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…

*Sir Henry’s Haunt Celebrates 13 Years

September means Spooky Season in Central Florida is now officially in Full Swing. Not only do we have the Best-In-The-World Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando, but the mega popular Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World. However there is another haunted event that we’ve been covering for the last several years that is well worth your time, Sir Henry’s Haunted Trail in Plant City, FL. We sent intrepid reporter Megan Thickey to check out this year’s edition, and here’s what she thought…

In Sir Henry’s 13th season, you’ll see lots of nods to the number 13. All three trails are themed to 13: Troupe 13, The 13th Blood Rite, and my personal favorite, Symphony No. 13.

Troupe 13 involves a “mysterious traveling circus” with fortune tellers, animals and clowns. Every turn has a new scare and takes you through the dark forest, where you never know what might come at you. Be warned, there is an extremely claustrophobic air tunnel that we found on the trail.

The 13th Blood Rite is the Vampire House featuring Lord Drakov. We were greeted by red hooded figures on our way in. While running (walking, please walk through the trails) from the undead, you’ll encounter Lord Drakov trying to complete the 13 blood rites so he can rule over the villages.

Symphony No. 13 was our group’s favorite of the trails. It gave us several of the best scares and leads you deep into the dark mind of Maestro Sebastian Eldritch. Believing that his discovery of a 13 note melody would bring his wife back from the dead, he brings back other spirits who begin to torment him. Be prepared for a room full of ghosts where you can only guess where a spirit might appear. This trail is beautifully decorated, and I was extremely impressed with the level of detail the haunt was able to achieve for this season.

The Legends of Halloween Haunted Hayride has been part of Sir Henry’s for the past few seasons, and this year it was better than ever! The wagons now feature seating on both sides, and the scare actors actually came up on the wagon, ready to frighten you from all angles. The pumpkin yard has returned which was so beautiful when we went through but quickly turned into a frightening experience when the farmer arrived and threatened to take our heads for his pumpkin patch. The larger than life dollhouse was the most impressive part, but I’ll leave that for you to discover.

One of the best parts of the trails at Sir Henry’s is the pulsing of the crowds. There are no conga lines so you will get the scares! While they don’t touch you at Sir Henry’s, they do get very close and are very loud. Unlike some other Central Florida events, there are no specific trigger mechanisms, and the scare actors utilize their own voices. I don’t know how they’re not hoarse after the first weekend, but it’s super impressive and very startling. Listen carefully to what some of them have to say and heed their warnings. You never know what might pop up!

Check out sirhenryshauntedtrail.com for ticket sales, bag policies and accommodation policies. Closed toed shoes are required, and tickets must be purchased online prior to arriving. Sir Henry’s is a 501©3 with proceeds going into haunt upgrades along with charitable organizations such as Folds of Honor and the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

*Magic of Disney Animation Opens

Sitting in the former home of Star Wars: Launch Bay – one of the biggest wastes of time in theme park history (and that’s coming from a lifelong Star Wars fan) – Disney Hollywood Studios got a major upgrade with the opening of the Magic of Disney Animation this month.

To start off, Disney made the Animation Courtyard outside the building everything guests have always wanted with a whole bunch of walk around characters and even more great photo-ops.

Last year we covered what a great job Universal did putting Pikmin in Super Nintendo World, and Disney might have topped that with some of the fun surprises found in this area.

How great is stuff like this?

Okay, so let’s head into the Magic of Disney Animation building itself…

It seems almost impossible to believe now, but it wasn’t that long ago when actual movies, TV shows, and animated features were made at the former Disney-MGM Studios. In fact, good ol’ @bioreconstruct even covered a recent reunion of the Florida Animation crew. This was the team responsible for such projects as Lilo & Stitch, Mulan, and Roger Rabbit shorts like Roller Coaster Rabbit. Tributes to this talented team can be seen in the Magic of Disney Animation.

Just like Animation Courtyard outside the building, the inside is also filled with charming details.

The Magic of Disney Animation is filled with interactive experiences, including a whole bunch of fun photo-ops with characters including Stitch, Goofy, Rapunzel and more.

