The SATURDAY SIX Looks at the Wonderful World of Theme Park Fans Coping with QUARANTINE

Derek Burgan April 25, 2020 0 Comments

Share This!

This week’s SATURDAY SIX takes a look at how we theme park fans are handling quarantine! We’ve all been sheltering in place for over a month now, and many of us need our theme park “fix.” However, with the parks closed we’ve been forced to create our own little bit of magic at home. Five weeks ago, there was fun and frivolity in the community with many creating theme park rides at home. Now we’re going a little stir crazy, going so far to bring out the old fashioned pen and paper…

A piece of Burgan Fine Art from the *Inside The Backpack Of…* series (also featuring backpacks from Walt Disney himself, TouringPlans’s own Len Testa & Guy Selga, and even a SeaWorld stock holder.

Art as a coping mechanism. Who knew? Today we’re going to look at some of our favorite creations made during the quarantine, starting with…

# 6 – Six Fan Arts

The #SixFanArts was a drawing challenge of sorts that was seen across various social media channels. Artists would ask their followers to list characters they would like to see drawn, and then all of us got to see the wonderful results. Theme park creators and fans alike had a lot of fun with this one.

Artwork by Hollie Ballard. One of my favorite artists online, Hollie’s drawings include Albert the monkey from Hong Kong Disneyland’s Mystic Manor, Trixie from Country Bear Jamboree, and Ray from *Princess and the Frog.* Be sure to also check out Hollie’s talent on her Instagram.

One of the ONLY “silver linings” of the quarantine is several movies being available to stream months before they would have otherwise. This included Disney/Pixar’s *Onward*. As a person who played Dungeons & Dragons growing up, I was especially pleased by the movie and absolutely **loved** the ending. Artwork by @mynabirdy

Artwork by Shelby Denham. Pound for pound one of the most talented artists in the DisTwitter community, Shelby is one of the rare talents who can go between fun (Figment and *TaleSpin*‘s Don Karnage) and horror (such as *Psycho*‘s Norman Bates). But what I love most about her is the sheer amount of drawings she has done of Jock Lindsey and Jake McNally, the fictional owners of bars located at Disney Springs and Loews Royal Pacific Resort.

Artwork by Rob Yeo. Figment is always a high-in-demand character from Disney fans, but I loved seeing the incomparable Rob Yeo’s take on the Timekeeper. Personally, as someone who spent more than my fair share at McDonald’s growing up, I love seeing the Grimace drawing (although I would have asked to see the McNuggets drawn).

Artwork by Jason Grandt. A Disney Imagineer, Jason has some great drawings for hard core fans, including Chandu and Tippy Blue from Tokyo DisneySea.

Artwork by @Tasia M S. As a comic book fan, this GORGEOUS princess-themed artwork reminds me of artist Adam Hughes, and I couldn’t love it more.

Artwork by Brian Cooper (whose work we last saw here on the SATURDAY SIX in the David & Derek series) has an eclectic mix of characters including Powerline from *A Goofy Movie*, Captain Jack Sparrow, and a Voodoo Doughnut.

# 5 – Chalk Art

As kids, many of us made our own drawings in the driveways and sidewalks in front of our house, but theme park fans have taken it to a whole new level of artistry. First up we have Central Florida artist Casey Drake, who is in a league of her own right now in terms of Disney art mixed with social commentary.

Take a bow for using Kuzco. Artwork by Casey Drake

Nice to see a Universal property in the mix…

If you love the Disney parks, one of the best follows on Twitter is Sam Carter. A tremendous artist in his own right (I personally have bought several prints of his work over the years, including a 5-star GhostBusters/Haunted Mansion mash-up) but you’ll also get a ton of behind-the-scenes insight from a person who worked in the California Disney theme parks for years. Here is an example of some of his chalk art, featuring a nighttime parade that is beloved to many.

Sam is also blessed to have two great “art assistants” in Sammy and Maddie to help him out.

With Sammy and Maddie, it looks like the future of theme park artwork is in good hands.

Artwork by Gabi, a seriously talented sixth grader.

I’ll go on the record and say EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts is my favorite special event in Florida. (Sorry HHN, but I grew up on comic books not horror films.) One of the neat things they do at the Festival is have artists create “3-D chalk art” that you can take fun photos with. Turns out, you can do your own at home.

Who doesn’t love the Little Orange Bird?!

# 4 – The Air is So Clean…

As we’ve stated many times in this fine blog series, the real heroes are those who sacrifice everything to create the dank memes that we all love. Turns out, the quarantine truly brought out the best in us with one of the greatest memes ever made.

I mean THAT is great. Just mind-blowing stuff. We also got a similar version showing that the Star Wars scrolls were now visible as well.

# 3 – DisTwitter Stimulus

What exactly did theme park fans do with their $1200 stimulus check? Did they blow it on boring “essential” things like rent or food? Nay nay. They helped the economy out in much more creative ways.

