Monsters Inc. Land Coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios

After many years of rumors, Disney has announced a Monsters Inc. doors roller coaster as part of the mini-land of Monstropolis coming soon to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

In this post, we are going to discuss everything that was announced about the all-new land themed to Pixar’s Monsters Inc. in Hollywood Studios and just what exactly will be included in this expansion.

(UPDATE) – Disney has confirmed that the location of the new Monsters Inc. land coming to Hollywood Studios will be where the Muppets Courtyard currently stands and that the beloved MuppetVision 3D will be closing to make room for this expansion.

This news comes after months of speculation and rumors that the location would either be the Muppets Courtyard area or Animation Courtyard. In the end, Disney decided that Muppets Courtyard was the better spot and the entire area will be re-themed to this Monsters Inc. Monstropolis land.

On a bright note, though MuppetVision 3D is leaving, that may not be the last we see of it in the Disney theme parks. We’ll get into what’s leaving in a minute, but let’s first look at what we know about this new project Monstropolis.

Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro made the announcement at the “Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase” during the D23 Expo at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. D’Amaro said, “with a little help from Disney Legend Billy Crystal, took to the stage to reveal plans to build a living, breathing, and not-at-all-scary “Monsters, Inc.” inspired area where you’ll be able to stroll the streets alongside some of your favorite monsters.”

Picking up after the events of Pixar’s beloved film, humans have now been invited to visit the world of Monsters, Inc. — and the monsters need laughter to power the city and keep it running smoothly. But it’s not a true visit without the factory itself. You’ll be able to see the sights, hear the laughs and zoom through the building just like James P. Sullivan (a.k.a. Sulley) and Mike Wazowski — via a door!

Yes, a door. If you’ve been dreaming of riding through the door vault since the movie was released in 2001, you’re not alone — Josh has been thinking about this, too. “The first time I saw Monsters, Inc., all I wanted to do was ride on one of those doors like Mike and Sulley,” he told the crowd. “You’ll go into the factory and experience the first suspended coaster ever in a Disney park.

Remember in the movie how those claws grab the doors and hoist them up into the air to take them away? We’re doing that, too. And you’re going along for the ride.”

The coaster will put you right in the middle of the monster action. Just be sure to fill out your paperwork! Roz is always watching…

Work on the project is slated to begin next year, so get ready to ROAR with laughter!

Right now, details a limited on this Monsters Inc. land and we don’t yet know the full size and scale, nor everything that will be included.

At this point, it seems like there will only be 1 attraction when the land open, the Doors Roller Coaster. If you have been following Disney news for a while, you have no doubt heard of this one. The first I heard it rumored was back in 2005 or 2006, and and it has been talked about as a possible new attraction coming to Walt Disney World at just about every D23 Expo since.

We liked the idea the first time we heard it, and from the concept art Disney showed as well as the models there were on display, we think it looks like a ton of fun. From what we hear it will be more of a family-coaster, so it will probably be more fun than thrilling, which is totally fine with me.

The ride will be located inside the factory building that is featured prominently in the concept art, but at first glance it doesn’t really look all the big, so I’m wondering what the run-time will be on this.

At this time, the Doors coaster is the only attraction mentioned by Disney, and given that it is being built where Muppets Courtyard is located, there doesn’t appear to be space for a second attraction. I personally would love to see a really high-quality dark ride added in this land eventually, something similar to the Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek in Tokyo Disneyland.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios is missing some slow, dark rides that the whole family can do, and this is one of the very best ones Disney Imagineering has ever built, so getting something similar would be incredible.

We are also sure that there will be some kind of shopping located here, the potential merchandising revenue is too high to turn down. You can also count on Disney putting in a Monsters Inc. character meet here, and we also anticipate some kind of dining option. If not a quick service location, some Monsters Inc.-themed snacks are a 100% guarantee.

Since the time of the original announcement, the biggest question of all was is: “Where will the Monsters Inc. land be built in Hollywood Studios?”

Finally, Disney has answered that question and confirmed that the Monsters Inc. land will be taking over Muppets Courtyard and Grand Avenue, the space currently occupied by MuppetVision 3D. The other option they were considering was Animation Courtyard, but ultimately Disney decided the former was the better choice.

I have to say, the location is huge for me, and I said before this latest announcement that depending on the location they chose, I would either be super-excited or just relatively ok with it.