Each photo-op is themed to part of the process of putting together an animated film, and the larger-than-life props in each area put the characters themselves into a whole new perspective.

Olaf Draws! is an animation experience that has guests hand-draw our favorite Disney characters with help from an animatronic Olaf and pre-recorded instruction from Disney animators, similar to what guests would experience on a Disney Cruise Line sailing. There are a total of nine animators that teach guests (via video) how to draw 10 different characters.

There is a cute sign for the attraction out front…

…but the backside of that sign is one of those true Disney Details that is made for the true sickos like us.

The Olaf A.A. looks great and is voiced by Josh Gad.

Disney Director and Story Artist Dan Abraham guided guests on how to draw Mickey Mouse.

Olaf’s finished drawing was very cute.

Other drawing classes feature: Minnie Mouse with animator Hyun Min Lee, Donald Duck with animator Austin Traylor, Genie with animator Eric Goldberg, Moana with story artist Samantha Vilfort, Stitch with director and head of story Fawn Veerasunthorn, Olaf with director Trent Correy, Ursula with animator Michael Woodside, and Judy Hopps & Nick Wilde with director Byron Howard.

Interestingly enough, shortly after the Magic of Disney Animation opened, reports surfaced of former Disney CEO Bob Chapek coming out of the rock he was hiding under after he was unceremoniously kicked to the curb by the company back in 2022.

Turns out, Chapek has written a book titled Behind the Castle Walls: My Thirty Years at the Happiest Place on Earth. In the book, Bob says that he makes the case he – and I quote – “wasn’t just a maniacal, money-optimizing machine.” In my opinion, the word just is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, and excerpts from the book have been making the rounds, including Chapek defending a part of Disney’s animation history that most in the company probably wish were locked “in the vault,” the straight-to-video sequels made for Aladdin, Cinderella, and more.

*Citywalk Welcomes Fat Ones

I’ve always been a big fan of Hot Dog Hall of Fame at Universal Citywalk and was surprised to find out earlier this year it was closing and being replaced by Fat Ones, another hot dog based quick service restaurant backed by *NSYNC’s own Joey Fatone. Over the past couple months, our pal Bio has been relentless covering the transition from Hot Dog Hall of Fame to the new venue.

This past week there was the grand opening of Fat Ones, and of course Bio was in the air getting full coverage, as one does.

Our perspective on the ground that day was slightly different.

Unlike Hot Dog Hall of Fame, Fat Ones has pictures of all its hot dog options on menu screens.

We went twice this past week and had starkly different experiences. The first trip, on the day of the Grand Opening, everything was perfect.  The hot dogs are split, but still juicy and not too salty. Buns are high quality, almost potato bun texture and not soggy. A++  The To-NY dog tasted better than it looked. The onion sauce was terrific, but it could use a little more mustard.

Loved the Dirty K-Pop dog. Inhaled it.

You could add fries to any dog for $1 or add loaded fries for $4 so we tried the chili ones. They are big steak fries served hot with crispy edges and creamy centers. Excellent.

Later in the week we went back to Fat One’s place when it was getting dark and they completely dropped the ball. Hot dogs were cold. The Brazilian was good and spicy, but the skin on the sausage was thick and dry. We also got the El Fonsi as a platter with fries and they forgot the potato sticks on top. Asked two workers if we got the correct dog and neither of them could identify the dogs on the menu. WHAT?! One of the workers claimed it was their first day as a Universal team member, so apparently they aren’t using 3rd party staff? Having a hard time wrapping my head around that one.

There was a silver lining though, I think the Team Members accidentally gave me a double discount, because not only did I get my AP discount, I also got the Universal Visa discount added as well. Sometimes you have to take the small victories in life when you get them.

*Weenie vs. Weinie

Speaking of hot dogs, lets check out something that happened in the Real World this month that directly ties into our beloved theme park world. Imagine my surprise when watching the show Lanterns on HBO Max and seeing the following exchange started by the character John Stewart…

Like pretty much everyone in our lives who aren’t obsessed with theme parks, the character of Hal Jordan had never heard the word weenie used in that context.

