Theme Park Enjoyment Index for FEBRUARY 2025 (Festival of the Arts, Starcruiser Update, Mardi Gras and MORE!)

Remember, all links in TPEI open up in a new browser window. So feel free to check stuff out, we’ll be here when you get back! Each photo opens up to a larger version as well, and with that out of the way let’s look back at what happened during the past month, starting with…

*Festival of the Arts

One of my personal favorite events of the year is EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts, but it definitely has become a shadow of its former self. That said, it is still great that we have a festival that pays tribute to the arts (and artists) and the only true “negative” of the event is that it only runs for a short amount of time. This year the Festival runs from January 17th, through February 24th, a total of five weeks. In comparison, the upcoming Flower & Garden Festival goes from March 5th through June 2nd.

From its very creation, the Festival of the Arts has delivered some of my favorite snacks at any event in Florida. Several favorites have returned including the colorful and iconic Almond Frangipane Cake.

Eating out of themed cans is one of the true treasures of life, and the returning Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese at Pop Eats! is also a must get.

The Cotton Candy Funnel Cake is just plain bonkers and I am here for it. This is the type of stuff you generally see at Universal’s signature event – Halloween Horror Nights – with items like a hot dog topped with Kool Aid pickles and bubblegum mustard.

Drinks served in collectible cups and topped with edible piece of art? Another reason this Festival is my favorite (be sure to check out THIS ARTICLE on the Best Drinks at this year’s Festival.)

Of course the best part of Festival of the Arts – for me – is seeing actual artists at work. One form of art that I would never be able to do is chalk art on the sidewalks. How can you not love this one which features Figment doing  his own chalk art of Mickey Mouse?

The chalk art of Deadpool with a pearl earring hits me in a special way because I’ve seen this painting parodied several times over the years, most spectacularly by Henry Taylor of the Theme Park Preservation Society. Way back in 2013 I saw a print of Duck with a pearl earring at the Disney Outlet Store. At the time I had no idea it was based on a famous painting, I just saw this print featuring Daisy Duck and thought it was just BONKERS. A reader let me know about the source material and it just blew my mind. Have loved seeing homages to it ever since.

The artists who can take it up a notch and make their chalk art into a 3-D photo-op will always be something that blows my  mind.

Festival of the Arts is also one of those rare times where us guests can actually meet the artists behind the art that we love.

For me personally, the Festival of the Arts is like an Art Museum that was made specifically for me.

Once again the merchandise line for the Festival is based around the character of Figment.

I always enjoy Figment’s Brush with the Masters scavenger hunt. The gimmick is you purchase the map, and then proceed to go around the park to locate famous paintings that have Figment cleverly put into them.

The prize for finishing the hunt (or, maybe more appropriately, the prize for buying the map) is one of three stencils.

One of the best ideas Festival of the Arts ever had was recreations of famous paintings that are used for guests to insert themselves into as photo-ops.

The  most shocking surprise of this year’s Festival of the Arts is that it actually made CommuniCore Hall worth going into. For the very first time since this “flex space” opened last year it was “flexed” into something good with a tribute to Disney on Broadway.

The Disney on Broadway displays were exactly the type of thing that everyone wanted in this venue and it boggles my mind it took almost a year to get to this point.

Just some fascinating displays giving a behind-the-scenes look at how some of the Disney Broadway shows came to life.

Imagine if we had something like this except it was “The First Years of EPCOT Center” with concept art, scale models, and other items? You could have a gift shop and snack case like they do at Universal’s Tribute Stores and people would be lining up for the sugar cookie featuring the robot butler from Horizons.

TPEI SCORE: + 2 Like pretty much everything in Walt Disney World, the Festival of the Arts has been chipped away at over the years and is definitely not the event it once was. That said, it still puts the focus on amazing artists, and for that I’ll always be appreciative.

Most of you reading this know that we at the SATURDAY SIX have a special series that ties into the Festival of the Art with our Artist Spotlight series.  2025 was the fifth anniversary of articles that focus on one single artist in the theme park community. This year’s class kicked off with Brandon Starr, whose Disney Afternoon mash-ups are straight up E-Ticket (click on any of the graphics below to go straight to that article.)

