On this week’s Saturday Six, Derek takes a much needed break and an advanced AI takes over…

Act One

Scene: Upstate New Hampshire, lots of trees and Derek is in flannel.

Howdy folks,  Your Humble Author Derek Burgan here. As you are reading this, Bacini and I are currently up in New Hampshire. What’s to be found in New Hampshire? Not too much actually, outside of maple syrup, candlepin bowling, and Jim Hill (yes, that Jim Hill.) But we heard Rumors & Innuendo of a 30″ pizza, so we made the trip up from Florida to do a SATURDAY SIX Special Investigation. We will return back with our findings in a future edition of this fine blog series. Meanwhile, enjoy this article compiled by the TP Artificial Intelligence algorithm we lovingly refer to as “Joe Matt.” Trained on data sets including Disney Pinterest articles, pro-wrestling Reddit, and AOL chat logs not seized during predator investigations, “Joe Matt” is an AI author who appeals to what we in the business refer to as The Four Quadrants. Those four quadrants being: weirdoes, Fast & Furious – Supercharged Super Fans, people who enjoy pineapple on pizza, and people who call mini-golf “putt putt golf.” So enjoy!

Pan down, Bacini is wearing an adorable flannel onesie. Fin.

I’m back baby! Derek is off to New Hampshire (again) and I’m holding down the fort this fine Saturday. Over the years I’ve written Saturday Sixs that covered HHN, beer, and the longevity of nighttime shows. This time I’m returning to one of my perennial favorites and a sequel to one of my favorite articles: Saturday Six looks at the best theme park TV specials. From making of specials to concerts in the parks to circuses (???) these specials found any reason to send a film crew on a vacation to Florida or Southern California. And what better way to advertise theme parks than with kids having fun?

Nickelodeon adopted a pro-kids, “adults keep us down” attitude in the 1980s with shows like Double Dare and You Can’t Do That on Television‘s punk attitudes meet middle school problems. Disney used its own form of edgy rebranding to create The All-New Mickey Mouse Club, a show that jump-started the careers of ahem “Ryan Gosling, singers Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, NSYNC band members Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, actress Keri Russell.” Wow. So when the new Universal Studios Florida opened in 1990 they went to the original “#1 Home For Kids”?

6 – Nickelodeon Studios Florida Grand Opening (1990)

 

Universal and Nickelodeon joined a partnership in 1988 to build the first Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida at the new Universal Studios Florida. Part working TV studio, part theme park attraction, the studio began filming in 1989 for the hit Double Dare but the big grand opening of the studio and attraction happened in 1990, more on that in a minute. Nick filmed many popular shows at USF, such as Welcome Freshman, GUTS, Clarissa Explains it All, Gullah Gullah Island, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and more. Studio filming occurred for 14 years – most of the Nick scripted series relocated from swampy Orlando to in-demand LA, leaving only some game shows and live programming. The final show aired in spring 2004. The Nick Studio Tour was a kids dream – a behind the scenes tours of the game labs and slime kitchens that made all the messy fun of your favorite game shows. Plus you got to see filming of scripted shows, or at least their sets! Once all filming ended the tour was on its last legs and it soon closed in the spring of 2005. The iconic Nickelodeon exterior was painted over and Soundstage 18, formerly the home to GUTS, became the original home to Blue Man Group in Orlando. For more information on Nick Studios, I highly recommend Pop Arena’s video on the studio and tour’s history.

With the huge new theme park opening next door where they had an attraction (and gift shop) in, Nick decided they needed a live special to commemorate its opening. And no ordinary special would do, oh no, but a THREE-HOUR grand opening gala featuring music, games, skits, and pre-tapped dramatic segments. Oh yes, this thing had a PLOT. But before we get to that, let’s talk about why I can talk about this special now. For nearly 30 years the full special was considered lost media, or media that was produced and released but is no longer accessible in some form. Examples of lost media include The Day the Clown Cried and the lost minutes of the Nixon tapes. Since the special was a live broadcast it was never reaired even if a copy was made. For many years the only remains was the show’s opening hour, but a complete 3-hour copy was finally discovered in 2021 and uploaded to YouTube.

Hosted by Marc Summers, the special celebrates the opening of the new park and the Nick Studios. A team of lame sinister old people named AWFUL are attempting to ruin the fun, but of course, some clever thinking at the last minute saves the day and thwarts their evil plans. Along the way, we see original USF attractions up close, some Double Dare action, celebrity interviews (including one very problematic Bill Cosby), and lots of early 90s goodness. It’s a time vault to when the hottest thing was The Simpsons, Bill Clinton hadn’t played the sax on Arsion Hall, and Nirvana’s Nevermind was over a year out from release; the special shows the cracks in pop culture that were about to crack. Ok enough pop culture theory, let us get into this special.

