Muppet*Vision 3D is a hilarious 3D film experience featuring most of your favorite Muppets at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park. It's time to play the music! It's time to light the lights! It's time to meet the Muppets-in 3D tonight!
Step right up and proceed past a bevy of wooden crates and show props into the warehouse of the Muppet Theater, where some of your favorite Muppet characters-including Rizzo, Gonzo and Fozzie Bear-interact with you via television monitors during a fun-filled 12-minute pre-show extravaganza. Then, make your way into the 584-seat theater-designed to look just like the one from the classic television series-and receive your special 3D glasses for the main show.
As the lights fade and the 17-minute 3D movie begins, stare in amazement as you suddenly find yourself in the center of the action. Reach out and almost touch Kermit, Miss Piggy and the gang-seemingly right in front of you-as you take off on a wacky, behind-the-scenes tour of Muppet Labs. And meet Waldo C. Graphic, the world's first computer-generated Muppet, as he wreaks havoc on everybody in his path, including Sam the Eagle, during his patriotic grand finale.
The Show
Muppet*Vision 3D features Audio-Animatronics characters that literally bring the house down around you. Wave hello to the in-theater Muppets-including Statler & Waldorf and the Swedish Chef-and hum along to the various musical numbers and songs. And don't be surprised if you find yourself "blown away" by the show's wonder-filled ending!
The 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, all featuring outlandish job descriptions. Guests then see half of a motorbike protruding from the wall above, with a hole in the shape of Gonzo. Guests then enter a large room filled with Muppet "props" and boxes with comical and humorous labels. Above guests' heads are sets of three television monitors, in which several short snippets of comical adventures take place with the Muppet characters. This serves as the preshow.
The audience is repeatedly reminded to take a pair of 3D glasses from several containers around the room before entering the theater, which is modeled after the theater depicted on The Muppet Show. Muppet*Vision 3D along with Captain EO are one of two Disney 3D attractions currently playing which actually calls their glasses "3D Glasses" (It's Tough to Be a Bug utilizes "Bug Eyes", Star Tours: The Adventures Continue refers to them as "Flight Glasses", Toy Story Midway Mania calls them "Carnival Games Goggles", and Mickey's Philharmagic calls them "Opera Glasses"). However, the glasses are sometimes referred to as "3D Safety Goggles", foreshadowing the "dangerous" experiments guests will be visiting.
Show Synopsis
The show begins with a tour, given by Kermit the Frog, of Muppet Studios, where many of the Muppets are preparing for segments in the show to follow the tour. Many 3D effects are performed at this point by various characters, mainly Fozzie Bear.
Muppet*Vision 3D re-introduces 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 in the 'Muppet-Labs', 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 audio-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 Sweetums, who is a live full-bodied Muppet, comes out into the audience to search for him having already done so on screen.
At one point in the show, there appears to be computerized bubbles blown, and real soap bubbles blow from the ceiling. 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, as well as "revealing" some bricks and sheet rock throughout the main theater, revealing what's on the "other side" of the screen - guests at a Disney Park. At this point, Kermit comes on the back of a fire engine through the hole to apologise and conclude the show.
Performers
- Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, Waldorf and the Swedish Chef
- Frank Oz as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Rick and Sam the Eagle
- Jerry Nelson as Camilla the Chicken and Zoot
- Richard Hunt as Scooter, Statler, Beaker, Sweetums and Chuck
- Dave Goelz as Gonzo the Great, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew
- Steve Whitmire as Waldo C. Graphic, Bean Bunny and Rizzo the Rat
- John Henson as Sweetums (puppeteering only)
- David Rudman as Roy and Max
- Len Levitt as Toy Soldiers
- Wayne Allwine as Waldo's impersonation of Mickey Mouse
Touring Tips
- Since the theater holds 584, don't be discouraged by large crowds waiting outside this attraction - you don't often have to wait longer than 15-20 minutes for the next show.
- You will have to wear special 3D glasses to enjoy the full effect of this attraction. If you wear prescription glasses, you place the 3D glasses over them. You may find the 3D effects hard to see, even with the glasses in place.
- Certain parts of this attraction, particularly the conclusion, are very LOUD, and some small children may be frightened. Advise them to remove their 3D glasses and close their eyes if they become too overwhelmed.
- Sweetums, a scary-looking but lovable human-sized monster, strolls around in the front of the theater periodically during the show. Kermit and Miss Piggy sometimes greet guests at the exit of the Muppet*Vision 3-D Theater. Other characters can be found throughout Disney's Hollywood Studios. Check your daily Guide Map for times and locations.
- Sweetums walks around the front of the theater at various times during the show. If you think your child might enjoy seeing him up close, try to sit toward the front of the theater.
Facts
- Opened on February 8, 2001.
- Also in the pre-show area you'll spy a sign that tells you the key has been left under the mat - if you look down, you'll find the mat, and there really is a key under it
- To create the ideal setting for Muppet*Vision 3-D, Imagineers designed a theater that brings the show directly into the audience, causing some to call the experience 4D, or 4 Dimensional. Guests are squirted with water, blasted with air, and real soap bubbles float through the air throughout the show.
- Name changed from Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3-D October 2004.