Next up was Kristi O. and her wildly inventive artwork including her must see version of a Muppets Princess Bride. After the original article was published, a new Simpsons drawing by Kristi was put into the article that is just terrific!

The incomparable Henry Taylor capped this season and I would say his article is worth going out of your way to check out. Not just to see the amazing pieces of art he’s created over the years for the Theme Park Preservation Society, but for the life lessons he gives throughout the article.

*Galactic Starcruiser to get new residents

In shocking news, the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser – the  ONLY two time Theme Park Golden Turkey Winner in history, got a new update:

Its going to take a good amount of time and some investigative reporting to understand why and how all this came together, but my first reaction to the news made me think of that classic episode of The Simpsons when Homer Simpson had to crawl through the supplicant door to get his job back. Remember it wasn’t that long ago when Disney said it was shuttering the offices of Walt Disney Imagineering in California and gave many Imagineers there a choice to move to a new location in Lake Nona, FL or quit. In fact, our very first FLIGHTS WITH BIO article covered the area in Lake Nona where WDI was going to go.

Well, Disney ended up not moving ahead with the project in Lake Nona. Instead, some Imagineers are going to use the vacated Galactic Starcruiser as work space. The Starcruiser could have been, and SHOULD have been, the absolute pinnacle of Imagineering (and in some ways it still is) but thanks to a variety of reasons outside WDI’s control, the hotel “experience” was shuttered in less than two years for accelerated depreciation, a term that I had never even heard of before in my life. This turn of events was so surprising that I’m not even sure there is anything else in the world to compare it to.

Thankfully, the Digital Maestro Scott Walker just cracked his fingers and got to work…

This next one works on several layers, and is actually referencing the story last month when Disney got its hand caught in the cookie jar buying AI created art for the Haunted Mansion from Etsy.

Here we have Rey working with young Imagineers to work the copy machine.

Scott even gave us a great reference to the incredible SNL “Undercover Boss” Star Wars parody, where Kylo Ren went undercover as ‘Matt’ the radar technician.  Scott’s version has Disney Chairperson Josh D’Amaro as ‘Matt’ the printer technician.

Scott even took it up notch, suggesting that SeaWorld should have their creative team use their disastrous Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin attraction for work space.

TPEI: – 4 I think many of us – myself included – were living in a fantasy world where we were hoping that something guest friendly would happen with the husk of the Starcruiser. Day tours with a lunch and shopping experience? Dinner show?  Something….ANYTHING.

*PizzeRizzo Prom

Don’t get me wrong, there are some Grade A Weirdoes in the theme park fan community (including a former Theme Park Turkey of the Year runner-up declaring himself a “4 star general in the fight to save Splash Mountain”) but for the most part the people are pretty much awesome. This part of the community may have been best displayed earlier this month with the fan organized PizzeRizzo Prom.

PizzeRizzo – along with the rest of the Muppet Courtyard – is going to be closed later this year and eventually replaced with an area themed to Monsters Inc. Why is Disney getting rid of the fan favorite Muppet Courtyard instead one of the multiple areas of the park which are pretty much unused right now? Maybe we can ask that question to the Imagineers working in the Starcruiser.

The PizzeRizzo Prom brought together a whole bunch of Muppet fans, including the Permit Princess Alicia Stella. Longtime readers of this fine blog series may remember that Alicia wrote an entire SATURDAY SIX article dedicated to PizzeRizzo. Alicia’s love for PizzeRizzo is very similar to my love for Universal’s Rip Ride Rockit in that it is almost incomprehensible to a normal human being, but the heart wants what the heart wants. On Saturday, February 8th, Alicia was joined by many others expressing their fondness for the one of last Muppet themed restaurants in America (and let’s be honest, EPCOT’s Regal Eagle Smokehouse has the absolute bare minimum of Muppet theming possible)

The stars were out this day, as we also had Jaime S. in the crowd. Jaime is the “tiny artist” who wowed everyone with her Artist Spotlight feature.

