New Muppet stuff coming to Disney MGM in 2006

[a_Mickey_Muppet]

hey gang,

I just read on JM.com that, well here you read it...

**Still, it's not only bad news that's coming out of MGM these days. Every now and then, there are a few rays of hope. Take -- for example -- what I've heard about Jim Henson's daughter, Heather. Evidently, the youngest Henson has been working with the Imagineers on a fun new retail venue for the "Muppets Studios" area at the studio theme park. A shop that's patterned after the "Build-a-Bear" stores where WDW guests can (by mixing eyes, ears, noses & hair) make their own Muppet.

Speaking of this section of Disney-MGM: Disneyana fans have long lamented the fact that -- though the expansion pad for this proposed attraction was cleared & prepped back in the early 1990s -- the Imagineers never actually went forward with construction of "The Great Muppet Movie Ride." Opting instead to use this area for that outdoor stage where "The Spirit of Pocahontas" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Musical Adventure" shows were presented. At least until this venue closed down for good in September of 2002, that is.**

:excited: YOooo HOooo!!! :)

[Barry Lee]

hey gang,

I just read on JM.com that, well here you read it...

**Still, it's not only bad news that's coming out of MGM these days. Every now and then, there are a few rays of hope. Take -- for example -- what I've heard about Jim Henson's daughter, Heather. Evidently, the youngest Henson has been working with the Imagineers on a fun new retail venue for the "Muppets Studios" area at the studio theme park. A shop that's patterned after the "Build-a-Bear" stores where WDW guests can (by mixing eyes, ears, noses & hair) make their own Muppet.

Speaking of this section of Disney-MGM: Disneyana fans have long lamented the fact that -- though the expansion pad for this proposed attraction was cleared & prepped back in the early 1990s -- the Imagineers never actually went forward with construction of "The Great Muppet Movie Ride." Opting instead to use this area for that outdoor stage where "The Spirit of Pocahontas" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame: A Musical Adventure" shows were presented. At least until this venue closed down for good in September of 2002, that is.**

:excited: YOooo HOooo!!! :)

That would be cool, BUT, you really shouldn't beleive Jim Hill :)

[baba]

That will be great i get to make my own Muppet!

[ravagefrackle]

That would be cool, BUT, you really shouldn't beleive Jim Hill :)
why not ?

just because he has an opinion dosent make everything he wrights untrue, hes been right about many things in the past , you cant believe everything read anywhere news papers and magazines get things wrong as well.

[MWoO]

Out of all the things I wanted Disney to put in the muppet area of MGM, another shop was not one of them. I mean it's nice and all but how about some content to go along with it.

[Vic Romano]

So when is this coming to fruition? I'm going in approximately one month :excited: but I doubt it'll be up by then. Still, I think it's a very cool idea. :)

[spcglider]

When my wife and i went just before Christmas, i noticed the Muppet Fountain had been partially dismantled. Maybe they're just cleaning the sculptures, or maybe they're prepping to get rid of it in favor of a shop space?

That little corner over there is pretty desolate. And we were completely underwhelmed by the offering of Muppet merchandise from the Muppet Store. Over half the space was just more Disney Princess stuff.

And speaking of that, when does Piggy get to become a Disney Princess???

-Gordon

[bazooka_beak]

Yeah, everytime I go to DW I think about what I might buy at the muppet store, only to find almost nothing I'd actually want. No movie soundtracks? No cool tshirts? Bah humbug.

[Drtooth]

Usually when Jim Hill posts these they are usually untrue, or never expanded. It is sad they can't have a Muppet movie ride, using the area for crap like Pochauntas, which is by far the worst film I've ever seen on the big screen.

[MWoO]

I hope they don't takeo ut the fountain for a shop when they can just clear ut the generic disney crap from the muppet stuff shop/

[sugarbritchez]

We can all hope for at least SOMETHING to happen involving the Muppets.

[peachesncream]

it would be cool for a muppet store to make muppets but you never know with disney.there are so many possibilities for the muppets and muppet things.
vic- when you make it look for someone in fantasyland attractions with the name tag jessica from new orleans and it'll be me!(i also work the seuss landing attractions at islands of adventure)

[dizzyizzy]

I was actually just at wdw about two weeks ago and the fountain and everything was up and running. I was not very impressed by the store, there were a couple of cute shirts, but that was about it. The stuffed animals did not look at all like they should have and that kind of upset me. I was hoping to find a good fozzie, but there wasn't one. So maybe a new store would be nice....

[AndyWan Kenobi]

I would love a build-a-muppet shop, especially if they had a person there to guide kids (and big kids) through proper feature-placement and show them some rudimentary puppetry skills. That would be great!

