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…

*May the 4th Be With You

As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I have to be completely honest in that I’ve never been a huge fan of May the 4th pretty much becoming the defacto Star Wars Day in America. It all started as a campy bit in the Star Wars community having fun using a play on words with the famous “May the force be with you” line from the films. As with many things, what started organically with fans gets taken over by corporations and turned into something designed to sell us stuff.

In the old timey carnival days, con-artists running the various “skill” games would put a chalk mark on the back of a person they found to be a gullible victim. This would alert the other grifters at the carnival that they should target this person and fleece him of his money. We don’t have chalk marks anymore, but if you’re in a Disney gift shop and you see someone wearing a hat like the one below… well, there ain’t nothing they won’t buy.

In fact, in my experience covering the Disney Outlet Stores every month for a decade, anything branded with “May the 4th” made it to the clearance rack in short order. Even Star Wars fans have a limit.

Here’s the good news, the people who don’t have any money to make off “May the 4th” have used the date to do some really neat stuff involving Star Wars. That includes this month when the social media team for Orlando International Airport (MCO) did a five star parody of Star Tours.

Everything about this video was off the charts great, even using the iconic statue “The Traveler” as the Rebel Spy.

Buddy Dyer in a Jedi robe? 10/10. No notes.

Disney’s friendly competition across town used May the 4th to make a social media post referencing a famous line from the very first Star Wars film.

TPEI’s Digital Maestro Scott Walker took that gag up a notch, showing that moment in the film, but also giving Chewbacca a Captain Cacao makeover.

Scott even created a Chewbacca x Captain Cacao plush!

Artist Andres Orellana (AKA @ImaginaticArt) created this wonderful tribute to the original version of Star Tours. Love all the wonderful details Andres put into this drawing, and don’t forget to check out his Artist Spotlight feature from earlier this year. What a talent!

On social media, there were some fun Star Wars related posts. This one below was my personal favorite…

At the Disney Parks this year, some of the collectibles that made their debut this year included a variety of popcorn buckets…

…non-sensical merchandise, such as t-shirts and hats featuring “Star Wars” written in the Aurebesh language…

…new planet additions to the Starbucks Discovery series…

…and some exclusive food and drink options.

Me personally? I’m all about the lightsaber swivel sticks.

The Star Wars “brand” at the Disney Parks is a hard one to fully understand. Years ago, as the company opened Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, they eliminated the fun and wackiness of the annual Star Wars Weekends. To present a more “serious” Star Wars, they removed anything remotely non-canon, such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck dressed up as Star Wars characters. However, if you look closely in Galaxy’s Edge, you’ll find stuff like these “Pew Pew Chews.” What are we doing here guys?

Out in Disneyland, you can get a Star Wars Galactic ID.

For the price of $15, you can have your face added on to a card that is equivalent to something like a driver’s license in the Star Wars Universe.

You can choose from a variety of “factions” including Jedi Knight, Rebel Alliance Pilot, and Bounty Hunter.

At the end, you are the proud owner of a Galactic ID, the 2026 equivalent of the old chalk mark that the carnies used to put on the back of gullible suckers like me and fellow Star Wars superfan Guy Selga.

That’s right, Guy and myself will pretty much buy anything related to Star Wars, although there are some items even we won’t touch…

Now, it would have made a lot of sense to make a major addition to Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run debut on May the 4th, but instead we got it later in the month.

For the first time since it made its debut back in 2019, a new mission was added to Smugglers Run. We also got the addition of The Mandalorian and Grogu.

TPEI Score: + 8 The addition of something – ANYTHING – to Smugglers Run was needed immediately after the ride opened. How Disney Imagineering dropped the ball on this attraction, along with Universal’s huge miss on Fast & Furious – Supercharged, will be two things I don’t think I will ever fully understand. Thankfully it looks like both companies are doing their best to update and/or replace these “swing and a miss” attractions.

As for May the 4th itself, as long as we can get fun videos like we did from MCO this year, putting up with all the other stuff is worth it.

*One Epic Year

Time sure flies, because one year ago this month Universal’s EPIC UNIVERSE officially opened to all guests.

All the promotion and official signage inside the park mentioned “One Epic Year,” but a collectible medallion released for the anniversary had “1 Epic Year.” This is going to drive a specific type of person bonkers.

The most note worthy of all merchandise released for the anniversary was the highly anticipated Chronos Tower model. A similar product was sent to various influencers and media personalities in the months leading up to the opening of Epic Universe last year and has always been on my I Gotta Get One Of Those lists.

