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

This week’s SATURDAY SIX takes a look at theme park news via MEMES…volume 4! About a decade ago, way back in the summer of 2018, the SATURDAY SIX decided to take a look at some popular memes that had been used in the theme park community. The response was overwhelming, and due to guest demand we followed up with a sequel article. Everybody knows all good things come in trilogies (Back to the Future, Lord of the Rings, the Original Star Wars) so we went back to the well again for Round 3.

We felt fully satisfied, but then we watched the Super Bowl and saw an ad for Toy Story 4. This got us realizing that even if you create a wonderfully satisfying story that ends perfectly, you can keep it going because of money even more story that must be told! If anything, we owe to you – Dear Reader – to continue on with even more memes.

If you are wondering what makes a good theme park meme, maybe this will help explain it to you:

Got it? Good, let’s hit the ground running with…

# 6 – How Hard Did Age Hit You Challenge

Back in January, one of the hottest memes across the entire internet was the “How Hard Did Age Hit You” challenge. People would post pictures of themselves from 2009 and compare it to one from 2019. A lot of fun was had by all until the inevitable rug was pulled out from under our feet with stories indicating that entire challenge could have been devised just to get people to voluntarily submit pictures to train facial recognition algorithms.

THAT SAID, people in the theme park community had fun with the concept. If you remember the 2018 Turkey of the Year awards, one of the stories including the amazing coincidence of multiple Disney audio-animatronics having their heads fall off on the same day. Twitter user @DrewTheIntern used that fact in his “challenge” photos.

 

@Thrillgeek, a theme park and pop-culture website (but mostly a Haunted Mansion stan account,) did a great job using a nice effect from the Haunted Mansion for their photos.

 

 

@Parkscope did a tremendous job using the Ellen Degeneres audio-animatronic for their challenge photos, bringing back a story which went viral last year when Ellen herself saw what happened to her “body” once the Universe of Energy attraction was scrapped.

 

@Parkscope also did a great job incorporating a Universal attraction into their “challenge” photos.  This is harder than it looks because many Universal attractions don’t last 10 years in the first place, or at least we hope they don’t (we’re looking in your direction Fast & Furious – Supercharged….)

 

 

# 5 – Hamberders

After the Clemson Tigers football team won the NCAA championship, they were invited to be guests of the White House for a meal. Unfortunately at the time our government was in the middle of a shutdown. Because of the shutdown, all non-essential government employees were not at work, and this would include chefs who would be making meals for a football team visiting the White House. So instead, President Trump got various forms of fast food and tweeted out a picture.

 

As you can see in the tweet, the President made a typo and wrote the word “hamberders” instead of “hamburgers.” Not only did this make the rounds at all the late night talk shows, but various brands on Twitter also had fun with it, including Burger King.

 

How can a story featuring fast food and the President tie into theme parks? Allow us to explain. A couple days before the infamous hamberders tweet, theme park Twitter lit up over Disney selling the cookies that it gives away during the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Now, why Disney thinks people would be interesting in buying a cookie that looks like Santa Claus in the middle of January is a story for another day, but because they do @servoisnaked had some fun combining two stories…

 

@GoAwayGreen then put the cherry on top of the sundae – or maybe more appropriately, on top of the Dairy Queen Blizzard – giving the Hall of Presidents a new sponsor.

 

# 4 – State of the Union

Speaking of our government shutdown, after it ended we finally got our State of the Union address. Not surprisingly, members of DisTwitter were even able to turn this event into something theme park related. First we have @WaltsFrzenHead using Bernie Sanders in deep contemplation…

Before we go on, we must inform everyone that @WaltsFrzenHead was decreed by the website Know Your Meme to be the individual responsible for the viral Ranked Lists Meme. This the the closest most of us will ever come to knowing someone like Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Graham Bell, or the guy who invented the Sham Wow. Congrats @WaltsFrzenHead and everyone reading this – YES, I’m speaking to YOU – need to do whatever you can to see his movie: The Further Adventures of Walt’s Frozen Head.

