible for the theme parks, has only a few weeks to decide whether to keep Muppet*Vision 3D or to shut it down, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap, and its closing was originally going to be tipped during a D23 presentation until a last-minute swap,” Taylor reported.
Taylor spells out varying reports about where the Monsters Inc. world could be placed on Disney’s Hollywood Studios property, with a possible landing spot being the barren animation courtyard that once housed a Little Mermaid live show and still holds the remains of an event space that featured a Disney animation showcase and, more recently, a catch-all for Star Wars.
However, Taylor’s reporting detailed why Disney might raze where the Muppets attraction stands to build a home for Mike and Sully.
“But another individual with knowledge of the situation pointed to why Muppets Courtyard (or Grand Avenue, as it is currently known), would be more ideal for the “Monsters, Inc.” land – there’s already a restaurant (themed to Rizzo, the lovable Muppet rat) and infrastructure for shopping,” Taylor wrote. “And, chiefly, there’s already a faux city aesthetic to the area, perfect for the converting Monstropolis. ‘It’s a perfect way to stretch that $60 billion,’ said this individual, referring to the $60 billion Disney has earmarked for theme park expansion around the world, which also includes additions to international parks and beefing up the company’s lucrative cruise ship line.”
This would, quite simply, be an absolutely horrible decision for Disney to make, even if the Monsters Inc. land does sound pretty neat.
Consider the history behind the attraction. Muppet*Vision 3D is one of the last great works of Muppets creator Jim Henson, who tragically died in 1990 before the attraction opened in Orlando in 1991. It’s one of the last things he created as steward of Kermit the Frog and the gang, one of the last examples of his megawatt creative spirit, deadpan comedic genius and genial Muppet anarchy that defined these beloved felt entertainers during their golden run in the 1970s and 1980s. Heck, it’s one of the last times we ever got to hear his voice as Kermit, guiding us along another zany Muppets adventure.
In a world where Disney has allowed the Muppets to gather dust after a two-film theatrical run in the early 2010s, an ill-fated sitcom in 2015 and a couple of fizzled-out Disney+ projects, Muppet*Vision 3D feels like the primary way that Disney is keeping Henson’s memory alive. To bulldoze through it in the name of theme park progress would feel like a moral abdication and a cruel, corporate calculation that erases the great testament to Henson’s genius and the long-lasting appeal of the Muppets for audiences of all ages.
Disney has never shied away from updating and outright replacing some of its older rides and shows, but there’s an unspoken truth to the legacy attractions that would spark widespread outcry if altered or closed. You can’t imagine Disney dismantling Dumbo the Flying Elephant for a snack shack or blowing up the big Spaceship Earth ball to make the entrance to Epcot more walkable for guests. Some parts of Disney parks are too sacred to replace.
With The Great Movie Ride reaching the closing credits and the Studio Backlot Tour going to the great Disney theme park in the sky, and Muppet*Vision 3D is one of the few attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios that hearken back to its roots as Disney–MGM Studios. The show, still unique and immersive in a way that few theme park attractions are, opened just two years after the actual park did, making it one of the anchor attractions that has withstood the park’s extensive changes over the last couple of decades.
While Disney has hacked up the Muppets Courtyard over the years down to just the attraction and the Rizzo-themed pizza parlor, it feels like a precious corner of a world gone by. Part of a Disney park’s appeal is how the passage of time slows down just enough to where you can recreate specific experiences you had as a child as an adult and even with your own children.
Muppet*Vision 3D embodies that mentality so well. The show hasn’t aged a day with its humor and heart and has remained surprisingly buoyant with its 3D technology and mix of pre-filmed material, involvement of a live performer (a Disney cast member in a Sweetums costume) and usage of impressive animatronics scattered throughout the theater.
Ironically, the only film that’s even slightly dared to match what Muppet*Vision 3D has offered in the past couple of decades may well be Francis Ford Coppola’s upcoming Megalopolis, which utilizes a live actor in the theater having a conversation with Adam Driver’s character on the screen. Hypothetically, Henson did it first, and Disney World kept it going for more than 30 years. It’s an absolutely singular theatrical experience.
Vulture’s Rebecca Alter wrote an excellent piece recently on why Muppet*Vision 3D should be made a National Heritage Site, something we’re sure Disney would fight tooth-and-nail in order to retain the flexibility to close the attractions if it so pleases. The point Alter made still stands very sharply, even amid this troubling possibility of the show’s closure.
