It is more than half a century since The Muppet Show debuted, bringing the many colorful and chaotic characters of Jim Henson’s creation to the world in their own right. In that time the Muppets have appeared in movies, TV shows, at awards shows, even on The Masked Singer, and for over three decades they also had their own attraction at Disney World in the form of MuppetVision 3D. In June 2025, though, the beloved ride was permanently closed to be redesigned as a Monsters Inc. attraction. While the Muppets will be still around at Disney World, taking over the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Muppet fans will miss seeing the faux-marble statues of the main characters that were found in the mock theater decor. All except those who now owns them thanks to a unique Heritage Auctions sale that saw Kermit and Miss Piggy, as well as several other items, all go under the hammer for a huge amount.
The Disney Experiences Auction boasted a number of pieces of furniture, props, and posters from Disney World Resort, Florida, mostly taken from dismantled or redesigned rides and attractions. Among the lots of Thunder Mountain seating, carousel rides, and eerie pieces from the Haunted Mansion, the highest price of the extensive sale was for the Kermit the Frog statue that lay across the doorway millions of people passed through over the last 35 years. The statue features Kermit holding a megaphone and wearing a crown of laurels. Made of fiberglass and epoxy, each statue was meticulously painted by hand when they were originally created. While the item has the usual wear and tear, including a break in the collar and handle of the megaphone, that did not stop someone paying $115,900 to own this piece of Muppet history.
Muppet fans saw the MuppetVision 3D ride as something of a shrine to Jim Henson. As the last project he directed before his untimely death in 1990, the ride was everything that the creative filmmaker loved. It combined then-state-of-the-art 3D film with Audio Animatronics, a live Muppet character appearance, and other gimmicks all designed to make it the most immersive experience for fans. This kind of innovation was exactly what Henson became known for, whether creating puppets that went beyond gloves or stringed marionettes, or building animatronics that would be seen in classic movies like Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and 1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Jim Henson Company has continued to be a driving force in practical effects, recently providing the characters for Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s movies.
Yet it is the Muppets that continue to come back again and again. No matter how technology advances, there is something about these fleece and fur puppets that is timeless, and they are never too far away from another appearance somewhere. In celebration of The Muppet Show‘s anniversary earlier this year, the series was revived on Disney+ as a one-off special with the hope of more to come. In the meantime, sales of Muppet items like this Kermit the Frog, who was accompanied by a Miss Piggy statue that went for just over $73,000, prove that the love of the Muppets in all there forms has never waned over the decades. While MuppetVision 3D may have been removed from Disney World and many must-ride lists, at least part of it will live on with new owners away from the lights and the music.
