Muppets Courtyard (2016-2017) & Muppet Star Wars Rumor!

As many fans speculated, Disney is minimizing The Muppets already diminishing presence in the parks. 

It was announced today via the official Disney Park blog that Muppets Courtyard is being rebranded as Grand Avenue.

Muppets Courtyard, along with a portion of the former Streets of America, is being re-imagined by Walt Disney Imagineering to become a new area called Grand Avenue. Inspired by the revitalization and the vibrant culture of present-day downtown Los Angeles, Grand Avenue is where vintage office buildings and warehouses are being converted to exciting new uses. Guests will soon see facades for “merchants” appearing in this area for a music shop, loft apartments, a tailor and more, with each window on the street featuring charming displays.

The current Muppets Courtyard will become Grand Park, an urban square off Grand Avenue surrounded by shops and restaurants like PizzeRizzo and Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano. Guests can already see changes in the area, with the Muppets theater being renamed “Grand Arts Theatre” and boasting a brand-new marquee.

As it was only last April that Disney renamed the area "Muppets Courtyard", this has to be one of the fastest about faces Disney has done.

The folks at Disney know how this sounds, and are always great at putting good spin on bad news (maybe our president should hire them as his new communication director), so they end the post with...

But, not to worry – Kermit, Miss Piggy and the gang continue to star in their hilarious and irreverent “Muppet*Vision 3D” show.

Very reassuring indeed.

This week also brought a rumor that Disney might be adding a live Muppet Star Wars themed show, similar to Great Moments In History (But Just The American Parts), to the adjacent area leading to Star Wars Land.

The Muppets as que filler while people wait to get to a totally different part of the park. Sound like the people at Disney Parks have great faith in franchise. Sigh.