Walt Disney Television's/Jim Henson Productions' The Muppets at Walt Disney World (1990)

In 1989 Jim Henson began talks with Michael Eisner to merge his company with the Walt Disney Company. Eisner had greenlit the original Muppet Show pilots when he’d been an ABC executive in the 1970’s and had always felt a connection to the Muppets just as he felt for other projects he’d greenlit before coming to Disney such as Indiana Jones. In this merger, Jim Henson was to be brought on to become the Walt Disney figure of the Walt Disney Company. This is what appealed to Henson most of all. He would no longer need to worry about the financial side of his company but could focus solely on the creative. This would have been a merger made in Heaven for the closest figure there’s been to a Walt Disney was Jim Henson.

There was a long and messy road on the Disney/Henson merger but it was finally going to happen. Jim had been working with different areas of the Walt Disney Company and places to put his characters. He’d also adapted some Disney characters into puppetry such as animal characters from The little Mermaid. (In fact, Jim was involved in two pilots for a Disney Channel series tying in with the film called Ariel’s Island. Although this series never got beyond the pilot stage, the concept was later adapted to the series Sing Me A Story with Belle based on Beauty & the Beast.) The Disney/MGM Studios was to have an entire Muppet section. Ultimately only MuppetVision 3-D was ever completed. There were planned Muppet films, TV shows, animated films, and other things that never came to fruition. Jim was really interested in the theme parks because of the connection between audioanimatronics and puppetry.

The merger ultimately didn’t happen because Jim Henson suddenly died of streptococcus pneumonia and the Disney lawyers wanted to lowball the Henson family for their assets since Jim no longer came with them. The Henson family were turned off by the aggressive nature of the Disney legal staff, just as Jim had been when he was alive. Ultimately, there would be a loose partnership with the Walt Disney Company for a few years resulting in films like The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island as well as the TV series Dinosaurs and Muppets Tonight (Both started by Jim.) In 2004 the Walt Disney Company ultimately bought the Muppets and have had a lackluster relationship with them since. This would be the first franchise that they would gobble up with Pixar, Marvel, and Lucusfilm to follow. Also, because of what happened to Jim Henson on the eve of that would be merger, John Lasseter was given healthy stipulations when he was given a similar Creative Officer deal to what Jim would have had.

Before Henson died, the final Muppet project ever produced was a TV special celebrating the Muppet merger that never happened. The special aired ten days before Jim Henson died. It was produced to announce the Disney/Muppet merger to the world. The special was written by longtime Muppet writer Jerry Juhl. He’d started with the company as a Muppeteer in the 1960’s but soon became their chief writer handling everything from Sesame Street sketches and the Muppet Show to being the co-creator of Fraggle Rock and writer on dozens of non-Muppet projects that never got off the ground. This special has his style of humor that the Muppets used to be known for. (The Muppets were never conceived as the kiddie property they're thought of today. They had always been for adults with a large kid base. Jim had actually resisted working on Sesame Street at first because his didn't want the Muppets to be thought of as a kid only property.)

The premise is that the Muppets are in the swamp around Walt Disney World visiting Kermit’s family when they make a break to the theme parks and zany Muppet hilarity ensues. Charles Grodin plays the villain of the piece, the bumbling security guard Quentin Fitzwaller. He’d also been a more sinister villain in the Muppets second theatrical film The Great Muppet Caper. Raven Simone is the only other guest star in this special as a little girl who encourages Kermit. At the time she was a star on The Cosby Show and she would go one to have a long affiliation with the Walt Disney Company perhaps the most well known being the star of her own sitcom That’s So Raven. Mickey Mouse makes an animated appearance at the finale as well.

The Muppets at Walt Disney World marks a few landmark moments in Muppet history. It’s the first time the character of Bean Bunny was cemented into the core group of Muppet characters. He debuted in the 1986 Easter special The Tale of the Bunny Picnic for HBO. He was then part of the cast of the short-lived 1989 series The Jim Henson Hour for NBC. He was never part of the Muppets cast until this special. He also made appearances in Muppetvision 3-D, Muppet Babies, and The Muppet Christmas Carol. After Jim Henson died, his performer, Steve Whitmire, took over the role of Kermit the Frog and Bean fell by the wayside. The reason Bean Bunny was integrated into the Muppet cast is because Jim thought his cuteness would draw that burden away from the other Muppet characters and allow them to be the personalities they originally were in the 1970’s.

This special also marks the first time the character of Clifford was part of Dr Teeth & the Electric Mayhem. Clifford had also been originally introduced in The Jim Henson Hour. The Electric Mayhem band members were each made up of the core group of Mupeteers and when Kevin Clash was added to the core group he had a character join the band. Clifford would later be the host of TV series Muppets Tonight in 1996.

But the most historical aspect of this special is this is the final time Jim Henson performed his characters in a production. The Muppets of Jim Henson’s time are vastly different from the Muppets as they are today and that makes The Muppets as Walt Disney World a tremendous record in both Walt Disney and Muppet history. It also makes one wonder how different this history would have been if Jim Henson had lived.

The Muppets at Walt Disney World hasn’t been seen in decades and the Disney Parks no longer look the way they do in them. The recently opened Disney/MGM Studios plays a big part in this production and that park as well as its then signature landmark, a replica of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, no longer exist.

As a bonus included at the end of the special is the blooper reel that was created for the wrap party. It was made for Disney welcoming the Muppet employees into the fold.

In November 1990 there would one final Muppet production before the Muppets changed forever. That was the TV special The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson. That special had been pushed by Michael Eisner as a tribute to Jim at a time when Jim’s family and staff wanted to mourn. It marked the final time Richard Hunt performed his Muppet characters. He died of AIDS in 1992. The Muppet Christmas Carol, the first Muppet theatrical film after Jim’s death, is dedicated in the memory of both Jim Henson and Richard Hunt.

Original airdate May 6, 1990

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.