Muppet*Vision 3D

Background

The show is a 3D film featuring Jim Henson's Muppets. Due to the use of Audio-Animatronics, a live full-bodied Muppet and other similar effects, the show is sometimes referred to as "Muppet*Vision 4-D" (which was used in the Walt Disney World Explorer application, displayed as "Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3-D 4-D" with a slanted red strikethrough on "3-D"). It was directed by Jim Henson and written by Bill Prady. The show was one of the final Muppets projects with the involvement of Henson, as well veteran Muppet performer Richard Hunt and one of the last times they performed their characters. Henson died in 1990, before production of the film was completed, and Hunt died in 1992.

Throughout the attraction's operation at Disney California Adventure, the theater was used to present sneak peeks of Tron: Legacy, Frankenweenie, and Oz the Great and Powerful. On January 7, 2015, the theater at Disney California Adventure began operating as the Crown Jewel Theatre and presented For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration, a musical stage show based on Frozen. The attraction operated until April 17, 2016. The location was renamed to the Sunset Showcase Theater and began showing Walt Disney Studios film previews in May 2016.

Queue

Before guests are seated in the theater where the film is shown, they go through the queue, which winds through "Muppet Labs", home of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker. The audience passes several office doors, all featuring outlandish job descriptions and spoof movie posters featuring Muppets. 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, where the pre-show featuring several Muppets is shown.

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, is one of two Disney 3D attractions which refer to the 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 "3D Game Glasses", 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.

At Disney California Adventure, the queue was different in that it featured a cast member at the turnstile handing out the glasses individually and the "hallway" scene from the Disney's Hollywood Studios queue was replaced with a "courtyard" filled with various props. The queue winded around a fake "set", blending in with the rest of the Hollywood Land district. Guests also saw half of a motorbike protruding from the wall above, with a hole in the shape of Gonzo. The pre-show room there included a scrolling LED monitor known as The Official Time Clock which displayed various messages and jokes (including references to Elvis and The Mickey Mouse Club) while counting down to showtime.

In the spring of 2008, the queue was replaced with an eating area for the Award Weiners restaurant in order to provide more seating for it. The spoof movie posters were removed, now in their place are real movie posters promoting current and upcoming films from Walt Disney Studios. The original "Disaster Effects" storage area remained until January 2015.

Constantine, the villain from Muppets Most Wanted, was added to the pre-show at beginning of March 2014 to advertise the new film. In Disney's Hollywood Studios, as of December 2016, Constantine no longer appears and the pre-show is reverted to its original 1991 form.

Plot 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 first appeared 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 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 and 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 by Sam for ruining Miss Piggy's musical rendition of "Dream a Little Dream of Me". 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 the theater wall), the Swedish Chef resorts to using a large cannon. This blows-up the theater, tearing a hole in the main screen, as well as "revealing" some bricks and sheetrock 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 apologize and conclude the show.

In the final part of the film, Waldo appear behind red curtains and then shape shifts into Mickey Mouse, so no one would recognize him. However, he turns back into his true form when he gets sucked up by a vacuum from Muppet Labs. Statler and Waldorf make their final comment and the film ends.

Cast

Performers

Additional performers include; Kevin Carlson, Rick Lyon, Allan Trautman, Rickey Boyd, Steven Ritz-Barr, Len Levitt, and Mark Bryan Wilson.