Analysis: Timeline of the Disney/Henson feud that nearly derailed Muppet*Vision 3D
Muppet*Vision 3D has been delighting guests at Disney’s Hollywood Studios since 1991, but the Henson family didn’t want Disney to open the attraction upon its completion.
The Great Muppet Feud
The Walt Disney Company purchased the Muppets in 2004. However, Jim Henson and then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner had announced plans for the acquisition much earlier: all the way back in 1989.
Photo by Blake Taylor
The timeline of what transpired between 1989 and 2004 reads like an HBO drama. Perhaps you’ll learn something new as we delve into this rarely discussed moment in Disney history.
Mickey Welcomes Muppets
August 1989: On “Good Morning America,” Henson and Eisner announced Disney would acquire Henson Associates, which included the Muppets. That same month, Henson and Kermit the Frog proudly immortalized their hand prints and flippers, respectively, in cement at the central plaza of Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios, where Henson’s slab still visible today). The park had just opened four months prior.
An Optimistic Future for Henson and Disney, Especially in Florida
Jan. 13, 1990: During a media event promoting Star Tours, Eisner unveiled ambitious plans for a Muppets stage show, 3D film, and parade at Disney-MGM Studios, as well as an undisclosed Muppets attraction for Disneyland.
Winter 1990: The 3D film Eisner had announced, Muppet*Vision 3D, was in active production on the Walt Disney Studio lot in Burbank, Calif. (as reported later on Tough Pigs by a contest winner). Jim Henson directed Muppet*Vision and, as always, performed the role of Kermit the Frog.
Spring 1990: By this time, Jim Henson had purchased a “1930s lakeside cottage” in Windermere, Fla., immediately north of Walt Disney World. Henson’s plans might have connected with ideation and construction of Muppet attractions nearby, or filming of Muppet video projects at the active production facilities at Disney-MGM Studios, or both.
May 6, 1990: The Orlando Sentinel published a profile feature about Jim Henson. The article included what would be one of the puppeteer’s final interviews. Within the article’s commentary, the Sentinel implied the Disney/Henson acquisition could be imminent. That same night, the television special “The Muppets at Walt Disney World” aired on NBC.
Tragedy
May 16, 1990: Jim Henson passed away of pneumonia, which had onset rapidly within just a few days. Though the Disney acquisition was in active negotiation, the purchase hadn’t been completed.
May 17, 1990: While the acquisition remained in question, Disney/Henson projects already in progress seemed to be in the clear.
“We plan to proceed with everything as [Jim Henson] would have wanted us to, in the show business tradition of ‘The show must go on,’” Disney spokesperson Edwin Okun told the Orlando Sentinel,
The stage show Eisner had announced was slated to open just one week later, while the 3D film was well into development, but still a year away from opening.
May 25, 1990: “Here Come the Muppets” opened at Disney-MGM Studios. The live show performed inside the theater that would later become the longtime home of “Voyage of the Little Mermaid.” “Here Come the Muppets” featured full-body walk-around versions of the Muppets, not traditional puppets.
Disney and Henson Part Ways
Dec. 14, 1990: The New York Times reported Disney would no longer purchase Henson Associates. The publication cited unsuccessful negotiations between the two parties.
April 1991: The Wall Street Journal allegedly said Henson Associates was considering other buyers, including MCA and Time Warner. If a deal had been struck with either company, we might have had Muppet attractions at Universal or Six Flags parks, respectively. The Orlando Sentinel referenced April’s WSJ article in May 1991, in turn saying the WSJ cited “unidentified sources.” We cannot locate the original WSJ article online.
Henson’s Family Sues Disney, Advocates Against Muppet*Vision 3D
April 17, 1991: Henson Associates sued Disney, as reported the next day in the Orlando Sentinel. Brian Henson, Jim’s son, said Disney was acting as if they owned the Muppets, “exploiting” the characters following the failed acquisition. The lawsuit expressed specific concern over the Muppets’ presence in Disney-MGM Studios. Henson demanded that Disney not proceed with its plans to open Muppet*Vision 3D. However, that attraction was all but complete and ready for its May 4, 1991 debut. Disney ultimately scrapped a press preview intended for April 27, 1991.
April 23, 1991: Disney filed a countersuit against Henson Associates. As relayed in the Orlando Sentinel, Disney expressed the completion of Muppet*Vision 3D following Jim Henson’s death never violated both companies’ agreed partnership. By this time, Disney had postponed the intended grand opening of Muppet*Vision to May 24, 1991.
Photo by Blake Taylor
A New Path Forward
April 30, 1991: Out of court, the Orlando Sentinel reported, Disney and Henson Associates settled the lawsuit. When it was all said and done, Walt Disney World could proceed full steam ahead with Muppet*Vision 3D and continue performing “Here Come the Muppets.”
