Muppet*Vision 3D Faces Criticism for Sexist Themes Before Permanent Closure

Disney Parks fans are fuming after a Walt Disney World Resort guest publicly celebrated the upcoming closure of Muppet*Vision 3D, calling the decades-old attraction sexist and outdated.

At D23 Expo 2024, Walt Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro announced that the long-rumored Monsters, Inc. (2001) door coaster and a themed land would come to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Early concept art suggested that Walt Disney Imagineers were toying with placing the new area in The Muppets Courtyard or the Animation Courtyard, but Walt Disney World Resort wouldn’t confirm its final location.

Despite pleas from Disney Parks fans, Walt Disney World Resort sealed Muppet*Vision 3D’s fate in November 2024. Monsters, Inc., will officially replace The Muppets Courtyard, including its main attraction, Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano, and the PizzeRizzo Quick Service dining location. In January 2025, Walt Disney World Resort announced that Muppet*Vision 3D will play its final performance on June 7, 2025.

Ahead of Muppet*Vision 3D’s permanent closure, many Disney Parks fans have lamented Walt Disney World Resort’s decision to shutter one of Jim Henson’s final projects. (Henson died in 1990, just one year before the attraction premiered at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, then Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park.)

However, Disney has reassured fans that it is exploring ways to publicly preserve the film and attraction experience for decades to come. And The Muppets aren’t leaving Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith will close sometime in the future to make way for a Muppets retheme, though an exact date hasn’t been announced.

As many Muppets fans mourn the loss of their favorite Disney Park attraction, some Walt Disney World Resort guests are celebrating its closure. One Disney Park guest (u/narmire on Reddit) sparked debate after implying that some of the humor in Muppet*Vision 3D was sexist.

“I’m not sorry muppet vision is leaving,” the social media user wrote. “It needed to be revamped at the very least – upskirt jokes aren’t funny. (Seriously – I know Ms Piggy has a shtick where she’s uptight and arrogant, but that just makes it worse that the jokes she is involved with are about showing her underwear or ripping her skirt off).”

“I was really disappointed watching the show today, I remembered it being funny and the dated jokes ruined my experience,” they continued. “…I was looking forward to going and then was very disappointed when her skirt was torn off in the finale and I was supposed to laugh at it.”

Some Disney Parks fans agreed that the show is outdated and ready for reimagining.

“I absolutely love the Muppets and I will be sad it’s leaving,” u/nowhereman136 replied. “However, it is pretty dated. The show has been running for 30 years and it looks it. The jokes are getting bland, Waldo is annoying, and the Muppets in general have just evolved since then. The saving grace of the show is that it’s the last thing Jim Henson personally worked on with the Muppets before he died. So this show still going is like Henson himself still going. But it’s time for change.”

Still, most were upset with the original poster’s accusation that Muppet*Vision 3D was offensive.

“I’m glad I don’t go though life searching for things to offend me,” said u/nevets4433 replied. “A 20 year old comedy about an anthromorphic frog, a patriotic eagle, and a pig in a dress certainly isn’t going to make me blush…Did the joke age well, maybe not. But let’s not go overboard here. I can agree that the whole courtyard needed a makeover if it was going to stay though. I’m sad that the attention it will get is the wrecking ball…”

“Comedy and humor cannot be judged by our current norms but by the norms of the context in which the joke was written,” u/VeshWolfe agreed. “Viewing so many great comics through a modern eye makes them seem distasteful but their jokes were a product of what was acceptable during that time. To ignore that or throw that out is to remove art and that is a horrible thing to do.”

Muppet*Vision 3D will have its final day of operations on June 7, 2025. Walt Disney World Resort hasn’t announced an opening date for the Monsters, Inc. land or The Muppets retheme of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

Do you agree with Walt Disney World Resort’s decision to replace Muppet*Vision 3D with a Monsters, Inc. land? We would love to hear your opinion in the comments!