PizzeRizzo opens this fall!

[Josh Hendy]

This is a case of confusing branding ... and not the kind of food association that people react to extremely well. A rat holding a slice of pizza ... or stirring a pot in a kitchen?



And as much as I like the Muppets, I don't understand the need to spend a lot of money creating a food venue for an obscure character who is not strongly associated with restaurants and pizza.

Whereas, Toy Story Pizza Planet is/was an absolute slam dunk ... if done properly.

My fear: Great Movie Ride will be PizzaRizzo'd.

 

[lucas]

This is a case of confusing branding ... and not the kind of food association that people react to extremely well. A rat holding a slice of pizza ... or stirring a pot in a kitchen?

View attachment 204655 View attachment 204657

And as much as I like the Muppets, I don't understand the need to spend a lot of money creating a food venue for an obscure character who is not strongly associated with restaurants and pizza.

Whereas, Toy Story Pizza Planet is/was an absolute slam dunk ... if done properly.

My fear: Great Movie Ride will be PizzaRizzo'd.

Hey, it was all started by a mouse!

 

[Lee Matthews]

This is a case of confusing branding ... and not the kind of food association that people react to extremely well. A rat holding a slice of pizza ... or stirring a pot in a kitchen?

View attachment 204655 View attachment 204657

And as much as I like the Muppets, I don't understand the need to spend a lot of money creating a food venue for an obscure character who is not strongly associated with restaurants and pizza.

Whereas, Toy Story Pizza Planet is/was an absolute slam dunk ... if done properly.

My fear: Great Movie Ride will be PizzaRizzo'd.

It's purely location. Beefs up the Muppets area and theming on the cheap

 

[Josh Hendy]

It's purely location. Beefs up the Muppets area and theming on the cheap

Not only theming on the cheap but ... has anyone else taken note of the tremendous effort made by Universal to invent absolutely unique food and beverages for the 2 Harry Potter lands and Springfield USA? Totally new, unique, original and imaginative. The person who designed the menu for Harry Potter got all 7 books and highlighted every one of the hundreds of references to food and drink, then sat down and used heaps of imagination and product development to "make it so". Butterbeer was just the starting point. And Springfield USA has real Krusty Burgers and unique Duff Beers.

In contrast, Pizza Rizzo appears to be just phoning it in. "Character from Disney owned franchise. Check. Massive capacity. Check. Same generic food as before. Checkmate. Done!"

 

[skier_pete]

Everyone does realize that in "The Muppets Take Manhattan", the movie which gave Rizzo his first big role in a movie - Rizzo (and members of his family) worked in a Pizza place. It really isn't "slap a character on a place and call it themed" Rizzo was selected specifically for his history.

I love how people on here are trashing it before it is even opened, and conveniently forgetting that Pizza Planet was NOT REMOTELY THEMED TO TOY STORY other than the name.

 

[rteetz]

Everyone does realize that in "The Muppets Take Manhattan", the movie which gave Rizzo his first big role in a movie - Rizzo (and members of his family) worked in a Pizza place. It really isn't "slap a character on a place and call it themed" Rizzo was selected specifically for his history.

I love how people on here are trashing it before it is even opened, and conveniently forgetting that Pizza Planet was NOT REMOTELY THEMED TO TOY STORY other than the name.

They had the green aliens!

 

[Keels]

It's still technically Pizza Planet-themed because the sign says it's "the Best Pizza on the Planet".

 

[TwoMisfits]

I don't think anyone thought Pizza Planet was well themed, but they hadn't seen much better for counter service...now, they have...so for PizzeRizzo, there's no excuse now, after seeing what can be themed, for Disney to phone in this one so obviously...

 

[aristocatz]

This is a case of confusing branding ... and not the kind of food association that people react to extremely well. A rat holding a slice of pizza ... or stirring a pot in a kitchen?

View attachment 204655 View attachment 204657

And as much as I like the Muppets, I don't understand the need to spend a lot of money creating a food venue for an obscure character who is not strongly associated with restaurants and pizza.

Whereas, Toy Story Pizza Planet is/was an absolute slam dunk ... if done properly.

My fear: Great Movie Ride will be PizzaRizzo'd.

