SATURDAY SIX Presents: The 2024 TURKEY ADDENDUM – Examining ALL of This Year’s Easter Eggs

Generally speaking, a few months before November the SAT SIX Fun Squad and myself will start to brainstorm what the headline drawing of The Turkeys should be and who should be in it. This year the leading contender was the barren CommuniCore Hall (which is understandable to anyone who has read this year’s Turkeys.)

However, when the news came out of how Disney had done the Morocco Pavilion dirty with the refurbishment of the fountain and planters, I knew that would ultimately be the venue chosen. It checked off every box. Then came the process of selecting who and what would populate the area. The goal is to get a reference to every single Turkey Nominee into the drawing, and then a whole bunch of stuff that we actually enjoy.

I use various levels of detail when it comes to drawing layouts when working with other artists. Some get pretty detailed sketches, but Brian Cooper and I are at the point now where I can do the quickest – almost incomprehensible – scribblings and he knows exactly what I’m talking about. Below is the version of the 2024 Turkeys Header that I sent Brian.

Over the next few weeks, Brian would share with me some early looks at his process.

During this time, some adjustments are made to the concept.

Once we get to the final stages, I get to see if there is any extra room to put in more people that weren’t part of the original sketch.

At the end we get Brian’s full masterpiece. You can click on the pic below to see a hi rez version of the drawing.

Today we are going to look at ALL the references in the picture.

# 1 – SeaWorld’s NO RE-ENTRY Signage. I like having theme park A-frame signs as part of the Turkeys, including the  HHN “Haunted Houses At Capacity” back in 2020 and the Red Coconut Club “Closed for Private Event” in 2022.

This was from an A-frame posted by a user that just seemed absolutely insane to me. I can maybe understand no (immediate) re-entry at a place like Disney’s Magic Kingdom on a New Year’s Eve. But SeaWorld? SEAWORLD?! GTFO with that.

The policy was quickly removed.

# 2 – Cornhole at World Celebration.

Something just tickles me about the price Disney is charging to get into the parks and instead of actually making attractions for capacity its just easier to throw out some cornhole boards.

# 3 – Dead DisTwitter Bird. This was based on the old Twitter logo with the new name for Twitter “X” being the logo to signify that the bird was deceased. This is referencing the large amounts of theme park fans who have left Twitter for various reasons. Many of your favorites can now be found on the social media site Blue Sky, including  Len Testa Guy Selga & Your Humble Author from TouringPlans along with other icons such as Alicia Stella, and Bioreconstruct.

# 4 – Popcorn Buckets. The character of Derek (from the Theme Park Goofus & Gallant-like series David & Derek) is holding up and surrounded by some of the amazing popcorn buckets put out by Disney and Universal this year.

What a year for spectacular designs including a Minion mashup with Frankenstein’s Monster.

A Lil’ Boo bucket that not only lights up but also displays an HHN 2024 projection!

The “pinch me, I’m dreaming” Grimlock DINOBOT popcorn bucket.

An amazing Star Wars popcorn bucket with the storyline that it was recovered from a deceased Storm Trooper that was killed in battle.

And the amazing Imagination Pavilion bucket from this year’s Festival of the Arts.

But there were even more fantastic popcorn buckets this year too. We are in a true golden era and it’s like both Disney and Universal were sick of getting my letters and said “okay, we’ll actually make them good now.”

The Jabba the Hutt bucket even has an EVIL LAUGH!!!

The movie theaters are starting to realize there is a lot of money to be made in the world of themed popcorn buckets, and Disney was at the head of the pack this year with some truly wonderful ones for Deadpool and Wolverine.

Derek is wearing this absolutely awful ALL ABOUT THE DISNEY PARKS LIFE shirt that he clearly would have bought at the Disney Outlets.

# 5 – Bacini and a BDX Droid.

Bacini is of course the official dog of DisTwitter.

This cute pup had a pretty big year himself (thanks to Bioreconstruct) with the opening of Villain Con: Minion Blast allowing him to join the Vicious 6.

The cute little BDX droids were seen in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge…

…and are quite simply some of the coolest and most “Star Wars” things to go into the land.

Unfortunately, the BDX droids were also “limited time magic” and haven’t been seen again since their brief appearance in the park.

# 6 – Jenny Nicholson. The influencer of all influencers. Jenny is wearing one of the outfits she wore during her scathing takedown of the Galactic Starcruiser that has amassed over 11 MILLION VIEWS.

# 7 – Hank Lonely. Jenny is talking about her Starcruiser experience to Hank Lonely (the space alter ego of TouringPlans own Len Testa.)

# 8 – A Chocolate Chip Cookie from Gideon’s Bakehouse. The cookie is a “ghost” to reference the Ghosts of Gideons in this year’s Turkeys. It is being captured by a Ghost Trap.

# 9 – A Ghostbuster from Universal’s Mega Movie Parade. The Ghost Trap is being activated by a Ghostbuster from Universal’s Mega Movie Parade that made its debut this Summer.

The actual Ghostbuster is Phoebe Spengler from the Ghostbusters parade unit.

Phoebe is also wearing black gloves that the Ghostbusters wear when trapping ghosts.