Jaime even had her Muppet Courtyard drawings available for the prom, which of course included PizzeRizzo and it’s E-Ticket neon signage featuring Rizzo the rat.

Many guests came dressed in their finest Muppet themed outfits. I absolutely LOVE this one.

The star of the party was of course everyone’s favorite rat.

Artist @crematedplastic created a miniature version of PizzeRizzo and gifted it to the Permit Princess herself.

Look at the details in this model!! We’ve seen @creamatedplastic‘s work in this fine blog series before, with his incredible versions of attraction ride vehicles, and let’s hope we can convince him to be part of the Artist Spotlight series in the future.

A fun time was had by all.

TPEI Score: + 4 The PizzeRizzo Prom is exactly why the theme park fan community is so great. Yes, there is craziness, but the reason crazy stories like the ones featured in the Theme Park Turkey of the Year Awards go big is because they are so unlike the norm. To quote Steve Rogers, “My faith is in people, I guess. Individuals. And for the most part, they haven’t let me down.”

*Epic Universe gets even closer…

Lots of fun Epic Universe stuff this month, including the addition of the park’s Icon – the Chronos Portal – being added to the artwork on construction walls at Universal Studios Florida. As far as I know, this is the first representation of Epic Universe inside a Universal theme park.

Let’s check out some of @bioreconstruct’s amazing aerials of EPIC Universe construction, including the Chronos Portal itself…

New characters have been placed on the sides of the Chronos Portal. I can not confirm or deny the rumors and Innuendo suggesting they are a tribute to the theme park bloggers and vloggers covering the park.

Bio confirmed that the tongue in the Pizza Moon signage will be moving. Forget the rides and shows, when Epic Universe opens this is the place I’m rope dropping.

Even cooler? Bio got pictures of pavement lighting outside the Helios hotel. Who had any idea this was coming?!!

This led directly to resident rabble rouser Scott Walker using his digital skills to have some fun with the photo while cleverly referring to the ridiculousness going on over at EPCOT with their pavement lighting….

Don’t forget that Bio also has a YouTube channel now where you can watch videos from his flights over Epic Universe. These are just wonderful.

How good were Bio’s Epic Universe coverage this month? It was featured on the FRONT PAGE of the Orlando Sentinel.

Love this one. Bio in the blogger-in-the-sky copter taking a picture of the WESH Channel 2 Gimmick Infringement copter.

There was some breaking news when Epic Universe began testing fireworks this past week. Because both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida are next to residential areas (like, literally across the street) the fireworks they have used in their nighttime spectaculars pale in comparison to what we regularly see at Walt Disney World. Epic Universe is in a completely different spot and it appears that Universe is finally going to have a proper fireworks show.

Now it looks from the various videos of people catching the testing that fireworks are being launched from several different areas. Scott Walker has overlayed a map of the area with where he is pretty sure these fireworks are being launched from. Even crazier, it looks like the very first Epic Universe concept art was showing everyone that fireworks would be coming from several different areas!

Let’s get back to Bio. Another area he excelled at this month was being on the ground to catch all the new animations of the new Universal Orlando marquees. These look fantastic and feature characters from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter…

…Transformers…

…Jurassic Park/World…

…and animated characters from the world of Trolls, Kung Fu Panda, and Shrek.

I really like the “space” themed design as well.

The countdown clock to the opening of Epic Universe on May 22nd hit an important number earlier this month as on February 11th we were 100 days away from the official grand opening. How great is this artwork by Taylor Baird?

Another user (@HHN_Jacob) posted his hype list of upcoming Epic Universe rides. Have to say this is pretty close to how I would have it as well.

Alicia Stella took this concept and applied it to dining establishments at Epic. I’m right there with her on Pizza Moon taking the top slot, but Burning Blade tavern is much higher on my list.

Speaking of Epic Universe food, the official Universal Orlando Blog posted an article looking at many items coming to the new park and, in a word, WOW. Be sure to check out Carly Caramanna‘s article over at Attractions Magazine looking at the best food she tasted during a preview.

