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*Universal Announces First Official Details on EPIC Universe

February started off HOT with everyone still reeling from Universal revealing details of what is coming to EPIC Universe. Over the past few years we have seen so many great photo updates from blogger-in-the-sky @bioreconstruct covering EPIC Universe construction combined with the Permit Princess Alicia Stella giving us constant updates on the upcoming park. Because of that, readers of this fine blog series may not remember that Universal had been completely tight-lipped about what was coming to Orlando, and this was the first time EVER that they have publicly said anything concerning what will be inside EPIC Universe. To start off, Universal acknowledged that lands in the park would include 4 IP based areas: Super Nintendo World, Dark Universe, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, and How to Train  Your Dragon – Isle of Berk.

There is also a fifth land at EPIC Universe that will be completely original and free of any intellectual property. This land is called Celestial Park. The EPIC Universe announcement video revealed everything coming to this area of the park, including the shopping and dining venues, along with concept art for two attractions in this land: Constellation Carousel and Starfall Racers.

Universal shared a look at each of the various portals that guests will travel through to visit each land.

This of course led to people examining the concept art with a fine toothed comb and discovering some things that just might be pretty cool down the road…

…along with other interesting details.

We also got our first look at the Helios Grand Hotel, which will allow guests to enter straight into EPIC Universe.

To put the scale of the Helios Grand Hotel into perspective, Digital Maestro Scott Walker placed the hotel into current day Main Street USA at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

To say people were hyped up about the reveals is an understatement, especially the portals leading to each land. It sparked the creativity of many in the community…

The following portal should appeal to anyone who is one of the nearly 70Million visitors who are welcomed to The City Beautiful.

Scott Walker created this mock pillow using the Chronos Tower (the portal to enter EPIC Universe) in a similar fashion that you may have seen before…

…on Disney pillows featuring the silhouette of Cinderella Castle as the “O” in HOME despite the castle looking much  more like an “A.”

Speaking of the Chronos Tower, selected members of the media were sent a pretty awesome gift…

…that included a small scale recreation of the Chronos Tower! The middle of the tower includes a spot for the logos of each land that will be in the park. This tower came with the coin for Celestial Park, the main hub of EPIC Universe. In the coming weeks and months Universal will debut the logos and details of what is inside the other lands.

My Chronos Tower must have got lost in the mail, while others made their way to eBay. Shame, because the tower would have been a cherished item in the Burgan Museum of Fine Theme Park Antiquities.

Since not everyone got the amazing Chronos Tower box, some had to create their own. This led to DisTwitter resident LEGO Master @TheHorizoneer  quickly turning around this absolutely awesome version!

Here is the backside…

The amount of details in this recreation of the Chronos Tower is truly breathtaking. Be sure to follow @TheHorizoneer for more of his theme park creations, and be sure to check out his Etsy store! He wasn’t even done with just doing the Chronos Tower. NAY NAY. Check out this recreation of the Dark Universe portal!

What an amazing talent. Go out of your way to read this recent article from Attractions Magazine that is dedicated completely to the work of @TheHorizoneer. It’s FANTASTIC!!

Scott Walker and I also worked together on a SPOT THE DIFFERENCE article which used the EPIC Universe Portal concept art in what I think was very fun way. You can check out that article by CLICKING HERE!

Anyway, back to Universal’s EPIC Universe reveal. Not only did we get concept art and animation, but we also got Mark Woodbury (the Chairman and CEO of Universal Parks) going over a small scale model of EPIC Universe. This is where I lost my mind because I absolutely LOVE when Disney puts small scale models of various parks and theme park lands inside One Man’s Dream at DHS.

“I don’t wanna hear your excuses! The building has to be at least… three times bigger than this!” – Derek Zoolander

I remember growing up and there were many TV and magazine ads from companies like the Bradford Exchange where you would pay a monthly subscription feee and each month they would send you a scene from a particular set (usually Christmas Villages. Here is one they have for The Wizarding World.) While not a subscription, in Seuss Landing they used to sell merchandise for a Grinch Christmas Village and I loved picking up pieces for that. What I wouldn’t do for Universal to sell pieces of of this EPIC scale model set to recreate my own version at home!

TPEI Score: + 22 Looking forward to the upcoming announcements about the various attractions coming to EPIC Universe. This is going to be incredible.

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

Over at Attractions Magazine they did an article on details you might have missed from the EPIC Universe announcement video. One of these details is the restaurant PIZZA MOON that will be located in Celestial Park.  The logo to Pizza Moon is paying reference to the 1902 short film A Trip To The Moon, which features the iconic shot of rocket ship crashing into the moon’s “face.” This has been parodied/referenced many times over the years in popular culture. The logo for Pizza Moon has a piece of pepperoni pizza hitting the moon’s face. I’m ALL IN. This is where I’ll be running to when the park opens while everyone else is heading to Nintendo or the Dark Universe.

