Following the fan outrage over the loss of MuppetVision3-D, and subsequently Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster featuring its former tenants of Aerosmith, The Muppets have finally, controversially, taken over this top thrill at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. How does it stack up to its predecessor? Is it a fitting tribute to the last great work of Jim Henson? Let’s unpack this and get moving’ right along in my honest review.

Before I even talk about the ride itself, we have to talk about why this exists in the first place. Unfortunately, MuppetVision 3D closed forever (fOrEvEr?!?) last summer when Disney decided that was the best place to build a Monsters, Inc. land. What makes that sting even greater, is that MuppetVision was Jim Henson’s final work, arguably his magnum opus, and inarguably one of the greatest theme park attractions ever created. To this day, Disney still hasn’t announced what’s actually going into that theater space, which is usually not a good sign. I hope and even pray that I’m misreading that situation and are pleasantly surprised when the doors to Monstropolis open sometime in the next year or two.

Disney management somehow seemed genuinely surprised that guests were upset. Not just upset that MuppetVision was gone, but upset that the whole Muppets presence at Hollywood Studios was disappearing. Myself and anyone remotely plugged into the Disney fandom could have told you how beloved that attraction was, and even more so what love and passion there is for The Muppets at large in the company’s core adult fan group.

Eventually, Disney decided they needed some sort of make-good to quiet the hate, and they landed on replacing Aerosmith in Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster with the Muppets. The fandom had already been pitching overlay ideas for years, especially once Steven Tyler started making headlines for all the wrong reasons. I saw some suggest Powerline from “A Goofy Movie” as a possible replacement, and I definitely saw Electric Mayhem pitches. However, the important difference is that when fans were armchair Imagineering this stuff, MuppetVision still existed and nobody could imagine this as a replacement for losing MuppetVision.

That’s the core problem here. This is not a make-good for MuppetVision. There is no make-good for MuppetVision unless you either build a new version at that level of quality or reinstall the original. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster cannot recreate what that theater experience was. It’s impossible.

Beyond that, I don’t think enough people stopped to ask whether the Muppets even fit this ride conceptually. The Muppets have always been wholesome family entertainment with a unique (and great IMO) sense of humor. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was specifically designed to compete with bigger thrill rides coming to Universal Islands of Adventure in 1999 and attract teens looking for something cool. That was the original intent of the ride. Those things do not really apply to the Muppets.

You’ve now taken characters who lived in an attraction everyone could enjoy and moved them into a thrill ride with a height requirement that a lot of guests either can’t or won’t ride. That doesn’t add up to me.

So I want to make this crystal clear before reviewing the attraction itself: MuppetVision should never have closed, and this project should probably never have happened. Even if MuppetVision still existed, I don’t know that I would have picked the Muppets for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Disney made one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the parks when they closed the 3-D attraction, right up there with the original Journey Into Imagination and The Great Movie Ride.

That said, I think the team working on this overlay did everything they possibly could to make it great and a fitting tribute, and honestly, they turned chicken **** into one fine chicken salad.

The general Walt Disney World audience is probably going to be unfazed by all of this upheaval. “Fun fast roller coaster” remains “fun fast roller coaster,” so I assume the demand will be the same as it ever was for this ride. Everyone knows who the Muppets are, and their comedy is universal enough that it works here. We literally had someone in our Cast Member preview group refer to Kermit as “frog guy” because they clearly had no idea who any of the characters were, but they still laughed through the pre-show and had a good time.

For hardcore Disney Parks fans and Muppets fans, though, reactions are going to be positive I believe, but always with this caveat of “they shouldn’t have closed MuppetVision”. I think most people are going to love this. Some people are going to hate it. And I think there are absolutely fans of both old Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and MuppetVision who are going to feel weird about it because it kind of feels like the ghost of MuppetVision haunting Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

Starting outside, I absolutely hate what they did to the facade. The colorful Electric Mayhem limo looks great. The guitar looks great. The gold piano key for Dr. Teeth is great. But the giant gray and black repaint on the building is awful. It’s the most uninviting thing imaginable. If not for the colorful guitar, this thing would practically disappear into the background. It honestly feels like backstage “go away” paint, indicating to guests it’s not a place they can venture.

Inside the queue, though, things immediately improve. The updated music loop certainly works, with a more eclectic range of genres and some hits from different eras to please all. One thing I absolutely love is that Joe the Legal Weasel delivers the safety warnings, exactly what the lawyer would want to do.