I couldn’t believe what I was watching! The name of the episode is titled “Weenie” but the story behind it is even more interesting. From The Vault of Walt: vol 5 by Jim Korkis, he goes into detail about a time in Walt’s life that takes place when Disneyland was in the earliest stages of development. At the time, Walt and his family had a poodle who Walt had named Duchess Disney, or DeeDee for short. Walt would take the dog everywhere he went, even to the Disney Studio. Like my Bacini, DeeDee was much more Walt’s dog than the rest of the family’s. When Walt would come home from the studio he would park his car in the family garage and enter the house through the kitchen, stopping at the fridge to grab some “wienies” (uncooked hot dogs) to share with Dee Dee.

He (Walt) would go to the refrigerator and pull out two uncooked hot dogs, one for himself and one for the dog. He would play with her, wiggling the hot dog around, and she would go wherever he moved around and was so happy when she finally got her treat. It was part of an evening ritual and both of them loved it and looked forward to it.” – Diane Disney Miller

It was there with DeeDee that Walt had the idea for the “wienies” of Disneyland. Attractions like Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Matterhorn are visual icons in the distance when you enter Disneyland, beckoning guests to come in and explore further, just like Walt did when he enticed DeeDee to follow him around for that treat. When Walt explained this concept to his theme park designers, they figured out exactly what he was hoping for. We still see that ingenuity on display today with theme park wienies such as the Tree of Life, Spaceship Earth, and Hollywood Tower of Terror.

So keep in mind that while we think, write, and say “weenie,” the word we actually should be using is “wienie.”

Back to the episode of Lanterns.

Welcome to world of theme park blogging John Stewart.

*This month in theme park concept art

A couple of interesting pieces of concept art made their debut this month, including the addition of Lilypad (a character in Toy Story 5) being added to Toy Story Land in DHS. This sparked a bit of online buzz beccause the overall theme of Toy Story Land is that it takes place in Andy’s backyard. Lilypad was owned by Bonnie and would never have been in Andy’s backyard. Some of these people complaining are overlooking that several of “Bonnie’s” Toy Story characters were already added to Midway Mania years ago. But the larger point ties into a story made during the development of Star Tours: The Adventure Continues.

When Star Tours expanded to include trips to other planets, one of the planets everyone wanted to use was Hoth, the ice planet from The Empire Strikes Back. Anyone who has experienced the ride knows that guests travel to Hoth and see a battle between the rebels and the Empire featuring everyone’s favorite AT-ATs. This battle made no sense in the timeline of the attraction, but its what people wanted. Lilypad makes no sense in Toy Story Land if you want to be slavish to the source material, but in reality its a fun character to add and will make the park experience better for kids and that’s all that really matters.

Back to Universal Citywalk for a moment. On the lagoon side of the thoroughfare there is a new restaurant being built that is going to be named Luke Combs’ Category 10. A while back Universal put up concept art of the upcoming venue on construction walls. This month, Universal put updated concept art on the construction walls, but kept the older concept art up right next to it. This allowed guests to see the budget cuts that have been made to the restaurant. I can not confirm or deny that the venue has been renamed to Luke Combs Category 7.5.

*Disney Store for the Shore

Let’s get out of Florida for a second and head up to the state of New Jersey, where a brand new (and temporary) Disney Store opened up in Paramus.

While it’s mostly the same Disney merch you’ll find everywhere else (another thing we can “credit” Bob Chapek for,) there are some items that are exclusive to the store.

Any store that sells Muppet merch gets my official Seal of Approval. This particular venue is expected to stay open throughout the 2026 Holiday season.

*Disney Signage Hall of Shame Update

::chef’s kiss:: No notes. My only hope is next year 47 is crossed out and 48 is put next to it.

*Bio!

One of the great things about following @bioreconstruct on social media is that he doesn’t just post pictures. He’ll give invaluable insight as well. For example, one thing I have always loved at Animal Kingdom was the design of the Dinosaur facade. The way it was built, with trees on top of the building, make it seem like the building you are about to walk into is relatively small, when in actuality it is GIGANTIC.