UPDATED TPEI SCORE: +45 If they have themed pizza boxes I may ascend directly to Heaven.

After the EPIC Universe announcement, Universal got the lion’s share of attention from a theme park community that is generally focused on Disney. Many were waiting for Disney’s response.

However, Disney didn’t make any huge announcements after the EPIC Universe reveal. Shortly after, during the Disney Q1 Earnings Call in early February, CEO Bob Iger did say that $42 Billion was going to be spent on “capacity” over the next 10 years, but didn’t give any details. As usual, many Disney fans on social media hoped that money would be earmarked for  making new rides to help the capacity issues at the parks, but as we have found out over the past few years that isn’t always the top priority when it comes to allocating money from Disney upper management.

QUICK HITS

*MegaCon Orlando

While not directly associated with Disney or Universal, MegaCon is a huge pop culture convention that takes place in Orlando every year that directly appeals to fans of the theme parks. If you’ve never been to a large “Comic Con,” you owe it to yourself to check one out one day because there is nothing else like it. There are panels featuring various celebrities and/or people in the entertainment industry, autograph sessions, photo-ops, cosplayers, and TONS of artists there selling their work (including several who work directly with Disney and Universal.) If you want a concentrated version of Disney’s Festival of the Arts, MegaCon is the place for you.

You will not believe the amount of cool items you will find at MegaCon, whether you are a fan of theme parks, pro wrestling, video games, comic books, anime, sci-fi, horror and many other fandoms. It is packed with incredible artisans.

One of the highlights for many going to MegaCon is the opportunity to take photos with celebrities. Some will bring their own props for the photos, such as this one for a photo with two stars from the Disney+ show Loki…

As a Star Wars fan, I love that both Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan) and Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) not only had a panel together, but did autographs and photo sessions with the fans.

The amount of cosplayers going to MegaCon is almost impossible to fully understand. There are so many talented people out there, of all ages, who clearly LOVE being able to dress up and enjoy themselves at conventions like MegaCon.

If you like seeing the creative costumes that theme park fans come up with for things like  Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and runDisney races, you will love to see the wide amount of cosplay going on at MegaCon.

MegaCon is where you’ll see theme park cosplayers shine. Where else are you going to see cosplay for POSEIDON’S FURY?!!

Be prepared for one of the greatest theme park related cosplays you’ll ever see, as Tori Fox and Areyna Schmidt are dressed as the characters Magdol and Orbidon from The Green Planet. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!!!

This is where things get weird. This was not the only time we saw the character Magdol from the ET Adventure represented this month. The social media account @CowMissing posted the following photo from an ET Adventure Operations Manual which shows the evacuation process for the part of the ride where guests are flying over the city.

This image, which has not been made available to the public before, features a portion of the evacuation process from the E.T. Adventure Ride Operations Manual at Universal Studios Hollywood. It depicts E.T. (Zrick) assisting Magdol and Tickli out of a halted ride vehicle in the Vista scene.” – @Cow Missing

Speaking of ET Adventure, we somehow got our third reference to characters from The Green Planet in February via one of our favorite social media accounts. Three references in one month is pretty impressive because I don’t think we’ve had three references in the last TEN YEARS COMBINED. Just amazing.

*Universal Opens Monster Makeover in USF

For years Universal has had face painters working at both Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. Like the caricature artists, the face painters are generally found in some place off to the side in the park. At Universal Studios Florida, the face painters got a bit of a “glow up” in the shared gift shop of the Horror Make-Up Show and Bourne Stuntacular.

There is a book in the gift shop that shows guests the options they can get at the Monster Makeover.

I think in the long run, a digital screen showing all the options would be an easier process than manually flipping through a book and trying to remember which designs you liked.

Once you choose your monster design, you are taken to another room to get the face painting applied.

As a kid, I always wanted to get my face painted in Marvel Superhero Island with a Venom design, but my parents would never let me. Now we have a version where we can get great looking monster designs, which is perfect for getting us all ready for the Dark Universe opening in EPIC Universe next year.

*Universal Reopens Circus McGurkus with New Menu

Over in Seuss Landing at Islands of Adventure, Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoo-Pendous reopened after a lengthy refurbishment.

One of the things I love about the PeopleMover at Disney’s Magic Kingdom is that the ride goes through several attractions, including Space Mountain. Circus McGurkus actually has a ride that goes through the restaurant! Look above and you may see The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride go by.