# 10 – Guy Selga – For those who don’t know, Guy Selga writes about Disneyland for touringplans.com and the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland. His favorite Disney thing ever is Country Bear Jamboree Vacation Hoedown and he is wearing a shirt referencing the recent redo of the Country Bears show at Walt Disney World.

Guy Selga is peeking out from a pole. This is referencing the fact that Guy is also a Star Wars superfan and was one of the guests who went on the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser. Like Jenny Nicholson, for the dinner show experience he was sat at a table which had a large pole blocking his view of the entire show.

Talented artist Anna Webster even made a Halloween costume of this pole!

#11 – Tom, Sarah, and Baby Bricker.

Tom Bricker is on the Mt. Rushmore of theme park photographers. Last year he and his wife Sarah announced they were having a baby.

Tom is also a world class blogger, and later in the year had fantastic articles on the baby being born, the baby’s first trip to Disneyland, first trip to Walt Disney World and more!

Tom, Sarah, and Baby Bricker are next to Guy Selga in the drawing because they are good friends in the Real World.

# 12 – Simpsons Lawyer holding up Disney+ Logo. This is referencing the story in this year’s Turkeys about Disney trying to force a wrongful death case into arbitration because the widow signed into a trial offer for Disney+ four years earlier.

The lawyer himself is someone on The Simpsons television show, and is my go-to lawyer anytime you want the craziest legal take. He was last seen in the 2021 Turkeys.

# 13 – Deadpool and Wolverine. For me personally, this was referencing my favorite movie of the year. However both Deadpool and Wolverine made their debut at the Disneyland Resort this year as well.

For those who know the R-Rated “merc with a mouth” it was pretty surprising when Disney announced he would be a talking character at the theme parks.

But the Story Time with Deadpool show became an instant hit.

Later during the Summer, the show was changed to Story Time with Deadpool and Wolverine.

In the drawing, Deadpool and Wolverine are reading The Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando 2025. This is the first edition of the Unofficial Guide to list the permit princess herself, Alicia Stella, as a co-author. It also features art by Brian Cooper and a special SATURDAY SIX by yours truly, so why haven’t you ordered this book already?!

# 14 – Tombstone with Genie+. This is referencing the surprising out-of-nowhere end of Genie+ as Disney moved towards a bigger cash grab with Lighting Lane Premium.

# 15 – LEGO Chronos Tower. Created by none other than Philip Weatherford (AKA The Horizoneer.)

# 16 – Phillip Weatherford (AKA The Horizoneer). Speaking of one of the most talented and creative people in the industry. The Horizoneer was the subject of our first ever Artist Spotlight feature outside of February as we looked to expand the series and include people who create art in a multitude of ways. The Horizoneer’s LEGO creations (among other things) are just out of this world.

# 17 – Tiana in her “T” pose. This is to reference the amount of issues that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has had since opening at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. On many, MANY occasions her audio animatronic has been stuck in a “T” position while guests pass by.

 

# 18 – Steamboat Willie. This is referencing the classic Disney cartoon going into Public Domain.

# 19 – Save Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride Sign. 

The original “Save Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” sign is referencing the Mr. Toad protests back when Disney was closing that attraction to make way for Winnie the Pooh.

The Muppets logo has been taped over to reference the amount of vitriol Disney received when it announced it was closing Muppet*Vision 3D to make way for attractions based on Pixar’s Monsters Inc.

# 20 – Suggestive Planter. This is referencing a new planter that was placed in EPCOT as part of the overhaul of the hub.

# 21 – Rob Yeo’s Attraction Poster. Talk about a dream come dream. Superstar artist Rob Yeo was able to design an attraction poster for Disneyland Paris!

His poster can be seen hanging on their Main St. USA.

This is the most high profile piece of artwork drawn by someone in the theme park community since my Disney Skyliner print was used in the Festival of the Arts.

# 22 – Blue Man Group handprint. This is to reference the great news that the Blue Man Group will be returning to Orlando in 2025 at Icon Park.

I have always loved the Blue Man Group and can’t wait to see them again in Florida.

# 23 – Ennui from Inside Out 2. This works as a “two fer” as its referencing the biggest movie of the year (Inside Out 2) but also a commentary on the lack of effort put into the World Celebration overhaul and the Morocco Pavilion changes.

#24 – Ivonne Ramos. One of half of DisTwitters Woodward & Bernstein investigative reporting team (along with @FiBelleFi,) Ivonne can regularly be seen posting great photos from the parks.

After CommuniCore Hall opened, Ivonne posted pics of her playing solitaire in the new area. This brought a lot of smiles to DisTwitter.

It also inspired creative genius Howard Bowers to create a t-shirt for Ivonne.

# 25 – Guy with Drunk Frozone shirt. Haven’t seen a shirt this mind blowing in the parks since our legendary Mexico China Germany Japan Morocco / Ligtening McQueen’s Racing Academy shirt guy from 2020!

I have so many questions to ask this guy…

# 26 – Mr. Tape. Referencing Universal Orlando’s newest hit mascot.

Mr. Tape made his park debut in this Summer’s Tribute Store.

