SATURDAY SIX Presents: 10 Years of Turkeys – The Making Of a Thanksgiving Tradition

This week’s SATURDAY SIX is a special look back at the annual Theme Park Turkey of the Year Awards that are posted the Saturday following Thanksgiving. The Turkeys are a recap of the craziest events of the past year and something we have been doing for over 10 years. With that in mind, I wanted to give a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the series, along with what has happened along the way to get to where we are today. We are going to close this special with an exclusive preview of this year’s awards. But let’s start it all off with a look back at…

# 6 – The Inaugural Turkeys

When I first started with TouringPlans, there were several things that I wanted to write about that I felt no one else in the theme park blogging community was covering at the time. The first of those series was the Disney Outlet Report, which later transformed into the monthly Theme Park Enjoyment Index (two concepts I had always wanted to do, but are both so labor intensive that I would never have time to write them at the same time. To quote a line from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, “Neither can live while the other survives.”)

Another concept I knew I wanted to do from Day One at TouringPlans was the Theme Park Turkeys of the Year, an annual tradition that would take place the weekend of Thanksgiving. Generally speaking, end-of-year lists are usually reserved for people’s Best Of retrospectives, but I like to zig when everyone else zags. Instead of Best Of, I’d be looking at the Worst Of.

So in 2014, I created the first ever Theme Park Turkeys of the Year article – which you can read by CLICKING HERE – and, quite frankly, it sucks. Actually, it doesn’t suck, but it wasn’t what I envisioned it to be and that was completely my fault. There’s a saying that goes “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail” and I wasn’t prepared for the amount of work a proper Theme Park Turkeys of the Year article would take. I was trying to just remember the goofy stories from earlier in the year and using any photo I could get to support the stories – even vertical photos (and if you know me, that shows you the level of desperation I was at.)

The concept was there for the inaugural Turkeys, but the execution wasn’t, and that was on me.

# 5 – Take Two!

In 2015, for the Second Annual Theme Park Turkeys of the Year, I was much more organized. When something next level bananas happened during the course of the year – such as That Time A Guy Climbed The Mexico Pavilion in EPCOT – I made detailed notes of the event and tried to get as many “bloggable” photos as possible (ie: landscape orientation.)

2015 was also the first time we added a bit of “flair” to The Turkeys by adding some goofiness in the form of photoshop. Digital artist Matt Cleary added the guy who climbed the Mexico Pavilion to a World Showcase refillable mug that had made its debut that year.

The Turkeys weren’t quite yet what I wanted them to be, but it was a massive improvement over the first year.

For those who don’t know, before I wrote for TouringPlans I cut my writing teeth in the world of professional wrestling for the PWTorch and F4Wonline websites. Matt Cleary was a friend I had from my days in the world of professional wrestling, and he was available on a moment’s notice to whip up whatever crazy graphic I asked of him. This includes making a “Lonely Duffy” graphic, as if Duffy the Disney Bear was at a convention to meet fans but didn’t actually have any fans in America to meet.

This was a parody of the Lonely Virgil meme that was popular in pro wrestling fandom. Matt even hid Virgil as an Easter egg in the Duffy graphic below.

Matt created some of my favorite images ever, including this one of a Na’vi “sealing the bond” with a 19.8% APR.

Matt had very little interest or knowledge of the world of theme parks, but he was game for anything and always produced brilliant work. When I created a series called The Disney Dump, Matt was there to create a bonkers graphic for it. In 2018, Matt passed away at way too young an age, and you can read my tribute to him by CLICKING HERE (scroll to end of article).

# 4 – We’re Cooking With Gas

In 2016, things started clicking. For the Third Annual Theme Park Turkeys of the Year, I started working with artists to create artwork that could be used for the header image. This was always the goal, but I didn’t know that many artists when I joined TouringPlans, so for the first two years I just used images from the actual article as the header.

This was also the year that Hurricane Matthew made its way through Florida, and forced both Disney and Universal to temporarily close their parks for safety. This meant that vacationing guests were stuck at their hotels. With the parks and hotel restaurants closed, there were not many options to find food, and for whatever reason Disney took the opportunity to gouge guests for a cheap boxed meal.

I reached out to artist Juliette Elton – who I connected with on social media – to create a graphic that would get across this story. Naturally, Scrooge McDuck is the stand-in for the “greedy” Disney food & beverage team. Guests were sending in photos of the Hurricane meal from Disney’s Port Orleans Resort, so I felt it would be good to have Tiana, Naveen, and Louis in the drawing as a nod to that. You can read about that story, along with maybe the craziest in the history of the Turkeys – That Time Someone Photoshopped a TouringPlans Blog Photo to Prove in Court They Were at Walt Disney World – by CLICKING HERE.

