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…

*Aerosmith Walks This Way (Out of DHS)

The month started out with a temporary loss, as Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster starring Aersosmith closed on March 1st. Immediately, all aspects of the Aerosmith branding were immediately removed from the park.

Over the years there have been some problematic issues involving members of Aerosmith. Actually, one specific member, lead singer Steven Tyler. In fact, Tyler was involved with some controversy over the ride itself when he reacted… how to put this… gracefully after Disney changed a hand gesture Tyler had used in the attraction’s pre-show video.

However, both the Disney and Universal parks are loaded with references to problematic people (Johnny Depp, John Lassiter, JK Rowling etc) so the instant removal of the Aerosmith name surely had more to do with brand licensing than anything else.

Under normal conditions, this would be very bad news. Putting aside any feelings about Steven Tyler, Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster is a great and thrilling ride in a theme park that doesn’t have many rides to begin with. Losing a popular coaster like this would have a significant impact on the wait times everywhere else in the park. Thankfully, this will be one of the fastest turnarounds in theme park coaster history because all the Aerosmith references are going to be replaced with The Muppets and the ride will be open for this Summer.

Disney was letting guests know immediately what was coming, something you rarely get immediately after attractions leave a park (for example, over on Disney’s Magic Kingdom park maps there’s still no “Coming Soon: Piston Peak where Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America used to sit, and those closed last year.)

We even got another surprise, as Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster starring The Muppets already got several Pressed “Penny” machines in the park. This included several Muppet characters wearing construction hats.

These designs are fantastic. 10/10.

While much of the transition of Aerosmith to Muppets is taking place inside the roller coaster’s show building, there is some work being done outside. The iconic upside down red car outside the show building is being repainted to a psychedelic version to closer relate to the Muppet band  Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

There are so many details at the theme parks that the vast majority of guests never notice. One of these details is the actual Fender logo on the guitar that the upside down vehicle is positioned on.

TPEI Score: + 2 It’s absolutely fantastic that more Muppet representation is on the way to the parks, but it’s still absolutely bonkers that we lost an entire Muppet land in the same park. Speaking of which…

*Bioreconstruct Aerials

Let’s take a look at some recent aerial photos from blogger-in-the-sky @bioreconstruct. When I say “recent” I mean recent because many of these were taken the day before this article went to press. This includes the transition from Muppet Courtyard to Monstropolis at Disney Hollywood Studios.

What’s great about Bio is not only do you get the “Big Picture” photos like the one above – which show you something in the context of where it sits in the park – but he’ll follow up with a closer look at the construction as well.

Even getting shots like this, showing the scale of the project with ant-like construction workers hard at work.

I love Monsters Inc. Full stop. I also thought the Monsters University prequel was very good as well. But Monsters Inc. replacing The Muppets? That makes absolutely no sense to me.

While we’re above DHS, let’s take a look above Star Tours where we see a long line of guests waiting to meet Darth Vader. Note that the back side of the huge AT-AT Walker is un-themed. This is because when Star Tours originally opened, the overarching theme of the theme park was that guests were getting a look at how movies and TV shows were made. Sets for Hollywood productions are only completed on the side which will be seen by the camera.

Here’s a look at Darth Vader in this new meet and greet spot. If only DHS had a fully themed Star Wars land that one of the most iconic characters in movie history could take place. Maybe one day.

Let’s head on over to Disney’s Magic Kingdom and check out the construction going on for Piston Peak and Villain’s Land.

We’re also getting very close to Cinderella Castle back to its full glory.

Okay, now let’s head over to Animal Kingdom. Always love these shots Bio gets of what I like to call “behind the scenes magic.” This is the true nitty gritty of how these parks come to life.

Hearing a lot of great stuff about the upcoming E-Ticket attraction in the Encanto part of Tropical Americas. Like Monsters Inc. replacing Muppets, I still can’t believe that we have Encanto and Indiana Jones replacing dinosaurs. Avatar replacing Camp Minnie Mickey? Makes perfect sense. A no-brainer. Getting rid of dinosaurs is like replacing Expedition Everest with an attraction themed to Pixar’s Up. Short sighted (in my book.)

Orlando has a high bar of great carousels. Prince Charming Regal Carousel is almost a rite of passage at the Magic Kingdom, the whimsical Caro-Seuss-El at Islands of Adventure is straight up E-Ticket, and Constellation Carousel at Epic Universal may be the best of them all. This Encanto-themed one is going to have to show us something.

