Muppet & Monster Mayhem at Hollywood Studios

 

Art courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

Disney dropped an announcement today that's really two announcements in one, and for many people, this is a "good news/bad news" situation.  The bad news section is the long rumored replacement of MuppetVision 3D at Hollywood Studios with the new Monsters Inc. mini-land that was announced back at D23.  The other half of that is that the Muppets will be "taking over" the Rock N Roller Coaster in the same park.  We'll talk about all of this here.

First, as far as MuppetVision 3D is concerned, the writing was on the wall for a while.  The Monsters Inc. land was announced at D23 but noticeably absent was a location as to where it would go in the park, and the concept art did nothing to clarify that.  Rumors began soon afterwards that it was going to replace the Muppet show that was there.  The other option seemed to be the (mostly vacant) Animation Courtyard, and the word at the time was that Disney hadn't made up their mind yet as to the location.

Quiet Spots at Walt Disney World

If you've ever been on a Walt Disney World vacation (and it's likely, if you're reading this), you'll know that there's not a lot of peace and quiet when you're at the parks.  Your resort can be peaceful, especially at night (this was one of my knocks against the Boardwalk, as it's often bustling even late into the night) but the parks are always full of people, even on a "slow" day.  What if you need to take a breather and just have some time to yourself?  Is that even possible at the parks?

I got to thinking about this question recently, and I think the answer is yes.  At least, I've found a few secluded places to just get away from it all while still enjoying the ambient atmosphere of being at Disney World.  None of these are particularly "interesting" in the strictest sense; if they were, they wouldn't be empty!  

Lightning Lane Premier Pass Coming to Walt Disney World

 

 

For years, Walt Disney World fans have been clamoring for a "skip the line" service that was similar to Universal's Express Pass and today that day has arrived ... with a price.  We're going to take a look at Disney's new service, compare it to Express Pass as well as other Walt Disney World offerings and try to determine who actually the audience for this new product is.

Let's start with the basics - the new service is called Lightning Lane Premier Pass (LLPP).  These acronyms are going to be tough to follow, so please pay attention as to whether I'm using this one or the other Lightning Lane offerings - Lightning Lane Single Pass (LLSP) or Lightning Lane Multi-pass (LLMP).  Disney loves a good acronym!

Ride Closures & Delayed Openings Report

Disney dropped a few bits of news recently concerning their upcoming renovations and new attractions.  While these things are exciting, there is often the downside, which includes attractions currently going down for maintenance or going away entirely.  Since these items are all at least tangentially related and I didn't think any one individually deserved its own post, we'll look at them all here.

I'll start with what I consider the least important of these, which is that the Little Mermaid Musical Adventure stage show at Hollywood Studios has been delayed.  I can't say this comes as much of a surprise, as the opening timeframe was supposed to be ... well, right around now, and there just hadn't been much word since it had been announced.  

Magic Kingdom Wait Times - The Tron Effect?

 

A few weeks ago, we posted about Tron: Lightcycle Run dropping its virtual queue (VQ) at the Magic Kingdom and going to a normal standby system.  Now that we have a couple of weeks worth of data, I wanted to see how this major change has affected wait times at the park as a whole, as well as whether Tron has become the new "big bad" at Magic Kingdom, with the highest wait time throughout any given day.

My supposition in that earlier post was that Tron would indeed become the attraction with the highest wait time in the park, supplanting Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and would probably remain this way for years, until at least the new Cars rides if not Villains Land opened.  I also posited that the average wait time at the park as a whole would increase, as heretofore there was no posted wait time for Tron, meaning that even if a lot of people rode it in any given day, it wouldn't get included in the crowd level posts because there was no way to simply wait for it.  Throwing a major ride to the top of the wait times board would likely raise the average wait time since then (or so I figured).

Tron Lightcycle Run Dropping Virtual Queue

 

Disney just announced that Tron Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom will drop its virtual queue (VQ) system starting on September 9, 2024, and having a standby line for the attraction for the first time.  At first glance, I wasn't sure if I needed to make a post about this (small?) change, but the more I thought about it, the more I had to say.  So this post will look at why it's being done, compare it to the other VQ rides that are currently in existence and try to speculate about how this will affect crowd patterns going forward.

If you are unfamiliar (though I suspect that's not the case if you're reading this), a VQ is one of the (many) ways in which you can experience attractions at Walt Disney World.  The first one was Star Wars Rise of the Resistance way back in 2019, and most new rides debut with a VQ, at least for a little while.  Essentially it's just what it says it is - a virtual queue is where you can have your place in line held for you until your return time, while you are free to experience other attractions at the parks.  It amounts to a "free" ride in the future, as there is no cost for the VQ, either in money or time spent (except perhaps trying to secure one at the start of your day).

Disney Villains Stage Show Coming to Hollywood Studios

Concept art courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

 

In a somewhat surprising announcement, Disney posted about a new villains-themed stage show coming to Hollywood Studios in summer 2025.  This post will talk about what little we know about the show, what it's replacing and how this fits into all of the recent D23 announcements for the future of the parks.

The actual announcement is light on details (and therefore subject to change before opening) but it says that Sunset Showcase will "transform" into the "mysterious, reflective realm of the Magic Mirror."  It also say that dozens of villains will be a part of the show, including Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook and Maleficent.