In this aerial taken by Bio back in 2020, you can see how the show building of Dinosaur is hidden from guest view. Note the treeline going across the top of the building.

This month Bio got us an even more detailed shot of that very same area. The trees have been removed as the building is being converted over to an Indiana Jones based attraction. You can really tell the size of the building by seeing how small the humans are in scale to the area they are working on. Wow!

Let’s take a look at the front of the very same building now, which also includes some patented Bio Info!

Great shot of the entirety of Tropical Americas area in Animal Kingdom. The Indiana Jones attraction is in the bottom right of the picture while the Encanto area is directly above it.

How about this WOW shot showing not just Kilimanjaro Safaris, but also the feeding area for the animals?!

Let’s make our way over the Magic Kingdom area, where Bio got this shot of the next ferry that is being built.

While in the area, Bio got the opportunity to make a fun gag to his followers.

Big Picture shots like the one below are what truly tickle my fancy.

But there is something wonderful about shots like this featuring the Monorail. I don’t know how to describe it, but I “feel” it.

Speaking of Big Picture, this one featuring so much of Universal Orlando is just incredible.

Bio got a whole bunch of amazing shots of the ongoing tests for Universal’s next E-Ticket roller coaster.

He was even there the day Dom Toretto’s famous black Dodge Charger was unwrapped for the test!

Sometimes the detail Bio provides is near incomprehensible to a layman like myself. HOW DOES HE KNOW ALL THIS STUFF?!!!

Till next month bio!

*New menu at Volcano Bay Nights

Last year we covered The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Volcano Bay Nights after hour event. One area they could definitely improve on was the food that was included with the event, and boy did they. This year’s Volcano Bay Nights even has their island take on the insanely popular mac & cheese cones from the Isle of Berk.

In the “Be Careful What You Wish For” department… last year I said it was a shame Universal didn’t have any Volcano Bay Nights branded merchandise for guests to buy. Well, this year they DID have merchandise, and you can already find it in the clearance rack at Universal Studios Florida. Sorry Uni, that one’s on me.

One piece of merch you won’t be seeing discounted any time soon is this adorable Ygor plush.

Ygor holding a severed plush arm is straight up E-Ticket.

*Art!

Love this Disneyland attraction art/Universal mash-up by artist Dave Perillo. Just fantastic.

Speaking of mash-ups, here we have Chip n’ Dale as Baze & Chirrut from Rouge One: A Star Wars Story. Commissioned by @darrenrheideman with art by Waggtoon)

*A Salute To Dewayne Bevil

Time flies in the theme park world. Earlier this summer I covered the 13th anniversary of this fine blog series, but there is someone out there who has been doing it longer – and better – than me, and that is the Orlando Sentinel’s Dewayne Bevil. This past week, after almost two decades on the theme park beat, Dewayne wrote his farewell column that covered many interesting things that he has done while covering Disney, Universal and other attractions in Central Florida.

There’s generally a large turnover in the world of theme park writing, and that’s for several reasons. It can be a true grind, and its rare to see someone thrive for so long and not burn a single bridge along the way. Dewayne Bevil is a true inspiration to those looking to forge their way into a career writing about something that we all love, but often gets a wary side-eye from anyone we describe it to who is not completely immersed into the world of theme parks.

Covering the opening of say – Joey Fatone’s Fat Ones in Citywalk – may not be as glamorous as being on the red carpet at the Met Gala, but I’d argue it serves a much greater purpose… helping inform those preparing to come to one of the most popular vacation destinations in the world.

Everyone here at TouringPlans, but especially me personally, tip our hats to Dewayne for his dedicated service to the theme park community and wish him well on the next chapter in his career. I, for one, can’t wait to see what it is.

Psalm 20:4 May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

Last month’s Theme Park Enjoyment Index: 33
This month’s net change: + 13
Current enjoyment level: 46

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.

Next month in the SATURDAY SIX…