Meanwhile, over where the Indiana Jones attraction is going we have some work taking place out front.

Next stop will be above the upcoming Lakeshore Lodge DVC monstrosity at Fort Wilderness Campground.

How can  you not love this shot of the Skyliner above Caribbean Beach?

Time for some photos above the Universal Orlando Resort. This shot below includes a ton of stuff including Volcano Bay, Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, CityWalk, and six onsite hotels.

Work on the upcoming Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift roller coaster is coming along. Universal’s last three major coaster builds have been Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, the VelociCoaster, and Stardust Racers, so I have full faith that Hollywood Drift is going to be awesome.

While Walt Disney World has its “blessing of size” (although still gets rid of attractions to build new ones) you can see in the photo below the type of stuff Universal has to work with when trying to squeeze an attraction like Hollywood Drift into the park.

The track for Hollywood Drift is ready to go.

Another gorgeous shot of Epic Universe. I recently spent a day at Epic Universe and will probably cover the experience shortly. Even though the park was completely packed and I didn’t get a chance to ride three E-Tickets (Stardust Racers, Minecart Madness and Battle at the Ministry) it was still an amazing day. I was never really into the interactive wands at the Wizarding World, but the Power-Up Bands at Super Nintendo World are LEGIT.

Let’s close our aerial section with this fun shot of an Osprey nest on top of one of Universal’s billboards.

One article that we posted this month was a look at a recent reunion of the Walt Disney Feature Animation crew. You can read that article by CLICKING HERE. These talented artists worked on animated films inside the then Disney-MGM Studios in full view of guests. Truly one of those “I can’t believe this actually happened in a theme park” things.

The article was guest written by a member of the theme park community, and when you get that reveal at the end of the article, your mind is going to be blown.

*Disney Threatens Vertical Video

Looks like I picked the wrong year to stop sniffing glue, because this month Disney threatened announced that would be entering the field of one of the biggest scourges on Earth… vertical video.

The Academy Awards also took place in March, and they did a fun video having a bit of a laugh at the concept of converting beloved films into a vertical format. Take a minute to watch the video below, it’s worth it.

The video above mocks, but there is some serious discussion to be had about entertainment companies trying to cater to an audience who consume a lot of their videos via Tik Tok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts.

In my lifetime there have been two “I’m shocked this actually happened” developments. One, that cigarette smoking has gone from something ubiquitous in every aspect of my world growing up, to something that it’s odd to even see in public now. Two, the world of entertainment did everything it could to show us how much we the audience were missing on our square TVs and it seems the entire world switched over to widescreen presentations…only now to take 10 steps back and present video in the most awful way possible, vertically.

As bad as I was feeling seeing this ridiculous “Verts” news, my heart was quickly filled with joy at the out-of-nowhere announcement that Billion Dollar Disney deal with Open AI and their Sora AI Slop app was over before it even started.

My original thought was “Great news, Disney came to their senses and realized how awful this deal would be for this brand.” However, it turns out that Disney was caught completely flat footed with this announcement like the rest of us.

I shouldn’t be shocked. We covered in last year’s Theme Park Turkey of the Year Awards that Disney is bound and determined to pull a Sideshow Bob and step on as many rakes as possible in their quest to be accepted by the world of AI Slop. They had no problem promoting an AI slop picture of a ride that doesn’t exist in their theme parks featuring an off brand Mickey Mouse…

…or even putting out actual merchandise featuring mistakes that would have never been made by a human (such as this hat featuring a flag that isn’t connected to the castle.)

Let’s check in with how Disney stock price is handling all this great news….

TPEI Score: – 10 Disney also announced that the company would be integrating AI more into Disney Imagineering and – to me – that is the absolute worst case scenario. AI encourages not thinking, and for its entire history Walt Disney Imagineering have been at the forefront of creating the most innovative features in theme parks.

*Buzz Lightyear is (almost) BACK

While Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is scheduled to reopen next month, the Grand Poohbah of TouringPlans – Len Testa – got a chance to play the updated version of the attraction. Here’s his thoughts!

