Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D
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| Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D | |
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| Locations, openings and status | |
| Disney-MGM Studios May 16, 1991 | |
 Kodak Open |
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| Disney's California Adventure February 8, 2001 | |
| Open |
Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D is an attraction found at Disney-MGM Studios, part of Walt Disney World located in Lake Buena Vista, Florida and at Disney's California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California.
Contents |
[edit] Premise
The show is built around a 3-D film featuring Jim Henson's Muppets. Audio-animatronic and live full-bodied Muppet characters also appear in the theater while the film is running and appear to interact with their on-screen colleagues. Because of elements of the film appearing in the theater (such as Bean Bunny blowing bubbles on film with actual bubbles falling down from the top of the theater), the show is sometimes referred to as Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 4D. It was directed by Henson and written by Bill Prady.
[edit] Queue
Before being seated in the theater where the film is shown, the queue winds through "Muppet Labs", home of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker. The audience passes several office doors featuring outlandish job descriptions, then enters a large room filled with Muppet "props" and boxes with silly labels. Muppets greet the visitors from television screens suspended from the ceiling, interacting with one another at times. The audience is repeatedly reminded to take a pair of "safety" (3D) glasses from several containers around the room before entering the theater, which is modeled after the theater depicted on The Muppet Show.
At California Adventure, the queue is different only in that it features a cast member at the turnstile handing out the glasses individually.
[edit] The show
MuppetVision 3D introduced Waldo C. Graphic, the world's first computer-generated Muppet, who also appears in The Jim Henson Hour. Waldo is "created" by Dr. Honeydew and Beaker during a demonstration of three-dimensional imagery, but proves uncontrollable and wreaks havoc throughout the remainder of the film, especially when the ending patriotic number by Sam the Eagle is reduced to shambles.
Aside from the Muppets on-screen, there are also a number of in-theater Muppets, mostly animatronic, that interact with the show. Statler & Waldorf heckle from a balcony near the screen, an orchestra of penguins rises into sight to perform, and the Swedish Chef "operates" the film projector from the booth above and behind the audience. Bean Bunny leaves the film at one point after being blamed for ruining several scenes (mainly Miss Piggy's), and is chased around the theater by Sweetums, who is a live full-bodied Muppet. At the end of the show Swedish Chef tries to destroy the now out of control Waldo, who has destroyed the film and is all alone on a blank screen, by firing a gun at him. After missing several times (shooting holes in the screen and even the theater wall), the Swedish Chef resorts to using a large cannon. This "blows-up" the theater, leaving a (projected) hole in the main screen.
[edit] Attraction facts
[edit] Disney-MGM Studios attraction facts
- Grand opening: May 16, 1991
- Capacity: 584
- Sponsor: Kodak
- Show length: 17:30
- Ride system: 3-D film theater
[edit] Disney's California Adventure attraction facts
- Grand opening: February 8, 2001 (Opened with Disney's California Adventure Park)
- Capacity: 573
- Show length: 17:30
- Ride system: 3D-Movie Theater
[edit] External links
- Muppet*vision 3D at the Internet Movie Database
- Disney World MuppetVision page
- Muppet Wiki: Muppet*Vision 3D
- All Ears Net Muppet*Vision page
| Films and television specials by The Muppets |
|---|
| Feature films |
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The Muppet Movie (1979) | The Great Muppet Caper (1981) | The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) |
| Television specials |
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A Muppet Family Christmas (1987) | The Muppets at Walt Disney World (1990) |
