New Monsters Inc. Boulevard and Dark Ride coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios
April 17th, 2008 by John Magi
Posted in Walt Disney World |
As many of you know Pete Werner is in California this week on a working vacation. Interspersed among meetings he is getting some time to enjoy Disneyland California as well as socialize with random strangers (an aspect of the human condition that has eluded me personally).
I guess being sociable can pay off as Pete spent some time with a very knowledgeable Disney employee who shared some very cool insider information.
This unnamed Cast Member (of apparently some importance) works for Disney in Burbank and told Pete that John Lasseter has really invigorated the Imagineering department at Disney. So much so that they are getting excited about new projects and ideas in a way they haven’t been in years. Mr. Lasseter is also working to bring in new/younger Imagineers. Currently, the average age of the Disney Imagineer is 47 and they are afraid that they might lose that ‘talent’ if older Imagineers retire and there are no new ones to replace them.
Mr. Lasseter is also instrumental in integrating the Pixar brand more into the overall Disney consciousness, as evidenced by Toy Story the Musical on the Disney Cruise Line, the new Pixar inspired parades at Disney World and Disneyland, the soon-to-be-debuted Toy Story Mania at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (DHS) as well as something new on the slate for DHS – a whole new area based on Monsters Inc.
This area will be a Boulevard all it’s own within DHS. We do not know if this will replace a current area/street at the Studios theme park or if it will be added to the current footprint of the park somehow.
This new Boulevard/area of Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be themed based on Monsters Inc. and will include a new ‘dark ride’ based on the ‘door scene’ from the movie. This is the scene that expands on the premise that the Monster world gains access to the human world via the closet doors in children’s rooms. We can only imagine what the Disney Imagineers might come up with based on the scene in the movie where the doors fly by on ‘drycleaner’ type apparatus and open up to new rooms and adventures for Sully and Mike.
The new area at Disney Hollywood Studios, as well as the new ride, are both still in the concept stage and has not been finalized yet, but Pete is confident the information is sound based on the source.
Thanks to Pete Werner for getting us this info.