Disney's Mama Melrose's Now Closed Ahead of Monsters, Inc. Land Construction

May 11, 2025 in "Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano"

Gallery / 3 Photos
Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano Closed

Posted: Sunday May 11, 2025 8:26am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

As of today, Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is permanently closed. The long-running table-service restaurant served its final guests on May 10, 2025, as part of the phased transformation of the Grand Avenue area into the upcoming Monsters, Inc. land.

Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano Closed

Guests visiting the area now will find the restaurant’s windows blacked out and the menu board removed from the exterior. While the location is clearly out of operation, no construction walls have been installed yet, and the entrance area remains accessible to foot traffic.

Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano Closed

Mama Melrose’s closure marks the first step in a multi-phase project that will eventually see the removal of other Grand Avenue locations, including PizzeRizzo and Muppet*Vision 3D, both of which are scheduled to close at the end of the day on June 7, 2025.

The upcoming Monsters, Inc. land will introduce a reimagined version of the space, including Harryhausen’s Restaurant, a door coaster, and the Monstro Theater.

Monsters Inc. Land Concept Art

More visible construction activity is expected in the coming weeks as Disney prepares the area for redevelopment. For now, Mama Melrose’s joins the list of shuttered Hollywood Studios dining locations as the park moves toward its next major expansion.

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JKick951 hour ago

Totally agree—this is my biggest gripe with Universal. They love cloning lands and rides across their parks, which really takes away the excitement of visiting new locations. I’m always more excited about original concepts that make each park feel unique. I really hope this current strategy of avoiding clones continues—it’s so much more rewarding as a fan to experience something new at each destination.

FigmentFan822 days ago

Very excited for this project!! I think there’s a great opportunity to make a really fun and unique coaster experience here as well as a new fun themed are to explore! Watching with great interest!

BrianLo3 days ago

I want to support @lazyboy97o responses on this one. I think @Mr. Sullivan was well meaning, but you jumbled a few things together. Most of the exclusivity was related to HKDL’s fear of SDL. As Lazyboy said it was largely useless, they basically held back their Toy Story Playland until 5 years to the date in Shanghai. Originality, ironically, ensures them more exclusivity. There’s no such deal with their recent investment pipeline. OLC’s issue was that Disney kept pitching them projects they really didn’t want and felt largely taken advantage of. Disney was trying to get OLC to prop up a portion of R&D on projects they had engaged in domestically. Namely Cars, Pandora and Galaxies Edge. Things that did not tickle the populaces fancy - they wanted more princesses. The D23 in Tokyo was part and parcel with a failed attempt to pitch the resort on a copy of Pandora. There’s absolutely nothing preventing B&TB being copied. Now that said - current management, for whatever reason, seems to have an earnest desire to not copy things. I don’t know what has changed. Obviously WDI likes the position as it generates more work for them. I assume this is a Josh endorsed strategy, I think he pays attention a lot more than past parks execs have. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Mr. Sullivan3 days ago

I would not lay this on Marvel. Meta humor had been getting increasingly popular in all walks of entertainment for over a decade before it became everything like it is today. Honestly, even a bit longer with the Shreks of the world, but I would say Shrek was something of an outlier until the internet started becoming the culture controller. Once social media began to have a more direct influence on filmmaking (specifically meme culture influencing filmmaking) in the mid-2010s, that meta humor began to trickle in. No one franchise or person started it, it just sort of started happening until suddenly everyone was approaching things as meta or knowing deconstructions of old tropes.

MisterPenguin3 days ago

AidenRodriguez7313 days ago

Can we relocate it to the entrance of World Showcase imo...

HMF3 days ago

fixed.

WorldExplorer3 days ago

Yep. And now Disney is convinced giving themselves the middle finger on a regular basis is funny and clever instead of sad and obnoxious.

James Alucobond3 days ago

The M&G is actually solid, though the library itself should be way more impressive. I wish all indoor M&Gs were similarly well-considered. I agree that the restaurant is actual garbage at this point, though. The lunch was the only okay thing. The last time I was there, the study was basically gutted, the food had gotten even poorer (shocking for the price tag), Beast just speed walked through for five seconds, and they hadn't updated anything with regard to the seating to account for the fact that it's essentially permanent table service now. Cinderella's Royal Table does it way better on all fronts, and I would not be at all sad to lose it for an attraction of some kind.