It’s Time to Meet the Muppets!

With Disney’s new movie The Muppets opening literally at midnight tonight, I can’t help but wonder if its success could mean a resurgence of Muppet fun throughout the parks as well.  I’m a huge Muppet fan myself, so as much as I love and cherish Muppet-Vision 3D, I also yearn for a world in which that the Muppets have more of an active presence at Walt Disney World as well, and who knows, with (hopefully) millions of people flocking to see this new movie, maybe now is just the right time to finally bring these fine, furry friends of ours back into the limelight where they belong!

Dine with the Muppets…
I’m not even saying that you need to go all out and recreate Pete’s Diner where Kermit & Piggy meet Rizzo when they find themselves working there in The Muppets Take Manhattan - the Muppets are a fun and goofy enough gang that it should be child’s play to Muppetize just about any type of restaurant, whether you want to create something fresh and new, or even just re-theme what’s already there. Nearby, you’ve got two easy choices – the Toy Story Pizza Planet becomes The Muppeteria and offers your traditional cafeteria fair, which admittedly might clash a bit with the ABC Cafeteria down the street, but I’m sure would be themed to be a lot more fun and as such, could even make use of the same arcade games and whatnot that are already there … kind of like a place for the Muppets to eat while they’re on set. The other option would be to re-theme Mama Melrose’s Italian restaurant to make use of Muppet characters, and maybe even The Swedish Chef … oh, the possibilities, bork bork bork!

Stay at the Happiness Hotel…
Now I’ll admit that this one might be a long shot because Disney might not be eager to devote an entire resort to one brand (although they’ve been dabbling a lot recently both with the upcoming Art of Animation Resort as well as the various themed rooms that are popping up in many of the moderate resorts), but how fun would it be to re-create the classic Happiness Hotel from The Great Muppet Caper, save for the taxi cab crashing through the lobby, of course!

Muppet pool, Muppet themed rooms, Muppet gift shop … sure, it might seem a little over the top, but what are the Muppets if not over the top, too?!

Visit the Muppet Studios!
In fact, the actual theme of the new Muppet movie follows a lifetime fan and his friends traveling to Hollywood to see the Muppet Studios, so why not turn that experience to life in a very big way by designating an entire corner of the park The Muppet Studios, filled with several rides and attractions and the aforementioned restaurant as the ultimate tribute to Kermit and the gang?! I think this one has a lot of potential because not only does it fill the initial concern of this article by giving us more Muppets, but it also adds a fresh bit of direction to Disney’s Hollywood Studios by helping to better divide the park like some of the others into more distinct lands than it currently is today.

Besides, by now Disney really has enough studio properties that there’s no reason that this entire park can’t be better used to highlight each of their own unique brands – Disney Animation Studios is already kind of represented by the Animation Courtyard that gives some insight into hand-drawn animation, Pixar Place is starting to gain speed with Toy Story Mania and rumors of a Monsters, Inc. ride next door, so why even further expand on this by turning the area adjacent to the Streets of America into the Muppet Studios – they’ve already got a decent start with the giant Muppets hot air balloon that floats overhead and the statue of Lady Liberty Piggy in the courtyard, so just find a place for a second attraction, re-theme Mama Melrose’s or Pizza Planet, and you’re golden!

Photo by Scott Garfield – © Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Muppets were always a big part of my childhood and so it’s been a little sad to see them sort of cast off as the weird stepchildren that Disney never quite knew what to do with ever since officially purchasing the company back in 2004.  Jim Henson had been working with Disney to finalize a union up until his death, when things kind of fell apart and the Muppets wandered through several hands before ending up back with Disney more than a decade later.  But hopefully this new movie will show that Kermit and Fozzie and Piggy and Gonzo and all of the rest of the Muppets do still have a lot to give the world, and the Mouse will take the lead once again in giving them the opportunity to do so, starting in their flagship home right here in Florida.