The Muppets at Walt Disney World - An In-Depth Report

[The Count]

Addicting like his fanfics isn't it? Come on Prawn... Post more or you'll end up taking another splashy ride if you know what we mean. Besides, you gotsta break the tie between you and that other half.

 

[Vic Romano]

*bump

 

[theprawncracker]

Oh crap! I forgot I never finished this thing! I'll finish it next week gang! Promise!

 

[Skye]

I just saw this now, and it sounds SO amazing so far!! I've never been to WDW, and you're making me want to go even more, Ryan! Totally awesome... can't wait to read more when you do finish it!

 

[Yoda Man]

Me too. I love Disney World and all the Muppety goodness. Can't wait to hear the rest of your report!

 

[theprawncracker]

Okay gang, as promised, I'm here with more! I'm really trying my hardest to get pictures loaded onto the web so I can show them to you, but it's not going to well on this computer, but I'm trying. Anyway, let us continue, shall we?

DAY 3 - Disney-MGM Studios and The Contemporary Resort cont.

So! After Muppet*Vision, where does the obsessed Muppet fan go? The Muppet*Vision gift shop of course! Well, after taking a picture with the gigantic Kermit statue outside the shop, AND the HUGE Kermit wall clock on well... The wall. But after I got my pictures, THEN I went inside. Then I took MORE pictures! As SOON as you walk in you to your right you see replicas of the lockers from MTM! TOTALLY awesome! Then to your left is some crazy pile of junk that looks totally Muppety.

Anyway, when you get into the actual store you are... Well, rather dissapointed. One third of the store is Muppet stuff, I'm not even sure what the rest of the stuff in there was... It looked to be maybe baby stuff in one third, and just plain Disney World stuff in the other that you can find anywhere in any of the parks.

But looks can be decieving, while exploring the Muppet third of the store I found some really cool stuff. Including t-shirts (That picture is stole from Vic Romano's thread) the only t-shirts they had from that pic were the four in the middle with Kermit's head, Animal's head, Beaker's head, and Pepe's head, The Mayhem t-shirt in the bottom right, and the two at the top left. (I myself bought the Kermit head t-shirt and the Electric Mayhem shirt, totally awesome.) They had NONE of these t-shirts for women. (Again, stolen from Vic.)

Aside from clothing, they had an entire wall of Muppet plushies. Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Statler, Waldorf, Sam, Animal, Rizzo, Bunsen, Beaker, and Bean. Which was rully cool, I got Gonzo and Rizzo. Then on the wall by the t-shirts they had the Kermit big figure, a totally awesome picture frame (that I got) with red curtains on the "stage" and Kermit and Piggy on the bottom right, Gonzo hanging off the top right, Animal poking his head out of the curtain in the top left, Beaker at the bottom left and Fozzie in the middle, really, really cool. With that same theme (curtians) they also had a miniature snow globe (which I got) and an alarm clock (which I also got). And the COOLEST thing there were HAND DRAWN Muppet pictures Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie and Animal. They were SO cool. My mom bought me Kermit for Christmas.

In the middle of the store they had a small display thing, where they had the Link Hogthrob Sideshow Bust, NO Palisades figures, fuzzy Miss Piggy, Kermit and Beaker mini bobble heads (I got Piggy and Kermit), a song book, and a set of Kermit and Piggy salt and pepper shakers.

On the front wall near the entrance they had the new Christmas CD, TMS Season 1, MTI, MCC, GMC, and TMM, and the 25th Anniversary CD. Along with the ONLY piece of Sesame Street merchandise, the "Platinum" CD.

There's the good stuff from the store, now the bad. There were NO Muppet pins, at all. There was a very poor selection of t-shirts and merchandise overall, I was really dissapointed. (Yet somehow I still managed to spend $120 in that store alone. )

Then there was the MGM Christmas "Stars in Motor Cars" Parade. Where Kermit and Piggy were featured and Sweetums ran around mingling with the crowd. Rully cool. And after the parade I saw Jim's name on a plaque in the Television Hall of Fame bust garden. Just wish he had a bust instead...

So that was it for Muppet stuff at MGM, slim pickin's if ya ask me.

Then we went to the Contemporary! I had made Thanksgiving Dinner reservations for us at Chef Mickey's Fun Time Buffet, where we dined with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto and got pictures with all of them. And during our meal the MCC soundtrack was playing, which was really cool. My mom says to me: "Did you have this planned too?" and I just grinned/squealed.

Then after dinner I ran off with my little bro to the gift shop/s, where again I saw the Kermit big figure, and a totally awesome Miss Piggy Statue of Liberty pin that I bought up almost instantly.

Welp, that was my day 3. The best day of my stay, I got so much awesome Muppet stuff and saw one of the best Muppet productions ever to be made. It was a good day.

Muppet Status - Day Three: Good!

Day Four - Animal Kingdom, the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Epcot

I'm really not gonna waste your time and make you read through my entire day just to find out that there was NO Muppet stuff at Animal Kingdom OR the Animal Kingdom Lodge (where we had dinner). Then we went to Epcot for the fireworks display and the "Extra Magic Hours" where resort guests get to stay after the park closes and the ONLY Muppet thing I saw was actually really cool, a portait painting of Animal hanging in one of the "Art of Disney" stores. Yup, that was my Muppet stuff for Day Four.