The Los Angeles Times’ account of the settlement stressed Disney’s use of Muppets in theme parks “east of the Mississippi River.” Theme park fans may recognize this as the exact same phrase used in 1994 for Universal Orlando’s contract with Marvel, preserved online by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. To this day, that agreement gives Universal exclusive rights to use certain Marvel characters in Florida.
Photo by Blake Taylor
In the Muppets’ case, the same phrasing meant Muppets were allowed in Walt Disney World, but any parks west of the Mississippi — namely, Disneyland — were off the table. In theory, Henson Associates could have shopped the brand around to other theme parks in the ’90s. This detail ultimately meant the unspecified Disneyland Muppets attraction Eisner had teased several months prior would not move forward.
The settlement also specified that the Walt Disney World terms were only good for the following 18 months, with Disney having “an option to renew the license for 3 1/2 more years,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Positing another wild hypothetical, Muppet*Vision could have seen a very short residence if Disney and Henson hadn’t extended the partnership upon time for renewal.
Disney-MGM Studios, Muppets HQ
May 16, 1991: Muppet*Vision 3D officially opened at Disney-MGM Studios.
Sept. 2, 1991: “Here Come the Muppets” performed for the last time at Disney-MGM Studios. Its indoor venue welcomed “Voyage of the Little Mermaid” four months later.
Sept. 16, 1991: “Muppets On Location — The Days of Swine and Roses,” a new stage show, premiered outdoors in the Backlot area of Disney-MGM Studios. The show involved Kermit directing the gang (again as full-body walk-around characters) in making a big Hollywood motion picture.
In listening closely to the audio from footage of “Muppets On Location — The Days of Swine and Roses,” Kermit seems to have been voiced by Steve Whitmire, not Jim Henson. Though Whitmire had been Kermit during a televised memorial celebration of Henson’s life in late 1990, there had been no major film or series in between Jim’s death and the opening of “Muppets On Location.” Therefore, “Muppets On Location” likely would have been the first time many guests heard the iconic frog performed by someone other than Henson, signifying a huge frog leap forward in the character’s legacy.
Dinosaurs Live
Sept. 26, 1991: The “Dinosaurs Live” street party premiered at Disney-MGM Studios. It featured characters from the sitcom “Dinosaurs,” which Disney and Henson produced together for ABC. Eisner’s announcement at the top of the year about a Muppet parade may or may not have been in reference to this production. In any case, “Dinosaurs Live” was more of a street party than a traditional parade, and Eisner’s remarks had implied the signature Muppet characters, not a Muppet-adjacent brand. Still, “Dinosaurs Live” (and, to that extent, the continued production of the television show itself) indicated a seemingly healthy ongoing rapport between Disney and Henson Associates.
Photo by Blake Taylor
Business Partners, Not Family
Still separate entities, Disney and Henson enjoyed a wide-ranging business relationship as the ’90s progressed. In retrospect, the quantity and versatility of this era’s Muppet portfolio show no indication of a recent public feud. Come December 1991, the Disney-owned Buena Vista Home Video became the distributor of Muppet VHS tapes. This included both archival and original productions, as reported in the Tampa Bay Times.
In November 1992, Walt Disney Pictures theatrically released “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” directed by Brian Henson. This was a quick turn-around considering how hostile relations had been between the two parties less than two years prior.
1996 saw a double-portion of Disney investment into the Muppets. That year, “Muppet Treasure Island” debuted in theaters (again directed by Henson). Meanwhile, the “Muppets Tonight” variety show premiered on ABC.
Relations between Disney and The Jim Henson Company (formerly Henson Associates) were civil enough, and legalities seemingly abridged enough, for Disneyland to at last install a Muppets attraction by way of a clone of Muppet*Vision 3D. The film debuted at Disney California Adventure in February 2001 as part of the park’s opening-day lineup. It has since closed there, its theater now occupied by Mickey’s PhilharMagic.
Photo by Blake Taylor
A Whole Muppet Land at Disney-MGM Studios
Concept art and rumors have circulated among fans for decades about Disney’s master plan for the Muppets at Disney-MGM Studios. The area surrounding Muppet*Vision would have reportedly been home to an Audio-Animatronics parody spectacular called The Great Muppet Movie Ride, among other ideas. Jim Henson acknowledged these plans in one of his final interviews. Learn more in our story about attractions Disney announced but never built.
Disney Finally Buys the Muppets … 15 Years After Announcing the Purchase
Disney ultimately fulfilled what Jim Henson and Michael Eisner had set out to accomplish, albeit over a decade after the fact. On Feb. 17, 2004, The Walt Disney Company purchased the Muppets from The Jim Henson Company. Disney retains ownership of the Muppets today, the franchise now existing as The Muppets Studio, a subdivision of Walt Disney Imagineering since 2019.
Photo by Blake Taylor
Muppet*Vision 3D, whose fate in Florida was almost sealed after only 18 months of operations (and nearly prevented from opening altogether before that), remains open at the park now known as Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The theater, in the words of a wise frog, sustained only minor damage.
