New Aerials Show the First Ride Scene Taking Shape Inside Disney World's Monsters, Inc. Coaster, Right Before the Steel Disappears

Steel-frame construction is the stage of a big theme park build where the shape of a ride is easiest to read from the air, and Disney World's Monsters, Inc. coaster is at the point where crews have started closing that view off.

Aerial photographer bioreconstruct shared new overhead views of the Monstropolis construction site at Disney's Hollywood Studios, published Sunday by WDW News Today. The aerials look down into the rising show building at the moment crews are starting to cover it up.

Image credit: bioreconstruct via WDW News Today

Why the decking is the story. Corrugated steel floor decking has been installed over sections of the framework and is spreading across the building. Once concrete floors are poured on top of it, WDW News Today notes, the track supports and machinery underneath will largely disappear from aerial view. The steel skeleton currently gives a clear read across the different functional areas of the attraction, and those sightlines are going away.

That dense grey cluster is probably where the ride starts. The densest, most intricate steelwork sits around what WDW News Today believes is the start of the ride, a taller section likely to hold an early scene if not the opening one. Trains of suspended door-shaped vehicles are expected to rise into that section as the experience begins, with guests appearing to pass through a doorway and into the rack-like door storage system from the climactic chase in Monsters, Inc.

You can also pick out the back-of-house. Lower supports on one side are believed to carry trains into the unload area, with taller supports nearby appearing to belong to another portion of track passing above unload, which is a good hint at how many elevations this layout weaves through. Rows of recently cast foundations may become a service area for the trains, and a pair of parallel rails nearby is believed to be associated with a maintenance bay. The bright yellow vapor barriers mark where more concrete floors are expected to be poured, and bioreconstruct suggested those sections may end up as the exit gift shop and part of the queue.

Image credit: bioreconstruct via WDW News Today

The scale is the other thing the aerials sell. One portion of the huge concrete foundation now carries a dense, multilevel steel structure, while crews keep raising columns across the surrounding areas. Multiple cranes and aerial lifts are stationed around the building, tall enough to be visible from inside Galaxy's Edge.

How we got here. Blog Mickey reported on June 21 that the first section of track had been mounted to the support structure inside the show building, with more staged nearby. Blog Mickey reported that Disney has previously announced it as the first-ever suspended coaster at a Disney park, with guests riding feet-dangling below the track, paired with "the company's first-ever vertical lift to mimic the door-hoist scene from the film."

Image credit: Disney

What the land around it will be. Disney revealed the land's backstory on June 4, along with a logo reading "Monstropolis, The City Frightful." Harryhausen's, the Glob Theater, and the Department of Human Relations are among the locations. The land's story centers on H.U.M.A.N. Day, short for "Humans Understand Monsters Are Nice," which Disney describes as part celebration and part cultural exchange. On July 10 we covered an electrical permit pointing to active work on the Glob Theater.

Disney has not announced an opening date for the coaster.

Sources

• WDW News Today: First Ride Scene Taking Shape on 'Monsters, Inc.' Coaster at Disney's Hollywood Studios
• Blog Mickey: Track Installation Begins for the Monsters, Inc. Door Vault Roller Coaster
• Disney Parks Blog: Monsters, Inc. land Monstropolis coming to Walt Disney World

Image credits: Monstropolis concept art and logo, Disney. Aerial construction photography, bioreconstruct via WDW News Today.