The new and improved Circus McGurkus returned with a completely revamped menu that is a huge step up compared to the previous version.

There are several circus related items, on the new menu, including a Chicken & Biscuit dish in which the biscuit is presented in the form a giant peanut.

We’ll probably do a full review of Circus McGurkus in the near future, but rest assured that Islands of Adventure has another place you need to check out for a meal joining Mythos Restaurant, Confisco Grille, and Captain America Diner (well, maybe not the last one.)

*When Disney and Universal Go Harder Than They Have To

One thing that I enjoy about the theme parks are the “little things” that Disney and Universal do to make your experience better. For example, both companies can easily just throw out generic plain napkins for guests (and for most places they generally do) but I appreciate it when we get branded napkins.

Even better? Themed napkins AND swizzle sticks.

You know me, I absolutely LOVE my themed pizza boxes.

How can you not like the Black Spire Outpost logo printed on the receipts in Batuu at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge?

These are items – like the Disney Transportation Cards – that are just a plus to your park going experience.

Scoring 999,999 points on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin can get you this Galactic Hero sticker.

This month we got alerted to a new “plus” in the form of this button at Port Orleans. Now we’ve all been to Disney resort gift shops where they have a board posted with trivia questions. One person on social media posted the button they received when correctly answering the trivia question. To me, this is what “Disney Magic” is all about. It’s not something you are guaranteed, or something that you should base your whole trip around, but it is a nice little extra that you wouldn’t find at most places you go to.

*The Single Greatest Piece of Art Doesn’t Exis…

I stand corrected.

*2024 Artist Spotlight Class

Speaking of art, February brings the return of an annual tradition to this fine blog series with our Artist Spotlight features. This series was created years ago to tie into Disney’s Festival of the Arts, and the goal is to put a a focus on one member of the theme park community. The 2024 class kicked off with Jaime S. and her incredible TINY THEME PARK ART.

Next up we had the incredibly talented Jess Feldman. I still can’t get over the wonderful drawings Jess does of theme park snacks and drinks. I love them and would like nothing more than to have prints of them hanging in my kitchen.

The 2024 Class was finished up with Bryan Bindman. Readers of the Theme Park Turkeys of the Year probably know how much I love drawings that cram in a lot of characters, and that is one of Bindman’s specialties.

It has been a heck of a month for members of previous Artist Spotlight features, including our inaugural class back in 2021. Artist Brian Cooper showed that having the “SATURDAY SIX” on your resume is the ultimate fast track to success, as his art was featured on a RSVLTS Marvel shirt featuring the character Deadpool.

As always, Brian’s artwork is off-the-charts good, but if you look closely at the shirt you can see some truly amazing details. My favorite is Brian using Deadpool in bed staring at a photo of a chimichanga. This drawing is based on a famous meme format that uses the X-Men character of Wolverine.

Artist Jess Siswick, member of the 2022 Artist Spotlight class, recreated Disneyland’s Blue Bayou restaurant for her Sims4 characters to enjoy. How great is that?!

Savannah Hamilton was a member of the 2023 Artist Spotlight class and created this fantastic drawing of Tiana in an outfit that her audio-animatronic character will be seen wearing in the upcoming Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attraction.

Maybe my favorite thing of this entire month was done by Ava Buric, a member of the 2022 Artist Spotlight class. Each day she has been releasing a new drawing to honor Disney Park Cast Members. You can see all of her daily drawings by CLICKING HERE, but here are some of my personal favorites…

On the other end of the Cast Member Appreciation spectrum came this ad on social media. I imagine they were bombarded by #SaveSplashMountain complaints. I find it amazing in 2024 that many straight white males (like myself) truly believe in their heart of hearts that we are the true victims of oppression in America.

Speaking of the polarization of this country, February means we can celebrate the one year anniversary since the Florida Governor took control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and replaced it with a group of his hand picked cronies. One of the jobs of this District has is to maintain the various road signs throughout Walt Disney World. Let’s check in to see how things around going in that area…

Okay, who else needs a pallet cleanser after thinking about that nonsense? I can think of two wholesome and wonderful things in life, The Muppets and America’s National Parks. What if we combined the two…

*The Muppets Celebrate the National Parks

Check this out. Artist Daniel Beckwith has created an AWESOME series of posters that feature The Muppets and our National Parks. You can see his whole collection by CLICKING HERE, but here are some of my personal favorites…

*Speaking of The Muppets…

Those who have been to Muppet*Vision 3D know that the pre-show room use fake ads on the screens while you waiting for the actual pre-show to start.