It should be noted that Disney learned a lot from this experience, and their response to guests being stuck in their hotels during Hurricane closures has been MUCH BETTER ever since. In a recent edition of the Theme Park Enjoyment Index we covered Disney’s response to Hurricane Milton and it was spectacular. Not only were they not price gouging guests who had no other alternatives, they were giving them deals that you would never see on a “normal day.”

# 3 – Almost There…

2017 and 2018 brought more artists into The Turkeys. As someone who is obsessed with theme park-related comic books, and created the Artist Spotlight series, it’s fair to say that I like to see stories in the theme parks expressed through artwork. So having talented artists willing to help out with the Turkeys was a true blessing. Juliette Elton returned to the series, and joining her were artists Sterling Denham and Joel Carroll. The work they did was just amazing, capturing some of the most insane stories in a playful way.

# 2 – Enter Brian Cooper & SonderQuest

2019 was a game-changer for The Turkeys. For the Sixth Annual Theme Park Turkeys of the Year, we featured some amazing stories on “some non-descript coaster themed like India or whatever,” an accident on Disney’s Skyliner, and the bizarre Grand Opening of the NBA Experience in Disney Springs (which is somehow even MORE crazier now in hindsight,) but was also the first year that the Turkeys featured art by Brian Cooper.

Brian was actually a listener to a TouringPlans podcast I had been doing with Brian McNichols called Pardon the Pixie Dust. Brian reached out to me and asked if he could be involved in the Turkeys of the Year. One of the stories that year was Toy Story Land opening in DHS and almost immediately falling apart. The concept I pitched to Brian was “Toy Story characters trying to fix Slinky Dog Dash.”

This is what he delivered.

To say I was impressed was the understatement of the century. Putting aside the brilliant composition and crazy good details, Brian as a cartoonist draws exactly as I always wanted to draw (but never could.) If I had Aladdin’s lamp and got three wishes from the Genie, I’m not 100% sure what the first two wishes would be, but the third would be “I want to draw like Brian Cooper.”

In 2020, it was time to take the next step. The relationship I had with Brian gave me the confidence to ask for something I would never ask from another artist: CAN WE GET NEXT-LEVEL BONKERS? Instead of artwork featuring one specific Turkeys story, what if we had a drawing that featured Multiple Turkeys…

Normally when I reach out to artists for a drawing, I pitch them my concept along with a sketch of what I was thinking of. I already knew that Brian and I were on the same page with just about everything, so my sketch to him was very loose (some would say “incomprehensible.”)

When he sent back his version, the smile on my face couldn’t have been bigger. Not only was this what I had in mind when I sent him my sketch, this was better than I could have ever imagined…

…and – in my mind – is an actual masterpiece. This header in 2020 for the Seventh Annual Theme Park Turkeys of the Year references multiple stories you would read in the actual article. It was like a recap of the year in one single picture. It was also the debut of three mainstays in every single Turkeys header going forward: @bioreconstruct‘s helicopter, and the characters of Derek & Bacini from my David & Derek series (a theme park version of Goofus & Gallant.)

Another big moment for The Turkeys also came in 2020, with artist SonderQuest providing drawings for each individual Turkey nomination. I do not have enough superlatives for Sondy’s cute and whimsical artwork being applied to the craziest theme park stories of each year. It’s just wonderful.

Since 2020, each edition of the Turkeys has featured a header by Brian Cooper, and individual nominee illustrations by Sondy.

# 1 – “I Love It When A Plan Comes Together.”

The above quote by the A-Team’s Hannibal Smith is exactly how I felt about The Turkeys shaping up. With the addition of Brian Cooper and SonderQuest, we’re just about there, and then the final pieces of the puzzle came into place.

In 2021 I had a creative breakthrough with the Eighth Annual Turkeys of the Year. All the artwork created for The Turkeys so far was referencing the absolute worst parts of the theme park world, which makes sense given the subject matter, but wouldn’t it be great to see some of the good stuff drawn as well?

So the 2021 Turkeys had artwork that referenced a lot of the more insane stuff of the year (like the TikTok water guy) but also a whole bunch of stuff we actually enjoyed, like the Permit Princess Alicia Stella (and her work covering the development of Epic Universe,) Universal Team Members Greg Hall and Shelby Honea (creative forces behind the newly opened VelociCoaster,) and Len Testa & Jim Hill recording an episode of their Must Listen podcast The Disney Dish.

In fact, Brian Cooper stuffed so many Easter eggs into the drawing that we did a second article called the Turkey Addendum, which covers every single reference in Brian’s incredible drawing. What is the “ParksCon” banner flying behind Bio’s helicopter? Why is Black Widow holding up a protest sign? How come Halloween Horror Night’s Jack the Clown and Chance are behind a panel of plexi-glass? All those questions and more are answered by CLICKING HERE.

