movies – Brent's Crossroads

Welcome back to the Crossroads! Today, I’m not here with happy news from the Disney landscape. A few days ago, word officially came down on something we knew was probably coming. The final announcement was about the future of Muppet*Vision 3-D and also the Rocking Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith. The news is both good and bad, depending on your point of view and fandoms.

First, Muppet*Vision 3D and the Muppet Courtyard area will be the future home of the Monster’s Inc. themed land in Hollywood Studios. The new location will feature the Monstropolis roller coaster, dining, shopping, and stage show. Since the original concept art for this new land was shown at D23 in 2023, it appeared the Muppet Courtyard was always going to be going bye-bye. What did surprise us in the announcement of Muppet*Vision 3D‘s closure was the retheming of Rocking Roller Coaster to the Muppets.

Next, so what about Aerosmith? The band was never the first or second choice for the ride-theming, to begin with. Add in the band’s retirement and the allegations against lead vocalist Steven Tyler; the days for this ride were numbered. Since Disney+ released the Electric Mayhem show, rumors about Dr. Teeth and the band taking over the attraction have swirled. Well, it looks like it will be happening. The Muppets are taking the roller coaster and making it their own. This wasn’t a surprise on the surface, but the timing seems like it was to lessen the sting of the Muppet*Vision situation.

Why is closing Muppet*Vision a bad thing? If you look at the wait times or visit the Muppet Theater, there never seems to be a wait, and the theater is rarely very full at all. The Muppets have a sizable fanbase, but since Disney bought Jim Henson Studios, they’ve criminally mismanaged the IP. This attraction was the final project Jim Henson worked on before his untimely death. This alone makes it something that should be culturally preserved. Disney has reported they digitally mastered the show and are looking for ways to put the visuals out for the public. I hope they’ll build another theater by Rocking Roller Coaster, but it will probably end up on Disney+. Disney+ would be a great disappointment because the film needs to be experienced in the theater with all the effects and mayhem.

Overall, I am saddened by the loss of Muppet*Vision 3-D, but I hope we can have a suitable replacement for Rocking Roller Coaster. It won’t have the same magic and memories of our times in Muppet Courtyard, but maybe we can love it too. I made a reaction video on TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@brent.abell/video/7440205287061081390), and you can check it out. These are my raw feelings on the day the news dropped. I’ve calmed down a little since then, lol.

Well, back to the grind my friends!

I hope to see you all out on the Crossroads,

Brent

Good afternoon! Welcome back to Brent’s Crossroads, and thanks for coming along on the journey. This fall, I hit both Walt Disney World’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Universal Studios Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights 33. I will discuss Mickey’s Not So Scary next week, but now it’s time for the real scares.

Besides traveling and being a Disney Adult, I am also a dark fiction writer and a huge horror genre fan. Attending Halloween Horror Nights is something I’ve dreamed of experiencing. I was not disappointed. The event spans the main park area and features ten houses, five scare zones, a live stage show, and lots of food and drinks created for the festivities. The houses and scare zones are a mix of original concepts and IP (intellectual property) themes. Lastly, it wouldn’t be a huge even like this without plenty of exclusive merchandise. Now, I want to run through the houses and scare zones with how I ranked them. The placement is NOT a slight against the team members or scare actors- they were all fantastic and worked their asses off to scare the crap out of everybody. The ranking is based on concept and if the design worked or not.

And now, the rankings…

10) The Museum: Deadly Exhibits- The theme of this house was that an ancient cursed artifact has gone on display in a museum and causes all the employees and exhibits to rot and mutate. I wasn’t big on the theme or the way the sets looked. This appeared to be the one with the least budget amount.

9) Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodline- Great set pieces, but a lackluster story. I’m not sure if the right amount of scare actors were on duty when we went through, because I questioned why the house protagonist is the one jumping out at me all the time. I expected more from a battle between Van Helsing’s daughter and the Bride of Frankenstein versus Dracula’s daughter. This should’ve been a homerun, but fell short.

8) Major Sweet’s Candy Factory- This house was based on a previous scare zone. The house had some annoying PA announcements you were forced to loudly listen to before you entered the door, and the story didn’t do anything for me. Kids on a school fieldtrip eat the candy and turn into little murderous brats who kill the adults. The brutal kill scenes were very good, but the story felt boring.

7) Goblin’s Feast- Tour a goblin kitchen and home where human is on the menu. The house had some nice set pieces, but didn’t strike as anything special.

6) Triplets of Terror- Follow the triplets as they murder people while they celebrate a birthday. The house isn’t bad, but when you get to the middle you ‘step’ into a true-crime podcast, it loses the story flow. I would’ve preferred the house stay focused on the killing spree and not the publicity the murders brought about.

5) A Quiet Place- Great sets with amazing props for the monsters, but the only thing that jumps out at you are the survivors jump scaring you to be quiet while they make a ton of noise to alert the creatures. I also wish it had something to tie to A Quiet Place: Day One.

4) Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America- This house was based on Latin American legendary monsters. The sets were great, and scenes nice and gory. I got jump scared good in this one.

3) Slaughter Sinema 2- This house was a trip through horror movies being shown at the Carey Drive-In. The movie themes and sets were top-notch with some very graphic scenes. I also have to give props to the designers for the shark animatronic and walking through the dude’s split in half body.

2) Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire- This house surprised me. I fully expected to hate this house since I wasn’t a fan of the movie, but I loved it. It wasn’t a scary house, but the sets and effects were all great fun. Slimer and Ecto-1 won the house for me.

1) Insidious: The Further- I was very excited for this house when it was announced, and it didn’t disappoint. I love the film series, and being able to explore the Further made for a really fantastic house. The rooms were creepy and moody with the best scare actor placement in the whole park. The Black Bride was played perfectly by the actors and scared the hell out of people. This was also voted the best house for 2024, and it earned it.

Now for the Scare Zones…

5) Demon Queens- Walked through and didn’t even notice.

4) Duality of Fear- Like the zone above.

3) Swamp of the Undead- This one tried. You could tell the Scare Zones seemed mailed-in this year with all the money going into Epic Universe. Great sets, and the zombies looked good shambling around in the fog.

2) Enter the Blumhouse- This zone was based on Blumhouse films such as The Black Phone, Megan, Freaky, and The Purge. Nice idea, but it was essentially a photo-op area. Most of the main characters were on stages you couldn’t get on, and they didn’t come down. The only actors milling around the zone were Purge actors.

1) Torture Faire- A fine faire based on death and torment. Great sets and great actor interaction around the zone.

Overall, I loved HHN, and I want to go back every year now. The experience is worth it, and I highly recommend going at least once if you love horror. For more travel shenanigans follow me over on TikTok @brent.abell and follow here! Subscribe or like!

Well, back to working on the next book and planning for the next trip!

Later,

Brent