Our boy @TheHorizoneer noticed this month that at some point new fake ads have been included in the rotation…

Now the following thread of Muppets art was actually created in 2022, but I just saw it for the first time this month, so it counts….

*Reason #5482 to Stay On Social Media

Time for my monthly rant on why Twitter – while becoming one of the most awful places on Earth – still has some redeeming qualities for those who stick around like myself. Thankfully, places like BlueSky are getting better (featuring theme park people such as Alicia Stella, Len Testa & @bioreconstruct) and hopefully we will have a true replacement for what Twitter once was, but right now there is still a good amount of chicken salad to find among the huge amounts of chicken you-know-what. I loved the following post which gave some insight into a character I’ve seen a thousand times on Spaceship Earth…

Twitter is still the best place to see interactions from people who actually worked at the Disney and Universal parks, including the discussion that followed from this post by @Parkeology that brought up one of the various elements of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge that Disney ended up not making for the parks.

Twitter is where we get great stuff like this…

My thoughts?

…along with a reminder of how fun the theme parks can really be.

But mostly we use it just to goof on the things we love.

*@bioreconstruct Now a “Page Six Guy”

This month was the first time that blogger-in-the-sky @bioreconstruct made international  headlines, but it was one of the first times that Bio’s amazing aerial photos of EPIC Universe were featured in an actual newspaper. That’s right, the UK’s Daily Sun featured Bio’s photos of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic!

Meanwhile, here at home Bio was continually delivering one jaw-dropping shot after another, including this wonderful shot of the VelociCoater at sunset…

I’ve been to Islands of Advneture countless times, and I’m not sure I ever noticed this flag flying in Port of Entry.

Bio has been getting great shots of the upcoming DreamWorks land both on the ground in Universal Studios Florida…

…and in the air.

Of course Bio is here to give us THE best shots of what is going on at EPIC Universe.

We’ll do a full recap of what’s going on in EPIC Universe in a couple weeks, since by then Bio will surely have a dozen more flyovers.

We’ll close this section on Bio looking at one of my favorite subjects that he captures…theme park ducks.

Speaking of great photographers, how about this E-Ticket shot by the one and only Blog Mickey! The expert framing of the shot makes it look like an actual moment from the movie Avatar.

Last month’s Theme Park Enjoyment Index: 22
This month’s net change: + 45
Current enjoyment level: 67

NEXT WEEK! The SATURDAY SIX Goes Back to Sea…

Over the past few years I have discovered that cruising is my favorite type of vacation. This was surprising because it was something I put off for YEARS. Then I had my first sailing on the Disney Cruise Line and discovered how great cruises can be. Since then I’ve had several sailings on Royal Caribbean, most recently on the amazing Wonder of the Seas, one of the world’s largest cruise ships. For theme park fans, sailings out of Port Canaveral is easy because it is 45 mile straight shot from Orlando. Disney and Royal Caribbean have had sailings  out of Port Canaveral for years, and later this year Princess Cruise Line will also start offering sailings from this location. This past month I was fortunate to be invited by Princess to sail on the Sky Princess, the ship that will be sailing out of Port Canaveral, and I’ll be back to report on how the sailing went.

I went into this sailing knowing absolutely nothing about Princess Cruise Line, and here’s a sneak peek of some of things we’ll be covering…

DID YOU KNOW that there is a show on the Sky Princess that uses puppet characters created by Jim Henson and it includes one of the BEST EVER reveal moments I have ever seen in Muppet-related show/movie/event?

DID YOU KNOW that the President of Princess Cruise Line is the same guy who was behind Disney’s MagicBand technology, Magical Express, and Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique? While Disney pretty much just gave up on doing anything interesting with the MagicBand, Princess Cruise Line went the other way with their Medallion technology and it does pretty much everything we wanted it to do for the theme parks (and much more!)

DID YOU KNOW that Princess Cruise Line has a meet-and-greet character…

…with his own line of merchandise?

DID YOU KNOW that Princess Cruise Line has restaurants with design elements that are theme park level? Check out this serving dish at The Catch by Rudi for Seafaring Stew…

Straight up E-Ticket.

DID YOU KNOW that Princess Cruise Line has the best pizza on a cruise ship?

Listen, I know pizza. I think you know I know pizza. When I say a pizza is good, you can take that one to the bank.

DID YOU KNOW that Princess Cruise Line has themed pizza boxes? (I’m starting to understand why I was invited on this sailing…)

Anyway, we’ll cover all that and much, MUCH more next week as the SATURDAY SIX enjoys a sailing on the SKY PRINCESS!

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.