The Nickelodeon Opening Day Special is a fantastic television special straight out of the tubular 90s.

5 – Making of Disney-MGM Studios (1989)

Fred Newman is not a name you typically hear in 2024, but for twenty years he was one of the character actors of kids media. If you don’t remember his work in The All-New Mickey Mouse Club then you likely know his voice from the kids show Doug where he voiced Skeeter, Mr. Dink, and provided lots of foley and musical work. He’s a man of many talents, including hosting work such as on the Making of Disney-MGM Studios TV special. Created for the Disney Channel, this special aired from August through September 1989 and stars Mr Newman as a character actor who effortlessly slips into multiple roles during the special. One minute he’s hosting The All-New Mickey Mouse Club, the next he’s a gumshoe looking for his next lead in how the park was created. Some highlights of the special include a full segment on the creation of the Citizens of Hollywood characters, the iconic roaming characters of the park that are an attraction in themselves, behind the scenes at a taping of the Mickey Mouse Club, how the backstage areas are used for movie production, and a look into the creation of one of the best attractions of all time: The Great Movie Ride.

Making of is a look back at Disney-MGM Studios, the little park that could. While I love and have fond memories of the original version of the park, the idealized concept of an east coast Hollywood never materialized. The park took over production space little by little, and soon filming was nearly all shut down. Walt Disney Imagineering has ironically used Universal Studios Florida’s soundstages for film production when needed.

Before we go I want to shout out to the folks at RetroWDW and the Lake Buena Vista Historical Society. They have been paramount in preserving and cataloging vintage film media and conducting interviews. Their most popular offerings are the RetroWDW podcast, a monthly look into the WDW that was and is in our memories, and the RetroWDW Weekends conference, a fan event about WDW history that includes exclusive interviews and events. These folks do amazing work and are worth your time and donating to their nonprofit for historical preservation.

4 – Follow Us to Walt Disney World (1984)

Fans of The Walt Disney Channel (aka Disney Channel) remember the late-night programming block “Vault Disney”. After the kids go to bed and the parents are getting ready, night owls and those lucky enough to have a VHS recorder are granted access to the mythical Disney Vault full of old Disney programming. Those who grew up in the 80s and 90s know Disney Vault well, where Disney removed films from distribution and re-released new editions of others for decades. But the TV version of Vault Disney was ambivalent to corporate greed and on late nights the vault door would swing open, home to an Uncle Scrooge’s vault full of theme park specials, TV syndication staples like Davey Crocket, and short animated films. Vault Disney for me was a comforting channel to watch during summers through middle and high school. The late-night block ran from 1997 through 2002. One of the many specials shown on the channel is Follow Us to Walt Disney World, a vintage 1984 special that features real Walt Disney World Cast Members from around the resort talking about their roles and the attractions around the resort. 1984 was a weird time for The Walt Disney Company, from corporate green mailers to new CEOs, but Follow Me to WDW gives us a boots-on-the-ground look at what the resort was like during these times. The video includes the Magic Kingdom, Discovery Island in Bay Lake, and the Walt Disney World Village Marketplace, but over half the program is about the then new EPCOT Center.

The show ends in a way my mother would love – a nice song in front of the Fountain of Nations in EPCOT featuring hundreds of Cast Members from around the resort. It’s corny as hell, the Dreamfinder is there singing in character, but there’s an infectious amount of sincerity in the shot that is sorely missed from The Walt Disney Company.

3 – Party All Nite Concert: Grad Nite at Walt Disney World (1992)

Returning to the rad 90s, Grad Nite was a high school tradition for Florida students from 1972 to 2011. On select spring nights local high school students were let wild on the ill-prepared Cast Members as groups of teens, with minimal supervision, took over the Magic Kingdom till the wee hours of the morning.

Ok, it wasn’t that bad. Sure, there were always rumors of kids ganging up on Mickey and throwing him into the moat around the castle, but the event was pretty tame. Kids would come in a dress code, ride attractions, eat, and attempt to get a kiss on the Peoplemover. Disney hired mid-tier, family friendly musical acts for Grad Nites and these concerts are the focus of Party All Nite Concert: Grad Nite at Walt Disney World. From a theme park nerd perspective, the special is not that impressive in terms of them park footage.

But a vast majority of the special is musical acts and interviews with performers like Jon Secada and Shai. While not bad, it is aggressively 90s with baggy jerseys, ladders as stage accessories (before it was cool at Mission: Space), and stone-washed jeans. For me, the music is at best forgettable and at worst cringe, but your mileage will vary. I don’t know if I can wholeheartedly recommend Party All Nite, but it is one of the few theme park specials I’ve never seen that I discovered when going down many of my YouTube ratholes.