Henson’s last great piece of Muppets creation remains one of the great achievements at a Disney park, one where the pre-show waiting area will make you belly laugh in ways that 99-percent of ride queues fail to entertain (Max from the Union forever) and the actual show itself plays as wonderfully as anything Henson ever mounted with the Muppets.
Heck, Sam the Eagle’s “A Salute to All Nations, but Mostly America,” and the absolute mayhem it inspires, might be the single funniest thing that Henson and company ever devised with the Muppets. It still makes me howl all these years later in a way few things do.
As a card-carrying member of the Muppets Fan Club, I’m deeply biased in my deep desire for Disney to leave Muppet*Vision 3D the heck alone so that I can continue to enjoy it as a park guest and one day experience it with kids of my own.
It’s a timeless piece of Disney history that should stand for as long as the theme park surrounding it stands, and closing it would feel completely antithetical to the way Disney treats its other classic attractions, with deep reverence and keen understanding of how awful it would be to snuff out that corner of irreplaceable Disney magic forever.
Muppet History’s Joshua Gillespie, a fierce defender and noted historian of the Muppets and Henson’s work, put it as well as anyone could in a social media post on Tuesday about what Muppet*Vision 3D means: “It’s an important piece of Muppet history and to lose it would be losing a significant part of Jim’s legacy and the joy he brought to our world.”
Disney is far from a perfect company, but it’s got a layup of a decision to make with Muppet*Vision 3D. Let it live for another 30 years, and put the very promising Monsters Inc. land elsewhere in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
To close the last great living Muppets experience would be an unfathomable error that the company could never take back. It’d be the ultimate sign of disrespect for Henson’s memory and yet another example of why Disney is proving itself unworthy of keeping the Muppets alive for future audiences.
If Disney is really serious about being the proper steward for Kermit and friends, then keeping Muppet*Vision 3D going is the very least it can do.
Muppet Vision 3D isn’t just a great attraction, it was also the final Muppet project Jim Henson was involved with before he passed away
It’s an important piece of Muppet history and to lose it would be losing a significant part of Jim’s legacy and the joy he brought to our world pic.twitter.com/BrIDzllf2d
A couple of New Orleans Saints legends were the first to test out a new attraction at Walt Disney World. Drew Brees and Cameron Jordan had front seats on the Louisiana-inspired Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, a water ride built on the remodeled Splash Mountain which opened back in 1992. Jordan and Brees had front-row seats for the experience, interacting with characters from the 2009 Disney film “The Princess and the Frog” while bracing themselves for a waterfall.
“Never lose sight of what’s really important,” Jordan said, reading a quote from the film. “This drop is what’s important to me.”
If their reactions are anything to go by, it looks like a fun makeover for an iconic attraction that should better connect with a younger generation of Disney fans. And as the parent of a daughter who watched them all fanatically, “The Princess and the Frog” is so much better than “Frozen” and its sequel, but “Tangled” might be the best of the bunch.
Disney fans can try out Tiana’s Bayou Adventure for themselves when it officially opens on June 28 at Magic Kingdom Park in Orlando, Fla. Special limited-time concessions are rolling out to celebrate the unveiling and the story’s Louisiana themes, so look out for beignets and Chantilly cake, but the gumbo and French fries combo might be too untraditional for some.
New experiences with Encanto, Indiana Jones, Zootopia, Frozen and Ahsoka are coming to Disney parks.
Fans of Disney parks got some major updates for some various experiences coming to their destination of choice on Saturday morning.
The Disney parks panel at Destination D23 gave some exciting news blasts for folks who enjoy experiencing the theme parks, including the long-awaited update on what Disney is doing with the retheming of Animal Kingdom’s Dinoland U.S.A.
Updates for the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disneyland’s Avengers Campus, Star Tours and Tokyo DisneySea also came through for fans wondering what the future will hold for those various parks.
If you’re a fan of Encanto, Indiana Jones, Zootopia or the Country Bear Jamboree, you’re going to want to check this out.
Walt Disney World has never been seen as one of the thrill ride capitals of the world, but there are plenty of thrilling experiences in Orlando’s massive theme park complex.
Whether it’s a classic like Space Mountain or a new ride like Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, there are plenty of options within for those looking for a more adventurous experience at the four main theme parks.
