The first ride section of a Monsters, Inc. suspended roller coaster is taking shape as new details are being revealed today for the Monstropolis land coming to Hollywood Studios. We have confirmation of the land’s story, the city’s future icons, and how leftover parts of the old Muppets area are being reused. Plus, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets has officially opened, and more.

Let’s dig into all that, as well as a full construction report, in today’s news update. See the video version of this story below for additional visuals.

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Monsters Inc. Land New Details

Construction on a massive indoor roller coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios continues at a consistent pace.

Intricate steel framing has been added for what most likely will be the first scene on the new Monsters, Inc suspended coaster, with openings along the ceiling coming out of the load station.

Near the front of the future Monstropolis city, where the former Muppets Courtyard area once was, new forms are being created. This will become an entry gate, welcoming humans into the Monster world for the first time.

New details about the story for the land are being revealed today, including exactly why the Monster world is okay with having humans walking around.

Disney says that now that Monstropolis runs on laughter and not fear, a new “Department of Human Relations” was formed, as in the relationship between monsters and humans.

And today we’ll be visiting the city on H.U.M.A.N. Day, A Celebration with a Purpose.

H.U.M.A.N. Day stands for Humans Understand Monsters Are Nice, and will be like a cultural exchange, introducing humans to life inside Monstropolis while helping monsters discover that humans aren’t so frightening either.

We will get to explore the city, meet its citizens, taste unique cuisine, and step into the everyday world of monsters.

The land will be quirky and character-filled, just like we’ve seen in the original movie. And the story elements of H.U.M.A.N. Day, including how the Monster residents feel about it, will partly be told in headlines in the Monstropolis Horn, the city’s official newspaper.

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Door Coaster Construction

Taking a closer look at construction around the site, thanks to aerial photography by Bioreconstruct on social media and YouTube, we can get our best look yet at the many roller coaster supports being installed for the door coaster.

Scene one, which is where we believe this section to be, will have two separate tracks coming from the load station, before converging into one.

The gray steel seen intertwined with the taller supports represents the two entryways into scene one, coming from the station.

Trains will be raised up at this point. They will load at ground level, but then be lifted up to the ceiling, like the door conveyance system lifts doors in the films and series.

Below is a closer look at supports for the right track, curving to the left, before it converges with the other track.

After starting as separate sets of supports, we can see the supports for the suspended coaster become wider here, as this is where they will converge into one.

Below is a look at the official model for this attraction, showing this part of the ride where the tracks merge before entering the door vault at the bottom of the image, with the largest part of the attraction at the back of the building.

Looking to the staging site for the coaster, located behind EPCOT’s World Showcase, we can spot possible “passageway” frames lying on the ground, wrapped in plastic.

Perhaps these forms could be doorways for the trains to pass through, like from load to scene one, and again from scene one into the door vault.

Beside scene one, conduit connections are being installed in the ground. This could become the coaster’s future maintenance bay.

Looking to the ride’s load station, what appear to be two elevator shafts are being built.

The future Monsters, Inc. factory facade and queue areas will be where the sand is now. New structural connections have been installed here since our last update.

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Monstropolis Locations Confirmed

Looking back to construction happening within Monstropolis, foundations are being created for the future facade of Harryhausen’s.

This location is now confirmed by Disney to become Harryhausen’s, the fancy restaurant seen in the first film.

Some leftover theming from the exterior of the former Mama Melrose can still seen on side of the building, like this Mona Lisa painting.

I was actually given a tour of the construction site recently, and I got to stand inside of the former PizzeRizzo, which is now completely stripped of its Muppet theming.

I was able to see the future Monstropolis site from the second level balcony as well, with views straight into the future Harryhausens restaurant, which is essentially empty for now.

While on the tour around the site we learned other new details and even got to look at yet to be released concept art.

One piece of art showed what will be located on the backside of the former Muppet*Vision theater.

This back wall will feature theming to make it appear as a train station, now that it will be visible to guests exiting the ride and heading back to the land.

We learned that many of the facades and fake businesses within the land will be based on industries that exist to support the Monsters Inc factory.

Imagineers worked closely with the filmmakers at Pixar to expand the world, which will create facades for things like a company that makes those laugh canisters used at the factory.

Storefronts that line the main pathway will recreate Mike and Sulley’s walk to work from the original Monsters, Inc. film.

Some landmarks from that scene in the film are already visible in the official concept art, but many of the facades are obstructed from view due to the angle of the art.

Monstrous storefronts and windows like the ones shown below may make appearances along this path.

This includes Mike and Sulley’s apartment itself, so we can recreate their walk to work ourselves when heading to the ride. We can even see Mike Wazowski’s car parked out front in one of the official pieces of concept art for the land.

The front of the future Glob Theater continues to be refreshed from the former Muppet*Vision Theater, redoing exterior elements while retaining much of the original structure.

One new piece of art, that was released today, is a logo for the city of Monstropolis. It features the three main locations that have been officially announced for the land, the Harryhausen’s restaurant, the Monsters Inc factory, and the Glob Theater.

Concrete forms have been prepared for the pouring of new planter walls and entrance gate pedestals at the very front of the land, along Grand Avenue.

Here is how this angled entry into the new area will look, according to official concept art.

There are still more questions we need answers for, like what will become of the former PizzeRizzo location.

The good news is, from what I saw walking through the site, it certainly appears as though the space will be re-utilized as another quick service, (or at least I hope it will).

And maybe I was reading into it, but the concept art I saw for the city facades seemed to appear as though this would remain a pizza or Italian restaurant—only a little bit monster-y. But we shall see.

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Muppets Coaster Open

Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets has officially opened, after an incredibly quick 3-month turnaround since the original version closed back in March.

The new version features 5 new song recordings by The Electric Mayhem, with complete randomization on every train now.

An element of the new preshow is also randomized now, featuring different Muppet characters in the middle of the sequence.

The heckler dialogue from the Statler and Waldorf animatronics sitting along the ride’s final brake run is also randomized, with many phrases as Easter eggs for the former Muppet*Vision 3D show.

And the ride is chock full of Easter eggs, throughout the queue, preshow, post show area and gift shop, and of course on the ride.

One Easter egg is a sign with a silhouette of Waldo, with the literal words “Obligatory Easter Egg.”

Another great nod to what had come before is a recreation of the old PizzeRizzo sign. This iconic billboard has been lovingly recreated in the cartoony style of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, as if it was always here on the ride.

For the first time in a long time, the new version of the coaster also brought back Muppets merch to Hollywood Studios, with all new plush now for sale, and so much more.

Outside, the nearby food truck has been converted into FØØD by Swedish Chef, featuring a new menu with items like Wocka Wocking Nachos, Churro Drumstick, and the Mayhem Soft-Serve Float.

Personally, I’ll stick with PizzeRizzo Express, nearby on Sunset Blvd., also known as Catalina Eddie’s, serving much of the same food that Rizzo’s had before.

That’s all for now, but for more info on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, as well as the all new mission on Smugglers Run, check out my recent vlog on my new YouTube channel, Parkstoppers, where we post in-park on the ground updates.

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Subscribe to the news feed or enter your email address below to never miss an update. Official Art: Disney | Aerial Photos: Bioreconstruct | Ground Photos: Alicia Stella | Other Images as Captioned

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