A water tower located near the former Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano has been removed during the transformation of the former Muppets Courtyard into Monstropolis.
Water Tower Removed
On a visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios this morning, April 10, we noticed that the water tower was missing from the roofline of the former Muppets Courtyard. As the area is transformed into Monstropolis, we’ve seen several roof elements in the area removed in recent months.
As you can see in this photo from last week, the water tower was still present on the nearby roof.
The removed water tower is the one that was formerly atop the toy store facade, near Mama Melrose’s.
Last week, we noticed more and more scrim and scaffolding going up around the Monstropolis construction site. It’s a Wonderful Shop has almost completely disappeared behind a sheet of plastic as the firehouse façade is removed, after the last of the windows were removed in late March. The firehouse façade that once covered the front of the shop by PizzeRizzo was stripped away a couple of weeks ago. Now it’s just scaffolding and tarps. Once a year-round Christmas store, It’s a Wonderful Shop never reopened following the park’s COVID-19 closure and only operated as a seasonal meet and greet location for its final years.
Check out our last look at Muppets Courtyard.
Monstropolis
Monstropolis takes over the former Muppets Courtyard, along with a new coaster show building being added on as an expansion to the park in what was formerly a backstage Cast Member parking lot. The door coaster will be Disney’s first-ever suspended coaster and first vertical lift coaster.
MuppetVision 3D and PizzeRizzo closed permanently in June 2025 after Mama Melrose’s closed in May 2025. The coaster will be brand new to the area, but other Muppets Courtyard/Grand Avenue structures will be reused.
Mama Melrose’s will become Harryhausen’s, a restaurant visited by characters in the first Monsters, Inc. PizzeRizzo will likely be a new quick-service restaurant. Disney has not announced what will go in the MuppetVision 3D theater or an opening timeframe for Monstropolis.
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