I love that they are doing a tribute to Muppets Take Manhattan. A great nod to us 80's Muppets Fans. & I love that they chose a subtle detail that Muppets fans will recognize, as opposed to choosing some "in your face" commercial of a current movie or more Frozen stuff.

 

[Josh Hendy]

I love that they are doing a tribute to Muppets Take Manhattan. A great nod to us 80's Muppets Fans. & I love that they chose a subtle detail that Muppets fans will recognize, as opposed to choosing some "in your face" commercial of a current movie or more Frozen stuff.

I respect and appreciate all of your points, but for the people who are not huge Muppet fans this is damning Disney with faint praise.

Appealing to knowledgable 80s Muppets aficionados with subtle details is IMHO a pretty weak effort compared to the stupendous, over-the-top efforts of Universal to design completely original, unique food and beverage experiences based on the two gigantic world cultural phenomena of Harry Potter and The Simpsons.

If you appreciate and enjoy Rizzo's that's great and I'm happy for you. But if you're following the Disney/Uni theme park arms race closely I think it's pretty clear who has the greater energy and initiative right now.

 

[minijeanie]

d

 

[aristocatz]

I respect and appreciate all of your points, but for the people who are not huge Muppet fans this is damning Disney with faint praise.

Appealing to knowledgable 80s Muppets aficionados with subtle details is IMHO a pretty weak effort compared to the stupendous, over-the-top efforts of Universal to design completely original, unique food and beverage experiences based on the two gigantic world cultural phenomena of Harry Potter and The Simpsons.

If you appreciate and enjoy Rizzo's that's great and I'm happy for you. But if you're following the Disney/Uni theme park arms race closely I think it's pretty clear who has the greater energy and initiative right now.

I guess I never thought to compare it to Universal's Harry Potter stuff. Seems apples to oranges to me. I had thought the DHS transformation to Star Wars theme would be the only thing on that scale of comparison.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I guess I never thought to compare it to Universal's Harry Potter stuff. Seems apples to oranges to me. I had thought the DHS transformation to Star Wars theme would be the only thing on that scale of comparison.

I think the poster is trying to say that theme parks are trying to up their game now in terms of immersion and innovation in the food, and beverage department - not a uncommon muppet theme with what seems like an uninspired and generic menu.

Simpsons land comes to mind too with some neat and exclusive treats and theming.

 

[PuppyJonathan]

Wait, aren't krusty burgers supposed to be bad though?

 

[skier_pete]

I respect and appreciate all of your points, but for the people who are not huge Muppet fans this is damning Disney with faint praise.

Appealing to knowledgable 80s Muppets aficionados with subtle details is IMHO a pretty weak effort compared to the stupendous, over-the-top efforts of Universal to design completely original, unique food and beverage experiences based on the two gigantic world cultural phenomena of Harry Potter and The Simpsons.

If you appreciate and enjoy Rizzo's that's great and I'm happy for you. But if you're following the Disney/Uni theme park arms race closely I think it's pretty clear who has the greater energy and initiative right now.

I'll grant you this - if it is truly the exact same crappy food that was served at Pizza Planet - then I'll agree with you. However, I've yet to see any evidence that they won't improve the pizza. (A picture on a blog post doesn't count as "proof".)

I am not sure what "uniquely muppet" food you expect them to make? Harry Potter and Simpsons has tons of food references - though I admit there is nothing in the Simpsons oeuvre that makes me want to eat any of that food. I actually can't think of anything that is really food related about the muppets other than Swedish chef. What unique themed muppet food do you (or others) suggest to make the food unique to the theming? Disney did this with Be Our Guest, will likely do so with Star Wars land, but not every restaurant has to have food that feels expressly fitting in with the theming. And again - the theme is in fact "Pizza Place", which means that the food should be "Pizza".

 

[Roxyfire]

And again - the theme is in fact "Pizza Place", which means that the food should be "Pizza".

I hope that even if they start out with standard pizza they have in other areas of the park that they'd eventually go toward the NY style slices. I think that would be a pretty big win, on the theme and taste front. Ultimately, I'd guess the average person just wants to find a place where everyone in their family can find something on the menu that they would eat.