Meanwhile, Disney had other plans for us by releasing a whole bunch of new product on ShopDisney just as checks started arriving around the country…

# 2 – Guess Who’s Back?

One of the biggest shocks of the past month was the sudden reappearance of Bob Iger, seemingly doing all of the public work that new CEO Bob Chapek would – in theory – be doing. This came shortly after Disney’s stock took a big nosedive (like many, MANY companies) along with the news that Disney would be furloughing tens of thousands of Cast Members. As a public persona, Bob Iger is the guy you want in the front of the room calming everyone down and reassuring them that it will all be okay. Bob Chapek is…well, he may be many things but he’s not that guy. Theme park fans had some fun with “the two Bobs” situation, including one using a memorable moment from Avengers: Endgame.

Artist Rob Yeo made a slight tweak to a hilarious moment from The Simpsons.

Meme Machine SuperWeenieHtJr created a great graphic that reminded people of Disney bringing back the Main Street Electrical Parade whenever crowds got soft (including when Disneyland crowds “felt” low after the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge).

Back in the day, we started off our first ever Theme Park Memes article with a look at the “distracted boyfriend” meme and it turns out it’s just as relevant today as it ever was.

# 1 – Armchair Imagineering Challenge

By far and away the most interesting thing to be started during the quarantine was from artist Rob Yeo.

The responses to this challenge were incredible, including several submissions from our favorite artists. My personal favorites were the ones who went above and beyond and included samples of the food and drink their cart would be offering.

Artwork by Josiah DePaoli – “After ghost hunters in the forest capture ghosts, what happens? They sell their catches to Ghostly Gobbles and the owner…turns them into food!”

Artwork by Hollie Ballard – A Snow White’s Scary Adventure themed cart that could be in Fantasyland or the Germany Pavilion in EPCOT.

Artwork by Shelby Denham – “We sell fish.”

Artwork by Bindman– “Grave Indulgences.” (Editor’s Note: The name of Bindman’s kiosk is one of my favorites, as I love a great pun at snack carts. Top of my list in the theme parks today? “Ale to the Chief” in Universaal’s Toon Lagoon.

Artwork by Liam R Findlay – “I came up with a seemingly-sinking caravan with a unique interior structure and, of course, a special aroma!”

Artwork by @GangSequoia – “Pukwudgies are malicious creatures, but some remember kinder times…”

Artwork by @streetmosphere – “I wrote a LONG story to go along with this over on my Instagram (@echolakeart), fungi at the beginning and end of the life cycle – breaking down the dead to feed the living.”

Artwork by @ElMephisto – “As you walk through the forest, you heard the sound of bottles crackling through the wind. You spot this peculiar cart in the distance. Thirsty, you pick up this refreshing potion the wizard offered you.”

Artwork by @HikariEmiru – “Madam Yeo’s Soothsaying Snacks & Tarot reading treats
Gypsy style voodoo wagon with glazed apples, pumpkin pies and Cotton candy balls!”

Artwork by @dizwire – “Check out the Spukachtige Bierwagen (‘Spooky Beer Wagon’) that I designed to serve spectral beer in Efteling’s haunted forest near the Spookslot attraction.”

Artwork by Tyler – “I thought a bright, multi-colored cart made out of sweets would be well juxtaposed in a haunted wood. Hansel and Gretel’s treats are on display, but they are nowhere to be found. I’ll let you decide their fate…”

Artwork by @MrSamFlash – ” ‘Baba Yaga’s Chicken Legs’, inspired by the Russian folktale of Baba Yaga and some god old them park *creative liberties*.”

Artwork by @Cap10Hook72 – “A Cadaverous Parlor offers they who journey to the cemetery in the wood a bit of refreshment – perhaps you’ll be able to reach the final destination those unfortunate few never could quite make…”

So there you have it: Six Ways Theme Park Fans are Keeping Their Sanity During Quarantine! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out The Magic, The Memories, and Merch! articles covering the latest from the Disney Outlet Stores. You can also follow Your Humble Author on Twitter (@derekburgan).

If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following:

The SATURDAY SIX Looks at Theme Park News via Memes (vol 1)

The SATURDAY SIX Looks at Theme Park News via Memes (vol 2)

The SATURDAY SIX Looks at Theme Park News via Memes (vol 3)

The SATURDAY SIX Looks at Theme Park News via Memes (vol 4)

The SATURDAY SIX Looks at Theme Park News via Memes (vol 5)

The SATURDAY SIX Looks at Theme Park News via Memes (vol 6)

The SATURDAY SIX Looks at Theme Park News via Memes (vol 7)

The SATURDAY SIX Looks at Theme Park News via Memes (vol 8)

The SATURDAY SIX Looks at Theme Park News via Memes (vol 9)

Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world famous Disney Cruise Line Blog, my personal protege Hunter “Elvey” Underwood, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Stump for their invaluable assistance with this article. The SAT SIX is inspired each week by goofballs Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHyde and you Potterheads will enjoy Meg’s other blog work over at the Central Florida Slug Club.