The old Buzz blasters were mounted to the ride vehicle and limited aim while also encouraging slouching. The new blasters can be lifted and allow wide range of motion. It was much easier to aim and we think the new blasters will be a hit with the younger Galactic Heroes. Big win! – Len Testa

One laser in each car is red and one is green. This helps you know where you’re aiming. Additionally, Len noted that the laser is brighter and is much easier to see as you’re swirling around. A big improvement.” – Len Testa

All those years of scoping out and memorizing where the high point value targets were for naught! The target values have not only changed, they aren’t consistent anymore and this made riding multiple times so much more fun! Just when you’ve found a big value, it changes!” – Len Testa

You’ll need to be a sharp shooter to get points! The new, bolder laser will come in handy since you’ll need to hit the center of the target to see points rack up. Being able to manipulate the blaster did make this easier, though.” – Len Testa

Len also caught on that you can hit the same target multiple times and get points with each bullseye! The old blasters only registered one shot with each trigger pull, and the new blasters allow for continuous shooting when the trigger is depressed. This “burst mode” feature is similar to the gameplay on Men in Black: Alien Attack at Universal Studios Florida.

For the first time in Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin history, a rider’s score can go over 1,000,000. This was confirmed with a Cast Member because Len didn’t even come close to 1,000,000 points, but YOU might be able to hit Galactic Hero and beyond.

Here’s a good video on how you can rack up points and the new and improved ride.

We will have to have a special spot in this year’s In Memoriam special for Galactic Hero stickers that were given out to those who capped out at 999,999 in the old game system.

TPEI Score: + 12 A much needed update to an attraction many guests love at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. As a sign of goodwill, TPEI will not file any Gimmick Infringement charges against Space Ranger Spin for stealing our concept of point systems that can change for no discernable reason. We are the trend setters and instead will give a hat tip to Disney for implementing our scoring system.

In all seriousness, the park is going to have some capacity issues in the coming months/years as the various construction projects chug along, so it’s great to have something back that is much better than it was before. Now if we can just get something in that space in Tomorrowland where Stitch’s Great Adventure was…

***QUICK HITS***

This month there was an auction for concept materials created for a proposed half hour Oswald the Lucky Rabbit animated show.

What makes this concept art even more newsworthy is that it would have been a new Oswald the Lucky Rabbit show produced by Universal back in the early 1990s. This was before Disney got the rights back to the character in February 2006 in a “trade” for television commentator Al Michaels going to NBC.

The overall style seems very similar to what ended up being used for WB’s Animaniacs animated show later in the ’90s.

Speaking of animated shows, can you believe we actually saw a reference to Dudley Do-Right’s Rip Saw Falls in Islands of Adventure on American Dad? As the saying goes, that was not on my bingo card this month. This may be the first EVER reference to Ripsaw Falls anywhere in pop culture history.

*Bourne Again

Say what  you will about Twitter, there are moments in time that are just incredible and you can’t get on any other social media platform. This month we had a great one as the Bourne Stuntacular at Universal Studios Florida went viral.

It started off innocuously enough, with posts by accounts such as Magic City Mayhem showing photos of Bourne Stuntacular Times being posted across the park to encourage guests to check out the show.

The Bourne Stuntacular just may be the best stunt show at theme park (definitely the best one in Florida) and many of those who have seen it – including the Permit Princess Alicia Stella – encouraged people to check it out.

However, this passion for the show inspired noted rabble rouser Scott Walker to photoshop the Bourne Stuntacular Times Board in a variety of situations…

Scott Walker is nothing if not relentless, and if someone like @bioreconstruct posted photos of faux ads on a construction wall, Scott was quick to reply with an ad that Bio had missed…

Someone posts a picture of new merch…Scott was there to change one of the shirts.

You’d even see an aerial posted by Bio…

…followed by a reply from Scott. These could throw you off because Scott does what he does best, post something very interesting in one part of the photo, but with a hug gag in another part.

Scott would also continually reply to almost any official post from Universal, including when they announced tickets for this year’s Halloween Horror Nights…

Scott’s antics inspired others to get into the meme game, including this fun one by Tommy Hawkins.

Love this one by Inside Universal. “Due to less air pollution, the sky is clear, and we can now see Bourne Showtimes.”

As the world’s foremost Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit Apologist, you can imagine how much I loved seeing this one…

The memes spread everywhere, and it was a lot of fun taking them all in.