Here are some of the stand outs to me looking at the previews, including this vegan friendly dish at Super Nintendo World…

…a butterbeer flavored crepe at the Wizarding World…

…and, of course Pizza Moon going there.

TPEI Score: + 10 It’s hard to believe we are less than three months away from the opening of a brand new theme park in Florida. Exciting Times.

BREAKING NEWS: Bio just got photos of a Team Member preview in Epic Universe!!

*Seriously SeaWorld?!

The last couple years have been an interesting one for SeaWorld. Until recently, I would always tell visiting friends and family not to sleep on SeaWorld when they came to Florida for a Disney or Universal vacation. The rides are fun, the commitment to sea life conservation is very similar to what Disney’s Animal Kingdom is doing, and their festivals/events throughout the year had some pretty neat offerings.

However, sometime post pandemic they decided to take a page out of the WDW playbook and have begun nickel and diming their guests while neglecting the park. There was a time not that long ago when many restaurants placed a temporary surcharge on all orders to help make up for rising costs during a completely bonkers time in this country. With the world getting more “back to normal” (and can you imagine me writing that sentence after the last month we just experienced?) most restaurants got rid of that surcharge.

Not SeaWorld though. NAY NAY. SeaWorld doubled down. Where they once had a 5% surcharge added to all orders, now they have a 9% added surcharge…

My thoughts?

TPEI Score: – 4 SeaWorld Orlando is a mystery rolled into an enigma surrounded by question marks. It runs perhaps one of the best day experiences you can have in Orlando with Discovery Cove. It has a pretty popular waterpark with Aquatica that somehow gets 1/1000th the coverage of Universal’s Volcano Bay or Disney’s Blizzard Beach/Typhoon Lagoon. The company did everything it could to raise up the main SeaWorld park after the disastrous public response to the documentary Blackfish in 2013, and now looks to be determined to burn every square inch of that good will it earned over the past decade.

As they say, it is what it is…

*Speaking of price gouging your guests…

It has been a pretty crazy month for Disney as they spent a lot of time and resources trying to counter a Wall Street Journal story posted on February 8th titled “Even Disney Is Worried About the High Cost of a Disney Vacation.”  The story led to a lot of discussion in the community over what Disney has done over the past several years in terms of raising prices and the effect it has had on their fanbase.

More concerning? A Disney survey sent to guests that seems to be straight up predatory…

TPEI Score: – 2 We live in a Post Truth world where people and companies can just “say things” but have actions that go the complete opposite way. Two days after the Wall St. Journal story came out, Disney went on the offensive to try and counter the story talking about the value and savings they give to vacationing families. Meanwhile, their actions suggest otherwise. We’ll see how this story develops…

Full Disclosure, the Wall Street Journal worked with TouringPlans in the collection and presentation of the data in the article. Even Fuller Disclosure, the Wall Street Journal did not reach out to me directly. Actually, the only journalists who contact me directly work for Highlights magazine and its only when they are trying to capture the essence of “Goofus” in their “Goofus & Gallant” comic strips.

IYKYK…

***QUICK HITS***

The popular children’s character Dog Man appeared in Universal Studios Florida this month to support the Dog Man movie that came out on the last day of January.

A Dog Man meet and greet took place in DreamWorks Land. I was actually in the park the first day of these meet and greets and had no idea it was coming. You’ll have to excuse the quality of the picture below as I was walking by while enjoying a Shrekzel and thinking, “wait a second, that character’s not usually there..”

At the Imagination Café they added Ruff Mix Mac & Cheese to the menu…

…which was served in a themed can!!!

The actual can itself is a repurposed Who Hash can from Seuss Landing with a new label to make it look like dog food. Just incredible.

My dream is one day to have enough content to do an entire SATURDAY SIX dedicated to the foods you can eat out of themed cans. At Universal we are now up to three (thanks to Left Behind Ravioli from our HHN Hall of Fame Snacks article.) WE’RE HALFWAY THERE!!! Please send all thoughts, prayers, and pixie dust my way and I’ll keep sending my suggestion letters to Universal.