[Luke]

It's a nice idea, but more merchandise. Is anyone else sensing a pattern here? It looks like Theme Parks, Merchandise and DVD's is what this sale to Disney is all about.

[erniebert1234ss]

I'm DEFINITELY excited. I just went 2 weeks ago, and loved MV3-D (as usual) but was TOTALLY underwhelmed by the lackluster offerings in the shop. I'd much rather have that part of the shop that has Disney schlock (keep the pins--I'm into pin-trading) be turned into a "Build-your-own-Muppet-Puppet-or-Doll" area, with some of the more "underrepresented" Muppets such as Beaker (no good merch), Fozzie (no good merchandise, just ugly-as-sin toys), Crazy Harry, the Electric Mayhem characters (maybe we can actually get a GOOD Animal doll this time, Disney?), and the Bear characters. I would prefer different-sized plush toys, mainly to have a license to print money for ALL ages, not just the market aimed at by Build-a-Bear.

That is just my opinion.

FYI, I may get a plug for my blog (http://muppetfandom.blogspot.com) on This Week in Tech with Leo LaPorte, as I have an entry about the whole controversy (if you can call it that) over "traditional" DVD release windows. In it, I praise the ambitious director for attempting to not screw us over.

I re-vamped my blog so I could encompass ALL of my interests, not just the Muppets, because as you know, news is INCREDIBLY slow these days about new Muppet stuff. So go visit!

BJ

[Katzi428]

I would love a build-a-muppet shop, especially if they had a person there to guide kids (and big kids) through proper feature-placement and show them some rudimentary puppetry skills. That would be great!
WOW!
I hadn't seen this thread til this evening. And I had been thinking a few days ago that since there are "Build A Bear" workshops around,why not a "Make Your Own Muppet"?:cool:

[McFraggle]

This would be cool! :)

[Sgt Floyd]

I wonder what the chances are of having the build a muppet place also offer normal muppet characters to dress, if you know what I mean. Probobly 10000000 (and a million more 0) to 1 oh well, its still cool :)

[brian]

It's a nice idea, but more merchandise. Is anyone else sensing a pattern here? It looks like Theme Parks, Merchandise and DVD's is what this sale to Disney is all about.


$$$$ That is exactly what disney is all about.

Why do you think they are short so many cast members right now? Because they dont want to pay what the cast members want.

Sure, disney COULD take the muppets and expand a part of their theme park, or maybe release some old stuff on DVD, or create some new muppet shows/tv/movies/etc... but that would mean they would have to spend money in order for that to happen.

[Philip Kippel]

$$$$ That is exactly what disney is all about.

Why do you think they are short so many cast members right now? Because they dont want to pay what the cast members want.

Sure, disney COULD take the muppets and expand a part of their theme park, or maybe release some old stuff on DVD, or create some new muppet shows/tv/movies/etc... but that would mean they would have to spend money in order for that to happen.

Disney is so not all about money. Sure, they care about it, but please knock off the Disney-bashing already! It's gotten pretty old already.:mad:

Besides, Eisner is not with the company anymore, so things are getting better at the company, so that must mean that it'll get better with the Muppets too--it'll have to. Be optimistic, please.

[brian]

My apologies if my tone seemed negative. I have obviously biased opinions about the company. I just felt like sharing discussion, possibly in the hopes of getting more discussion or debate.

[Sgt Floyd]

Besides, Eisner is not with the company anymore, so things are getting better at the company, so that must mean that it'll get better with the Muppets too--it'll have to. Be optimistic, please.

I have nothing against Disney. I still watch the disney channel! and I am hoping to go to disney world. We might next summer. (yes, sad as it may be I have NEVER gone to disney)

[swinetrekkie]

Okay this is a ridiculous thought but I like it -- What would be really fun is if they combined their Princess makeovers (from the Bibbity Boppity Boutique in Downtown Disney) with the Muppets and did Muppet Makeovers? You'd get your choices of makeup; hair, fur, or feathers for the top of your head, and a personal selection of coordinating noses.

[MWoO]

So...what is actually coming to MGM this year? Anything going into motion?

They really could and should do some really great stuff with the muppets using animatronics. We saw a merchindise push, now how about a content push?

[swinetrekkie]

Unfortunately, I think its likely that new content pushes will not go to the Muppets, but to Pixar related stuff for the time being.

I'll just have to satisfy myself with watching Pepe introduce KimPosible over, and over, and over...

[Vic Romano]

I wrote a pretty in-depth report here (http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=25123) that you may also wanna' check out. :)