To me, the obvious, slam-dunk choice was to put it in Animation Courtyard. This is a hugely valuable piece of real estate in Hollywood Studios that is barely being used. Ever since Galaxy’s Edge opened up in 2019, the Star Wars Launch Bay is pretty much useless and you hardly ever find guests in that end of the park.

There would have been some challenges with putting it here as you would likely have to move some of the offices and backstage areas to make room for this expansion, but it would have been doable.

I would on the other hand have avoided putting it on Grand Ave and Muppets Courtyard. I am a huge fan of MuppetVision 3D and have been since I was a little kid. Even though it doesn’t get huge lines all day long, it’s a classic Disney attraction and one of the best shows they have ever done.

It’s also one of the very last projects that Muppet creator Jim Henson ever worked on before his untimely death in 1990 and it remains timeless to this day. It would be a shame to get rid of it imo.

Now that we know the Monsters Inc. land is going here, it also means replacing Mama Melrose’s, Studio 1 Shop, Days of Christmas, and PizzeRizzo. In this case we are talking about 2 restaurants coming out of the park’s lineup temporarily, and they will now likely be reimagined into restaurants with a Monsters Inc. theme.

I don’t know, to me it’s pretty strange that Disney would choose this area over Animation Courtyard since the whole area is relatively new and in good condition. Animation Courtyard on the other hand is dead most of the time and is honestly just a big waste of space.

The only thing that would have blocked putting the Monsters Inc. land there is if Disney has more expansions already planned for Hollywood Studios and they have other ideas for Animation Courtyard. We’ve heard there are potentially 2 more expansions in the works for this park, so in that case I could understand why Disney doesn’t put Monsters Inc. there and chooses replacing the Muppets instead.

Speaking of the Muppets, even though MuppetVision 3D is leaving Muppets Courtyard, it may not be the last time we see it in the Disney parks. In Disney’s official statement, it seems like it still may have a future in some form after all:

“As we move forward with these changes, we are having creative conversations and exploring ways to preserve the film and other parts of the experience for fans to enjoy in the future.”

Where could a future home for MuppetVision 3D be?

Some of the more popular ideas include keeping it in Hollywood Studios and having it take over the Mickey Shorts Theater just a few minutes’ walk away from its current location, or down on Sunset Blvd. replacing Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy.

If they wanted to put it in one of the other parks, we’ve heard that the Pixar Short Film Festival at EPCOT would also be a logical choice.

One last option could be removing it completely from the theme parks, and dropping it into the digital realm, perhaps on Disney+ on Apple Vision Pro. That would bring this classic Muppets 3D experience right into your living room. We know Disney and Apple have already been collaborating on creating immersive environments on Vision Pro such as the Disney+ Theater, so bringing MuppetVision 3D here seems like a very viable solution.

Whatever they decide, we just hope we can still experience it in some form for many years into the future.

At this time we don’t have an opening date for the project, but we do know that work will begin on the Monstropolis expansion in Hollywood Studios sometime in 2025.

In that case, with the rate of speed that Disney builds its expansions, I wouldn’t expect anything to open until 2028. 3 years is a pretty solid estimate of how long it would take for a project like this, especially if there is only one attraction coming.

Looking at the other newly-announced lands, we expect Pueblo Esperanza in the Animal Kingdom to open in 2027 and the Monsters Inc. land in 2028. After that the Cars Land will probably be 2029 and then Villains Land in 2030. Disney likes to space out new attractions so guests keep coming back and this would be a timeline that makes sense to get the most visits out of guests.

Overall, we are very excited about Monstropolis coming to Hollywood Studios, and the Door Coaster is one attraction we have been waiting years for, so to finally have it coming seems like a dream come true. I think the land itself has a ton of potential and the Monsters Inc. franchise is one of the most underrated imo.

If somehow MuppetVision 3D can also be saved in another part of the park, this is a complete slam dunk!

That wraps up our look at the new Monsters Inc. land and the doors roller coaster. We’ll be finding out more info in the coming months so stay tuned for more!

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Your Thoughts

I want to know what you think about the coming Monsters Inc. land…

• Are you happy to see a land themed to Monsters Inc. coming to Hollywood Studios?
• What are some other attraction ideas for the land?

Let us know in the comments section below!

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