I dont think that Mr. Hill has any ax to grind at all. His reporting has, to my knowledge, always been accurate. He has his share of opinions (I never found the concepts for The Muppet Movie Ride to be all that humorous although the rest of The Muppets Studios were interesting), but he always makes it clear when hes stating his analysis. Plans change, thats not either a bad thing or a good thing. But most of the time its interesting.
Two elements to add to Mr. Hills article. A real production center was planned for the Muppet area in Florida. Both for television production and a branch of The Creature Shop. These were back in the days when the Disney/MGM Studios tried to be a real, working studio.
Second, Mr. Hill made reference to Mickey going on vacation in his last installment but didnt pick up that thread. At the time of the Henson Co. buyout,
Disneyland was basing its marketing campaign around park-wide events: a circus, a state fair, a retro 50s thing. The concept for the Muppets was that Mickey and the main characters took a vacation from Disneyland. In their place the Muppets take over. All references to the Mice and the Ducks were to have been replaced with Frogs, Pigs, and er, fuzzy things. All the stage shows would have been changed and some of the rides would have been re-themed. The Muppet Invasion plan ended when the buyout ended. And for a time Pressler was going to replace Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln with Muppets 3-D.
