Oscar-winning composer and Disney Legend Randy Newman has written an original song, also titled “Welcome to Monstropolis.” Disney says it is the first song Newman has composed specifically for one of its theme parks.
Other announced locations include:
- Harryhausen’s Restaurant, based on the sushi restaurant from Mike and Celia’s date
- Archie’s Scare Pig Pizza, connected to the six-legged Fear Tech mascot
- Monsters University Alumni Club, featuring references to campus clubs and notable scarers
- Scareporium, the land’s themed merchandise shop
Harryhausen’s will feature an Audio-Animatronics sushi chef using multiple tentacles to prepare food. The menu will extend beyond sushi, a sensible accommodation for humans whose dining preferences are less structurally adventurous.
Why are humans allowed into the monster city?
The land’s story takes place after the original film, when Monstropolis has stopped harvesting children’s screams and begun using laughter as an energy source. Guests enter during H.U.M.A.N. Day, short for “Humans Understand Monsters Are Nice.” The event represents the first official invitation for people to visit the monster world.
That premise gives Disney a narrative reason for ordinary park guests to walk through the city, meet its residents and enter its businesses without triggering an emergency response from the Child Detection Agency. Storefronts, industrial buildings, restaurants and entertainment venues are intended to make Monstropolis feel like a working city holding a slightly forced public-relations celebration.
Disney first announced the project at D23 in 2024. Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro appeared with Billy Crystal, the voice of Mike Wazowski, to introduce the land and its planned coaster. Construction was scheduled to begin in 2025, although the project includes more than rebuilding the former Muppets area.
Attractions Magazine reported that the coaster’s show building occupies former backstage parking space. That means Disney is both converting existing structures and expanding the developed footprint of Hollywood Studios. Disney Tourist Blog, citing public records, reported that work to convert the former Muppet theater into the Glob Theater was valued at $22.4 million.
When will the Monsters, Inc. coaster open?
Disney has not said. The company has confirmed only that coaster construction will continue after Monstropolis starts admitting guests in 2027.
The attraction will recreate the film’s climactic door-vault sequence, with riders moving among rows of suspended closet doors. Disney says it will be the first suspended coaster at any Disney park and the company’s first coaster to use a vertical lift.
D’Amaro described the planned effect when the project was announced in 2024: “Remember in the movie how those claws grab the doors and hoist them up into the air? We’re doing that, too.”
Opening the surrounding land first carries an obvious operational risk. Restaurants, shops and a theater can absorb visitors, but none is likely to replace the capacity or appeal of a major new coaster. Hollywood Studios could end up promoting a new destination whose principal attraction remains visibly unfinished, an unusually expensive version of being told the best part is coming later.
Disney has used phased openings before, but the lack of even a completion year makes travel planning difficult. Families considering a 2027 visit will know Monstropolis is available in some form. They will not know whether its signature ride is months away or part of a later vacation entirely.
What happened to Muppet*Vision 3D?
Monstropolis arrives with more emotional baggage than the average themed expansion because it displaced one of Hollywood Studios’ oldest attractions. Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano closed on May 10, 2025, according to TouringPlans. Muppet*Vision 3D and PizzeRizzo gave their final performances and served their final guests on June 7. Construction walls appeared the following day.
Muppet*Vision 3D opened on May 16, 1991, and carried particular historical importance as Jim Henson’s final major filmed Muppet project. Its combination of a 3D movie, theater effects and Audio-Animatronics figures made it a rare surviving piece of the park’s original studio-era identity.
Disney has said it is exploring ways to preserve the film and elements of the attraction for future enjoyment. It has not announced where, when or how that preservation might happen. For fans concerned about the work’s future, “exploring” remains a broad term with plenty of room for storage boxes.
The theater itself is now being transformed into the Glob Theater for the Mike and Sulley show. That reuse preserves a performance venue but not necessarily the Henson production that made the building significant. The distinction matters to preservation advocates, even if the exterior eventually gains more decorative pipes.
Where did Disney move The Muppets?
Disney did not remove The Muppets from Hollywood Studios entirely. Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets opened on May 26, 2026, replacing the attraction’s former Aerosmith theme with a story centered on Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.
The revised coaster features Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Animal and other characters, along with celebrity appearances and the first Audio-Animatronics figure of Scooter. It gives the franchise a prominent thrill ride on Sunset Boulevard, although it does not reproduce the experience or historical value of Muppet*Vision 3D.
The relocation illustrates Disney’s preferred compromise: retire one attraction, place the characters somewhere else and hope that emotional accounting works like regular accounting. For some visitors, a high-speed Electric Mayhem adventure is a substantial new chapter. For others, it does not answer what becomes of Henson’s film.
The debate also reflects a broader change at Hollywood Studios. The park once emphasized production tours, filmmaking demonstrations and attractions about how entertainment was created. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land and Monstropolis instead place guests inside franchise settings with restaurants, retail and story-driven environments.
Monstropolis may eventually deliver one of Walt Disney World’s most distinctive coasters. Before that happens, its 2027 debut will test whether a detailed city, a new Randy Newman song and a tentacled sushi chef can carry a land while its main attraction remains behind construction walls. Disney, with admirable confidence, is inviting the humans anyway.