 

[Josh Hendy]

I am not sure what "uniquely muppet" food you expect them to make? Harry Potter and Simpsons has tons of food references - though I admit there is nothing in the Simpsons oeuvre that makes me want to eat any of that food. I actually can't think of anything that is really food related about the muppets other than Swedish chef. What unique themed muppet food do you (or others) suggest to make the food unique to the theming? Disney did this with Be Our Guest, will likely do so with Star Wars land, but not every restaurant has to have food that feels expressly fitting in with the theming. And again - the theme is in fact "Pizza Place", which means that the food should be "Pizza".

Well to be completely honest, I didn't expect or want them to make any kind of uniquely Muppet food, since as you say, there is no such thing.

I didn't ask them to change Pizza Planet or "do something Muppets food related". They COULD have and SHOULD have made a really stunningly themed Pizza Planet restaurant, and they could have tried a lot harder to offer Pizza and other dishes with high quality ingredients and (in spite of the need for high volume) with a preparation and baking process that produces high quality pies.

I don't know if they significantly changed the ingredients and baking process from their old, blah, Pizza Planet operation ... but I kind of doubt it.

The whole Pizza Rizzo makeover seems to me like they're doing the absolute minimum of theming and food prep changes that they deem necessary to simply feed the masses of people expected when Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land open. I call that phoning it in, and frankly they're acting like they never heard of the much greater effort that Universal is making for "total theming" or if they heard of it, they're scoffing at it very loudly.

 

[skier_pete]

Well to be completely honest, I didn't expect or want them to make any kind of uniquely Muppet food, since as you say, there is no such thing.

I didn't ask them to change Pizza Planet or "do something Muppets food related". They COULD have and SHOULD have made a really stunningly themed Pizza Planet restaurant, and they could have tried a lot harder to offer Pizza and other dishes with high quality ingredients and (in spite of the need for high volume) with a preparation and baking process that produces high quality pies.

I don't know if they significantly changed the ingredients and baking process from their old, blah, Pizza Planet operation ... but I kind of doubt it.

The whole Pizza Rizzo makeover seems to me like they're doing the absolute minimum of theming and food prep changes that they deem necessary to simply feed the masses of people expected when Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land open. I call that phoning it in, and frankly they're acting like they never heard of the much greater effort that Universal is making for "total theming" or if they heard of it, they're scoffing at it very loudly.

OK - I guess I'm going to continue arguing about this...the theme of Toy Story land is that you've been shrunk down and placed in Andy's back yard. Putting a Pizza Planet over there would be against the theme of the area. Anyways, a "Well themed" Pizza Planet would have been a good idea 20 years ago, but it still would have the same boring pizza - maybe even more so. A place like Pizza Planet (let's say real life Dave and Busters or something equivalent) basically has bottom of the barrel Pizza.)

I think the reason for re-doing is they decided to give that whole area a Muppets theming. It may even eventually extend to Mama Melrose and the surrounding area. I personally think "good for them". They shouldn't be sinking $50 million into re-themeing a Muppets restaurant. I think what they did is perfectly fine - AS LONG AS THEY RAISE THE QUALITY OF THE FOOD. Because really THAT'S what we should be concerned about. Not whether you care about the theming or not...not every theme is going to appeal to everyone. Muppet themes will appeal to muppet fans. Star Wars theme should appeal to Star Wars fan. But the food should appeal to the broadest range of all. You and I should both enjoy a meal there - whether we think the Rizzo the Rat theme is worth a damn or not. If they get THAT part right - then there should be no complaints. And yeah, I'm not yet convinced they WILL get that part right - but I am still hopeful.

 

[Justin Mendoza]

I honestly feel that Disney might be starting to at least partially get that their guests aren't just dumb consumers. Obviously there's still some areas in which Disney has no respect for their customers, but in the past few months, I think there's a piece of them, at least park wise, that's running around like the park is going to expire, squeezing random, desperate events out to keep people coming while too many things they've promised for far too long are under construction.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I honestly feel that Disney might be starting to at least partially get that their guests aren't just dumb consumers. Obviously there's still some areas in which Disney has no respect for their customers, but in the past few months, I think there's a piece of them, at least park wise, that's running around like the park is going to expire, squeezing random, desperate events out to keep people coming while too many things they've promised for far too long are under construction.

You did see last quarter numbers, right...it's b/c the customers finally hit them over the head...