Even Universal Orlando’s official Twitter account took note of the viral sensation…

This post was then used by Alicia Stella to make another gag. The Circle of Life.

Will say it for the Millonith time…. Twitter can be awful. How awful? Here’s a look at the current status of my main account on that platform.

That’s right. Suspended. For no reason. An algorithm suspended me and many others for “impersonation.” Twitter Support is for all intents and purposes is non-existent (which will happen when you fire 90% of your workforce.) Will I get my account back? Who knows, but what I do know is that there is nothing like the organic and viral awesomeness that we saw with the Bourne Stuntacular on any other social media app. Not BlueSky, not Threads, not Facebook, not anywhere.

*Butterbeer Season

March is Butterbeer Season and this year’s new stuff included a whole bunch of merchandise and some incredible food items, including the Butterbeer Waffle at the Three Broomsticks in Islands of Adventure.

Not just a Butterbeer Waffle though. NAY NAY. We also got a Butterbeer THEMED BUTTER patty. Nature is healing!

Over in Epic Universe we got the Bieraubeurre Crème Brûlée. A Butterbeer custard with a caramelized sugar shell topped with Butterbeer cream and white chocolate crisps.

How did it taste? 11/10.

In your local supermarkets you could find Butterbeer creamer…

…Butterbeer foam topping…

…Butterbeer Skinny Pop popcorn…

…the return of Butterbeer Peeps…

…Butterbeer Fudge Stripes…

…and Butterbeer Goldfish (which are on the Mt. Rushmore of Goldfish Flavors.)

We also got some new snacks at Marvel Superhero Island, including Garlic Meatball Sliders at Cafe 4. This immediately became the number one food item in the restaurant (which is the lowest bar possible, but seriously these are worth trying.)

*Disney Candles

This month Babydoll dragged me to our quarterly shopping trip to Bath & Bodyworks for candle shopping. However, as soon as I walked in I discovered they finally have some bloggable candles with a Disney Princess collection.

The candles also had ornate displays that you could purchase. This Snow White candle display was $60.

Each of the candle fragrances also had a bunch of other stuff you could purchase, like bodywash. We ended up getting the Rapunzel and Belle candles. Now I’m actually looking forward to our Bath & Bodyworks trips because maybe Universal will drop a collection down the road. You know I’ll be buying the full line of Shrek candles!

Speaking of candles, some new options were released at Epic Universe that were themed to Celestial Park.

I like the themed candles offered at the Universal parks and resorts because they are small, relatively inexpensive, and easy souvenirs to bring home to friends/family/coworkers because pretty much everyone loves candles.

ART!!

So much incredible artwork by members of the community this month, and we’re gonna start off with this banger by the one and only Rob Yeo.

Absolutely love this Stardust Racers piece.

Our favorite Tiny Artist Jamie S. is blowing us away with her recent series of places in Epic Universe, including the Isle of Berk…

I love that Jaime can capture the essence of the little things that make Berk so great, such as these young dragons fighting over fish…

There was a good amount of artists in our theme park community with booths at this month’s MEGACON in Orlando.

One of the artists set up at MEGACON was Henry Taylor of the Theme Park Preservation Society. Among his incredible pieces of art featured were his series of incorporating Epic Universe into Tarot Cards. This is straight up E-Ticket work.

The one-and-only Derek Collier of the Satisfactual Sign Co. was on the convention floor handing out his latest masterpiece, a Revenge of the Mummy themed keychain.

One artist I hope to have featured in this fine blog series in the near future is Cremated Plastic. You’ve seen his work at Universal before as he was the artist responsible for the awesome ride vehicles that were part of an incredible Christmas Tree back in 2023.

Recently, Cremated Plastic has created a series of “Coin Riders” that evoke the feeling of those rides that use to be located outside of supermarkets and large retail stores. His coin riders are themed to Universal ride vehicles! Be sure to head on over to the Cremated Plastic website and check out all the cool things he has to offer.

During MEGACON, Universal announced the Icons for this year’s Halloween Horror Nights event, Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow.

This year’s HHN is going to inspire so much fantastic artwork, but I already love a couple pieces out there including this stunner by The Horizoneer…

…along with this great one by @gshepgf.

Last month’s Theme Park Enjoyment Index: 58
This month’s net change: 63
Current enjoyment level: +5

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.