***So I got the new Universal Credit Card…

You may remember last year when Universal announced they would be partnering with Visa for a credit card which offered rewards that you could use inside the parks. We had some fun with that story.

Well, late last year I got the Universal branded credit card. It came with a $200 statement credit bonus and the ability to earn “rewards” that you can redeem at the Universal parks. In terms of bang for your buck, there are many credit cards with much better rewards that you should use for your day to day purchases, but I like having a Disney Visa for my WDW trips and – now – a Universal Visa for my trips there.

Once you hit $25 in rewards you can request a “FUNds card.” This is mailed to you and unlike Disney’s reward card, you can not add to the FUNds card after the fact. Earlier this month I had another $25 to redeem and had to request a new card because it didn’t allow me to add that $25 to the card I already had. Each FUNds redemption expires exactly two years (24 months) from the date you receive it.

So I was at Universal Studios Florida thinking “what should I buy” with my rewards and then I saw the perfect item…

The process was pretty simple, and now I’m the proud owner of a Creature From the Black Lagoon back scratcher with $8.70 in remaining reward dollars burning a hole in my pocket.

Speaking of merchandise, a really cool item came out this month. I’m definitely not a Loungefly guy, but this one for the Revenge of the Mummy is AWESOME.

Who saw this one coming?!!

Another piece of merchandise I loved this month was fan made…

Check out the Radically Retro etsy store for a whole bunch of other great stuff including these Monorail earrings below.

Speaking of merchandise, Bacini – the official dog of the theme park community – was sent a package this month from Boop Couture.

Boop Couture is a company that makes bandanas, bowties, collars and more for your pup. They even had Disney branded items, which is right up Bacini’s alley.

Let’s take a look at the fashion plate modeling his new items…

Bacini gives a big thumbs paws up to Boop Couture. They’ve got some really fun bandanas for dogs of all sizes along with a whole bunch of other products. Check ’em out!

Over on theme park social media we got to see some interesting stuff this month…

The Walt Disney Archives posted the following picture featuring female versions of the Three Caballeros.

A reader noted that this trio was also featured in another area of Walt Disney World…

Speaking of artwork, how fantastic is this Living with the Land/Country Bears mashup by Tiny Artist Jamie S?!!

*Show Me The Lie..

Meanwhile, I’m scrolling through my social media and THAT’S how I discover that not only have Brian and Kerry from the fantastic Views and Queues YouTube channel got married, but it was a DISNEYLAND WEDDING?!!!!!

Couldn’t be happier for the two and I encourage every single person reading this to subscribe to the Views and Queues channel, especially if you are a fan of cruising. They are by far and away my favorite people to watch and they cover everything.

Normally, a theme park wedding for two of my favorite people would be the ultimate capper to the month, but February is a special month and we got a doozy of a surprise with the debut trailer for the upcoming movie STOLEN KINGDOM. This is a movie that is going to explore many aspects of the “urban exploring” part of the theme park community, but also do a deep dive on the “too crazy to be true (but it absolutely is)” story of Patrick Spikes and Buzzy from EPCOT’s Wonders of the Life Pavilion. I can not believe this movie actually exists and be sure to follow director Josh Bailey to get more updates.

Yes, Stolen Kingdom will be a movie that features people you have seen over the years in the SATURDAY SIX including Howard Bowers and Dreamfinder Guy. Not sure how long this will last, but right now you can stream the movie via Event Live for a pretty reasonable price. I can not WAIT to see this one.

Last month’s Theme Park Enjoyment Index: 27
This month’s net change: + 12
Current enjoyment level: 39

Writer Derek Burgan, when not cleaning Len Testa’s pool, can be found reading comic books, watching professional wrestling, organizing his various Tsum Tsums in alphabetical order, and taking his dog Bacini to Universal and Disney.. He will not, we repeat not, be found at a Disney Outlet Store. An official DisTwitter Influencer, you can interact with him @derekburgan

Digital Artist Scott Walker hails from Scotland and is the fifth most famous person from this country following Alexander Graham Bell, Ewan McGregor, Gerard Butler, and Groundskeeper Willie.