Muppets coming to Epcot???
In just a short-on-detail and somewhat buried single sentence in today’s Disney Enquirer we have news that “For the next week or so the Muppet Mobile Lab will be featured at Future World”. What I have heard is that you can find it at the Imagination Pavilion, but I have yet to confirm this. If anyone can, please add it to the comments section below.
Image Copyright Disney Company 2007
There are two things in this sentence that are making me pull my hair out of my head. First, it states the newest member of the “living character initiative”, seemingly free- roaming characters such as the Lucky the Dinosaur who used to be at the Animal Kingdom, is only going to be in Epcot for little more than a week. Why would that be? It is possible this is another test and it may come back, but it is more possible it will be shipped over to Hong Kong upon completion of such test. Does this seem a little ridiculous to you too?
And more importantly, why on earth would it be in Future World? From what I had been hearing, Disney officials were somewhat disappointed in the response it received in California. The reason given was that people are no longer as aware of these characters as they once were and younger guests just weren’t overly interested because they didn’t recognize them. Besides the obvious continuity, don’t they think the one place on property where guests might recognize them is over at the Studios by the Muppets attraction in which these characters are prominently featured?
Maybe I’m missing something here…
Mike said,
August 17, 2007 @ 2:42 am
I gotta admit, I don’t get it either
Gordon said,
August 17, 2007 @ 6:46 am
Hah! I saw your headline and guessed Future World. Then I read your article. Add me to the group who are confused with them being at Epcot.
Matt said,
August 17, 2007 @ 1:13 pm
You’re right, Dave it makes zero sense to put in Epcot. If there wasn’t a themed area of the Studios, I might be able to see them placing it in Epcot, but come on! There is a large themed area of the Studios pertaining to the Muppets. It’s like putting Jack Sparrow meet-n-greets in Animal Kingdom and not in Adventureland near the Pirates attraction.
MuppetGuy said,
August 17, 2007 @ 1:48 pm
The only reason I can guess for putting them in Epcot would be to spread the Muppets around a little. Technically they’d be represented in two parks instead of just one. I can see myself walking thru Future World, and stopping and saying “Hey cool! Muppets in Epcot!” If there’s any way to place the Muppets in Epcot, it’d be this attraction in this park, in this section of it. I’m not saying it’s a great move, but it’s at least /a/ move. I’ll take it.
Eric said,
August 17, 2007 @ 1:56 pm
While I agree that it should be at the Studios, allow me to speculate on why Future World was chosen.
Since it is only scheduled to be for one week, perhaps they were looking for a more densely populated park area in order for these test runs to gather a larger audience. Future World obviously gets more walk-by traffic than the Muppets area of the Studios, hence a greater number of park guests to interact with.
How sad is it that Disney has allowed the Muppet properties to lanquish in obscurity for so long that it seems an entire generation of children do not recognize them? There are plenty of ways to use the Muppets in the parks and expand their presence in the Studios. (Cheap plug: To hear some of those ideas, be sure to listen to Mouse Guest Weekly this Sunday.)
Mike said,
August 17, 2007 @ 2:45 pm
you know they would be jack sparrow in DAK if they could, some day perhaps
KINGCRAB said,
August 17, 2007 @ 3:27 pm
Actually, Eric, it’s NOT Disney’s fault. The Muppets have been slowly falling into obscurity since Jim Henson’s death.
You folks have to understand that Disney’s a large company with other properties…and the Muppets just aren’t that high on their list right now. They DO want to bring the Muppets back into the limelight, but it’s going to take a while to re-build such a following and it can’t happen overnight.
But look on the bright side–the Muppets have been getting more attention, exposure and merchandise, IMO, since Disney bought the rights to them. And they’re better off being with Disney than with some other company. Any other company really would’ve abandoned them altogether, so let’s be thankful and give Disney a break, because the Muppets WILL make a comeback. Just wait and see.
Kitty-chan said,
August 17, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
Ditto Eric, ditto Matt . . . Muppets don’t make sense in Epcot, and Eric’s reasoning makes sense to me. Also I wonder if there are different backstage resources at Epcot that make the lab easier to manage there? Or even something as simple as the walkways. Maybe there isn’t a good spot at MGM.
Or maybe I’m just trying to talk myself into it, because it’s very hard for me to imagine complaining if I actually got to see the mobile lab! I’ll have to resist the urge to just camp out at Epcot looking for them when I’m back down at WDW in 10 days.
Can’t imagine complaining about running into Cap’n Jack either, in any of the parks, Downtown Disney, my neighborhood coffee shop . . . .
Matt said,
August 17, 2007 @ 5:58 pm
You have a point Eric, although Disney needs to invest in the “If you build it, they will come” theory. The mobile lab in the Studios would be a nice attendance boost from a viral type of word of mouth campaign from guests and Cast Members who would be telling everyone something along the lines of, “Hey, did you hear about the new Muppets thing at the Studios?”. MGM needs the attendance boost a lot more than Epcot does.
Raidermatt said,
August 18, 2007 @ 12:38 am
Yeah, Disney has really done very little with this property. To the point that it makes one wonder why they bothered to buy it. But there has been some talk of things coming, like a TV show I think, and some shorts on the Disney Channel.
As for why Epcot, I’ve been saying Future World is pretty much open territory for anything now. The Muppets and especially the Mobile Lab can be rationalized to fit in or around the Imagination pavilion just as well as Nemo fitting in the Seas.
That little rant aside, my guess for why Future World is wider walkways. Since it’s a “mobile” attraction that is still in test mode, there might be some concern about having it around MuppetVision. Even though Future World gets more traffic, it’s wider walkways make it less dense than the Muppet area.
So it could just be a logistical issue, especially if they are more concerned about functionality than the real entertainment value at this point.
YouTube: Muppet Mobile Lab at Epcot « Broke Hoedown said,
August 22, 2007 @ 12:02 pm
[...] from MouseExtra is one of many who feel that the Muppets don’t belong at Epcot. I’ve got to agree that they’d make a lot more sense at MGM. But I assume this Epcot [...]