Muppet Status - Day Four: Meh...

Day Five - Downtown Disney and Disney's Boardwalk

My final day at WDW. So sad, but happy at the same time. I get to go to Downtown Disney where they're sure to have some sort of Muppet thing somewhere, right?

Yes, right. But not too much.The "Once Upon a Toy" toy store had all the Muppet plushies they had at Muppet*Vision, and two miniature puzzles with pictures of the Muppet stamps that were released a while back.

Then the only other piece of Muppet stuff I saw, was totally, totally cool. Inside the "Art of Disney" store I met this artist who would personalize drawnigs of Disney characters for you for $35. So I flipped through his book, and there at the very end were two pics of Kermit, two of Piggy, one of Fozzie and one of Animal. I bought one of Kermit playing his banjo and the artist wrote "Kermit the Frog" in pretty green at the top. Then my bro bought me Animal for Christmas which totally surprised me. It was really, really awesome.

That was all the Muppet stuff at Downtown Disney.

And there was nothing at Disney's Boardwalk either.

Muppet Status - Day Four: Decent

I had a great time in Walt Disney World, but Muppet wise it wasn't so great. Sure I was immensly impressed with Muppet*Vision 3D, but the amount of merchandise at any of the parks was slim to none. I wouldn't say I was severly dissapointed, I just know that it could've been better. I think Disney could really try harder with the Muppets to get them out in the spotlight if they really accept them into their family.

I'll leave you all with one final thought, if the Muppets are being kept alive in the theme parks, we may need to worry. But, if Diz has plans for them elsewhere we should still hold out hope. I really have mixed feelings about how things are going with the Muppets under Diz... I just don't know.

But I still had a great time at WDW and got some totally awesome stuff, and I can't wait to go back.

Thanks everybody for reading!

Ryan
Prawnie
theprawncracker

 

[redBoobergurl]

Great report Ryan! Well, I mean I guess some of the news isn't THAT great, but you know what I mean. I'm planning a trip there for next winter so it's good to know now what to look for, I just hope not much changes in a year!

 

[theprawncracker]

So, now that my computer's working I'm finally able to get pictures loaded! Yay! So here ya go gang, the Muppets at Disney World...

Jim and Kermit's name and handprints
The Fountain
Muppet*Vision 3D Presented by Kodak
A Happy Water Tower (I hope its nose doesn't start running! Wocka! Wocka!)
The Baloon (If you look close enough at the clock, you can see Gonzo dangling from one of the hands.)
These two elderly gentlemen I met on my trip, they were rather crabby.
Another Fountain Shot
Some crazy kid in a TMS sweatshirt in front of the fountain. (He totally messed up the shot.)
That crazy kid again, this time with a life-size Sweetums cut-out.
That kid was like, stalking our camera or something, this time in our picture of the Muppet*Vision poster
Then he went and bugged those two elderly gents
And got in ANOTHER picture of a Muppet*Vision poster
Then the weirdo found all these awesome Muppet movie parody posters, such as "The Bride of Froggen-Schwein"
And "Pigseidon"
"It Called From Outer Space"
"Cleopigtra"
"Kurmit"
"Beach Blanket Beaker"
And "Star Chores"
We ditched the dodo, so to speak, for a second and found this nice poster from Dr. Honeydew.
And found more posters such as "Die Hard 2"
"Moi Jane"
And "Super Beaker II"
Then I saw this cool pipe sticking out of a wall, see if you can tell who it is.
And a cool door or... Um... Not a door, I guess.
A really cool "3D" picture of the gang.
The sign for glasses
Piggy's luggage, "Satin Evening Gowns" and "More Satin Evening Gowns" and part of the Mayhem's equipment, and Gonzo on the screen from the pre-show.
"The Rest of the Satin Evening Gowns"
The Electric Mayhem's Equipment
That weird kid came back to sit with Gonzo's Stunt Props
Scooter's Box
Sam's Box
"Kermit the Frog: Neck Ruffs"
The "Muppet*Vision 3D Yell and Howl Projector" inside the theater
The Muppet*Vision seal inside the theater
Miss Piggy Columns
The two elderly gentleman from outside. (They got the best seats in the house!)
A sculpt over the exit. (Yes, that's my finger in the top left corner.)
The Muppet*Vision 3D Directory (If you can, save this picture and zoom in, it's hillarious.)
The crazy kid and a HUGE Kermit statue outside the gift shop
The crazy kid again, this time with a HUGE Kermit wall clock
Gonzo from the fountain
Fozzie from the fountain
My favorite fountain picture
Kermit and Piggy in the Christmas Parade
And last, but not least, my favorite picture from the whole trip, this GORGEOUS painting of Kermit and Piggy on a building.

And there you go gang! Muppet*Vision 3D!

 

[redBoobergurl]

Awesome pics Ryan!!! Thanks for sharing them with us!

 

[Barry Lee]

yeyyyy! Wonderful review and pictures my prawn. We might be planning to go to WDW in '08. Hopefully.
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