2 – Sega Star Kids Challenge (1992)

“SEEEEGGAAAAA.” One of the most iconic sounds of the 90s and one that anyone of a generation will remember with a Pavlovian response of love or fanboy anger. The SEGA Genesis and Sonic were the hot video game systems while the Super Nintendo and Mario played a game of catch-up despite dominating the 80s with the NES. SEGA adopted advertising with an attitude as their mantra, from the action-forward games to the ads closing with a single exclamation of “SEGA!” In 1992 SEGA and Universal Studios teamed up to host a competition featuring teams of teen celebrities, like Mario Lopez and Joey Lawrence, to compete for a charity. Sega Star Kids Challenge stands out by featuring both Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood, a rare sight for theme park specials before Jurassic Park: The Ride opened. The games the kids played were pretty low rent, even by kid’s TV show standards. Most relied on relay races and obstacle courses with only a few really standing out for using the park in unique ways. Thankfully the games were built around the theme parks, making it fun to watch the games.

The games would return to Universal Studios Hollywood in 1993 but under a new sponsor – Slim Jim. Oh the 90s!

1 – Walt Disney World Celebrity Circus (1987)

Michael Eisner loved a quick fix. Soon after becoming CEO in 1984 he raised Disneyland’s ticket prices and ran the park year-round, a departure from the Mondays and Tuesdays closed in the off-season. WED took years to make rides, he needed solutions to fill the park now, so he turned to the idea of the Disneyland Storybook Circus, but this time put it in Main Street. Marty Sklar was fed up after several years of this nonsense so he proposed commissioning a statue of Walt for the park and placing it smack dab in the middle of the Main Street hub, preventing Mike’s circus from popping up. This didn’t stop Eisner from turning to his problematic park, EPCOT Center. He didn’t understand EPCOT, which when you look at the Regan-era, pro-Oil, 70s-folk music inspired park it’s easy to see how the former head of Paramount Pictures would scratch his head. So of course Einser dropped the circus into EPCOT Center’s Future World, including right on top of the fountain. The circus platform was poorly designed and a historical mess that caused longstanding leakage issues with the fountain which ultimately led to its removal. For more information on Eisner, circuses at Disneyland, Epcot, and more, read the amazing Jim Korkis’ article on Mouse Planet.

The WDW Celebrity Circus is a WEIRD special. Airing in 1987 to coincide with the in-park performances, they attempted to tie the circus to EPCOT by featuring international circus acts in addition to the standard American circus performances. See, Disney’s been trying to ruin EPCOT way before the Guardians of the Galaxy arrived! This special overstuffs the whole thing with so many celebrities and performances that the opening credits are 3 and a half minutes long. Seriously this is all in the first three minutes of the show:

The special is a fun romp around  Epcot, as the celebrities play a familiar version of themselves who are there for a fun night of circus performances. A majority of the show takes place around the Fountain of Nations temporary circus stage and an off-fountain circus ring flanked by Main Street Electrical Parade floats. Seeing the floats paired with the authentic international replicas of World Showcase and the brutalist designs of Future World is quite jarring. This is unfortunate as seeing more of Epcot and Walt Disney World would have really improved the special. Why not include some of the attractions or pavilion locations?

The ending is bonkers even by theme park special standards as Mickey Mouse performs bar gymnastics routines FROM A HELICOPTER. What is going on here?!?! It is so wild and out of left field that I wonder how this was pulled off. Did they get the proper clearances and safety approvals for this stunt? The low-quality VHS transfer impairs the visibility of the performance but the same VHS grain adds to the mysteriousness of the stunt. Overall the special is a fun variety show of circus performances placed around Epcot. It’s light fare, a wholesome 80s special for the whole family.

Look, kids just want to have fun! These specials (ok and maybe one or two other ones) celebrate kids at the Disney and Universal theme parks. So thank you to Derek for shoving this burden on me yet again letting me write another Saturday Six talking about crazy theme park television specials. So Joe Matt signing out and back to Derek!

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So there you have it: SIX MORE THEME PARK SPECIALS! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out the THEME PARK ENJOYMENT INDEX, giving a monthly recap of all the theme park news you need to know (and a lot more you don’t need to know, but we’re gonna tell you anyway). You can also follow Your Humble Author on Twitter (@derekburgan).

If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following: 

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SATURDAY SIX: Tribute to Ian Barritt

Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, Digital Maestro Scott Walker, the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world famous Disney Cruise Line Blog, my personal protege Hunter “Elvey” Underwood, artist @SonderQuest, the mighty maven of merchandise Hedgehog’s Corner, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and “the Dadalorian” Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, charter member of the Universal Four @Nitro230, the permit princess Alicia Stella, master cartographer Tommy Hawkins, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Stump for their invaluable assistance with this article. Absolutely no help was added by OceanGate Influencer @SuperWeenieHtJr. The SAT SIX is inspired each week by goofballs Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHyde and you Potterheads will enjoy Meg’s other blog work over at the Central Florida Slug Club.