However, the model was priced at $600, could only be purchased inside the park, and wasn’t even available as you were pre-ordering it to have the model mailed to you later in the year (and yes, you also had to pay an extra $30 on top for shipping.) This turned a Must Get item for me into a strong NAY NAY. I’m not sure if it says anything about how many they sold, but it didn’t take long before people could pre-order this model from home. Rumors and Innuendo suggest Universal has sold as little as 100 of these (and who knows how many of those were to just ebay resellers.)

The Chronos Portal model holds five coins, each representing a particular world in the park. You could purchase these separately and they looked really cool.

While I wouldn’t consider myself a “Pin Guy,” I do appreciate a good theme park pin, and Epic released several awesome ones this month.

This set for Celestial Park is next level. Love it.

Theme park related bags are still hot right now, and this Toothless version is surely going to be a big seller.

In my article on the merchandise found in the Isle of Berk, I wrote about the great Dragon Adoption gimmick they have at the gift shop. A special one year anniversary dragon egg was released…

…featuring everyone’s favorite dragon, Toothless.

In the Wizarding World we got the debut of a new Chocolate Frog flavor, Hazelnut. This joins the original Milk Chocolate flavor and the Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate additions we’ve seen over the years.

I’ve said many times that the Wizarding World’s Chocolate Frog is one of the all time greatest souvenirs at the theme parks. The hazelnut option is a good addition to the lineup and here’s hoping a peanut butter version comes down the road.

Many reading this also know how much I love the Universal Orlando branded candy bars. The One Year Anniversary brought us a new Chronos Portal bar that looks fantastic. Now I just need my Captain Cacao candy bar and I’ll stop writing the weekly letters.

Speaking of Captain Cacao, the biggest drop of all came in the form of a brand new meet-and-drink character.

Straight up E-Ticket.

I laughed out loud when I first saw this meme by Scott Walker. IFKYK.

TPEI Score: + 6 Epic Universe certainly had its challenges over the first year when it comes to ride reliability, but thankfully that seems to be improving. Epic started with fantastic dining, merchandise, and characters, so all the additions to those just make this park even better. Now bring on the annual passes!

*Muppets Return

Our long national nightmare is over. Even though we’ve been in mourning since the closure of Muppet*Vision 3D last June, we all got picked up this month when Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets opened up late this month.

This is a true “pinch me, I’m dreaming” moment, as Disney took a ride I really enjoyed and made it a thousand times better.

The new Scooter audio-animatronic is beyond perfect. I think, if anything, this new version of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is so good that Disney should just convert pretty much every single attraction at Walt Disney World to one featuring the Muppets.

*The End of Horror Make-Up Show

This is something most of us never saw coming, as Universal announced almost out of nowhere that the fan favorite Horror Make-Up Show would be going dark and be reimagined with a new version later this year. I’m more of a “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” guy, but a new take on this show could definitely be cool. My only fear is that if the new show is designed to somehow shoehorn some synergy in with a horror company like Blumhouse. Time will tell.

If you’ve never tried Universal’s Horror Make-Up Show because you’re “not into horror,” let me alleviate your fears. I was in the exact same boat and put off this show for years until a friend of mine dragged me into it because they loved movie make-up. Turns out the show was a fascinating look into make-up (and special effects) of horror films and was absolutely hilarious. There are two hosts of the live show, and they spend much more time on “funny” rather than “scary” and throw in a whole bunch of pop-culture references for the crowd to enjoy.

During the course of the final performance there were several hilarious references to this being the last show along with topical references (such as when a grave digging scene from a movie was played, the hosts joked, “Goodbye, Spirit Airlines!” a company that had recently gone out of business just days before.) There was a well deserved standing ovation at the last performance.

Superstar artist Derek Collier was inspired by the show to recreate the A-Frame signage that Universal put out for Horror Make-Up Show’s final day. As always, he nailed the assignment.

While the audience at the last show needed a special wristband just to get into the final performance, each guest was also given one of the new “I’m Celebrating” bands that Universal Studios Florida has been offering at locations across the park.

These bands are absolutely free, and can be obtained by approaching a Team Member at the front of an attraction. Be forewarned, they often run out.

These essentially are a replacement for the I’m Celebrating buttons that people would get at Guest Services. I think this is a much better option because 1) If you’ve ever waited in line at Guest Services it often feels like Time Stands Still and 2) These are much more collectible.