The queue still uses G-Force Records, and I was surprised by how many nods to the original attraction were made. Ken Marino returns, seemingly reprising his original audio-technician character from the old pre-show, now as some sort of G-Force Records legend. Illeana Douglas, who played the manager of the band, also returns to make another “super-stretch limo” joke.

The display cases are filled with Muppet props, costumes, instruments referencing famous performances. Then you enter the recording studio where Electric Mayhem is laying down “Can You Picture That,” which was absolutely the right choice. Any fan who rides the attraction will want to hear this song, so having it somewhere that all will pass through makes more sense than putting it on the ride. Don’t get me wrong, I still hope they add it to the L.I.M.O.s later, but this was a great call.

The pre-show is honestly tremendous.

The Scooter animatronic is spectacular, and it completely blows away the old MuppetVision figures in terms of realism. They motion captured an actual Scooter puppet performance, so the movements feel authentic, and it genuinely looks like someone is physically performing the character in front of you.

The writing is also very classic Muppets. There are randomized sequences featuring characters like Sam Eagle and the Swedish Chef trying to entertain the crowd at the music venue while Electric Mayhem races to their concert. Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker arrive with their new invention, the “L.I.M.O.” — a “Lengthy Immediate Motion Object”. My favorite line in the whole attraction is when someone says “limo” and Bunsen corrects them with “pronounced ly-mo.” This is the only way I will be pronouncing this moving forward.

One of my favorite easter eggs of all-time is Kermit letting the band know they have “a minute and a half” to get to the concert, which references MuppetVision 3-D and Sam’s Glorious 3-Hour Finale, but is also roughly the length of a ride on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

The alley section has a ton of references to MuppetVision, like Gonzo props, Muppet Labs warning signs, recycled set dressing, PizzeRizzo references and more. Some of it is genuinely thoughtful. Some of it feels like they just crammed in as many Easter eggs as possible, hoping fans would be happy.

That’s kind of my one big issue with the ride itself. Once you launch, it becomes very obvious how little actually changed, and a lot of the additions are just flats, signs, painted props, and the like. Some work really well, like the PizzeRizzo sign and the Waldo C. Graphic obligatory easter egg. Others feel a little low budget.

Still, the actual ride experience works shockingly well, and the upgraded audio sounds fantastic. The music absolutely rocks. I genuinely thought I was going to complain that Muppet songs wouldn’t work as well as Aerosmith, and I can’t say that at all. The mixes are excellent, the speakers sound clear, and the songs fit the ride perfectly, even “Walking on Sunshine” with Kelly Clarkson.

At the end, they added animatronic Statler and Waldorf heckling riders as they pull into the unload area. That’s a fantastic addition, giving the ride a layer of physical propping and charm the original never had.

At the exit, the Electric Mayhem performance is being streamed to a screen backstage at the concert, and the whole atmosphere feels fun and energetic. There’s also cameos by the celebrities who appear throughout the rest of the attraction, now attending said concert.

I was a little bitter about my overall experience after first riding the attraction last weekend, but after getting more rides in this week during media previews, I softened my stance quite a bit.

I think I held the closure of MuppetVision against the attraction too heavily at first, even though I said I wouldn’t. Separating those emotions from the ride itself, the team did a spectacular job. The pre-show is hilarious. The queue videos are funny. The Scooter animatronic is incredible. The music is fantastic. The decor in the alley and gift shop is great. This is a loving tribute both to classic Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and to MuppetVision.

I genuinely think this is better than Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, which pains me to say as a great lover of 90s theme park shlock. Stronger storytelling is evident throughout, with audio animatronics and propping bringing spaces and this world to life. The ride portion and its music is as good as before, if not even improved over one of the greatest bands of all-time, a tremendous achievement. Imagineers and the creatives on this project took a strong E-ticket and made it something stronger, maybe even making it more quintessentially a Disney attraction.

That doesn’t erase the fact that closing MuppetVision was one of the biggest mistakes Disney Parks has ever made, but I also can’t deny that this team delivered a really wonderful Muppets attraction.

It may not be the right venue for the Muppets, but somehow, against all odds, it works spectacularly well.

I just wish MuppetVision was still there alongside it. oh, and I’m really bummed that I can’t get my mother to ride this to see how well it turned out.

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