New aerial photos published October 19 show brick paving underway at the Monstropolis entrance, new formwork around the central fountain, foundation walls near Harryhausen’s Restaurant, and a growing steel frame for the Flying Door coaster building at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Additional Vekoma track is staged on flatbed trucks near the Disney Skyliner.
The coaster steel is the obvious scene-stealer, but the brick pavers may be the more revealing update. A ride building tells us a project is being assembled; an entrance pattern, fountain footprint, and restaurant foundations show the former Muppets Courtyard becoming one connected Monstropolis streetscape. The monsters are finally getting an address, not just a very large warehouse.
The old courtyard is finding its new visual language
At the land’s entrance, columns are in place and crews are installing a fan-shaped brick pattern across part of the plaza. WDWNT reports that concept art places a large “M” medallion in the circular space built into the approach. That is a wonderfully direct welcome for a city whose civic branding has never met a letter it could not put on a hard hat.
Farther inside, wooden formwork now braces the octagonal fountain foundation near the former MuppetVision 3D theater. The location is approximately where the Miss Piggy Lady Liberty fountain once stood. The old fountain’s very specific Muppet joke is gone; the new one is becoming a central piece of the Monstropolis layout, but the photos do not establish its finished design or operation.
The former theater is being converted into the Glob Theater for “Welcome to Monstropolis! With Sulley & Mike.” Near the future Harryhausen’s Restaurant, new foundation walls and concrete footings outline an L-shaped structure. Archie’s Scare Pig Pizza, replacing PizzeRizzo, is also visible beside the active plaza work. Seeing those named locations around the fountain is what makes this update feel less like isolated construction trivia and more like an actual neighborhood plan.
The Door Vault is showing its bones
The Flying Door coaster’s steel superstructure now rises across the construction site, with a partially enclosed building beside it. WDWMAGIC also photographed more track waiting at the off-site staging area visible from the Skyliner near EPCOT. The track is manufactured by Vekoma for Disney’s first suspended coaster, which will hang ride vehicles beneath the track for the Door Vault experience.
That suspended layout is why the steel matters beyond its sheer size: this is the physical system Disney has described for sending riders through the Monsters, Inc. door warehouse. Track on trucks is not an opening announcement, but it is a particularly satisfying piece of the promised attraction becoming real.
Disney has said Monstropolis will open in phases beginning in 2027. These aerials document visible progress; they do not prove that the schedule has accelerated, and neither report supplies an exact opening date for the land or the coaster. Steel can make a Disney fan reach for a countdown, but no one has handed us the calendar yet.