TPEI SCORE: – 2 The Horror Make-Up Show has some pretty big shoes to fill for this “reimagining.” I’m hoping for the best but definitely am going to miss this version.

***QUICK HITS***

*Soarin Over America

“It’s not as good as the original but at least it’s better than Soarin Over the World” is what we like to call damning with faint praise.

While the new update isn’t everything we wanted, it did give us a chance to check back in with Chief Flight Attendant Patrick and hear one of the most iconic lines in any Disney pre-show, “nice work pal.”

I do appreciate that it looks like Disney had a real artist draw this new Attraction Poster, because if they used their AI Slop machine like they have for other items, Mt. Rushmore might have had a fifth head.

I also can’t get enough of people adding their suggestions to what should have made the cut, such as Scott Walker using the I4 Eye Sore.

*Jessie’s Roundup

Even though Disney’s Magic Kingdom is by far and away the most visited theme park in the entire world, for whatever reasons they decided they were going to stake their claim on having the worst dining you can get anywhere. If something like Be Our Guest Restaurant comes along and everyone loves it, Disney immediately makes every possible thing about dining there worse.

This month we got a dining “addition by subtraction” as the Diamond Horseshoe, a complete waste of a restaurant if there ever was one, has been converted over to Jessie’s Roundup.

Disney put as much TLC into the overall theming of Jessie’s Roundup as they did for the menu of Diamond Horseshoe, as in not much. This is all part of the Cool Kids Summer gimmick they have going on.

I do appreciate that the art style for all the critters is just like what you’ll see over at Midway Mania in Toy Story Land.

Kiddos of all ages can get their own badges.

Buzz Lightyear is fine, but in my book almost all the other Toy Story characters look a bit off as meet-and-greet characters. I admit I may be alone on that island.

Jessie’s trusted companion Bullseye can be found at the Roundup, and be prepared for some dancing and other activities, including all the characters interacting with the kids in the audience. This is not that dissimilar to when Animal Kingdom replaced Primeval Whirl with stroller parking. This isn’t that great, but it’s better than what was here previously.

*Do You Believe In Miracles?!

Check out what happened to me this month. Many reading this know I’m a sucker for the theme park credit cards. Yes, they give you an AWFUL rate when it comes to things like “cash back” and such, but what can I say, I like using rewards at the theme parks. Its financially irresponsible, but it’s what I like.

When Universal finally released its own Credit Card, you better believe I signed up.

Like Disney, you then apply your Rewards to a Rewards Card. For Disney you can pretty much put whatever you want on a card, as long as it’s over $10 in Rewards. Universal offers their Rewards in $25 increments. So below is me using a Rewards Card to purchase a Creature From the Black Lagoon Back Scratcher, as one does.

When you think about it, I’m actually getting this back scratcher for you, Dear Reader, as well, because you get to enjoy the pictures. Think of these as Our Rewards.

Universal also has a Visa Lounge at Universal Studios Florida for those who have a Universal Visa card.

Air conditioned, plenty of seating, free drinks and snacks. Can’t go wrong with that. All you need to do is show you have an active Universal Visa card at the check in desk. There is no charge for anything at the lounge.

Here’s what blew my mind. I took a Universal vacation with the family back in March. You saw several articles based on my trip including this one one covering my first ever stay at Helios Grand Hotel. Fast forward to May, and all of a sudden I get this email.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!! The credit card was giving me a discount on stuff I had bought months ago but apparently forgot to tell the Team Member at the store that I was entitled to a discount. So I would see itemized refunds like the one below…

…that was the 10% discount I should have asked for when buying a Helios Grand Christmas Ornament.

I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The closest I will ever get to that moment in Miracle on 34th Street when the parents can’t wrap their heads around the Macy’s Santa Claus is sending them to stores other than Macy’s. Universal’s Credit Card was putting ME above the almighty buck. Have I slipped into a different Earth in the multiverse? But then other people responded to my post saying the same thing happened to them.

I’m still a bit shook, and then later in the month I find out that Universal is giving an extra amenity to people staying onsite at one of their hotels. That’s right, they get to have an exclusive meet-and-greet with a Minion wearing a Villain-Con lanyard. That is just fantastic and if it was being offered when we stayed at Helios the kiddos would have flipped for it.

Each of Universal’s hotels also has a sand sculpture for their Summer celebration.

While Universal may be doing a ton of great Fan Service, let’s not forget what Disney is doing for their most loyal guests, including this line of Annual Passholder merchandise that looks it like took a grand total of .0004 seconds of effort.