# 27 – SINIST3R and SURR3AL. The two icons of HHN 33.

SINST3R’s staff featured a SHREKZEL at the top of it, referencing the opening of DreamWorks Land this year.

Meanwhile SURR3AL is snacking on THE WALKING TACO, a snack available during HHN (but should be available all year long Universal…)

# 28 – Dragon flying over Epic Universe. This is referencing the dragons that have been spotted flying over Epic Universe…

# 29 – E.T. drones from Universal’s CineSational. Referencing Universal’s latest nighttime spectacular.

# 30 – Bioreconstruct’s helicopter and Cake Bake Shop. Bio’s copter is an annual tradition in our Turkeys Headers, and of course it is referencing all the great aerials he gets throughout the year. The banner he has is referencing the debut of the Cake Bake Shop at Disney’s Boardwalk and their original menu prices that were a true WHAT THE?!! moment for the community.  DisTwitter getting sticker shock actually says something because we’ve already been paying $5 for 20 ounce bottles of Coke at the parks for years.

Anyhoo, not long after, some of these prices were later reduced (but often not by much and some prices were actually raised!) Hence the reference to the “discount” of $1 off.

 

 

# 31 – Waldo from Muppet*Vision 3D. Waldo is surrounded by pink slips, referencing the imminent closure of Muppet*Vision 3D.

# 32 – The Morocco Fountain. The story of this fountain is in this year’s Turkeys.

HUGE Thanks to artist BRIAN COOPER for his tireless and incredible work on this year’s Turkeys drawing. I don’t how he always seems to accomplish the impossible, and I’m so grateful that we can immortalize so many people in the community.

Also a GIGANTIC thank you to @bioreconstruct for taking the time to separate all the elements from the drawing! How he fit this in with doing multiple flights across Orlando is beyond my imagination.

BONUS!

This year’s Turkeys was truly blessed to be able to feature 6 pieces of amazing digital watercolor artwork by SonderQuest. Each have their own incredible details, but one in specific is just LOADED with Easter Eggs and references to longtime readers of this fine blog series that I wanted explain each one.

First up, the actual artwork for That Time Disney Let Scrooge McDuck Run The Legal Department.

Scrooge McDuck is our go to character on the Turkeys when it comes to Disney doing anything greedy. In this case it was trying to get out of a wrongful death lawsuit in the most ridiculous way possible, but you’ve see him appear in previous Turkeys such as back in the 2016 Turkeys when Disney price gouged guests trapped in onsite hotels during a hurricane.

The grill is a reference to the 2020 Turkeys and the story of the family which grilled their own hot dogs outside of Cookes of Dublin.

The turkey leg is one of the most ubiquitous snacks at any theme park, but specifically it is in the drawing as a reference to Sondy’s drawing for the 2023 Turkeys. In fact, Sondy has a reference in this drawing for each of the four years that he has been a part of The Turkeys.

Can we  also add that the Turkey Leg has spawned an unbelievable amount of weird merchandise?

My reaction to the following Turkey Leg, uh, “wallet”…

The plant with a hat on it is a reference to the 2021 Turkeys and the time Disney replaced the Donald Duck animatronic with what appeared to be a tribute to the fallen animatronic.

The amount of next level bonkers things that have happened with the Three Caballeros since the pandemic is something I may have to do an an entire article on.

Mickey’s Personal Disney Assistant is possibly my favorite piece of Disney merchandise of all time. It is just INSANE and its very existence is what spawned the Disney Merchandise Hall of Shame.

Of course we had to have the Figment Popcorn Bucket after that viral story.

Alf is an interesting one because it was a reference that the 2024 Turkeys were the first in history to make their debut on the BlueSky social media platform instead of Twitter. It is to commemorate the sea change of activity and DisTwitter essentially moving from one app to the other. For whatever reason, the character of Alf was a hot topic on BlueSky during this transition.

The lawyer being crushed by Scrooge’s money was also seen in Brian Cooper’s headline drawing. As we said above, he is from The Simpsons television show, and is our go-to lawyer anytime we want the craziest legal take. He was last seen in the 2021 Turkeys.

The briefcase is supposed be the lawyer’s briefcase, and is filled with NDAs and TOS notices, referencing the various lawsuits mention in The Turkeys.

This hat is a reference to the character Buzzy from Cranium Command in the old Wonders of Pavilion at EPCOT. It is reference possibly the most Turkeys-like story that we never actually covered in-depth in The Turkeys: the theft of the Buzzy A.A. from EPCOT and the subsequent police investigation of  Patrick Spikes.

 

Like Brian Cooper adding in Waldo to the headline drawing, Sondy was able to put in a reference to the – at the time – newly announced closure of the fan favorite attraction Muppet*Vision 3D with a pair of the glasses that guests wear to watch the show.

Lastly, you’ll see that SonderQuest “signed” his artwork by making it look like it was spray painted in gold. This is the can of gold spray paint that was used and it is labeled “Cooper’s Gold” as a tribute to Brian Cooper himself.

We can’t thank Sondy enough for this piece artwork and all the others he did for this year’s Turkeys. He is a true LEGEND.