While we’ve not gotten to ride newer rides like Tron Lightcycle Run or Slinky Dog Dash, we’ve rounded up most of the main rides you’d consider to be in the “thrill” category at Disney World and ranked them.
If you’re wondering where Splash Mountain is, it’s currently closed and is being re-themed to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (based on Princess and the Frog) and will reportedly open in 2024.
He screams on scary rides just like us! Albeit while looking like a page from the Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.
Tom Brady is living the good life in retirement.
That’s a sentence that probably doesn’t need much evidence to be written. After all, he capped off arguably the greatest NFL career of all time in 2023. He’s got seven Super Bowl rings and made more than $332 million in contract value alone in a 23-year career. Now he’s got the opportunity to spend a full summer with his family (sure, throw a “or what remains of it” joke here if you’re dead inside) without having to worry about training camp or playbooks or keeping his vertebrae intact.
So naturally, he’s spending it at Disney World. And in his effort to show the world he’s just a normal guy who screams on scary rides, he managed to look like he fell out of a catalog for collared shirts with little alligator logos on them.
Still, fair play to his daughter. The last time many of us saw her she was absolutely losing her mind at the confetti and streamers littering the field after Brady’s New England Patriots won the Super Bowl four years ago. Now she’s thoroughly non-plussed about dropping 130 feet in the dark.
Tom Brady's daughter is absolutely losing her mind about the falling confetti and it's awesome pic.twitter.com/5k0paEUkFr
Brady put together even more family pictures from the Happiest Place on Earth on his Instagram. It’s more or less exactly what you’d expect from a single dad’s day out. Except for the picture with all the goats. That one might be code for something.
Rob Gronkowski found himself in a lightsaber duel with his nephew at Disney World the day after Super Bowl LV
The day after winning the Super Bowl, Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski went back to battle. A different and friendlier kind as he dueled with his nephew during a light-saber duel.
The big tight end — who is simply a big kid at heart — looked like he was having a fantastic time at Disney World.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLBXOY_pUzH/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLDR4pHHTJV/
“Look at all my fans here at Disney World,” the four-time Super Bowl champion said Monday. They’re all cheering my name. I love my fans, my fans are awesome. I love you, my fans.”
With similarities to the Orlando Bubble, the Golden State Warriors are nicknaming their voluntary minicamp at Chase Center “The Dubble.”
Without an invite to Disney World, the Golden State Warriors are opening their own edition of the Orlando Bubble. On Monday, the Warriors kicked off a voluntary offseason minicamp at Chase Center in San Francisco.
Before they hit the court, players and coaching staff will go through coronavirus testing and a 48-hour quarantine period. During the camp, members of the Warriors will stay in a campus-like atmosphere. With similarities to the Orlando Bubble, the Warriors are nicknaming their minicamp “The Dubble.”
Following the tests and quarantine period, players will take the court at Chase Center for practices that are slated to include group workouts and team scrimmages. The voluntary minicamp will serve as Golden State’s first form of organized basketball activities since the league was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic in March.
Although Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are considered doubtful for The Dubble due to family reasons, a familiar face will make his long-awaited return to Chase Center. After missing the entire 2019-20 season with a knee injury, Klay Thompson is expected to be on the floor.
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With Thompson medically cleared to train without restrictions, Golden State’s minicamp will serve as his first chance to join 2019 newcomers Andrew Wiggins, Eric Paschall and Marquese Chriss on the court for practice.
The Warriors are scheduled to break camp on Oct. 6.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James provided a look inside his presidential suite to the folks at NBA Bubble Life.
[jwplayer ZcPafn8Y-z6KDnl0B]
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have been in the NBA Bubble for over two months now and if things go as they plan, they still have a little less than a month to go before they leave. But while several players took fans inside their bubble abodes over the last two months, one question had been asked by inquiring minds: what kind of place is LeBron staying in? Well, now we finally have the answer.
LeBron finally gave fans a look inside his incredible presidential suite at the Gran Destino via the folks at the NBA Bubble Life account on twitter.
James has given his fans more of a look inside his life in the bubble, especially over the past couple of weeks. He showed off his set-up for watching the NFL over the weekend and he’s also been showing us shots of him playing Madden 21 inside his room.
(@DisneyOnParade) December 3, 2024
(@OGHank312) December 4, 2024
https://t.co/kp4E5JtQIy