I was wondering who would wear stuff like this and then it hit me…

*The Greatest Shirt of All Time?

On the other side of the t-shirt coin is this new one that you can purchase at the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Citywalk. Believe it or not there are several restaurants in Citywalk that have a lot of merchandise, including seasonal items during special events like HHN. The latest shirt at Hard Rock seems pretty generic when you look at the front.

However, the back of the shirt is next level amazing. Not only do you have a gator playing a guitar in front of Orlando’s Hard Rock Cafe, but a closer look reveals an even better surprise…

…as next to the Hard Rock Cafe are the CONSTRUCTION WALLS for the upcoming Fast and Furious – Hollywood Drift coaster!! Also a bonus look at the facade for Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem. My jaw is on the floor.

Speaking of Orlando, the town got some references in popular media this week during the Series Final of The Boys on Amazon Prime. As a lifelong reader of comic books, The Boys is hands down the best superhero TV show ever made (however it is NOT safe for kiddos.) It’s also one of the rare forms of media in which the TV/Movie version of something is much better than the source material. The Boys comic book is unreadable.

So anyway, on the final episode a character on the show made the following statement…

Whenever this happens when I watch a show, I immediately perk up and become the living embodiment of the famous Leonardo Dicaprio meme. Such as the time I was watching On Patrol Live and the cops searching a car for drugs found a more interesting item…

FOOD!

Some very interesting food news dropped this month including the reveal that Churro Mickey Waffles are now available at Spyglass Grill in Disney’s Caribbean Beach. Normally this was an item you could only get on the Disney Cruise Line (or at least that’s the only place I’ve seen it talked about.)

At Universal Studios Florida, the Richter’s Burger Co. restaurant got a top-to-bottom 100 point restoration retheming the restaurant to Jaws.

This includes design elements that are just absolutely crazy. For the true sickos and I say that in the best way possible.

Jaws quotes over Coke Freestyle machines? Someone’s been reading my Dream Journal.

A couple new items were added to the menu, including a burger with THREE PATTIES.

And a bun imprinted with a shark mandible. I think we’re gonna have to do a Richter’s Burger Co. article in June as well. Not only is this stuff amazing, but people need to know more about this restaurant in its normal form.

Over at my beloved Cabana Bay Beach Resort, some new menu options were added as well. Not only do they offer large pizzas, but they also started selling SLICES.

Hold on. Let’s zoom in and look a little closer at how much they are charging for a slice…

Wow. The Simpsons truly can see the future.

Voodoo Doughnuts seasonal offering for this month was this Viking Bee Sting. The “boysenberry velvet top” was nowhere near as good as it sounds, but I’m giving a passing grade to anything that includes Honeycomb cereal. Loved that when I was growing up.

The Bees Knees drink at Splitsville below isn’t new, but I haven’t seen their version before and I think the honeycomb stirrer and the candy bee is just a fantastic touch. Splittsville is hands down the most underrated restaurant in all of Disney Springs.

ART TIME!!

For Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith going away, we got this great piece by Theme Park Art Icon Rob Yeo.

We showed Derek Collier‘s Horror Make-Up Signage earlier in this article, but he also created this awesome Revenge of the Mummy piece done in his amazing style echoing Universal’s old billboards.

Artist Jess Feldman is still producing one banger after another with her takes on the food and drinks at Epic Universe. Here we get to see a look at the Wizarding World.

The Horizoneer has created even better versions of his next level Epic Universe portals made out of LEGO. It should be illegal to be as talented as this guy is. SAVE SOME FOR THE REST OF US PHILLIP!!!

Speaking of the Chronos Portal, really enjoy this piece of art by The Dreamfinder.

Our favorite tiny artist Jaime S. has finished her Isle of Berk series. This whole collection will be a part of the upcoming Stop Hate Fundraiser from Orlando Park Stop that starts June 1st. You better believe I’ll be ordering my copy (actually, copies.)

How great is this great Attraction Poster for Test Track done by Cole Vierra. Just fantastic work.

This led me down a rabbit hole seeing even more of Cole Vierra’s work I had missed over the years. Big fan.

Gonna see if he has any interest in an Artist Spotlight feature next. Wish me luck because this guy is great.

Artist Tom Whalen had an art signing in CityWalk this month for his Jaws print. The fact that Universal has artist signings in the parks and Citywalk several times per year is just wonderful.

Last month’s Theme Park Enjoyment Index: 48
This month’s net change: +30
Current enjoyment level: 78

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.