Disney has been releasing a bunch of new information, images and video about upcoming attractions the last couple weeks. Could it have something to do with all the Epic Universe buzz? Perhaps. However, it has been neat to see some of the technology they have planned, some of it at the earliest level of R&D I remember seeing it. One of the coolest releases was this video showing the vertical lift on the Monsters Inc. suspended “door” coaster!

This was first released as part of Disney’s presence at SXSW 2025 and was called an “animatic”. The lifting action mimics the iconic moment in the movie where a door is lifted onto the tracks in the Monstropolis Laugh Factory by a claw and whisked away into the door vault. What’s also interesting is how the seats appear to rotate. Could this just be to assist in loading or perhaps will they also rotate during the ride itself similar to Guardians of the Galaxy?

A great example of Disney Imagineering being a bit more public is Mark Rober’s video tour of their campus. Although the video is largely focused on animatronics and robots, you get a few background glimpses of upcoming attractions. Perhaps the greatest treasure trove is the latest episode of “We Call it Imagineering” on YouTube called “Let’s Ride” which features videos showing work on several already announced new attractions. These include “Stark Flight Lab”, Magic Kingdom’s “Cars” attraction and the “Monsters, Inc. Door Coaster”. The video features nearly 2 minutes of Imagineers talking about the ride with new details such as trains being able to see each other throughout the building. They also discuss “boost zones” and being “shot into the door vault” with these mechanics being visible from the line queue to add to the anticipation.

I know we’re all going to miss the MuppetVision 3D (thank goodness they get a new home at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster), but this ride is starting to look very exciting. As we’ve mentioned before, it looks like Disney is working with Vekoma on a derivative of their suspended coaster, but this definitely seems to have some unique attributes. When you normally think vertical lift it’s probably something like Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, but this is certainly a new style of roller coaster lift, almost the opposite of a drop track. It will be fun to see more details come out in the coming months both technically and with the story.