Just like in 2020, we also had SonderQuest’s drawings to highlight each individual nominee.

At this point, a fun exercise throughout the year is figuring out two things for the upcoming Turkeys:

1) What will the main background of Brian’s Turkeys drawing be? It needs to be a place where a large amount of characters can be fit in, but also reference something in The Turkeys proper. In 2020, it was World Drive, which became a ghost town when Disney (and Universal) shut down for Covid. In 2021, it was the seating area for the KiteTails show. For 2022, it was a viewing area for the Grand Opening/Grand Closing of Disney’s IllumiNations replacement: Harmonious.

2) Which characters should “make the cut.” This is the hardest part of all because there is just so much that both Brian and I want to fit into the drawing but realistically only so many can make it. To be featured here is a true achievement in the theme park community and – to me – an honor right under being named a Disney Legend or having a window tribute at Universal. Being forever enshrined in a Brian Cooper Turkeys drawing is a sign of respect that can’t be bought, only earned.

Check out the 2022 Turkeys Addendum for a list of all the references in the artwork below.

And again, the amazing header was paired with fantastic individual nominee drawings by SonderQuest. Like Brian, Sondy was also stuffing Easter eggs in his drawings, giving the readers a story in each piece of artwork.

2023 was a bit different. I knew ahead of time that it was going to be the 10th Anniversary of The Turkeys, and knew we had to have something special for it. The SATURDAY SIX Fun Squad and myself brainstormed a lot of ideas and what we decided on was an homage to The Beatles iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. This would allow us to fit in the most amount of characters. Be sure to check out the 2023 Turkeys Addendum  because the amount of references that Brian was able to squeeze into this drawing is just jaw-dropping.

For his part in this 2023 special, SonderQuest came through in a major way with his take on a classic Norman Rockwell painting using tons of theme park references. This was so incredible that we did an entire SonderQuest Addendum on it explaining each Easter egg and detail he hid in this amazing piece!

The unsung hero of the Turkeys, and – for that matter – the SATURDAY SIX in general, is the digital maestro Scott Walker. Each and every single week Scott does a whole bunch of behind-the-scenes work that helps make this fine blog series look the best it can possibly can. On top of that, he has a world-class sense of humor and can create just about anything. One of Scott’s contributions to the 2023 Turkeys was a running “Thanksgiving Day Parade” featuring elements of each Turkey nominee that year. Below is the unit for the That Time Disney Put It’s Bathroom Pumpkin On The Wrong Building. It would have been enough to just have a large pumpkin “balloon,” but for each picture, Scott put in a bunch of other Easter eggs for readers to find as well.

As a reminder, one of the more “WHAT THE?!!” stories of 2023 was the time a social media influencer posted a video of herself flashing on the Disney Skyliner…

…so Scott’s balloon to commemorate that particular story was a Disney Skyliner cab with a flashing Minnie Mouse. Just absolutely brilliant.

It took 10 years to get here, but the Theme Park Turkeys of the Year are now exactly what I wanted when I pictured the series in my head back in 2013/2014. In fact the series is even better than I imagined because I had no idea these talented artists even existed back then, and could only picture my crappy drawings in my head.

So there you have it: Looking Back at a Decade of Theme Park Turkeys! 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 THEME PARK ENJOYMENT INDEX, giving a monthly recap of all the theme park news you need to know (and a lot more you don’t need to know, but we’re gonna tell you anyway). You can also follow Your Humble Author on Twitter (@derekburgan).

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

The SATURDAY SIX Celebrates Ten Years with TouringPlans

SATURDAY SIX Presents: The Disney Merchandise Hall of Shame

SATURDAY SIX Presents: The Disney Signage Hall of Shame

SATURDAY SIX Presents: The Disney Food Hall of Shame

SATURDAY SIX: Tribute to Josh easyWDW

SATURDAY SIX: Tribute to Ian Barritt

Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, Digital Maestro Scott Walker, 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, artist @SonderQuest, the mighty maven of merchandise Hedgehog’s Corner, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and “the Dadalorian” Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, charter member of the Universal Four @Nitro230, the permit princess Alicia Stella, master cartographer Tommy Hawkins, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Stump for their invaluable assistance with this article. Absolutely no help was added by SeaWorld Influencer @SuperWeenieHtJr. 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.

BEHOLD! The background for this year’s Theme Park Turkeys of the Year header!

We are closing this article with a special SNEAK PEEK of Brian Cooper’s drawing for this year’s Turkeys. I think most people can figure out the “WHY”, but for the WHO and WHAT will be featured in this space? Well, stay tuned True Believers, we’re just a week away.