Okay, back to the State of the Union address. The most viral moment to come out of the entire evening was Nancy Pelosi – Speaker of the House of Representatives – giving what appeared to be an extremely sarcastic round of applause to the President. This “clap-back” went viral, and was even prominently featured on Saturday Night Live. DisTwitter meme superstar @servoisnaked combined this moment from a well known float in the Main Street Electrical Parade.

 

# 3 – Valentine’s Day Cards

We’re just days removed from the social construct cherished holiday known as Valentine’s Day. A truly special day, one where we can tell our loved ones just how much they mean to us. It also allows for the annual tradition of mocking Valentine’s Day cards. Buzzfeed got into the action with some really funny cards featuring Disney characters (although be forewarned, many are adult themed).

 

 

DisTwitter user @Schmoofy brought us his yearly look at theme park themed Valentine’s Day cards, including one which should hit home with anyone who has been on the “new and improved” version of Soarin’.

@Schmoofy, who released a card every day leading up to February 14, also had a great Valentine’s Day card referencing the current problems with the monorails at Walt Disney World.

 

Our favorite theme park themed card came from @DisneyDan, who spectacularly used Expedition Everest and even got the attention of Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde.

 

 

# 2- Will Smith as Genie in Aladdin remake

Even though the Aladdin live action remake is coming out in May, Disney had yet to release a trailer for the movie. Generally that’s not a good sign, especially when a teaser trailer for the Lion King live action remake came out in November of last year, even though that movie isn’t being released until July. However, during the Grammys, Disney finally dropped a trailer…

Two things. 1) The term “live action” for all of these remakes is subjective, as there is probably more animation in both the new Aladdin and Lion King than their actual animated counterparts from the 1990s. 2) People were not ready for a blue Will Smith.

 

Many people immediately thought of the Dreamworks movie Shrek when seeing the trailer.

 

And here’s a take on the “new and improved” genie using Robin Williams.

 

An interesting subplot to the entire Aladdin trailer story is that out of nowhere Disney released the trailer for Frozen 2. It’s fair to say the reaction to the Aladdin trailer was not one Disney was hoping for, so it doesn’t take a tin foil hat to believe in this conspiracy…

 

# 1 – Frozen 2 trailer

So Disney releases the Frozen 2 trailer, and it looks awesome…

 

Immediate comparisons were made to the Aladdin trailer.

 

Frozen 2 became the talk of Twitter, even by fast food companies.

But maybe the best tweet of all came from Mark Ruffalo. For those who don’t know, Ruffalo plays Bruce Banner in The Avengers movies. In the past few years he has had a little bit of a problem when it comes to spoiling things. He once left his phone on during an early screening of Thor: Ragnarok, causing him to accidentally live-stream the movie on Instagram. He also accidentally spoiled the ending to Avengers: Infinity War a year ahead of movie’s release, just no one realized it at the time.

So when Josh Gad – the voice actor behind Olaf the snowman – tweeted about Frozen 2, Ruffalo had a pitch perfect response.

 

So there you have it: A Look at Theme Park News via MEMES! 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, or, for your listening pleasure, check out the E-Ticket Report podcast. 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 vis MEMES (vol 2)

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

6 Pieces of Disney Merchandise That Don’t Exists (But Totally Should)

Are Disney’s Hotels Going To The Dogs? A Review.

SATURDAY SIX Investigative Report: Disney PET PEEVES

The SATURDAY SIX Uses Disney Villains To Explain Theme Park Blogging

Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world famous Disney Cruise Line Blog the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Mr. ‘Ohana Tim Grassey, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and Nick, 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.

FINAL PLUG! Did you know The 2019 Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando has a special edition of the SATURDAY SIX in it?That’s right, ANOTHER NEW ONE EXCLUSIVE TO THIS EDITION!Finally, someone came up with an actual reason to read a book. ORDER this baby now!