Photos: Stage One Company Store Completely Removed as Disney's Hollywood Studios Replaces Muppets with Monsters

Guests visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios are seeing some fast progress in the former Muppets Courtyard, largely based on what is not there as opposed to what normally is. The long-dormant Stage One Company Store, formerly a go-to place for Muppets merchandise and later, specialty Disney art, has been completely removed and demolished.

Those visiting the park can see the walls with the former Muppets Courtyard behind it and see almost all the way through the courtyard now, back to the also-closed Mama Melrose’s restaurant. Gone is the building, once adorned with Muppet aesthetics and statues, providing a clear view.

The area has been closed to make way for a new area themed to the Pixar Animation Studios film, Monsters, Inc, depicting their world, Monstropolis, and welcoming guests to the Scare, well, now technically, Laugh Floor for a new coaster experience that everyone expected back when the movie debuted back in 2001.

The store being removed is no surprise, as the concept art that was revealed (and later slightly updated) as part of D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event for the upcoming Monsters Inc. themed land is missing the shop’s structure, providing a more open area in the center of the former Muppets Courtyard.

Beyond that, you can see Harryhausen’s, a restaurant that is where Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano is now, helping you get your bearings on how this all fits. The area that features Monsters, Inc. itself, playing host to the long-awaited door vault coaster, is an expansion of the area, stretching out into a portion of what is now a parking lot (typically for Cast Members) adjacent to the park. There is no construction timeline, and no opening window for the land has been revealed at this time.